(WXYZ) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday during his daily coronavirus briefing that he is "ready, willing and able" to send federal agents to cities like Detroit, Chicago and Philadelphia to address violence.
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"We are ready, willing and able to go in there with great force...to go into these cities that are just being decimated with shooting, and we're going to help." Trump said when asked about sending in federal forces into cities following a press conference announcing a new initiative called Operation Legend, which aims to reduce violent crime in several cities across the country.
Trump referred to Chicago as a "disaster," and mentioned recent shootings in the city. The president said that leadership would "have to ask us, but we can solve the problem."
He also mentioned what's occurring in Portland, Oregon, saying that something similar should happen in cities like Detroit, Chicago and Philadelphia.
"Portland is a very different place than Chicago, but Chicago should be calling us, and so should Philadelphia and Detroit and others to go in and really help them," he said. "Because when you're losing many people a weekend... you see the same numbers as I do. When you're losing these people they should call us and they should say come on in. It's incredible to me, but they're not doing it. At some point they will; at some point we may have no other choice but to go in."
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