Ex-Chicago Mayor Lightfoot: Trump 'making up' facts about crime rate

Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot this week accused President Donald Trump of "making up" data about the crime rate in Chicago to justify an expected deployment of the National Guard.

“We can‘t ignore that because the president is making up his own [facts],” Lightfoot told CNN. “And we also know there are red cities in red states that have higher per capita rates of gun violence and other violent crime that we‘re not hearing coming out of the president‘s mouth as the places where he really wants to go.”

“Listen, the crime rate has gone down. You heard the numbers of decreases in homicides and shootings and other violent crimes that have gone down and have been going down for the last four years," she added.

The city has reported a substantive drop in crime over the past four years, with the mayor's office reporting a more than 30% drop in homicides year-to-date in August.

Trump, however, has pointed to periods of high mortality, including the Labor Day weekend that saw at least 54 people shot, to justify his efforts.

"Chicago is the worst and most dangerous city in the World, by far. Pritzker needs help badly, he just doesn’t know it yet. I will solve the crime problem fast, just like I did in DC. Chicago will be safe again, and soon," he said this week.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.