The FBI has arrested 54,000 violent criminals since the beginning of the Trump administration.
Posted by The Dan Bongino Show, Checked
- Sources
- 2 contradict3 support2 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 55%
The Dan Bongino ShowSep 16, 2026
The 54,000 figure is the FBI's and White House's own count, repeated across primary and official statements, so the claim is supported on the bureau's measure.
A detail. The sources confirm the gist; the verdict faults a detail such as a date, number or wording.
A played clip makes this claim. Listeners heard it, so it counts against the post.
What was said
… Here are the numbers of what your FBI under Trump's, a Donald Trump, President Trump's leadership did to clean up your streets. This is the message that got lost yesterday. This has been the most prolific run of crime reduction in the United States history. With the help of our great partners, since the beginning of the Trump administration, the FBI has arrested 54,000 violent criminals. That's up 90% from the 18 month year period prior to that. That's making America safe. 31,000 violent gang members have been arrested by the FBI. That's up 30%, making America safe. We've removed, the FBI has removed 3,258 kilograms of fentanyl. …
The Dan Bongino Show · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. MS NOW reports the count is inflated by including arrests made by state, local and other federal agencies when an FBI employee was present, and the FBI admits many of those are not its cases.[3][4]
Supports. The White House release and Patel's September 2026 Senate testimony and C-SPAN transcript both state the FBI arrested about 54,000 violent criminals since the start of the Trump administration, up 90%.[2][5][6]
Context. A later FBI release reports 47,000 violent criminal arrests over 21 months, a figure that does not match the 54,000 claim despite the longer window.[7]
Context. The FBI's 2025 crime-rate declines reported by FactCheck.org concern national crime rates, not the FBI's arrest totals, so they do not verify the arrest figure.[1]
Sources
7 sources: 1 fact-checker, 1 primary, 1 tier 3, 4 not rated
- 1Trump's Numbers, October 2026 Updatefactcheck.org · fact-checker · cited for: context
- 2President Trump Delivers the Largest Drop in Violent ...whitehouse.gov · primary source · cited for: supports
- 3Kash Patel 'poaching credit' to cover up his own failures ...rawstory.com · tier 3 · cited for: contradicts
- 4Crime stats touted by Kash Patel are bolstered by arrests ...ms.now · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 5Patel gives opening statement during FBI oversight hearingyoutube.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 6Patel reveals historic crime drop, 10-of-10 Most Wanted takedown in ...flvoicenews.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 7FBI reports 114% jump in violent crime arrests under ...yahoo.com · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
- The number of violent criminals arrested by the FBI is up 90% compared to the 18-month period prior to the Trump administration.Mixed
- The FBI has arrested 31,000 violent gang members.Can’t tell
- The FBI has arrested 5,072 child predators and human traffickers.True
- The number of violent gang members arrested by the FBI is up 30%.True
- The FBI has arrested 4,260 foreign terrorist organization-related aliens.Can’t tell