Kayleigh McEnany: ‘Operation Legend’ is about protecting Americans, president’s ‘top priority’
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany weighs in on ‘Operation Legend,’ Trump’s decision to not mandate mask and ‘phase 4’ of the coronavirus relief plan on ‘America’s Newsroom.’
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Thursday blasted Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot for failing to protect her citizens from the surge in crime and urged her to admit that she needs help from the federal government.
“I think about the responsibility that Mayor Lightfoot is not doing in patrolling her streets and securing her city,” McEnany told “America’s Newsroom.”
HOURS AFTER CHICAGO MASS SHOOTING, 2 KILLED IN SEPARATE INCIDENTS
Lightfoot said she spoke with President Trump over the phone Wednesday over his intention to deploy a "surge" of federal agents to the city, which has been plagued by sharp increases in violent crimes.
"The conversation was brief and straightforward," a statement from Lightfoot's office read. "Mayor Lightfoot maintains that all resources will be investigatory in nature and be coordinated through the U.S. attorney’s office. The mayor has made clear that if there is any deviation from what has been announced, we will pursue all available legal options to protect Chicagoans."
Lightfoot and several other progressive mayors have resisted efforts by the Trump administration to send federal forces to their cities to combat either a rise in crime, the destruction of federal property, or both. In a news briefing to announce the passing of several unrelated measures by the City Council, Lightfoot said Trump "got the message" that federal agents like those deployed to Portland, Ore., don't belong in Chicago.
"We don't need federal troops. We don't need unnamed, secret federal agents roaming around the streets of Chicago, taking residents without cause and violating their basic constitutional rights," the mayor said. "I'm glad that the president got the message."
"I'm glad to see that he realized that what he did in Portland was a grave abuse of his presidential power," she added.
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McEnany said that Trump has made “clear for years” that addressing violent crime is a “priority.”
“We saw [violent crime] going up at the end of the Obama administration. As the attorney general said yesterday, finally, it started to come down under President Trump’s administration and now with this defund the police movement, we’re seeing it creep back up.”
Chicago is currently experiencing an uptick in gun violence that has seen dozens of people shot daily. On Tuesday, gunfire erupted outside a funeral home on the city's South Side that saw 15 people wounded. Hours later, a 3-year-old girl was shot in the head. She was expected to survive.
Fox News' Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
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