In an interview on “Fox and Friends” Friday morning, President Trump said he is no longer sending the National Guard to Chicago, saying instead that they’ll be deployed to Memphis, Tennessee.
The White House has been sending mixed signals over whether they would be sending troops to Chicago for some time, even as immigration activity has ramped up under the banner of “Operation Midway Blitz.”
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump appeared to already be backtracking on plans to send the guard to Chicago, saying he would be announcing he’d be sending troops to another city “very shortly.” He appeared to make that announcement on the Fox News morning show Friday.
“I’ll be the first to say it now, we’re going to Memphis,” the president said. “I would have preferred going to Chicago.”
Mr. Trump then said he had spoken to a man he refused to name but said is the president of Union Pacific railroad, who told him he should send the National Guard to Memphis instead. The president said this man told him when he visited Memphis he was not allowed to even walk a single block and instead had to be driven in armored vehicles because the city is so unsafe.
The CEO of Union Pacific is Jim Vena; the company’s most recent president, Beth Whited, stepped down at the beginning of July and the company doesn’t list a replacement.
The president appeared to still be considering sending troops to Chicago one day, saying the same executive told him not to “lose” the city.
“He said ‘Don’t lose Chicago,'” Mr. Trump told the “Fox and Friends” hosts. “‘You’re gonna lose Chicago, sir. It’s a great city. You’re gonna lose Chicago.'”
The president did not say what he, or the executive, meant by saying he would “lose” Chicago. He also lashed out at Gov. JB Pritzker, calling him “loud” and once again claiming crime in Chicago is “out of control” as he spoke about shooting numbers.
Pritzker has vocally opposed having the National Guard deployed to Chicago. As rumors swirled of a deployment he warned Mr. Trump, “Do not come to Chicago. You are neither wanted here, nor needed here.”
This past weekend, Pritzker responded to Trump’s “Chipocalypse Now” post his Truth Social account with a post on X, writing, “The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke. This is not normal. Donald Trump isn’t a strongman, he’s a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.”
Friday morning, Pritzker tweeted in response to the Memphis news, “It’s disturbing that the President is hellbent on sending troops onto America’s streets. Using those who serve in uniform as political props is insulting. None of this is normal.”
In his “Fox and Friends” appearance, Trump claimed the deployment of the National Guard to Memphis had the support of both Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, a Republican, and Memphis Mayor Paul Young, a Democrat.
Young released a statement Thursday, writing in part, “i am committed to working to ensure any efforts strengthen our community and build on our progress. We agree with Governor Lee that effective support for Memphis comes through focused initiatives that deliver results like we have seen with the FBI, state troopers, and other law enforcement partnerships. What we need most are financial resources for intervention and prevention, additional patrol officers, and case support to strengthen MPD’s investigations.”
CBS News Chicago has reached out to the White House for comment and are waiting to hear back.