How Trump is using ‘pure lies’ about high crime in US cities to justify federal takeovers

Local officials slam president’s remarks and point to federal funding cuts as the real harm to public safety in their cities

When Donald Trump announced a federal takeover of the Metropolitan police department in Washington DC on Monday, he left room for the possibility of making a similar move in other cities across the US, alluding to their high crime rates.

“You look at Chicago, how bad it is. You look at Los Angeles, how bad it is. We have other cities that are very bad,” Trump said. “We’re not going to let it happen, we’re not going to lose our cities.”