Former president donald trump denied dismissing Milwaukee in a new TV interview ahead of next month’s Republican convention there, telling Milwaukee’s NBC affiliate WTMJ that he will stay in town for the convention.
“I always planned to stay here,” Trump said. “Once again, I chose Milwaukee for a reason.”
But a law enforcement source told NBC News that the Secret Service and local authorities were acting on plans for Trump to stay at his Chicago hotel on Monday, ahead of multiple press reports about his plans. And Chicago Ald. Brian Hopkins, chairman of the city council’s public safety committee. said the city was planning security measures with the campaign — in person and by phone — with the plan for Trump to remain at Chicago’s Trump Tower during the Republican Party convention.
“They abruptly changed their minds,” Hopkins said Tuesday. “The Trump campaign has communicated with the city to say, ‘We’re not going after all,’” with the possible exception of a reception in the city, Hopkins continued.
In the interview, Trump also denied reports that he he said Milwaukee was a “horrible” crime-ridden city during a meeting with House Republicans in Washington, D.C., last week. Instead, he called Democrats liars, said he was speaking more broadly about crime and noted that he picked Milwaukee for the convention even though it was finalized long before he was the party’s presumptive 2024 nominee.
Trump went on to say that crime is “very high” in many cities and that many guns are in “certain hands.”
Asked how he plans to work with big city presidents to combat crime, Trump said that “basic excellent police work, we need to return authority and control to the police.”
Trump also attacked President Joe Bidenit’s new effort to allow undocumented immigrant spouses of U.S. citizens and their children to reside in the United States. Trump said it’s “up to the vote,” saying the Biden administration is “not going to stop there” when it comes to immigration reform.
It was also the main theme of Trump’s Tuesday rally in Racine, Wisconsin, where he criticized Biden’s border policy and highlighted examples of undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes in the US. although, despite high-profile murders and other incidents, there is no evidence of a wider crime wave fueled by migrants.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
