Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said he would be willing to meet with President Donald Trump but offered some of his strongest criticisms yet of the president during a news conference on Tuesday.
Johnson was asked whether he'd be willing to "kiss the ring" and meet with the Trump administration to stop $3.5 billion in federal funds from being held back in Chicago.
"Outside of a 2016 Cubs World Series ring, I'm not kissing a ring," the mayor replied.
He went on to say, "The president of the United States of America has an open invitation to the fifth floor of the greatest freakin' city in the world, the city of Chicago. He can come talk to me."
Last week, Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities like Chicago. Johnson had harsh words for the president when reporters asked him about it Tuesday.
"Whether it's the White House, whether it's the fifth floor, I have a responsibility to working people and advocating on behalf of working people. But trying to force your will to break the spirit of working people in order to have a conversation -- that's terrorism. We're not going to negotiate with terrorists," Johnson said.
He was immediately asked by reporters to clarify that he wasn't calling the president a terrorist.
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"No, what I'm saying is trying to hold people hostage in manipulating them to succumb to his will. That is how terrorists behave," Johnson said.
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Trump has been openly critical of Chicago's sanctuary city policies, which limit local law enforcement's ability to comply with federal immigration authorities. In March, Johnson went to Washington D.C. to testify before a Congressional committee about the city's immigration policies.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has also been called to testify before the same GOP-led committee. Several committee members are Trump loyalists, including Marjorie Taylor Greene, Scott Perry and Lauren Boebert.
Johnson has been especially critical of the president's education and economic policies.
"There are families who are desperately looking for good-paying jobs and are worried about whether or not their ends are going to meet. And his response to this economy is to give tax breaks and benefits to the ultra-rich while the rest of us are struggling. Now, I'm happy to talk to him, but I'm going to tell him the truth: You've got to show up for working people in this city and this country, and not for the oligarchs and the ultra-rich. That's what has destroyed our economy," Johnson said.
