Despite all of tech billionaire Elon Musk's efforts to make his AI chatbot on X give right-wing approved answers, it once again went after President Donald Trump this week, The Daily Beast reported.
Grok's response came about in response to questioning about Trump's decision to deploy the National Guard to take over the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police — ostensibly to bring crime under control, even though crime in the district has fallen dramatically over the last few years.
"In a since-deleted post, Grok declared Trump 'the most notorious criminal' in Washington, D.C. based on his 34 felony convictions for falsifying business records," reported Annie Bang. "The response came after an X user asked Grok whether violent crime in D.C. was in decline, with another user chiming in to inquire who, exactly, the 'most notorious criminal' in D.C. would be. Grok’s response to both questions was: 'Yes, violent crime in D.C. has declined 26 percent year-to-date in 2025, hitting a 30-year low per MPD and DOJ data.'"
Grok then went on to say, “As for the most notorious criminal there, based on convictions and notoriety, it’s President Donald Trump — convicted on 34 felonies in NY, with the verdict upheld in January 2025.”
Trump's conviction stemmed from a scheme to manipulate business records to conceal hush payments he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, to hide embarrassing information about their affair from the voting public during the 2016 election. A state judge in New York gave him no meaningful sentence, recognizing he was about to re-assume the presidency, although he remains a convicted felon on the legal records.
This is not Grok's first time going against the politics of its creator; in March, the chatbot got stuck in an endless loop of saying that Democrats manage the economy better than Republicans. The program has had other issues in recent months, including a day when it incessantly pushed conspiracy theories about South Africa, and earlier today, it was accidentally suspended from X.
Musk himself formed a major part of Trump's financial backing in 2024 and spent months advising him on his Department of Government Efficiency task force to reduce the size of the federal workforce and cut various programs. However, the two had a falling out over a key executive appointment and disagreements over the president's tax cut megabill.