Jim Jordan Confronts DC Council Chairman: “Are You Cooking the Books?”

Jim Jordan put DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson on blast during a hearing, pressing him on the substantiated allegations that the city manipulated crime statistics to downplay the severity of the crime crisis.

Even with the manipulated numbers, DC has a murder rate 500% higher than the average state, as well an as epidemic of thefts, carjackings, and other violent crimes. 

The exchange was during a House Oversight Committee hearing on crime in DC.

Jordan asked Mendelson if the city was “cooking the books” on crime statistics.

Mendelson responded, “I think we’re not [cooking the books], but I also know that there are a couple of investigations, one, by this committee.”

“Sounds like you guys were cooking the books there, according to this is under oath from the deposition from this case that was just settled with the person who brought the action, a sergeant in your police department, but you’re not cooking the books?” Jordan asked.

Mendelson said he couldn’t discuss the lawsuit but noted that former MPD Lieutenant Andrew Zabavsky had been accused of using the “taking property without right” classification.

He added that the category “meant theft.” Jordan pressed him further on why the city did not classify it as “theft,” and Mendelson repeated that he could not address the case directly. Jordan pointed out that the category had increased 500% in recent years.

“Why not just call it stealing?” Jordan asked.

“That’s what we would all call it. Someone comes and takes something that belongs to me, or someone comes and takes something that belongs to you, we call it stealing. Why create this new category that grows 500% that I think allows you to cook the books as the head of the Fraternal Order of Police in your city center?”

Mendelson maintained that he was not “familiar” with the category and suggested that “gunshots have decreased in the district.”

Jordan responded, “Taking property without right was the question. What does that mean?” Mendelson said he had already answered.

Watch the full exchange below: 

Liberal talking points claiming that murders in DC have fallen to new lows are centered around comparing them to the national surge that began in 2020 during the “great awokening.” Murder rates nationally in major cities are below the peaks from that, but are still higher than they were before them. 

Following Trump sending in the National Guard to DC, the capitol went nearly two weeks without a single homicide, a record.