Former President Donald Trump denied slighting Milwaukee in a TV interview ahead of next month's Republican convention there, telling NBC affiliate WTMJ of Milwaukee that he will be staying in the city for the convention.
"I was always planning on staying here," Trump said. "Again, I chose Milwaukee for a reason."
But a law enforcement source told NBC News that the Secret Service and local law enforcement had been acting on plans for Trump to stay at his hotel in Chicago as recently as Monday, before multiple media reports about his plans. And Alderman Brian Hopkins, chair of the City Council’s public safety committee, said the city had been planning safety measures with the campaign — in person and by phone — with the plan of Trump’s staying in Chicago’s Trump Tower during the GOP convention.
“They abruptly changed their minds," Hopkins said Tuesday. "The Trump campaign has communicated with the city to say: ‘We’re not coming after all,’” with the possible exception of a reception in the city.
In the interview, Trump also denied reports that he said Milwaukee was a “horrible” city overrun by crime at a meeting with House Republicans in Washington last week. He instead called Democrats liars, said he was talking more broadly about crime and noted that he picked Milwaukee for the convention, though the choice was finalized long before he was the party's presumptive 2024 nominee.
Trump went on to say that crime is “way too high” in many cities and that too many guns are in “certain hands.”
Asked how he plans to work with big-city mayors to combat crime, Trump said, “Basic great police work — you have to give the authority and the control back to the police.”
Trump also lashed out at President Joe Biden's new effort to allow undocumented immigrant spouses of U.S. citizens and their children to reside in the U.S. Trump claimed it is “for the vote,” saying the Biden administration “won’t stop there” when it comes to immigration reform.
It was a main theme of Trump's rally Tuesday in Racine, Wisconsin, where he criticized Biden's border policy and highlighted examples of undocumented immigrants’ committing crimes in the U.S., though, despite high-profile murders and other incidents, there is no evidence of a broader crime wave fueled by migrants.
