NOTE: Supt. Eddie Johnson is expected to respond to Trump's comments at 1:30 p.m. CT. Watch it live here or in the player above.
President Donald Trump on Monday repeated a story he's previously told about a conversation he claimed to have had with an unnamed police officer in Chicago who said he could "fix this killing problem" in one day.
Trump told the story in a speech at the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Chicago, first ripping into Police Supt. Eddie Johnson - who was not in attendance - and the city's violence, claiming Afghanistan is safer than Chicago, among other remarks.
Trump then launched into the story he's cited multiple times in the past, saying Monday that the alleged conversation took place as he was leaving Chicago roughly three years earlier, accompanied by a "massive motorcycle brigade of policemen."
"Chicago was in the news a lot, just like it is now, because of all of the killings going on and all of the shooting and all of the horrible things happening," Trump said.
"The leader of the brigade was this really powerful, strong looking guy. Big booming voice and he was definitely the boss," Trump said, asking, "Do we know what that means?"
"Just as I'm boarding the plane, I asked this man - I had a lot of respect for him myself because I saw the way he was. He wasn't doing anything wrong. He was just the boss. He was a respected person," Trump continued. "I said, 'Excuse me, come here. What the hell is happening in Chicago?'"
"He said 'It's very sad, sir, very, very sad. I hate to see what's going on, I love this city so much. I hate it.' I asked him, 'What do you think the problem is?' and he said, 'There's no leadership from the mayor and there's none at the top of the police department. They're afraid to do anything,'" Trump claimed.
Trump said he then asked the unnamed officer, "You're a tough guy, how long do you think it would take you to fix this killing problem in Chicago?"
"He looked at me and said, 'One day, sir. These cops are great, they know all the bad guys, sir, they know exactly what to do. We could straighten it out so quickly that your head would spin,'" Trump said, alleging that he later sent the man's name to "somebody involved with Chicago" and the man no longer works in law enforcement.
When Trump told a version of this story in an August 2016 interview, he claimed to have met with a "top" Chicago police officer who said he could stop the "horror show" within a week.
Chicago police denied Trump's story at the time, saying in a statement, "We've discredited this claim months ago. No one in the senior command at CPD has ever met with Donald Trump or a member of his campaign."
When asked about the comments in 2016, Johnson himself addressed Trump's story as well.
"If you have a magic bullet to stop the violence anywhere, not just in Chicago, but in America, then please share it with us," Johnson said at the time. "We’d be glad to take that information and stop this violence."
When asked again about the story Monday, Johnson made a similar statement.
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"If there’s somebody that can stop crime in a day then I will bow down to them and say bring it on, but that’s just no going to happen," Johnson said, adding that when they launched a search for the "mystery cop" no one would come forward.
"That person doesn’t exist," he added.
Johnson previously said he would not attend Trump's speech on Monday because he thought the "values of the people of Chicago are more important" than what Trump would say - a statement Trump tore into in his remarks.
"There is one person that's not here today. We're in Chicago," Trump said, after thanking several members of the IACP and the crowd. "I said, 'Where is he? I wanna talk to him.'"
"In fact, more than anyone else, this person should be here because maybe he could learn something," Trump said Monday.
"Here's a man that could not bother to show up for a meeting of police chiefs, most respected people in the country, in his hometown, and with the president of the United States," Trump continued.
"And you know why? It's because he's not doing his job," Trump said. "Last year, 565 people were murdered in Chicago. Since Eddie Johnson has been police chief, more than 1,500 people have been murdered in Chicago and 13,067 people have been shot."
In his speech, Trump also called Chicago the "worst sanctuary city in America," saying the city "protects criminals at a level few could even imagine."
"People like Johnson put criminals and illegal aliens before the citizens of Chicago and those are his values and frankly those values to me are a disgrace," Trump said.
"I want Eddie Johnson to change his values, and change them fast," Trump said.
Trump's visit to Chicago Monday was his first to the city since taking office. He was last in the city in September 2016 for a campaign event at the Polish National Alliance in the Edgebrook neighborhood, followed by a fundraiser in suburban Bolingbrook.
He was also in Chicago in March 2016, when protests canceled a scheduled rally at the then-UIC Pavilion at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Campaign organizers told those planning to attend the rally for then-candidate Trump that after consulting with law enforcement, the decision was made to postpone the event.
Also on Trump's schedule for his visit Monday was a fundraiser at the Chicago Trump International Hotel and Tower, where an estimated 3,000 protesters gathered to demonstrate against him by around 12 p.m. CST.
