Trump falsely claims there's not much crime in red states

CNN

President Donald Trump delivered a barrage of false claims about crime in Washington, DC, during a series of Monday comments defending his takeover of the police force and deployment of the National Guard in the nation’s capital. #CNN #News  # news #breaking #24x7

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00:00President Trump's sending his clearest statement yet. He wants the U.S. military doing more to

00:05police American cities. It's the how and where that he's still fuzzy on. The president signed

00:10an order to create so-called specialized units in the National Guard trained in police work.

00:16National Guard troops are, as we speak, already patrolling the streets of this city, Washington,

00:20D.C. And as of this weekend, some are armed. The Secretary of Defense spoke on behalf of

00:26members of the Guard patrolling the nation's capital. We're really proud to be a part of

00:32defending the nation's capital and ensuring it is safe and beautiful and working with law

00:36enforcement. And Mr. President, let me tell you, the morale of the troops getting out there talking

00:39to them, they love this mission. They're grateful to be doing it. Crime is actually down here in D.C.,

00:46but the Republican-led House Oversight Committee is now investigating whether D.C. crime statistics

00:52have been manipulated after the president claimed they were without evidence. Questions loom as to

00:58where President Trump wants the Guard sent next. He has blue cities and states with governors who

01:03are Democrats in his sights, but it's cities and states that Trump won last election that have some

01:09of the highest crime rates, according to last year's statistics from local jurisdictions,

01:14a fact the president ignored today.

01:16Would you also consider sending the National Guard into red states and red cities that are also

01:23seeing high crime? Sure, but there aren't that many of them. If you look at the top 25 cities that

01:29for crime, just about every one of those cities is run by Democrats.

01:35The president did seem to back off for now the idea of unilaterally sending forces into other cities.

01:41In a certain way, we should wait to be asked because they have cities that are so under control,

01:48you know, out of control. So we go in and fix it. You really want to be asked to go. You know,

01:53I hate to barge in on a city and then be treated horribly by corrupt politicians and bad politicians

01:59like a guy like Pritzker. For his part, Governor J.B. Pritzker of Illinois offered this response

02:06to the president. This is not about fighting crime. This is about Donald Trump searching for

02:14any justification to deploy the military in a blue city, in a blue state, to try and intimidate

02:21his political rivals. There is no emergency in Chicago that calls for armed military intervention.

02:28Mr. President, do not come to Chicago. You are neither wanted here nor needed here.

02:34My law enforcement source tonight knows the reality of policing in Chicago and D.C. He served

02:41as chief of the U.S. Capitol Police, executive chief of the D.C. Police and director of the

02:46Illinois State Police. Terry Gaynor is with us now. So chief Capitol Police go through an intense

02:53six month training at Quantico. The D.C. Police Academy is 28 weeks, followed by more than a year

03:00of supervised probation. The Guard do have experience working with local police departments, but they

03:05are, I guess I'm asking you, are they ready to serve as specialized? Whatever that may mean,

03:12I'd be curious to know what you think police units.

03:17Brianna, thanks. It's good to be with you. No, the National Guard, as it's configured now,

03:21is not prepared to do this. There are good men and women there who are trained to do a particular

03:27function, war fighting or emergencies in the state or train rails and fires and flood. That's good.

03:34They have some roles. In those years, I worked with in the Illinois State Police or out in Washington.

03:41We partnered with the National Guard in a lot of ways. In this particular endeavor,

03:46arming those men and women and putting them in harm's way is risky and dangerous.

03:52The Guard here in D.C. are now carrying weapons on their person. They had had them in vehicles

04:00previously. Here's what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said about the decision in the Oval Office

04:05today. It's just common sense to make sure they're armed as well. And so they were rolling out

04:12ensuring they're armed, capable of defending themselves and others if need be, supporting

04:16law enforcement, and we're proud to be there, sir. Do you agree with that? Is it common sense?

04:22Is it common sense that they're armed?

