The president made the comments after he was asked by reporters in the Oval Office whether he was prepared to send the National Guard into American cities for law enforcement without a request from state authorities, a move that would likely be met with court challenges.
Trump said that while he could do it, “we’re just going to have to see what happens,” sparking another question from a reporter about his legal authority to do so.
The president said the city and state authorities should be accepting the help offered by the federal government instead of rejecting it.
Trump said that if he ordered the National Guard to go in, “We will solve Chicago within one week, maybe less. We will have no crime in Chicago, just like we have no crime in D.C.”
Chicago was the nation’s homicide capital in 2024, with 573 murders, according to data compiled by Wirepoints.
The president said he didn’t receive a request from the governor of Illinois, “who is affected more than anyone else.”
“I think until I get that request from that guy, I’m not going to do anything about it. And I feel the same way about crime,” he said.
Pritzker responded to the president’s comments during a press conference in Chicago.
“Earlier today in the Oval Office, Donald Trump looked at the assembled cameras and asked for me personally to say, ‘Mr. President, can you do us the honor of protecting our city?’ Instead, I say, ‘Mr. President, do not come to Chicago. You are neither wanted here nor needed here,’” Pritzker said.
“This is not about fighting crime. This is about Donald Trump searching for any justification to deploy the military in a blue city in a blue state to try to intimidate his political rivals.”
Trump has also mentioned sending National Guard troops to New York City, Oakland, and San Francisco, citing the high crime rates in those cities.
“Look at what the Democrats have done to San Francisco,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Aug. 22. “They’ve destroyed it. We can clean that up, too. We’ll clean that one up, too,” he said.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie rejected the suggestion, saying that the city is making progress on improving public safety.
The National Guard has been deployed in Washington for more than a week. Trump was able to deploy troops there because Washington is a federal district.
“All I know is we’re being celebrated because we went an entire week, now it’s 11 days, we went an entire week without a murder,” Trump said.
The White House said, “As President Trump rightly calls attention to the crime and disrepair gripping other major U.S. cities—like Democrat-run Chicago—Democrat politicians seem far more upset about the offer of assistance than the crime epidemic in their own backyards.”
