Shortly after President Donald Trump was sworn into office Friday, his team introduced a revamped White House website that points to Chicago’s violent crime.
During his inaugural speech, Trump bemoaned the nation’s violent crime but didn’t explicitly mention the crisis in Chicago. The city was mentioned, though, on a section of the White House website titled “Standing up for our law enforcement community.”
“There were thousands of shootings in Chicago last year,” the site reads.
The page also points to Washington, D.C.’s rising murder rate. Neither Chicago nor D.C. ranks in the top 20 nationwide for per-capita homicide rates, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Nevertheless, the revamped White House website promises that Trump’s incoming administration will focus on “law and order” and warns against “the dangerous anti-police atmosphere in America."
“Our job is not to make life more comfortable for the rioter, the looter, or the violent disrupter,” the site reads. “Our job is to make life more comfortable for parents who want their kids to be able to walk the streets safely.”
“President Donald Trump will fight for the safety of every American, and especially those Americans who have not known safe neighborhoods for a very long time,” the site reads.
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Earlier this month, Trump sent a tweet outlining the city’s staggering crime statistics, claiming Emanuel should seek federal help if local authorities can’t handle the crisis.
“Chicago murder rate is record setting - 4,331 shooting victims with 762 murders in 2016,” Trump tweeted. “If mayor can’t do it he must ask for Federal help!”
While it wasn't a record, data made available by the Chicago Police Department shows 2016 was one of the most violent years in the city since the mid-90's.
Chicago’s violence has become headline news in recent weeks following a damning 60 Minutes report earlier this month. Last week, the Department of Justice issued a report on the Chicago Police Department that found a “pattern or practice of use of excessive force.”
The report was commissioned in the wake of the police shooting of Chicago teen Laquan McDonald, who was killed by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke in October of 2014.
Over the course of his campaign, Trump repeatedly invoked Chicago as a symbol of urban despair. As a result, Chicago’s City Council voted a week before the November election to remove a street sign honoring the Republican businessman’s downtown skyscraper, a move that was supported by Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
