President-elect Donald Trump took aim at ABC News' “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir during a rally ahead of his inauguration on Sunday, recalling their tussle over crime statistics during the September presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris.
In his speech to a crowd of his supporters, Trump highlighted what he called “hundreds and even thousands of victims” from immigrant attacks, saying that crime levels are rising even without the presence of illegal immigrants.
He then criticized Muir — who was eviscerated on social media last week for wearing a fire jacket fastened with a clothespin in the back to make him look more dapper while covering the Los Angeles wildfires — for getting the facts wrong during the debate. When the Republican claimed that violent crimes were on the rise.
“Do you remember I had the debate, and I had ABC's David Muir say, 'No, no crime was recorded.' I said, 'No, no, you went through the roof,'” Trump said.
“Then he said, 'Oh, I don't agree with that.' The next day they announced that crime had risen by 40%. This guy…the whole thing is so bad.”
Muir, who co-moderated the debate with Lynsey Davis, disputed Trump's claims, citing FBI data showing an overall decline in violent crime.
“President Trump, you know, the FBI says overall violent crime is going down in this country,” Moyer said at the time.
Trump rejected the FBI statistics, claiming they omitted data from the hardest-hit cities.
“The FBI – they were spoofing the data. It did not include the worst cities. It did not include cities with the worst crimes. “It was a scam.”
While ABC News did not report an increase in crime the next day, an FBI review in October supported Trump's assertion.
The agency initially reported a 2.1% decrease in violent crimes in 2022 but later revised the data to reflect a 4.5% increase, which amounts to 80,029 more violent crimes than in 2021.
Muir did not address the review on “World News Tonight” after its release, a point that Trump and his allies exploited.
The Post requested comment from ABC News.
Trump also criticized Moyer for his alleged bias shortly after the debate.
“During the debate, I mentioned that and David Muir, who is a real lightweight,” Trump said in late September.
“I had it one against three, but I thought we did a great job. But David Muir from the ABC, the fake news, when I said crime is rife in our country, he corrected me, he corrected me a lot and what I said was true.”
Trump also claimed that Muir failed to fact-check Harris, alleging that she made several inaccurate statements, including hers about Charlottesville.
“But he corrected me about crime. He said, ‘No, no, crime has not increased.’ I said that crime has increased dramatically. He said, ‘I would like to state for your information that crime has not increased.’”
In late December, ABC's parent company, Disney, settled a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump by agreeing to donate $15 million to his Future Presidential Library Foundation and cover $1 million in legal fees.
The lawsuit arose from ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos's incorrect statement on air that Trump was “convicted of rape,” while the jury found him liable for sexual assault and defamation.
Disney's decision to settle was reportedly driven by concerns among company bosses about potential legal risks and a desire to avoid a drawn-out court battle.
