Chicago mayor fires back at Trump after president slams city's crime rate, 'sanctuary' status

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Chicago violence hurts Mayor Rahm Emanuel's political future

Several of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's 10 challengers slammed the prominent Democrat for the city's soaring crime and blamed him for everything from an understaffed police force to a lack of investment in Chicago's economically downtrodden neighborhoods.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel fired back at President Trump on Wednesday, saying the president should focus on other matters instead of badmouthing his city.

The mayor was quick to allude to Trump's mounting legal troubles one day after the president assailed Chicago's crime rate and immigration policies at a Tuesday night rally in West Virginia.

“First of all, we'll always be a welcoming city, because Chicago welcomed my grandfather, etc. But let me just say one thing, if I were Donald Trump, I’d spend my time figuring out which attorney I’m going to have,” Emanuel told Fox 32 Chicago.

One night earlier, Trump took jabs at Chicago's status as a high-crime city that also served as a sanctuary for immigrants.

"Take a look at Chicago. How about the mayor of Chicago? It's like a war zone. This is what those policies do," Trump said at the rally.

Chicago is known to have the some of the nation's most violent neighborhoods, with nearly 60 people shot and four people killed last weekend alone, Fox News reported.

But a researcher told Fox 32 that violence in the city's "war zones" is "virtually all carried out by native-born Americans" rather than immigrants.

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Emanuel, meanwhile, was apparently preaching to the Democratic choir: A new survey showed that 70 percent of Cook County residents have an unfavorable view of Trump, the station reported.

Trump and Emanuel have a history of trading barbs.

In July, after Trump's Helsinki summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Emanuel called for Trump's security clearance to be taken away, the Chicago Tribune reported.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever thought this, but I did yesterday: Can you actually take away a president’s security clearance, since they shouldn’t be getting intel from the intel community?” Emanuel said, criticizing Trump's performance at the summit. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Amid Chicago's crime problems, Emanuel faces building pressure to take action or resign, the report said.

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He also reportedly came under fire for comments that linked the city's violence to the moral character of people in some ethnic neighborhoods.