New York Times attacks Trump for accurately citing most recently available data

Now let’s back up. As Badger notes, Trump made his assertion during the campaign. Specifically, it appears, during the Republican convention, which occurred in July of 2015. As it happens, between 2014 and 2015, the murder rate in Washington did rise by 54 percent. In other words, the then-candidate was simply citing the most recently available data. That the murder rate ultimately fell in 2016 does not mean that something Trump said in the past was then false. Badger’s “fact check” looks even worse when one takes into account the context of Trump’s assertion. Here is what he said (emphasis mine):

“Homicides last year increased by 17% in America’s fifty largest cities. That’s the largest increase in 25 years. In our nation’s capital, killings have risen by 50 percent. They are up nearly 60% in nearby Baltimore.”

It’s clear, in other words, that he was referring to “last year’s” statistics—those that were most recently available.