By WILL WEISSERT
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he will direct federal law enforcement intervention to combat crime in Chicago and Baltimore, despite staunch opposition from state and local officials in both cities.
Asked by reporters in the Oval Office about sending National Guard troops to Chicago, Trump said, “We’re going in,” but added, “I didn’t say when.”
“I have an obligation,” the president said. ”This isn’t a political thing.”
Trump has already sent National Guard troops into Washington, D.C., and federalized the police force in the nation’s capital. More recently, he has said he plans similar moves in other cities, particularly those run by Democratic officials.
The president praised Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser for working with federal forces, but criticized Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who has said crime in Chicago doesn’t require federal intervention.
Trump said he’d love to have Pritzker call and say, “Send in the troops” — even though the governor has repeatedly said he won’t be doing that.
“If the governor of Illinois would call up, call me up, I would love to do it,” Trump said. “Now, we’re going to do it anyway. We have the right to do it.”
Pritzker deemed Trump’s comments to call him for help as “unhinged.”
“No, I will not call the president asking him to send troops to Chicago,” he said at his downtown Chicago office. “I’ve made that clear already.”
Trump also said he has an “obligation to protect this country, and that includes Baltimore.” Local officials there have joined Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore in similarly opposing federal law enforcement intervention.
Trump said his efforts in Washington have ensured it “is now a safe zone. We have no crime.”
The White House announced separately Tuesday that more than 1,650 people have been arrested since the Trump administration first mobilized federal officials on Aug. 7.
“And this city was really bad,” Trump said. He said, “we’re really proud of” federal efforts to curb crime in Washington.
