AMY GOODMAN: President Trump addressed an unprecedented gathering of 800 U.S. generals and admirals on Tuesday at a meeting at Marine Corps Base Quantico that was organized by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who had the admirals and generals flown in from around the world. President Trump urged the military to use cities as training grounds, claiming the U.S. is “under invasion from within.”

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The ones that are run by the radical left Democrats, what they’ve done to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, they’re very unsafe places. And we’re going to straighten them out one by one. And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room. That’s a war, too. It’s a war from within. … I told Pete we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military, National Guard, but military, because we’re going into Chicago very soon. That’s a big city with an incompetent governor, stupid governor. Stupid.

AMY GOODMAN: Trump’s comments about Chicago come after he has repeatedly threatened to send National Guard troops to the city for weeks. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker warned he would sue to stop their deployment. Armed federal agents with ICE, the FBI and Border Patrol have already arrested hundreds in Chicago as part of Operation Midway Blitz. Dozens of agents in military fatigues roamed downtown Chicago over the weekend, and on Tuesday some 300 agents emerged from box trucks and rappelled from a Black Hawk helicopter for an apartment complex raid that led to the arrest of about 30 undocumented people.

Meanwhile, five people are facing federal felony charges stemming from protests at the ICE detention facility in Broadview. This is 70-year-old Air Force veteran Dana Briggs, who says an ICE agent pushed him to the ground Saturday when he tried to hand his cellphone to another protester. Briggs was accused of swinging his arm at the agent and is charged with felony assault on a federal officer. He spoke to CBS News Chicago.

DANA BRIGGS: He didn’t give me time to move. All I saw was a hand coming at me after I had handed my phone off. … I’m just, I guess, more appalled than anything else that they’re just going after ordinary, everyday people. Did we say some things that they probably didn’t like? Yeah, fine, but free speech.

AMY GOODMAN: For more, we go to Chicago, where we’re joined by the mayor, Brandon Johnson.

Mayor Brandon Johnson, welcome back to Democracy Now! If you can respond to Trump’s comments about Chicago, that your city, among others, will be the training guard [sic] for the military in this country — training ground?

MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON: Yeah, he’s absolutely wrong, you know, about his characterization of our city. It is absolutely absurd and appalling that the president of the United States of America would describe the city of Chicago or American cities as enemies from within. This is unconscionable. It’s reckless. It’s dangerous. And that’s why we are forcefully fighting back to defend our democracy and to protect the humanity of every single resident across our city.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Mayor, could you comment on these latest actions in Chicago over the weekend, ICE agents parading down through the downtown area, detaining people in a show of force, and then, of course, this raid that happened on Tuesday?

MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON: Yeah, absolutely. You know, listen, Trump’s deportation campaign, it’s not for safety. It’s for profit. This is yet another example of how this president is militarizing forces, ultimately with the goal to occupy cities. It’s why we have vehemently pushed back, you know, against this operation, and in no way are we calling for the militarization or the occupation of our cities.

What we saw, not just downtown Chicago, where Chicagoans, visitors from around the country and around the world were enjoying a peaceful, beautiful day in Chicago, and this political stunt was carried out by an unhinged, deranged president. What we saw just a couple of nights ago on the South Side of Chicago, where we had masked men destroy property, barge into people’s homes in the middle of the night, sticking long guns in the faces of Black residents, this is an affront on our democracy, and it is further demonstration and a further display of how this president is carrying out, you know, what Dr. King described as one of the three evils. The militarization of our country is an evil. And as workers and as working-class people around this country, we have to push back and, you know, put forth a real cure to this unconscionable evil that is on display by the president of the United States.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Mayor, you recently signed an unusual executive order on the right to protest, where you mentioned that the Chicago police can collaborate with protest organizers to develop a mutually acceptable alternative plan. Could you talk about that?

MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON: I can. So, I signed two of the most sweeping executive orders anywhere in the country by a city. And this particular executive order ensures the First Amendment will be protected. What we are seeing in cities across America, and, quite frankly, around the globe, where peaceful protesters are being shot at and targeted by government in the village of Broadview, just outside of the city of Chicago, where we had ICE agents shooting pepper balls at protesters, even shooting, you know, at a reporter that was there just to do her job, we know that this is an attempt of the president to set up a pretext to sending in the National Guard. And so, this executive order ensures that our local police department will work in coordination with protesters and residents who wish to exercise their First Amendment right, and that the federal government cannot interfere with the First Amendment.

AMY GOODMAN: I mean, this is an amazing scene, Mayor Brandon Johnson, that happened in the last few days. You have agents rappelling from a Black Hawk helicopter, these masked agents also emerging from box trucks, and, as you said, this CBS reporter being — having a pepper ball blown into her face as she sat in an open window in a car. In California, they’ve passed a law, and the governor signed it, the No Secret Police Act. It’s not quite in effect yet, but it’s forbidding masked agents. The federal government, the Trump administration, says they’re not going to abide by it. But is Illinois going to pass a similar law? And, I mean, this is exactly what Trump is describing to this unprecedented gathering of 800 generals, many of whom didn’t even want to come in from around the world, saying you’re the training ground.

MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON: Yeah. To characterize our cities, not just Chicago, but cities around America, as training ground for the military is just absolutely reprehensible. You know, the brave women and men who sign up to serve and protect this nation, here and abroad, they don’t sign up to come and terrorize their neighbors. And in fact, I put forth an executive order to this point, to ensure that our police officers will be in uniform, their badges, their IDs, their names, everything on full display. We urge the federal agents to do the same.

You know, it’s unfortunate, though, that this president is committed to disrupting what’s sensible about our democracy. And you are absolutely right, you know, the secrecy and the hypermilitarization of this $170 billion blank check that the president has turned over to Tom Homan, who took a $50,000 bribe to direct contracts to these detention centers, these corporations of whom — of which many of them have contributed millions of dollars to Donald Trump’s campaign. So, again, this clearly — his deportation — or, so-called deportation campaign is not about safety. It’s about profit.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Mayor, President Trump, in threatening to call the federal troops into Chicago and other cities, has claimed that these Democratic-controlled cities are hellholes of lawlessness. Could you set the record straight on what the situation is in your city?

MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON: Yeah, absolutely. Look, the city of Chicago, we are truly the greatest city in the world, you know, from 20% of the world’s fresh water in our front yard between Lake Michigan and the St. Lawrence River. You know, we have one of the most diverse economies in the world, where not one industry comprises of more than 20% of our overall GDP. You know, our airports, and particularly O’Hare, we set and break records every single day. You know, we have some of the top universities anywhere in the world, the top labor force. You know, in fact, with the development that’s happening in Chicago right now, we’re talking about $20 billion of new revenue coming into our region from tourism. You know, it’s a place where, you know, as I said, a Black Haitian immigrant and a Potawatomi woman fell in love and established the trade post right at the bank of the river, and it’s truly the love story of America.

And not only have we demonstrated that we are the global capital of the world, with the investments that we are making, we’re seeing unprecedented levels of violence reduction in our city. Homicides are down 30%. Shootings and shooting victims are down 35%. There’s more work to be done, but we are truly building the safest, most affordable big city in America. In fact, Condé Nast rated us the best big city in America eight years in a row, 13 years consecutively as the number one relocator for corporate headquarters. And so, we have a great workforce, a great university system, a diverse economy. And, of course, most of all, we have amazing people in our city.

AMY GOODMAN: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, we thank you very much for being with us, former teacher and organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union, speaking to us from Juan’s city, Chicago.

Coming up, we talk to an expert on military law who warns Trump and Hegseth want to turn the military into a tool of personal loyalty. Back in 20 seconds.

[break]

AMY GOODMAN: “Do You Believe in Rapture?” by Thurston Moore, performing at Smith College in 2005.