Chicago's top cop skipping Trump speech to police chiefs, as 'values' of city's residents are 'more important to him'

(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

published 23 October 2019

When President Trump speaks at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference next week in Chicago, the city's top cop won't be there.

A spokesman for Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said on Tuesday that while he will attend several of the conference's events, Johnson will not be in the crowd for Trump's speech on Monday. "The values of the people of Chicago are more important to him than anything that could be discussed at that speech," Anthony Guglielmi said.

This will be Trump's first visit to Chicago as president. He has made it clear that he does not agree with the way Chicago is governed or policed, saying in 2017 that he wanted to "send in the Feds" to deal with gun violence. During a rally that same year in Florida, Trump told the crowd, "There are those who say that Afghanistan is safer than Chicago, okay? ... You know what's wrong with Chicago? Weak, ineffective politicians."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.