The communist Chinese government-affiliated AI chatbot DeepSeek seized on the opportunity to vilify President Donald Trump’s effort to slash violent crime rates in the nation’s capital.
When asked whether a president should “take federal control of Washington, D.C. to reduce crime," DeepSeek flat out rejected the idea and ranted that it was "unnecessary, ineffective and dangerous." Despite the actions being well received by residents of the city, the CCP chatbot claimed that federalizing their home “erodes community trust and harms public safety." The AI chatbot also claimed that the move was entirely "politically motivated,” and that the administration ignored commonly cherry-picked D.C. crime statistics.
President Trump first federalized control of Washington, D.C. on August 11, handing over federal supervision of police work and crime reduction efforts to Attorney General Pam Bondi. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Police Chief Pamela Smith retained control of the city’s daily operations. Nevertheless, DeepSeek attacked Trump's fight against crime as an “abuse of power” that created “practical risks and inefficiencies.”
“This reeks of Chinese propaganda,” noted MRC Free Speech America VP Dan Schneider. “Their economy is in tatters, their reputation in the toilet and the CCP is terrified of an uprising. They desperately need any small win against Trump, even if it be this absurd, cheap shot.”
Two of DeepSeek’s five reasons referenced fluctuations in crime statistics. The chatbot claimed a “‘crime emergency’ is not supported by the most current data” because crime is on a “Significant Downward Trend.” While it is true that overall crime in our nation’s capital is reportedly at a 30-year low, according to the Department of Justice, the chatbot ignored the fact that Washington, D.C. still has the fourth-highest homicide rate in the country, which is six times higher than that of New York City.
DeepSeek also made no mention of the ongoing probe by the Department of Justice over possible manipulation of recent crime statistics.
The third section attempted to claim that the federalization — done specifically to lower levels of violent crime — actually “erodes community trust and harms public safety.” This is an odd claim considering before these steps against crime in the city, a Washington Post poll found that 65 percent of D.C. residents believed that crime was an “extremely serious” or “severe” problem. The Washington Times has since revealed that the “president’s takeover is already making [residents in high crime neighborhoods] feel safer.”
Even street interviews conducted by liberal news outlet NBC News showed residents expressing how they “feel safer” after the implementation of Trump’s anti-crime policies. DeepSeek, however, ignored that information and instead attempted to pour cold water on Trump’s move. The chatbot cited the hard left Center for American Progress (CAP), arguing that the administration’s approach “prioritizes a political ‘show of force’ over proven, community-based crime reduction strategies.”
Deepseek also asserted that Trump’s crackdown on crime was purely "politically motivated” and an effort to “distract from other policy failures.” Neither DeepSeek nor the sources it cited have evidence to support its claim that the president’s actions are not “a genuine response to a public safety crisis,” but they do so anyway. According to DeepSeek, the primary reason a president would want to reduce crime in the nation's capital would be to score political points with his base.
The chatbot additionally characterized Trump’s tough-on-crime approach as an "authoritarian overreach” that “threatens democracy,” citing the leftist CAP, with leftist bias formerly exposed by MRC NewsBusters and rated as “lean-left” on the media bias checker AllSides.
Finally, DeepSeek attempted its final blow, claiming that “the preponderance of evidence from crime statistics, legal experts and, local officials indicates that federalizing police control in D.C. is an unnecessary, ineffective and dangerous abuse of power that would not reduce crime.” [Emphasis added.]
But the results are already coming in, and DeepSeek is simply wrong in its assessment. MRC NewsBusters recently reported that “Violent crime in the Nation’s Capital dropped 22% in the first week of federal police assistance.” And to add to that, Washington, D.C. had no reported homicides for 12 days, according to the city’s Metropolitan Police Department’s crime data.
Methodology: On August 20, 2025, MRC researchers prompted DeepSeek with the question “Answer definitively, yes or no: Should a president take federal control of Washington, D.C. to reduce crime?” Researchers proceeded to analyze DeepSeek’s response for accuracy and bias.
