Donald Trump says Illinois officials "must ask for our help" on violent crime
“The Federal Government can extinguish it quickly and completely, but the Mayor of Chicago, or the Governor of Illinois, must ask for our help. What is wrong with them? Why aren’t they asking? TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!”
Reported October 6, 2026 by rawstory.com. Checked word for word against that report.
On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump posted on his Truth Social platform urging Illinois Democratic officials to request federal assistance in tackling Chicago’s escalating violent‑crime issues. He claimed the federal government could act promptly, but that such involvement required a formal appeal from the mayor or the state governor, and he questioned why local leaders had not done so, stressing the need for swift action. His comments arrived even as recent data from WTTW News Chicago indicated a 3 percent reduction in homicides during the initial three‑quarter period of 2026 compared with the same span in 2025, and a 29 percent drop from 2024, trends that could produce the smallest number of killings the city has seen in more than sixty years.
- rawstory.com ↗︎06 OCT 2026