President Trump confirmed on Tuesday that the administration is preparing to deploy federal troops to the streets of Chiacgo against the will of the mayor and governor” to do what they’ve done in Washington D.C. over the past few weeks. “I’m very proud of Washington. It serves as a testimony, a template, and we’re going to do it elsewhere,” Trump said.

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS: Did you make your mind up on Chicago though? PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, we’re going in. I didn’t say when. We’re going in. When you lose-look, I have an obligation. This isn’t a political thing. I have an obligation. When we lose-when 20 people are killed over the last two and a half weeks and 75 are shot with bullets… So let me tell you a little story about a place called D.C., District of Columbia. Right here where we are. It’s now a safe zone. We have no crime. It’s in such great shape. You can go and actually walk with your children, your wife, your husband. You can walk right down the middle of the street. You’re not going to be shot, Peter-you’re safe. Everyone likes you anyway. They probably wouldn’t do it. [laughter] But it’s so dangerous. And there are people in this audience-you’ve suffered greatly. There are people in this room that have been hurt very badly just walking down the street in D.C. Washington, D.C., is a safe zone right now. It’s a safe city. The restaurants are open. They’re booming. You can’t get a reservation. New restaurants are announcing they’re going to be open. This took place in 12 days-now it’s 15 days-but three days ago it became what’s known as a safe zone. And this city was really bad. Really, really bad. We took 1,600 people out-hardcore criminals that will not be coming back any time soon. And we’re very proud of it. To have our nation’s capital lose-every week, for many years-every single week somebody was killed. Many consecutive weeks, this went on for years. And then last week it was announced that nobody was killed. And I made that announcement in front of a very distinguished leader of a country. I said proudly, Ladies and gentlemen, nobody was killed in Washington, D.C. this week. He looked at me like, What’s that all about? I said, yeah, we had a little bit of a crime problem. But we don’t have a crime problem in Washington anymore. The mayor’s been very helpful. The police commissioner’s been very helpful. It’s been a great team. And I would love to have the governor call me-I’d gain respect for him-say we do have a problem and we’d love you to send in the troops. Because you know what? The people, they have to be protected. I saw today on one of your networks-not a friendly network, the opposite, a very unfriendly network. They interviewed about 12 people this morning. Most of them were African American. And they were saying: please, please, please let the president send in… these were people from Chicago. Please, we need help. We can’t walk outside. We’re petrified. If the governor of Illinois would call me up, I would love to do it. Now, we’re going to do it anyway. We have the right to do it because I have an obligation to protect this country, and that includes Baltimore. I saw where Governor Moore was asking me to take a walk down the street of Baltimore. Well, Baltimore’s a very unsafe place. It’s rated number four-one of the most unsafe places anywhere in the world. But what happened in Washington was beautiful. We showed that it could be done. And this wasn’t just sending big, strong guys-and they are big and strong. We had a great decision from the Supreme Court that had to do with merit. You can hire based on merit. So merit for a soldier or for a policeman is strong, physically fit, having ability. Not a person that is woke and got the job through woke, but wasn’t strong enough to lift a gun out of the holster, et cetera. Last week I went over, we had a meeting with maybe 300 people and they were all very impressive looking. And when the bad guys see them, they’re not going to do a thing. I’m very proud of Washington. It serves as a testimony, a template, and we’re going to do it elsewhere. Chicago will certainly be high. I would love the governor of Illinois to call. I’d be honored to take his call. All he has to do is say, Sir, we need help. It’s out of control. Everyone knows it is. He’s not kidding anyone. And I would love Governor Moore to call. Because I watched him over the weekend trying to explain that Baltimore-what they need is housing. No. They don’t need housing. They need to get rid of the criminals. These are hardcore criminals. We took many people off the streets of Washington, D.C. They’re hardcore. They’re not going to be good. In 10 years, in 20 years, in 2 years-they’re going to be criminals. They were born to be criminals, frankly. They were born to be criminals. They’re tough and mean and they’ll cut your throat. And they won’t even think about it the next day. They won’t even remember that they did it. And we’re not going to have those people. Washington, D.C., is now a safe zone. It’s a safe place. You can walk. Katie-you can walk right down the street, even by yourself, and you’re totally safe. Washington, D.C., is a great thing.
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