CHICAGO (CBS) — The founder and pastor of a megachurch in Ohio told President Donald Trump he has spoken to gang leaders in Chicago who want to work with the White House to reduce violent crime.
Dr. Darrell Scott, senior pastor of New Revival Center in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, was a guest of Trump’s at an African-American History Month meeting at the White House, and claimed he was “contacted by some of the top gang thugs in Chicago for a sit-down.”
“They reached out to me, because they’re associating me with you. They respect you. They believe in what you’re doing, and they want to have a sit-down about lowering that body count. So in a couple weeks, I’m going into Chicago,” Scott said. “I said we’ve got to lower that body count. We don’t want to talk about anything else; get that body count down, and they agreed that the principals that can do it – these are guys straight from the streets, no politicians, straight street guys – but they’re going to commit that if they lower that body count, we’ll come in and we’ll do some social programs.”
Trump said, if Chicago can’t do something about a recent rise in violent crime, he would.
“If they’re not going to solve the problem — and what you’re doing is the right thing — then we’re going to solve the problem for them, because we’re going to have to do something about Chicago, because what’s happening in Chicago should not be happening in this country,” Trump said.
Chicago had more than 760 murders in 2016, the highest number in 19 years. The first month of 2017 saw that trend continue, with 51 homicides in January, one more than January 2016.
Scott said the gang members who reached out to him want to work with Trump.
“They want to work with this administration. They want to. They reached out. I didn’t reach out to them, they reached out to me. They want to work with this administration. They believe in this administration. They didn’t believe in the prior administration. They told me this out of their mouths, but they see hope with you,” he said.
Trump said, “I think that’s great.”
Check back for updates.
from CBS Chicago http://ift.tt/2kqYr0e
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