CHICAGO (AP) – Donald Trump’s appearance next week at an international police chiefs conference will be his first visit as president to Chicago, a city he has ridiculed for years, and its top cop plans to skip the speech even though he’s hosting the event.
Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson’s apparent snub of Trump’s speech Monday at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference is the latest chapter in a long and contentious relationship between the Republican president and the nation’s third-largest city, a Democratic stronghold.
“The values of the people of Chicago are more important to him than anything that could be discussed at that speech,” Johnson’s spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi, said shortly after the White House announced Trump’s planned address at the conference.
Guglielmi added that Johnson will be hosting and attending several events at the conference.
Since his campaign, Trump has repeatedly singled out the city, both for what he says is its unwillingness to get tough on criminals and what he complains is a willingness to coddle immigrants living in the country illegally. His mere presence in the city prompted him to leave without making a speech at a campaign rally in 2016 after protesters and supporters clashed even before he made it to the stage.