good evening everybody i'm martha
mccallum in new york and this is the
story as it plays out tonight across
america president trump's first term
bookended
by calling out carnage in america here
he is today announcing a surge of
federal law enforcement officers that
will go to chicago and albuquerque for
now perhaps more places later
followed by the words of two americans
who lost
innocent loved ones to this violence
no mother should ever have to cradle her
dead child in her arm simply because
politicians refuse to do what is
necessary
for this reason today i am announcing
that the department of justice will
immediately surge
federal law enforcement to the city of
chicago
children are supposed to be our future
and our four-year-old son didn't make it
to kindergarten
i stand here today as a mother fighting
against violence for my son legend
every time i go to bed every time i go
out into the
driveway that that memory comes back and
it hunts me
their stories were haunting today at the
white house the president's push in this
effort
harkens back to what some talked about
in his uh inaugural address as a
dark side of america remember this
americans want great schools for their
children
safe neighborhoods for their families
crime
and the gangs and the drugs that have
stolen too many lives and robbed our
country
of so much unrealized potential
this american carnage stops
right here and stops
right now so now on the cusp of a new
election
and a new wave of carnage that followed
an economic surge
flattened by the virus economic distress
and now
civil unrest individuals like this man
and woman
are making their demands on their
government quite clear
after they witnessed last night 15
people shot and wounded in their chicago
neighborhood
listen to their words we thought there
was a war out here
the violence is continuing day in and
day out
weekend little children and it's just
unnatural that all is violence like
we're literally in a war zone
we need more cops and federal troops
because it's literally like we're in
iraq or something
he said it's unnatural this violence we
need more cops and federal troops in
chicago because it's like we're in iraq
or something
some suggest that their problems are not
real that it's all being exaggerated
for election year politics
sometimes when you analyze his moves and
the words he uses and the decisions he
makes
that we don't look at it as a play for
votes per se it might be
it also might be a play to just not
leave
and it's something that a lot of people
who
know more about the rise of
authoritarianism and things like it
are looking at when it comes to this
presidency
and the new york mayor writes to the
attorney general who laid out his battle
plan
for urban america today against the
crime and he said we do not consent
do not send the proposed agents they
have proved to bring
way more harm than good in less than
four months
americans across this country will weigh
in and
they all of you will decide
on the next president so tonight we
talked to raymond lopez
a democrat chicago alderman and gary
mccarthy
the former superintendent of chicago
police who react to this new plan and we
begin tonight
with mr lopez thank you very much sir uh
it's good to have you with us
this evening um i i want to start by
by playing this sound bite today from
mayor lightfoot who you have had
a number of run-ins with uh here was her
reaction to this plan
that's not democracy that we saw
unfolding on the streets
of portland as a result of this federal
action
that's what we call tyranny and
dictatorship
and we are not having it in chicago
what do you think when you heard that
you know it's unfortunate because the
mayor has been going back and forth with
the president who
you know to be perfectly honest i don't
agree on many of his policies but
protecting our citizens should not be a
partisan issue as a democrat
seeing my residents seeing my family's
gun down is not a partisan issue
and for her to go for weeks on end
tweeting back and forth and making all
kinds of comments
and then finally admitting yesterday
that she's open to having the fbi d
a and atf come in you know those
comments that you made
you know remind you how many lives were
lost because of the politics
of grandstanding in the city of chicago
you know it's interesting i think a lot
of people um
you first got on their radar when that
audio leaked
of one of the meetings that you had with
the aldermen
and the mayor um but what i noticed when
i went back and looked at it today
was that you were pretty much right on
target about what was about to happen
let's play that
my fear is once they're done looting and
rioting and
whatever's gonna happen tonight god help
us
what happens when they start going after
residents i want an answer
it's not something you ignore this is a
question that i have i think you're 100
i think you're 100 full of what i think
if you think offense
wow i mean you know i i don't know what
is going on between you two but um
why is she so upset when it's suggested
that something should be done
to make these city streets safer in
chicago
well i think part of the problem that
the mayor has with me is that i
run contradictory to the narrative that
she keeps trying to portray that she's
in charge she's in command of the covet
situation
the violence when it's clearly obvious
not only to the residents of chicago
not only to myself and i'm sure to our
former superintendent
but to the entire nation that our city
is in chaos and in turmoil
and when i can tell the mayor that you
know i've addressed these issues in my
ward my ward is like the microcosm of
the city of chicago we have
poverty we have working-class people we
have gangs we have violence and we were
able to make
significant gains in reducing those
crime stats
year after year prior to this
administration
you know that message hurts her image
hurts hers
hurts her personally because of her
micromanaging style
and unfortunately that level of
pettiness is causing
disaster in the city of chicago right
now so what is
europe you know we have pictures of you
had your home uh
was broken into attacked your office was
also
uh had shattered windows and glass so
you have been
on the front line in this but you're a
democrat she's a democrat you know who
characterizes better
where the people of chicago are on this
if if that's an assessment that can be
made
well i think you know obviously we're a
city of democrats but we're a city of
different kinds of democrats and i'm
more of a a
middle-of-the-road kind of democrat who
believes that we can't have social
justice we can't have good relations
with police
and we can't have good safety all in the
same city it is possible we have done it
in my ward
and unfortunately too many politicians
in my city and across this nation
find it's easier to pander to the lowest
common denominator in our societies as
opposed to challenging people to believe
and aspire for something greater
and i for one know that that can happen
in our city again
we just have to start enforcing laws
targeting those individuals who will not
change helping those people who want to
change and knowing that we can do better
moving forward
sounds like a pretty reasonable message
alderman lopez
uh we thank you very much for coming on
tonight good to speak to you sir
thank you michael