Trump, on Chicago: "No mother should ever have to cradle her dead child in her arms simply because politicians refused to do what is necessary to secure their neighborhood and to secure their city."
Trump announces a "surge" in federal law enforcement to Chicago. He says FDA, ATF, DEA, US Marshals, DHS are sending "hundreds of skilled law enforcement officers."
Trump: Don't forget that the job of policing neighborhoods falls on "local elected leadership." Don't forget that, he says. (He has been denouncing "Democrat-run" cities; very mildly more subtle today.)
Trump's justification for deploying "hundreds" of federal agents to Chicago uninvited: "Murderers and violent criminals are breaking a wide range of federal laws."
Trump says he'll be soon sending federal law enforcement to other cities too; some, he says, are "too proud or...too political" to ask for the help they should want. He names Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Trump claims they're acting to "answer the pleas of those crying for justice and crying for help. For those people in Chicago and other cities where we'll be: help is on its way."
AG William Barr: "The principal danger to the lives of our inner city communities is violent crime. The leading cause of death for young black males is homicide...every one of those lives matter."
Barr, like Trump, blames the recent increase in violent crime on calls to defund the police, also providing no evidence.
Barr says there was a "terrible event" in Minneapolis, but then an "extreme" reaction, "and what we have seen then is a significant increase in violent crime in many cities. And this rise is a direct result of the attack on the police forces and the weakening of police forces."
