President Donald Trump offered nothing but praise for the law enforcement officers graduating from a 10-week course at the FBI on Friday morning, just an hour after he complained about the state of the FBI.
Speaking at the FBI National Academy, the President ensured the law enforcement officers in the audience that he is a “true friend” of the police, claiming that he’s “more loyal than anyone else can be.” He called for Americans to show more respect to law enforcement officers and told them to tell their colleagues when they return to their local precincts, “The President of the United States has your back 100 percent.”
His effusive praise for law enforcement officers across the country during a ceremony at the FBI came not long after he dissed the bureau. He told reporters outside the White House on Friday morning that “it’s a shame what’s happened to the FBI, but we’re going to rebuild the FBI.” Trump has been hostile toward the FBI since before his presidency and fired James Comey as the bureau’s director last spring. Recently, conservatives have obsessed over text messages criticizing Trump during the 2016 election from a FBI employee who worked on Mueller’s probe.
After offering praise and support for law enforcement in his speech at the FBI, Trump lamented the state of crime in America, focusing on Chicago, as he often does. Trump asked the audience, “What the hell is going on in Chicago?”
He also repeated his calls for people who kill police officers to receive the death penalty and for Congress to end “chain migration,” complaining that foreign countries send the U.S. their “worst people.”
Trump was unable to make it through his speech without attacking the media, mentioning toward the end of his remarks that members of the “fake news” were present in the room.
