President Trump on Monday appeared to back off on his threat to deploy the military or take other unilateral actions to crack down on crime in liberal cities, saying it would be better to be asked by state and local officials for federal assistance.
“I was telling some of the people that in a certain way you really want to be asked to go. I hate to barge in on a city and then be treated horribly by corrupt politicians and bad politicians,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
“I don’t like going to a town, city, place, a state, and then be criticized by some corrupt or incompetent governor where crime is rampant,” Trump added.
The president’s remarks came just before he signed a series of executive orders intended to intensify the federal government’s efforts to address crime in the nation’s capital. He signed orders that aimed to end cashless bail, to increase penalties for desecrating the American flag, and to establish “specialized units” in the National Guard equipped to deal with public order issues.
The Trump administration earlier this month began surging federal law enforcement across parts of the District to crack down on what the White House said was an unacceptable level of crime, despite statistics showing violent crime has declined in the city. That order came after a former employee of the Department of Government Efficiency, created by Trump’s administration, was attacked overnight in the nation’s capital.
Trump took federal control of the Metropolitan Police Department and deployed hundreds of National Guard troops across the city to further the crackdown on crime.
Last week, Trump indicated he planned to take similar steps in Chicago next.
“We’re going to make our cities very, very safe,” Trump said last Friday. “Chicago’s a mess. You have an incompetent mayor. Grossly incompetent and we’ll straighten that one out probably next. That will be our next one after this. And it won’t even be tough.”
It’s unclear how Trump would enact a similar effort in another city. He cannot seize control of a local police department outside of Washington, D.C., where home rule laws give the federal government greater authority. And Illinois officials have sharply pushed back against suggestions that Trump might send in the National Guard.
Trump has repeatedly criticized Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D), who is a potential 2028 presidential candidate, and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D).
“These people are sick. But I’m really saying, and I say this to all of you, in a certain way we should wait to be asked,” Trump said Monday. “Because they have cities that are so out of control. So we go in and fix it, they take the full credit for it.”
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