CHICAGO _ The city was abuzz Wednesday with talk of President Donald Trump's Twitter threat to "send in the Feds!" to deal with Chicago's shooting problem.
But before Trump sends in a phalanx of soldiers, G-men or federal eggheads, shouldn't he call on the unidentified "top police officer" whom he said in August could solve the city's crime problem "within one week"?
Trump said on Bill O'Reilly's Fox News show on Aug. 22 that he'd met the mysterious supercop in Chicago and that he "believed him 100 percent" when the cop said he could stop serious crime within seven days by getting tough.
Yet despite Trump's assertion to O'Reilly that he had "sent his name in and I said you probably should hire this guy," neither the Chicago Police Department nor Mayor Rahm Emanuel received the officer's name from Trump, city officials said.
White House officials did not respond Wednesday morning to questions about who the officer is, whether Trump still maintains he has shared his name with Chicago officials, or whether Trump remains in contact with the officer, if he in fact exists.
But asked about Trump's vague threat to "send in the Feds!" at a news conference, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters the president will "hopefully get a dialogue started with Mayor (Rahm) Emanuel to try to figure out what a path forward can be so that we come up with a plan that can keep the people of Chicago safe," a somewhat more conciliatory tone than that offered by the president himself.
Chicago police in August said that nobody in "senior command" with the department had spoken to Trump, leaving the identity of the "top police officer" an unsolved riddle. Trump's staff at the time said Trump had not necessarily meant that the officer was in senior command, only that he was "capable, smart and talented."
Former Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy _ who has known Trump since his time in New York, and was praised in 2015 by Trump as "a phenomenal guy" who "could stop this if we allowed him to stop it" _ in September angrily denied he was Trump's mole.
