Bette Midler Fact-Check: Trump Said ‘More than 4,000 Shot in Chicago’ – but Only 762 Murders

Bette Midler
Kevin Winter/Getty Images

During his February 28 speech to a Joint Session of Congress, President Trump denounced violence, saying: “In Chicago, more than 4,000 people were shot last year alone.”

Singer and actress Bette Midler tried to counter Trump’s statement by tweeting a link to Chicago Tribune story which showed that nearly 800 people were murdered in Chicago.

In other words, Trump was talking about the overall number of shooting victims — fatal and non-fatal combined — when he said “more than 4,000.” But in her eagerness to make it look like Trump was exaggerating, Midler tweeted that just under 800 people were murdered. She was blissfully unaware that she was comparing apples to oranges, and the sad part is that if she had listened to Trump’s whole statement she would have noticed he addressed the raging homicide problem separately.

Trump’s full statement: “In Chicago, more than 4,000 people were shot last year alone — and the murder rate so far this year has been even higher.”

Midler’s tweet:

Gun-controlled Chicago ended 2016 with nearly 4,400 shooting victims and nearly 800 homicides, and the city is already on pace to have more shootings and homicides this year than last. For example, there were 466 shooting victims during the first two months of 2016 but more than 517 shooting victims during the same time period in 2017. There were 101 homicides during the first two months of 2016 but more than 103 during the same time period in 2017.

Trump is correct. Midler jumped the gun.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of “Bullets with AWR Hawkins,” a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.

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