Trump suggests he will flee to Venezuela if he loses the election because it is 'far safer' than the U.S.

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Donald Trump suggested during his interview with Elon Musk that he could flee to Venezuela if he loses the election, because it is 'far safer' than the United States.

During his two-hour conversation with the tech mogul on X's Spaces, the former president said the South American nation is 'emptying out' its prisons and sending murderers and rapists to the southern border.  

'If something happens with this election, which would be a horror show, we'll meet the next time in Venezuela, because it'll be a far safer place to meet than our country.

'OK, so we'll go. You and I will go, and we'll have a meeting and dinner in Venezuela'.

'Venezuela - their crime is down 72 per cent,' the former president said during the interview, claiming 'drug dealers', 'murderers', 'rapists' and other violent criminals are being released from prison.

'Venezuela has not gotten rid of all of them. They've gotten rid of about 70 percent of their really bad people,' he told Musk. 'Their jails are about 50 percent, put into the United States. Same with other countries, over 30 percent. Some are at 50 percent. They're all different.

'But the bottom line is they're all going to be 100 percent. Why wouldn't you put 100 percent of it?'

'Their crime rate is coming down and our crime rate is going through the roof. And it's so simple,' he said.

'You haven't seen anything yet because these people have come into our country and they're just getting acclimated and they don't know about being politically correct, law enforcement or lack of law enforcement and our police.'

Donald Trump suggested during his interview with Elon Musk that he could flee to Venezuela if he loses the election, because it is 'fare safer' than the United States 

The Republican nominee has repeatedly alleged that other countries and sending criminals across the border, resulting in an uptick in American crime rates.

Studies have shown immigrants, including those in the US illegally, do not commit crimes at a higher rate than native-born Americans. 

Trump claimed that New York City has become 'overwhelmed' with illegal immigration, citing a rape and a stabbing that had occurred over the weekend.

'I saw it today in New York, where somebody was knifed, where they raped the girlfriend of a man that stood there watching in New York in one of the shelters and started pulling out the knives,' he told Musk.

Trump was referencing how a 46-year-old woman was raped at knifepoint by a suspected migrant next to the Coney Island boardwalk on Sunday, while another asylum seeker fought off her 34-year-old boyfriend.

The unprovoked attack reportedly happened outside a hotel housing asylum seekers Sunday around 9pm, and has since resulted in rumored Nicaraguan migrant David Davon-Bonilla, 24, and 37-year-old Mexican Leovando Moreno's arrest.

Moreno is said to have struck the boyfriend with an unidentified object, while the woman, who reportedly lives under the boardwalk, was allegedly violated by Davon-Bonilla.

Moreno was charged with first-degree rape, second-degree assault, first-degree sexual abuse, menacing and criminal possession of a weapon, while his accomplice was charged with assault and criminal possession of a weapon for his fending off of the male victim.

Trump was also seemingly referencing the violent clash outside the Randall's Island mega shelter Sunday morning that saw a migrant get stabbed in the stomach.

The 26-year-old victim was knifed near a tent used by asylum seekers during the feud, the New York Post reported. He was taken to a nearby hospital and is understood to be in stable condition.

No arrests have yet been made in the case. 

'Bad things happen today, but this is happening every day,' Trump said of the violence in New York. 'We're already overwhelmed. Elon, we're overwhelmed.

'You had to see the news tonight about New York - New York, and I love that place, and what they're doing to it is horrible. What they're doing to it, and all the courts do is they try and focus on Trump.

Trump has previously branded Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as a dictator 

A 46-year-old woman was raped at knifepoint by a suspected migrant next to the Coney Island boardwalk on Sunday, right on this stretch of street adjacent to the famed boardwalk

Reported Nicaraguan migrant David Davon-Bonilla, 24, (left) and 37-year-old Mexican Leovando Moreno (right) were arrested Sunday, after Davon-Bonilla allegedly raped a 46-year-old tourist close by. Moreno fought back the woman's boyfriend as the rape took place, cops said

Trump criticized Harris' immigration record, claiming she had been Biden's 'border czar' and saying she oversaw a huge rise in unauthorized crossings after being put 'in charge' of the Mexico-US border.

'She was the border czar, and people can't allow them to get away with their disinformation campaign,' Trump told Musk. 'Now, she's saying she wasn't really involved … she was totally in charge.'

