Donald Trump completely made up a Chicago cop who supposedly told him that he (the cop) could “solve crime in a day,” says Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson.
As The Chicago Tribune reports, Trump was in Chicago on Monday, and during his visit, he repeated an anecdote that he’s been repeating, in various forms, for years. Even before the 2016 election, Trump claimed that at some point in his travels he was in Chicago and there he met a motorcycle cop, whom Trump has described as a “top police officer,” “the leader of the brigade,” and a “really powerful, strong-looking guy.”
“He was definitely the boss. Do we know what that means? He was the boss,” Trump said.
Supposedly, this officer, excited about being in Trump’s presence, commanded his subordinates to park their motorcycles and pose for a picture.
What’s more, Trump says that the mystery cop had a plan to clean up Chicago’s crime problem immediately. Trump says he asked the cop how long it would take to “fix this killing problem in Chicago.”
“He looked at me and said, ‘One day, sir. These cops are great. They know all the bad guys, sir, they know exactly what to do. We could straighten it out so quickly that your head would spin,’” Trump claimed.
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson says that no such thing has ever happened. As HuffPost reports, at a press conference on Monday, Johnson was asked by a reporter about this cop who could supposedly turn around Chicago’s crime problem in a day.
“That person doesn’t exist. Look, we’re all adults here,” Johnson said.
Johnson went on to note that crime is going down in Chicago, and indeed, claimed that Chicago’s crime reduction has “set the table” for a nationwide reduction in crime. Johnson also claimed that the Trump administration has “hurt many communities in Chicago.”
On Monday, Trump made his first visit to Chicago as president, meeting with the International Association of Chiefs of Police. During the visit, Trump claimed that Chicago was more dangerous than Afghanistan , claimed that Chicago is soft on crime, and lashed out at Johnson for declining to meet with him.
Also during the visit, Trump was met with protests on the city’s streets.
Resistance is out in full force today to “(un)welcome” @realDonaldTrump to OUR #Chicago ! #ChicagoTrumpProtest #ImpeachNow #StickItRicketts #ImpeachTrump #QuidProQuo #ChicaGoAwayTrump #TheGreatBooing #MondayMotivation #TrumpBooed #MondayMood #DumpTrump #VoteBlueToSaveAmerica pic.twitter.com/x9US0NZfkh
— Indivisible Evanston (@IndivisibleEV) October 28, 2019
Protesters shouted,”Lock Him Up!,” a reference to a chant that has been known to break out at Trump rallies, only used with the pronoun “Her,” in reference to Hillary Clinton.
