Trump May Send National Guard To Chicago, He Says, Calling City 'A Disaster'

CHICAGO, IL — President Donald Trump may deploy the National Guard to Chicago and New York in addition to Washington and Los Angeles, he said Monday when he announced the takeover of the nation's capital city.

“And, if we need to, we’re going to do the same thing in Chicago, which is a disaster,” the president said, as shown in a video posted to YouTube by FOX 32.

Trump also called cashless bail, which Illinois has, “a disaster,” and described Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker as “incompetent.”

Johnson issued a statement Monday defending his record on crime.

"From my first day in office, public safety has been my top priority. In just two years we have made historic progress, driving down homicides by more than 30% and reducing shootings by almost 40% in the last year alone,” Johnson said in the prepared statement, noting the president’s administration cut hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for violence prevention programs.

"If President Trump wants to help make Chicago safer, he can start by releasing the funds for anti-violence programs that have been critical to our work to drive down crime and violence. Sending in the national guard would only serve to destabilize our city and undermine our public safety efforts."

Pritzker also addressed the president’s remarks in a post on X.

“Let’s not lie to the public, you and I both know you have no authority to take over Chicago,” Pritzker wrote.

Trump is bringing in 800 National Guard members to help law enforcement fight crime in Washington, but just 100 to 200 of the troops will be on the city's streets at any given time, the Army said.

"Their duties will include an array of tasks from administrative, logistics and physical presence in support of law enforcement," according to a statement from the Army, to which the District of Columbia National Guard directed all questions.

The timeline for the troop deployment is vaguely defined. According to Trump's directive, National Guard troops will remain deployed until the president determines "that conditions of law and order have been restored.”

About 500 federal law enforcement officers are being assigned to patrols in Washington, including from the FBI; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Drug Enforcement Administration; Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and the Marshals Service.

The deployment of troops to Washington comes after the Pentagon has pulled out the vast majority of the roughly 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 active duty Marines that Trump sent to Los Angeles in late June.

Trump argued that the deployment was necessary after his administration's immigration crackdown led to protests throughout the city. Troops were largely tasked with protecting federal buildings and guarding immigration agents as they conducted raids.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.