President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he hoped to send federal resources into San Francisco to crack down on crime, setting up another clash with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other officials.
“I’m going to be strongly recommending — at the request of government officials, which is always nice — that you start looking at San Francisco,” Trump said during an Oval Office press conference alongside FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“There’s one of our great cities, 10 years ago, 15 years ago,” Trump said. “Now it’s a mess, and we have great support in San Francisco, so I’d like to recommend that for inclusion, maybe in your next group. You’ll get great support.”
Tech titans Elon Musk and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff — who once supported Hillary Clinton — have called for federal intervention to address crime in the city. But local officials are not on board: San Francisco officials, including Mayor Daniel Lurie, broadly rejected Benioff’s suggestion, and Newsom’s administration has successfully sued to block troop deployments. (Facing intense criticism, Benioff later softened his stance.)
Trump made clear that legal setbacks won’t stop his efforts to intervene in local law enforcement.
Asked if Boston could also be next on the list, Trump threatened to take away World Cup matches if the city did not adjust to his liking but stopped short of threatening to send in troops.
The president also took aim at Chicago’s leaders, who have similarly rejected his efforts to send in federal troops.
“And we have to listen to this man stand up and say that we’re bad people, and the people of Chicago are walking around with MAGA hats,” Trump said. “You have women, beautiful Black women, walking around with MAGA hats. ‘Please let the president in. And we don’t care how he does it.’”
Last Thursday, a judge blocked the deployment of troops in Chicago for 14 days. An appeals court ruled that Trump could federalize the guard but not deploy it, as the case continues.
Trump on Wednesday vowed to eventually get the troops mobilized.
“We’re going to have a surge of strong, good people, patriots, and they’re going to go in, they straighten it all out,” Trump said.