Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Tuesday dismissed President Donald Trump’s threat to “deploy the United States military” to areas where unrest continues in the wake of protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
“That’s not gonna happen,” Lightfoot said at a morning news conference. “I will see him in court.”
Trump had made the announcement at the White House Monday.
“Keep in mind, this is a man who likes to bluster,” Lightfoot said. “Let’s not overreact.”
But, she added, “we’re not having military roam our streets. ... They have not built trust and authentic relationships with people in our community.”
Lightfoot said much time and effort was spent to build those relationships, and “we are not gonna throw that out the window.” She has “watched with great horror” when the National Guard has been “embedded with local police” in other cities, and the results have been tragic — injuries, she said, “and even death.”
Lightfoot and Chicago Police Department Supt. David Brown already have rejected the idea of using National Guard troops to patrol Chicago streets.
Brown on Monday had said the 375 National Guard troops offered by Gov. J.B. Pritzker were adequate for controlling perimeters and intersections. But he had no interest in having them take over police patrols, something in which they are not trained.
“They don’t have the training,” Brown said Tuesday. “It’s asking too much, and it is wrought with failure.”
