Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was caught on audio calling a member of the local Fraternal Order of Police a “clown” during Wednesday’s City Council meeting.
Just as FOP Lodge 7 First Vice President Patrick Murray was being called to speak during the meeting, Lightfoot could be heard saying on a live stream Facebook feed “Oh, back again. This is this FOP clown.”
The microphone’s audio was still hot in the live stream of the meeting.
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Lightfoot acknowledged the remark in a press conference after the meeting, saying “It was not appropriate for me to say that out loud.”
“I’m sorry that I said it out loud,” she said.
The FOP later released a statement calling the comment “a misguided and dangerous thing to say to a 30-year veteran police officer and FOP representative, particularly at a time when the city is facing such chronic violent crime.”
Murray was at the meeting to discuss a decision by the Chicago Police Board, which voted to fire three police officers and a sergeant in the alleged cover-up in the shooting of Laquan McDonald.
