2:03Skyline of Chicago.Iuliia Sokolovska/Adobe Stock
President Donald Trump stated he intends to intensify crime suppression in additional urban areas nationwide and is setting his sights on Chicago, a Democrat-run city the commander-in-chief has repeatedly assailed.
He pointed to Washington, D.C., as the template, a locale where he sent the National Guard, flooded the streets with federal agents, and assumed oversight of the metropolitan police department.
During a World Cup discussion in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump delivered several spontaneous remarks concerning the Guard’s ongoing presence in the capital—now shifting into its eighth consecutive day.
"The National Guard has performed spectacularly alongside law-enforcement officers," he declared. "Once we finish here, we’ll head to another site and render it safe as well. We’re going to make our nation very secure. We’re going to render our cities very, very secure."
Skyline of Chicago.Iuliia Sokolovska/Adobe Stock
Trump spotlighted Chicago as the forthcoming locale he intends to “make safe,” reiterating unsupported assertions that lawlessness is spiraling and the current Democratic administration is failing to tackle it. Both the president and Vice President JD Vance alleged residents of Chicago were “pleading” for help.
"African-American women—beautiful women—are saying, ‘Please, President Trump, come to Chicago, please,’" Trump contended, adding that he performed strongly among Black voters.
Statistics from Chicago Police reveal overall offenses are down 13 percent so far this year compared with the corresponding span in 2024, registering 59,206 reports versus 68,165 the prior year. Homicides and robberies for the same interval have dipped 31 percent and 33 percent respectively, according to the department.
Compared with 2021, when authorities tallied 42,250 incidents year-to-date, crime has risen 40 percent; yet murders and holdups have still fallen 50 percent and 11 percent respectively across those four years, per the same data.
Trump acknowledged the administration has not initiated any firm moves to boost policing in Chicago, though warned, “when we’re ready, we’ll press forward,” referring to Mayor Brandon Johnson as “utterly incompetent.”
President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office, August 22, 2025 in Washington.Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
"We’ll step in and fix Chicago just like we handled D.C. That city is extremely perilous. It’s a phenomenal place. I built fantastic properties there. I believe I have the most gorgeous tower in Chicago, but it pains me to watch what’s happened. Chicago is actually our finest city," he remarked.
On Friday, Mayor Johnson issued a response to Trump’s pledge to intervene, noting he has received no official outreach from the White House.
"We hold serious reservations about any unauthorized dispatch of National Guard units to Chicago,” Johnson stated. “The flaw in the president’s strategy is that it’s haphazard, unsolicited, and ill-advised."
The mayor contended deploying Guardsmen could “stoke antagonism between residents and police,” and “risk erasing the historic strides we have achieved.”
"Soldiers cannot replace committed local officers and neighborhood peacekeepers who live among and serve our communities daily. The federal government could contribute in numerous effective ways to curb violence, yet dispatching troops is not one of them," Johnson emphasized.
"So I think Chicago will be next, and after that we’ll assist New York," Trump added, without specifying reasons why the Big Apple would require crime-fighting aid.
He also pledged to “lend a hand” to New York in addressing crime, yet again offered no particulars or rationale.
NYPD figures indicate overall offenses are down roughly 4.74 percent this year compared with last, logging 74,764 cases year-to-date in 2025 versus 78,488 through the same period in 2024.
Crime has plunged 76.5 percent since 1990, when the department recorded 527,257 incidents, according to the NYPD.
Trump provided no schedule for ending the National Guard presence in Washington. The president continued scolding D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser over public-safety management, insisting she hasn’t treated the issue with adequate seriousness.
"Mayor Bowser had better clean up her act fast, or she won’t remain mayor much longer, because the federal government will step in and run the city the way it ought to be managed," Trump warned.
Violent-crime numbers in Washington have tumbled 26 percent since 2024, hitting a three-decade low, according to statistics released by the Metropolitan Police Department.
South Carolina National Guardsmen patrol at the base of the Washington Monument, Aug. 20, 2025, in Washington.Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
Bowser condemned Trump’s deployment of the Guard as employing an “armed militia in the nation’s capital.”
"Violent crime in our city has declined sharply over the past two years through diligent effort and by reimagining our public-safety ecosystem, including legislative reforms," Bowser stated.
Earlier Friday, the president declared he would explore options beyond military intervention to enhance the city.
Trump announced he will ask Congress for $2 billion specifically to “beautify” the District.
Members of the National Guard walk at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., August 21, 2025.Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters
"It hasn’t been tidy. Now it will be pristine," he commented that morning.
After stating he had spoken with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, the president indicated the initiative would concentrate on a three-mile ring encircling the White House and Capitol.
"I suspect it’ll pass easily. I’m not even sure how to spend the number you mentioned, but those dollars will spruce up the city,” he remarked.
Spokespeople for Johnson and Thune did not immediately respond to ABC News inquiries.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
