Mayor Rahm Emanuel is in Washington on Monday for meetings with senior Trump administration officials, including new Attorney General Jeff Sessions and senior adviser Jared Kushner, according to sources familiar with the mayor’s schedule.
Also on tap are meetings with transportation officials and Gary Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs executive who is director of President Donald Trump’s National Economic Council, the sources said.
Emanuel was not scheduled to formally meet with Trump or his chief of staff, Reince Priebus, but given the sometimes unpredictable nature of the new president’s administration, the mayor was prepared for the possibility of such a meeting materializing Monday, the sources said. Even if those meetings don’t come together, Kushner is Trump’s son-in-law and a top confidant.
Sessions took over the Justice Department as Chicago is negotiating a possible federal consent decree following a civil rights investigation into the Chicago Police Department’s use of force. The 13-month investigation resulted in a 164-page report that sharply criticized the city’s police force, concluding that officers were poorly trained and quick to use excessive and deadly force — most often against African-Americans and Latinos — without facing consequences.
In response to the investigation, Emanuel agreed to enter talks toward a court-enforced agreement with former President Barack Obama’s Justice Department on a wide range of reforms. Whether such a final agreement is reached on a federal consent decree, however, is less certain under Trump, who has supported aggressive law enforcement, and Sessions, who has criticized consent decrees in the past.
The meeting comes as Trump repeatedly has slammed Chicago’s surging gun violence. That topic came up when Emanuel met with Trump in New York in December as he was preparing to take office, and the mayor has said he would welcome additional federal resources to address the violent crime problem.
In first day as attorney general, Sessions vows to get tough on crime Sadie Gurman
Former Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions was sworn in as President Donald Trump’s attorney general Thursday, pledging to fight a crime problem he described as “a dangerous, permanent trend that places the health and safety of the American people at risk.”
“We will employ the talents and abilities of the…
Former Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions was sworn in as President Donald Trump’s attorney general Thursday, pledging to fight a crime problem he described as “a dangerous, permanent trend that places the health and safety of the American people at risk.”
“We will employ the talents and abilities of the…
(Sadie Gurman)
Emanuel’s meeting with Sessions also follows a Trump executive order that directed his new attorney general to take aggressive action toward sanctuary cities such as Chicago, where local laws prohibit government workers and police officers from asking about residents’ immigration status. Trump directed Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to ensure sanctuary cities "are not eligible to receive federal grants, except as deemed necessary for law enforcement purposes."
It’s not clear how much federal funding could be at stake for Chicago, but cutting off all federal funding to sanctuary cities would require action by the Republican-controlled Congress. Last year, Chicago received a little more than $1 billion in federal grant funding for myriad programs, including early childhood education, transportation, policing, health initiatives, public assistance programs and disaster management. It’s unknown how much of that $1 billion could be deemed necessary for law enforcement, as laid out by Trump’s order.
Kushner, a shadow diplomat, pulls the strings on U.S.-Mexico talks Philip Rucker, Ashley Parker, Joshua Partlow
The scene in the Oval Office was remarkable: The foreign minister of Mexico – the very country that Donald Trump had turned into a campaign-trail piñata – huddled with now-President Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
The men were debating what Trump would say in a speech later that day as…
The scene in the Oval Office was remarkable: The foreign minister of Mexico – the very country that Donald Trump had turned into a campaign-trail piñata – huddled with now-President Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
The men were debating what Trump would say in a speech later that day as…
(Philip Rucker, Ashley Parker, Joshua Partlow)
The city, however, does receive millions under Sessions’ jurisdiction at the Justice Department. Justice officials issued a report last year that stated Chicago could stand to lose nearly $29 million in annual agency grants if it were to be found in violation of federal laws on detaining people to be turned over to immigration agents for possible deportation.
Emanuel also was scheduled to meet with senior transportation officials weeks after the city approved new special taxing districts that allowed it to tap into $1 billion in federal transportation funding the Obama administration had set aside for Chicago mass transit projects. The new taxing districts near the city’s "L" lines allowed the city to come up with the money it needs to offer as a match to receive the federal funding.
The mayor also has voiced his willingness to work with Trump on infrastructure spending, as the president repeatedly listed such an initiative as a priority in the days before he took office.
bruthhart@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @BillRuthhart
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