LOS ANGELES — In an interview that aired Sunday morning on the Fox News program “Sunday Morning Futures,” President Donald Trump underscored his plan to send federal troops to San Francisco.
“We’re going to go to San Francisco — the difference is I think they want us in San Francisco,” he told journalist Maria Bartiromo as they sat in the Roosevelt Room in the West Wing.
“San Francisco was truly one of the great cities of the world. And then 15 years ago it went wrong, it went woke,” he said. He added that, “We’re going to make it great.”
Trump publicly toyed with the idea last week, but his latest remarks were perhaps the most explicit signal yet of his intentions. It was not clear whether Trump had mobilized any troops to be sent to San Francisco.
The talk about deploying the National Guard to the city came as troops have been sent to other areas where Trump has said that crime is out of control, an assertion leaders in those cities disputed. Such a move would likely further increase the tension between Trump and San Francisco leaders and Gov. Gavin Newsom, who have made clear their disdain for federal troops patrolling their streets.
Marc Benioff, the founder of the tech giant Salesforce, roiled the city when he told The New York Times that he thought guard troops should be sent to his hometown.
“We don’t have enough cops, so if they can be cops, I’m all for it,” he said, as he prepared for his annual Dreamforce conference that would bring nearly 50,000 people to the downtown area.
Benioff apologized for those remarks after city leaders lambasted him for making them. He said Friday that he no longer believed troops were necessary.
Daniel Lurie, the mayor of San Francisco, who has tried to avoid directly confronting Trump or acknowledging statements about him, noted that crime was down and homicides were at a historic low at a news conference Friday.
“This united front of public safety leaders and city leaders behind me is keeping San Francisco safe every day,” he said. “That is my No. 1 job as mayor, and this team right here is getting it done.”
Lurie added that the Dreamforce conference, which concluded Thursday, had ended in a “public safety success.”
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