04:25No, it is not. Again, when you put someone out on the street in an environment in which

04:31they are not normally operating and in this area, crime fighting with a weapon, they're

04:38not trained for that. And so you mentioned at the beginning all the training law enforcement

04:43has, and we get a ton of it, about the use of force and de-escalation, how to work with

04:49the community, know your community, have great communication, having worked with each other

04:54in tough situations, how to handle people in erratic situations. Police train incessantly

05:01for that and still re-screw it up on some occasions. So these men and women are just not prepared

05:07for it. He's overestimating his assessment of what those National Guard personnel can do now

05:14in demonstrating his inexperience in policing in a complex environment.

05:19You were, as I mentioned, with D.C. police. You worked closely with them as well during

05:24your time at the Capitol. The House Oversight Committee is looking into allegations of manipulated

05:30D.C. crime statistics. Did you ever have reason to believe that the city's crime stats were

05:36manipulated? And how big of a deal would it be for something like that to happen?

05:41Well, it would be significant if someone was manipulating crime stats. It probably is a

05:48federal violation because we're reporting that up through the FBI. And the Metropolitan Police

05:55Department was aware of an allegation of misconduct against one of its commanders, and that's an

06:01active investigation. But I think it's a leap to go from there to say that all the benefits

06:08and gains that that police department has made over the last couple of years, or particularly

06:14since last year or the year before, is because the numbers have been doctored. I think that's

06:22just a canard in trying to make excuses to justify what they're trying to do. And let me tell

06:28you this. The D.C. police and every police department I'm aware of, and I've worked with a lot of them

06:34over the country now, works very closely with the FBI and the DEA and the U.S. Marshal Service and

06:42ATF. They have good relationships in crime fighting. If there are extra personnel in those agencies

06:50to do more for a local police department, then continue partnering with the local police department

06:56in the lane of which they're best suited. So, for instance, the U.S. Marshal's forte is generally

07:03serving warrants. There's a ton of warrants throughout the United States that could use

07:08help being served. The FBI, tremendous investigators, and they historically ran a one-week or two-week

07:15homicide investigation course, kind of a senior-level investigative course. They haven't been doing

07:22that lately. They don't have enough personnel. So, there's a right way to do this, to have a strategy

07:28to work together. And God love the National Guard. There is a role for them. We use them extensively

07:35during big events in Washington, like the State of the Union or the inauguration, for very particular

07:42things for which they were trained. So, we can be partners. But throwing them out there, if I put

07:48officers on the street, armed, asking them to fight crime, with as little training as the National

07:55Guard is getting now to do that and bring brought in from other states, that would be a dereliction

08:00of duty. So, I think the people making these decisions ought to get their head straight and think

08:08through what they're trying to do to these men and women. You're putting people in harm's way.

08:11Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, actually, he had said this about Chicago. Pardon me. He had actually

08:23criticized the administration for cuts to law enforcement in Chicago. They have cut more than

08:28$800 million in DOJ grants for local law enforcement. And the president's budget calls for more than a

08:34billion dollars more in cuts. Why do those kind of cuts stand out when the president is lamenting the

08:41state of crime in cities? Well, in some respects, I think he's speaking with a forked tongue. I know

08:48this. In the last 10 years since I left government service, I've been working for the Center for Naval

08:54Analysis, one of the big contractors for the Justice Department, who was working, brought in senior law

08:59enforcement officers like myself, experienced in city and county and state policing, and we're working

09:05on things like the Public Safety Partnership in some 60 cities across the United States. In the first

09:12quarter of those years, the grants were ended for those endeavors that would have focused on the very

09:17things we need to do to reduce crime. You may know there's 93 federal jurisdictions across the United

09:24States. Project Safe Neighborhood also was a funded program for which just after January of this year,

09:31the Department of Justice ended the support they were getting from senior law enforcement officers.

09:36Smart Policing Initiative, where law enforcement, the community were partnering with educational

09:43institutions to figure out the social economic causes of crime and then addressing that smartly.

09:51That also was ended. So what this governor in Illinois and others are talking about,

09:56this president, this Justice Department ended those. Now they come in saying, oh, and by the way,

10:02now we're going to help you doing it our way. We're going to send in the National Guard. We're not going

10:08to be too concerned about how the community reacts to this, but it sure as hell makes us look good.

10:15Chief Terry Gaynor, great to get your perspective tonight. Thank you so much for being with us.

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