Trump attacks Chicago's police superintendent IN CHICAGO during speech to chiefs

CHICAGO - President Donald Trump took the occasion of an address to a national conference of police chiefs here to tee off on the city's police superintendent and highlight its ongoing challenges with crime, claiming that Afghanistan "is a safe place by comparison."

Ahead of Trump's appearance Monday at the gathering of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson announced that he would not attend because he felt "it just doesn't line up with our city's core values."

Trump seized on those comments early in his remarks, telling the crowd: "There's one person who is not here today.This person should be here because maybe he could learn something."

He then identified Johnson by name and cited his remarks about "values."

"That's a very insulting statement after all I've done for the police," Trump said. "I've done more than any other president has done for the police."

Claiming that Chicago's violence is "embarrassing to us as a nation," Trump took aim at Johnson in remarkably personal terms, saying Chicago's police "are entitled to a police superintendent who has their backs and knows what he's doing."

Trump rattled off several statistics about crime in Chicago, the nation's third-largest city, which had 61 homicides last year, according to police.

"Afghanistan is a safe place by comparison," Trump said.

He also accused Johnson of valuing illegal immigrants and criminals more than law-abiding citizens."And frankly those values to me are a disgrace," Trump said. "I want Eddie Johnson to change his values and to change them fast."

In a news conference after Trump's remarks, Johnson said that "facts matter," highlighting the city's efforts to reduce violence and homicides in recent years.

"We've had double-digit reductions in crime for the last 3 years," Johnson said, adding that he disputed what he described as "the national narrative that Chicago is a city on fire."

The city's violence has drawn national attention and concern in recent years as it rose in 2016 to levels Chicago had not seen in two decades, though it has declined since that point. Since 2016 - when Chicago had more homicides than New York and Los Angeles combined - the number of homicides and shootings have both fallen.

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