Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson claimed on Saturday that it’s “clear” President Donald Trump has “declared war” on his city and others.
Johnson joined MSNBC’s Ali Velshi on Saturday morning following the president not only deploying National Guard troops to the city, but also calling for Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D) to be thrown in jail.
Velshi argued that Trump and others in his administration are “confrontation seeking” to justify the deployment of national troops to cities like Chicago. Trump said he was sending National Guard troops to Chicago in an effort to combat crime. Trump has also accused Johnson and Pritzker of not “protecting” ICE agents in Chicago.
“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect ICE Officers! Governor Pritzker also!” Trump wrote on Truth Social this week.
Johnson claimed on Saturday that the president of the United States has declared war on Chicago and other cities, referring to ICE as Trump’s “privatized military.”
“Donald Trump has made it very clear that he has declared war on the city of Chicago. In fact, as you’ve indicated, he has to declared war against American cities across this country. And what he is promulgating is very clear, it’s unconstitutional, it’s illegal, it’s unnecessary, and it’s dangerous. And I’m using every single tool that’s available to me to defend the people of this fine city,” Johnson said.
After Johnson’s claim of a war declaration, Velshi noted that Chicago officials have warned protesters encountering ICE or other federal agents to not “take the bait” and act violently.
Johnson claimed ICE has been “intentionally” stoking violence in his city, noting several instances of violence including police officers being hit with tear gas.
“ICE has been intentionally invoking and escalating violence,” he said. “They’ve shot and killed a man just outside the city of Chicago. They shot a woman just a week ago, unleashed tear gas against the people in the community that was on their way to grocery stores and sending their kids to school, as well as unleashing tear gas on our local law enforcement. Over two dozen of our police officers were impacted by this.”
Watch above via MSNBC.
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