Washington
Trump’s DOJ is investigating whether D.C. police falsified crime data
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether police officials in Washington, D.C., have falsified data to make crime rates appear lower than they are, according to two people familiar with the probe who weren’t authorized to publicly discuss an open investigation.
The investigation comes amid an escalating — and political — showdown between the Trump administration and the city over control of the police department. It wasn’t immediately clear what federal laws could have been violated by the possible manipulation of crime data.
President Donald Trump claimed that violent crime in Washington is getting worse as he ordered a federal takeover of the city’s police department, flooding the streets with hundreds of National Guard members. But he exaggerated or misstated many facts about public safety in Washington, where crime rates have fallen in recent years.
Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office declined to comment on the investigation. A spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Jeannine Pirro’s office in Washington didn’t respond to emails seeking comment.
The New York Times was first to report on the investigation.
Earlier this year, a Metropolitan Police Department commander suspected of manipulating crime data was placed on paid administrative leave, NBC Washington reported. Bowser told the television station last Tuesday that the city’s police chief “had concerns about one commander, investigated all seven districts and verified that the concern was with one person.”
“So, we are completing that investigation and we don’t believe it implicates many cases,” the mayor added.
Former interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin, who was Pirro’s predecessor and Trump’s first pick to lead the office, said Washington’s violent crime had decreased in the first 100 days since Trump returned to the White House in January. In an April 28 news release, Martin’s office said MPD data showed that violent crime had dropped by 25 percent since the start of 2025.
“We are proving that strong enforcement and smart policies can make our communities safer,” Martin said in the release.
Mississippi
Judge: State Supreme Court map violates Voting Rights Act
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge has ordered Mississippi to redraw its Supreme Court electoral map, after finding the map dilutes the power of Black voters.
U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock ruled the map, which was enacted in 1987, violates the Voting Rights Act and cannot be used in future elections.
The Mississippi branch of the American Civil Liberties Union helped litigate the lawsuit, arguing the map cut Mississippi’s Delta region — a historically Black area — in half.
“This win corrects a historic injustice,” said Ari Savitzky, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU Voting Rights Project. “All Mississippians will benefit from fair district lines that give Black voters an equal voice — and new generations of Black leaders an equal chance to help shape the state’s future by serving on the state’s highest court.”
The lawsuit, which was filed on April 25, 2022, argued the map diminished the Black vote in the Central District.
Aycock’s ruling notes that only four Black people have served on the Mississippi Supreme Court. All of them held the same seat in the Central District and were first appointed to the position by a sitting governor.
Aycock wrote that she will impose a deadline for the Mississippi Legislature to create a new map.
California
Man who admitted shipping weapons to North Korea is sentenced to 8 years in prison
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California man has been sentenced to eight years in prison after admitting to shipping weapons and ammunition to North Korea that he said were to be used for a surprise attack on South Korea, authorities said Tuesday.
Shenghua Wen, 42, came to the U.S. from China on a student visa in 2012 and remained in the country illegally after it expired, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles.
Wen pleaded guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government, the statement says. He was sentenced on Monday.
Wen told investigators that before he entered the U.S., he met with North Korean officials at an embassy in China, where they instructed him to procure goods for the North Korean government. He also admitted that he tried to buy uniforms to disguise North Korean soldiers for the surprise attack, a federal complaint says.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has demonstrated an intent to deploy battlefield nuclear weapons along the North’s border with South Korea, a U.S. ally, recently delivering nuclear-capable missile launchers to frontline military units.
United Nations resolutions ban North Korea from importing or exporting weapons.
In 2022, North Korean officials contacted him via an online messaging app and instructed him to buy firearms, prosecutors said. He shipped two containers of weapons and other items from Long Beach, California, to North Korea via Hong Kong in 2023. He told U.S. authorities that he was wired about $2 million to do so, according to the complaint.
Authorities did not specify in the complaint the types of weapons that were exported.
To carry out his operation, Wen purchased a business in 2023 called Super Armory, a federal firearms licensee, for $150,000, and registered it under his business partner’s name in Texas. He had other people purchase the firearms and then drove them to California, misrepresenting the shipments as a refrigerator and camera parts. Investigators did not say whether Wen had organized any shipments during his first 10 years in the U.S.
The FBI in September seized 50,000 rounds of ammunition from Wen’s home in the LA suburb of Ontario that had been stored in a van parked in the driveway, the complaint says.
They also seized a chemical threat identification device and a transmission detective device that Wen said he planned to send to the North Korean government for military use, the complaint says.
