Former Chicago Police Officer Dimitri Roberts said Donald Trump does not have a right to criticize Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel for the city’s homicide rate.
“Donald Trump doesn’t have the right to criticize the mayor,” he told CNN’s Chris Cuomo Tuesday on “New Day.” “The community members that are losing their lives, the community members that are in this city that are fighting this fight everyday, those are the folks that can criticize the mayor.”
“I can criticize the mayor. Not Donald Trump,” Roberts added.
The President-elect tweeted Monday that Emanuel should seek federal assistance to combat homicides in the nation’s third-largest city.
“Chicago murder rate is record setting — 4,331 shooting victims with 762 murders in 2016. If Mayor can’t do it he must ask for Federal help!” Trump tweeted.
But Roberts said Trump’s tweets about public safety weren’t inspiring.
“I’m not impressed with Donald Trump leading from his Twitter account,” he said. “What I’m looking forward to is seeing where Donald Trump is going to put resources in areas like Chicago and really address these issues.”
While the Windy City’s homicides are not “record setting,” the Chicago Tribune reported that they were up 60% from 2015 to the highest levels in 20 years.
Emanuel, President Barack Obama’s former chief of staff, met with Trump in New York last month and said he hopes he and the President-elect can work together on reducing crime.
Roberts, a law enforcement analyst, said Trump needs to put “real resources” behind addressing Chicago’s issues.
“I welcome President-elect Trump to come here to Chicago and look at these issues at the ground level and then put some real resources behind them once he gets into the Oval Office,” he said.
CNN has reached out to Trump’s campaign for comment on Roberts’ remarks and have not yet gotten a response.