Trump says Chicago, New York to be next targets of federal crime crackdown

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) — US President Donald Trump said Friday his administration will target Chicago and New York in a federal crackdown on crime, while also lashing out at Democrats’ running of the city of San Francisco.

“So, I think Chicago will be our next, and then we’ll help with New York,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

“We're going to make our cities very, very safe. Chicago is a mess. You have an incompetent mayor, grossly incompetent, and we’ll straighten that one out, probably next … and it won’t even be tough,” he added.

He also said: “Chicago and San Francisco, the two greatest cities in the world. Now, you look at what the Democrats have done to San Francisco. They’ve destroyed it.”

Trump has credited his takeover of Washington, DC’s police force with reducing crime, calling a week without murders a “miracle,” while dismissing polls showing residents disapprove of federal troop deployments as “fake news.”

Trump's remarks came days after he declared a "crime emergency" in Washington, DC, placing the Metropolitan Police Department under federal control and deploying 800 National Guard troops to patrol streets.