Trump’s DOJ is investigating whether D.C. police falsified crime data
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether police officials in Washington, D.C., have falsified data to make crime rates appear lower than they are, according to two people familiar with the probe who weren’t authorized to publicly discuss an open investigation.
The investigation comes amid an escalating — and political — showdown between the Trump administration and the city over control of the police department. It wasn’t immediately clear what federal laws could have been violated by the possible manipulation of crime data.
President Donald Trump claimed that violent crime in Washington is getting worse as he ordered a federal takeover of the city’s police department, flooding the streets with hundreds of National Guard members. But he exaggerated or misstated many facts about public safety in Washington, where crime rates have fallen in recent years.
Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office declined to comment on the investigation. A spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Jeannine Pirro’s office in Washington didn’t respond to emails seeking comment.
The New York Times was first to report on the investigation.
Earlier this year, a Metropolitan Police Department commander suspected of manipulating crime data was placed on paid administrative leave, NBC Washington reported. Bowser told the television station last Tuesday that the city’s police chief “had concerns about one commander, investigated all seven districts and verified that the concern was with one person.”
“So, we are completing that investigation and we don’t believe it implicates many cases,” the mayor added.
Former interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin, who was Pirro’s predecessor and Trump’s first pick to lead the office, said Washington’s violent crime had decreased in the first 100 days since Trump returned to the White House in January. In an April 28 news release, Martin’s office said MPD data showed that violent crime had dropped by 25 percent since the start of 2025.
“We are proving that strong enforcement and smart policies can make our communities safer,” Martin said in the release.
Mississippi
Judge: State Supreme Court map violates Voting Rights Act
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A federal judge has ordered Mississippi to redraw its Supreme Court electoral map, after finding the map dilutes the power of Black voters.
U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock ruled the map, which was enacted in 1987, violates the Voting Rights Act and cannot be used in future elections.
The Mississippi branch of the American Civil Liberties Union helped litigate the lawsuit, arguing the map cut Mississippi’s Delta region — a historically Black area — in half.
“This win corrects a historic injustice,” said Ari Savitzky, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU Voting Rights Project. “All Mississippians will benefit from fair district lines that give Black voters an equal voice — and new generations of Black leaders an equal chance to help shape the state’s future by serving on the state’s highest court.”
The lawsuit, which was filed on April 25, 2022, argued the map diminished the Black vote in the Central District.
Aycock’s ruling notes that only four Black people have served on the Mississippi Supreme Court. All of them held the same seat in the Central District and were first appointed to the position by a sitting governor.
Aycock wrote that she will impose a deadline for the Mississippi Legislature to create a new map.
California
Man who admitted shipping weapons to North Korea is sentenced to 8 years in prison
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California man has been sentenced to eight years in prison after admitting to shipping weapons and ammunition to North Korea that he said were to be used for a surprise attack on South Korea, authorities said Tuesday.
Shenghua Wen, 42, came to the U.S. from China on a student visa in 2012 and remained in the country illegally after it expired, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles.
Wen pleaded guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government, the statement says. He was sentenced on Monday.
Wen told investigators that before he entered the U.S., he met with North Korean officials at an embassy in China, where they instructed him to procure goods for the North Korean government. He also admitted that he tried to buy uniforms to disguise North Korean soldiers for the surprise attack, a federal complaint says.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has demonstrated an intent to deploy battlefield nuclear weapons along the North’s border with South Korea, a U.S. ally, recently delivering nuclear-capable missile launchers to frontline military units.
United Nations resolutions ban North Korea from importing or exporting weapons.
In 2022, North Korean officials contacted him via an online messaging app and instructed him to buy firearms, prosecutors said. He shipped two containers of weapons and other items from Long Beach, California, to North Korea via Hong Kong in 2023. He told U.S. authorities that he was wired about $2 million to do so, according to the complaint.
Authorities did not specify in the complaint the types of weapons that were exported.
To carry out his operation, Wen purchased a business in 2023 called Super Armory, a federal firearms licensee, for $150,000, and registered it under his business partner’s name in Texas. He had other people purchase the firearms and then drove them to California, misrepresenting the shipments as a refrigerator and camera parts. Investigators did not say whether Wen had organized any shipments during his first 10 years in the U.S.
The FBI in September seized 50,000 rounds of ammunition from Wen’s home in the LA suburb of Ontario that had been stored in a van parked in the driveway, the complaint says.
They also seized a chemical threat identification device and a transmission detective device that Wen said he planned to send to the North Korean government for military use, the complaint says.
