Trump says he’s targeting Memphis in crime crackdown

By Donald Judd, Betsy Klein, Chris Isidore, Marshall Cohen, Wesley Bruer, Jason Morris, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump announced Friday that his administration would target Memphis as part of his efforts to crack down on crime across the nation’s major cities.

“I’ll be the first to say it right now, again, we’re going to Memphis,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” in an interview.

Calling the city “deeply troubled,” Trump suggested the mayor and Tennessee governor were happy with the action, which could include the “National Guard and anybody else we need.”

But Memphis Mayor Paul Young said at a Friday afternoon news conference that it was not done at his request, asserting that he learned in the morning “that the President and Governor are looking to bring Federal resources to our city which include the National Guard, which they have the authority to do.”

“I want to be clear I did not ask for the National Guard and I don’t think it is the way to drive down crime,” he said. “However that decision has already been made.”

Trump had previously threatened to send troops to Chicago and wrote in a Truth Social post that city is “about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.” But while the Department of Homeland Security has announced an immigration crackdown there, the mobilization of troops Trump promised has not materialized.

“I would have preferred going to Chicago,” he said Friday as he announced the impending action in Tennessee.

In Memphis, a blue city in a state that is governed by a Republican, Trump found state officials, at least, were more receptive to his efforts. The city had the highest violent crime rate last year among US cities with a population over 250,000, according to a CNN review of FBI data. Gov. Bill Lee said Friday he’d been in “constant communication” with the Trump administration to develop a plan to fight crime in the city and that he’d be speaking to the president that afternoon “to work out details of the mission.” GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn also welcomed Trump’s announcement, saying the president “answered my call to do whatever it takes to Make Memphis Safe Again.”

But Trump’s decision also highlighted the challenging political tightrope Young, a Democrat, has navigated in recent months, underscoring how the Trump administration has put Democratic officials in a bind as they seek to fight crime in their cities without being viewed as kowtowing to the White House.

Discussions around federal assistance with Memphis crime kicked off between Young, state and federal officials in March, according to a source familiar with the situation. Young, the source said, “wasn’t quite there yet. He was worried about the optics of working with the administration.” But after a surge in crime, Young was more receptive to working with Trump’s team during a meeting in April, the source said.

In June, Young met with FBI Director Kash Patel; Gov. Lee; Sens. Bill Hagerty and Blackburn, both Republicans; and Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen, along with other officials in Washington, DC, the source said. The group discussed an effort to send FBI resources to Memphis, ramp up federal charges and go after violent offenders. But there was a recognition in this meeting that the initiative, dubbed “Operation Viper,” should not be advertised widely as a federal crackdown.

“We’re not talking about this. It’s not effective if we’re all out there talking about it. And so it was like, mum’s the word, don’t talk about it,” the source said.

The announcement Friday is viewed as phase two of Operation Viper, the source said. For his part, Young indicated Friday he was receptive to some federal law enforcement help – but did not want the National Guard deployed to his city against his will.

“I am focused on the resources. FBI, DEA, ATF, those are the things that I believe will truly help us be able to support law enforcement and reduce violent crime. I do not support the National Guard,” Young said. “The Mayor doesn’t have a say or the authority to stop them from coming. So my goal is to make sure that as they come, that I have an opportunity to work with them to strategize at how they engage in this community.”

In an interview with CNN’s Victor Blackwell on Saturday, Young said he’s “certainly not happy about the National Guard,” adding he does look forward to finding new ways to address crime in the city.

“We want to make sure that as these individuals come into our city and in our community, that they are able to engage in a way that is not threatening and that they are supportive to our law enforcement efforts,” Young said.

After the Trump administration federalized the Washington, DC, police department and surged federal law enforcement and troops across the nation’s capital last month, crime in the city is down and hundreds of people accused of being in the US illegally have been detained. But tourism numbers have also declined, and some restaurants in the city are hurting for customers, CNN has previously reported. At the suggestion of Attorney General Pamela Bondi, the source said, Young spoke with Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser.