Border security is overseen by the Department of Homeland Security, which during the Biden Administration is run by Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Biden in 2021 tasked the Vice President with a limited immigration-related assignment in which she was meant to 'lead diplomatic efforts' with El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Harris coordinated with foreign countries to address poverty, security issues and other 'root causes' that were driving people into the US, but was not directly responsible for border policy.

Trump further slammed Harris for promising during a campaign rally in Arizona last week that she was going to fight for 'strong border security'.

'She's saying she was strong on the border. "We're going to be strong." Well, she doesn't have to say [it]; she could close it up right now,' Trump stated, adding: 'They could do things right now. It's horrible.'

He also inflated the number of illegal migrants that have come to the US under the Biden-Harris Administration.

'You have millions of people coming in a month,' he told Musk. 'They are coming in from everywhere and they have another five months.'

But Customs and Border Protection data shows that in June - the most recent monthly report - only 205,019 so-called border 'encounters' were recorded. 

December 2023 saw a 'peak' in border encounters, with 370,890 recorded that month nationwide.

He also alleged that under the Administration 'over 20 million people came into our country, many coming from jails, from prisons, from mental institutions, or a bigger version of that is insane asylums.'

CBP data shows that from February 2021 through June 2024 there were roughly 10 million encounters nationwide.

Trump inflated migrant crossing figures, falsely claiming 'millions of people [are] coming in a month', and made an erroneous claim that '22 murderers came from the Congo'. Pictured is the US-Mexico border wall on August 11

Trump complained extensively about undocumented immigrants making their way to the US, repeating a claim he has made before that migrants are coming from 'the Congo'.

But Trump failed to specify whether he was referring to the Republic of Congo or the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.

'Elon, what's happened is unbelievable,' he told 1.2 million X listeners during his chat with the social media site's owner. 'They're coming from the Congo, and 22 people came in from the Congo recently, and they're murderers.'

Trump, without any challenge from Musk, then claimed criminals were being released from Congolese prisons and being sent across the southern US border.

'They drop 'em. They take 'em out of jails - which is very expensive, you know, to maintain the jails - they don't do too much maintaining, I can tell you,' he said.

'But they take 'em out of jails, prisons. They take 'em out, and they bring them to the United States.'

Trump made a similar allegation earlier this year, prompting response from government officials in both the Republic of Congo and DR Congo who said his assertions were false.

'Everything he is saying isn't true,' Democratic Republic of Congo spokesperson Patrick Muyaya Katembwe told CNN in March after Trump claimed 'the Congo' was sending violent criminals into the US. 

Katembwe said Trump's allegations that violent offenders were being emptied from prison was 'not true' and said 'we want him to stop' spreading this misinformation because it is 'very bad for the country'.

Serge Mombouli, the Republic of Congo's ambassador to the US, echoed the response, telling the broadcaster: 'There is no truth or any sign nor a single fact supporting such a claim or statement.'

US Border Patrol police intervene with migrants crossing the border to Jacumba Hot Springs, California on June 10, 2024

Migrants from South and Central America hold hands as they stride towards a gap in the border wall before crossing into Boulevard, California from Tecate, Mexico, May 20, 2024

He also alleged that the Venezuelan government is 'emptying out their and prisons' sending criminals to America, resulting in an uptick in crime.

Roberto Briceño-León, founder and director of the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, in June denied Trump's allegations that criminals were being send abroad.

He told FactCheck.org: 'We have no evidence that the Venezuelan government is emptying the prisons or mental hospitals to send them out of the country, whether to the USA or any other country.' 

Briceño-León instead attributed to drop in crime figures to the country's massive out-migration fueled by worsening economic and living conditions.

Trump criticized the Vice President's immigration record, claiming she had been Biden's 'border czar' and saying she oversaw a huge rise in unauthorized crossings after being put 'in charge' of the Mexico -US border. Pictured: Kamala Harris at a campaign event on August 8

Trump is pictured on Monday night, participating in his interview with Elon Musk

Furthermore, Trump oddly claimed during the interview that 'illegal immigration saved my life'.

Discussing the assassination attempt during his campaign rally on July 13, the former president alleged that gunman Thomas Crooks missed because Trump had turned his head to look at an illegal immigration chart. The bullet instead grazed his ear.

'Doctors later told me that the ear is a place, that is a very bloody place if you're going to get hit,' he said. 'If I had not turned my head, I would not be talking to you right now - as much as I like you.'

He also pledged to return to the Pennsylvania town of Butler where he was shot.