The Republican-led House Oversight Committee on Thursday launched an investigation into the FBI for its alleged “failure to report fully and accurately nationwide. crime data”.

In a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer said the bureau “did not include” in its 2022 data a 4.5 percent increase in national crime.

The FBI initially reported a 1.7 percent drop in violent crime in 2022, but later “quietly” revised those numbers, Comer said. Comer claimed that the FBI failed to include “an additional 1,699 murders, 7,780 rapes, 33,459 robberies, and 37,091 aggravated assaults” in its original count.

Comer said the FBI’s failure to report that data “calls into question the veracity” of the 2023 Crime in the Nation report.

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House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) speaks during a hearing with FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf in the Rayburn House Office Building on April 11, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

He noted that Vice President Kamala Harris “presented the data from 2023” and the media used it “to debunk the real concerns of Americans about crime.”

“The committee is concerned that the FBI’s recent failures to report accurate crime data are politically motivated,” Comer said. “The committee is seeking documents and communications to understand the FBI’s failure to provide Congress and the American people with accurate crime data and whether the 2023 data is, in fact, accurate.”

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The FBI told Fox News Digital that it stands behind each of its Crime in the Nation publications.

The FBI said a “significant number of agencies” failed to complete the transition from the bureau’s traditional Summary Reporting System (SRS) to the more comprehensive National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) for the 2021 data collection year.

FILE – An FBI seal is seen on a wall on Aug. 10, 2022, in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

“Due to the lower volume of participation, the FBI was unable to produce the traditional national estimates for 2021,” the bureau said. “To provide a reliable comparison of crime trends across the country, the UCR Program conducted an estimated NIBRS crime trend analysis.”

The FBI said its release last month of Crimes in the Nation, 2023 was the first phase of its efforts to provide the public with more timely data.

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The bureau said it will soon switch to monthly data releases “to promote transparency and provide consumers with an opportunity to review data based on more timely crime counts, with the understanding that the data will be continually updated.”