Trump’s emergency order that enabled him to take over DC’s police department expired earlier this week, though members of the National Guard are expected to remain in the city, along with a surge of federal law enforcement officers who have been seen patrolling highly touristed areas in the city.

Tennessee was among the states to send members of its National Guard to DC, although it is unclear whether those troops will now be removed to patrol their own state.

Local officials criticize move

Some local officials in Memphis spoke out against Trump’s plans.

Lee Harris, the mayor of Shelby County, which includes Memphis, has publicly called for Tennessee’s governor to “please reconsider” the National Guard deployments, and said in a Facebook post on Thursday that “the occupation of US cities” puts the country at risk of “losing our democracy.”

Memphis City Council member Jeff Warren, a Democrat, told CNN that the deployment of troops in his city “is legal” but “not what we need.”

“What we need more than the National Guard is the federal government to continue paying for the violence-prevention programs that have been successful in lowering our murder rate,” Warren said, noting that the Trump administration cancelled $500 million in public safety grants. “We love our National Guard, but we don’t think that’s going to be a long-term solution.”

Another Democratic councilmember, Jerri Green, said Trump’s “unwarranted and undemocratic” deployment could hamper existing efforts to reduce crime because members of the Tennessee National Guard will be pulled away from their day jobs as police officers, firefighters and prison guards.

“They’re going to do political theater and terrorize a lot of our community,” said Green, who is running for governor in next year’s election. “The last time we had federal troops in Memphis was during the Civil War. I don’t think this $1 million-a-day dog and pony show will make our residents feel any safer.”

Before the Trump announcement, Memphis police had already been working with federal law enforcement partners to apprehend dangerous criminals with outstanding warrants, most of them issued by local authorities. Police Chief C.J. Davis told CNN the city welcomed that help.

“I think you know, when you have 20 officers that are assigned to a fugitive unit and you have over 2000 warrants, then there’s no way that just one unit is going to be able to handle that volume of backlog, and so bringing in our federal partners has been very helpful and increasing the number of individuals in our Fugitive Unit, because we continue to have, you know, warrants come in,” she said.

Davis said that though shootings and homicides are down compared to last year, the backlog of outstanding warrants has been a struggle for the Memphis police to handle on their own. So, she said, they created their own task force comprised of local, county, state, and federal partners called the Two Rivers Violent Fugitive Task Force.

Trump says CEO called for crackdown

Trump, meanwhile, credited someone unexpected for his desire to send National Guard troops to Memphis: Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena.

Vena, Trump told Fox News on Friday, asked that National Guard troops be sent to Chicago, St. Louis and Memphis when he met with Trump seeking approval of his deal to buy Norfolk Southern.

According to Trump, the president was meeting with Vena because “they’re doing a merger, and he wanted to come see me and all that stuff.” And Trump said Vena mentioned the three cities when he asked Vena where he should send the National Guard to next.

Trump said Vena told him that when Vena was on the FedEx board, he had been told it wasn’t safe for him to walk one block to his hotel in Memphis and that he needed to be driven in a bullet-proof limo. Vena left the FedEx board in 2023.

Vena, according to Trump, cited the need for a crime crackdown in St. Louis, which Trump said he described as having “been so badly hit.” And he said there needed to be help for Chicago.

“He said, ‘Sir, please don’t lose Chicago. We are about to lose Chicago. It’s a great city. You can save Chicago,’” Trump said.

Trump did not say during the Fox interview how he felt about the proposed Union Pacific purchase of Norfolk Southern. The deal is opposed by some rail customers who worry about how the combination would affect their service and the rates they pay.

This story has been updated with additional information.

Correction: This article has been corrected to refer to Memphis Police Chief C.J. Davis as “she.”

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CNN’s Michael Williams, Alayna Treene and Hannah Rabinowitz contributed to this report.