MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Former President Donald Trump used the word “terrible” when speaking about Milwaukee – the city where he will accept the Republican nomination next month – during a closed-door meeting Thursday with Republican members of Congress, according to several people in the room who then spoke.
The comment, first reported by Punchbowl News as the meeting was underway, immediately sparked disagreement among attendees over what Trump meant.
Several Trump-supporting members of Congress who attended the rally argued he was referring to crime and voter fraud. Trump regularly labels Democratic-run cities unsafe — even as violent crime has declined nationwide in the latest FBI statistics — and repeats falsehoods about his loss in the 2020 election.
President Joe Biden’s campaign and his Democratic allies pounced on the reported comment, even as Republicans in Wisconsin disputed how it was interpreted. Biden posted a photo on the social platform
Milwaukee will host the Republican National Convention starting July 15 and is the largest Democratic stronghold in the swing state of Wisconsin.
Trump will be in Racine, Wisconsin for a campaign rally on Tuesday, just three weeks before he heads to Milwaukee for the convention.
Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung posted on X that Trump was “talking about how horrible crime and voter fraud are.”
Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, who represents western Wisconsin, said Trump talked about the city’s “terrible or terrible” crime rates.
“He was referring directly to the crime in Milwaukee,” said Van Orden, who told The Associated Press he was sitting just steps away from the former president.
He said Republicans in the room agreed. “They say, yes, crime is terrible.”
U.S. Reps. Glenn Grothman and Scott Fitzgerald, both also from Wisconsin, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Trump was referring to the upcoming election.
But Republican U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, who represents southeastern Wisconsin, disputed that Trump made the comment.
“I was in the room,” Steil posted on X. “President Trump did not say this. There is no better place than Wisconsin in July.”
And Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who represents northern Wisconsin, said he has never heard Trump call it a “terrible city.”
“What I’ve heard is that we need to ensure election integrity in Milwaukee,” Tiffany said in a telephone interview. “He’s talking about the states that are in play and the states that have the greatest interest, and Wisconsin is at the top of the list.”
A Trump aide and two lawyers who advised him in 2020 were charged with felonies in Wisconsin last week for their role in a scheme to get Republicans to cast Wisconsin election ballots for Trump even though he lost the state .
Government and outside investigations have conclusively found that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could have affected the 2020 election. But Trump has continued to spread falsehoods about the election, especially in Wisconsin.
Republican Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana said he was also in the room and that “Trump has never disparaged Milwaukee.”
“Just another hoax from the Democrats,” Banks wrote on X.
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, when asked about Trump’s reported comments, said at a news conference: “If Donald Trump wants to talk about things he thinks are terrible, we all lived through his presidency, so back to you buddy.”
U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, a Democrat who represents and lives in Milwaukee, made a nod to Trump’s recent felony convictions in her response. Trump is expected to be sentenced in New York on July 11, days before the convention begins.
“Once he settles in with his probation officer, I am confident he will discover that Milwaukee is a beautiful, vibrant and welcoming city, full of diverse neighborhoods and a thriving business community,” Moore wrote on X.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who is up for re-election this year, said on X that Milwaukee is “part of what makes Wisconsin the best state in the country. Donald Trump wouldn’t understand even if a jury told him to.” She used Trump’s comment in a fundraising plea hours after it was first reported.
Local and state Democratic leaders, including Gov. Tony Evers, worked with Republicans this summer to win the convention.
Evers posted in response to Trump’s comment on X: “Add it to the list of things Donald Trump is wrong about.” He followed it with a clown face emoji.
Milwaukee was scheduled to host the 2020 Democratic National Convention, but it was moved almost entirely online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
___ Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.
