Ohio Pastor Tells Trump Chicago Gangs Want to Meet, But That's More Hype Than Hope, Activists Say

A Cleveland pastor who served on President Donald Trump's transition team told the president Wednesday that Chicago gang leaders want to meet with the chief executive and talk about "lowering that body count," according to reports. But some Chicago activists who deal with gangs regularly are skeptical about the veracity of the pastor's claims.

During a White House "listening session" Wednesday in honor of Black History Month, Darrell Scott, a pastor at Cleveland's New Spirit Revival Church who has a long association with Trump, said gang members recently had reached out to him in respect and because "they believe in what [Trump is] doing," according to Town Hall, a conservative news website.

"They said we gotta lower that body count. They don't want to talk about anything but getting that body count down, and they agreed on principles that can do it," Scott said. "These are guys straight from the streets — no politicians, straight street guys — but they're going to commit that if they lower that body count, we can come in with some social programs."

RELATED: Trump's 'Send in the Feds' Threat: Chicago Would Welcome Help, But Not the National Guard

During the presidential campaign and since taking office, Trump has been a vocal critic of how Chicago officials have tried to curb the city's epidemic of gun violence. Last week, he tweeted: "If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible 'carnage' going on, … I will send in the Feds!"

Trump was receptive Wednesday to Scott's suggestion of a presidential gang summit, and he again waved around the threat of federal involvement if Chicago's crime and violence didn't decrease, Town Hall reports.

"Great idea because Chicago is totally out of control," the president said, according to the website. "If they're not going to solve the problem … then we're going to solve the problem for them. We have to do something about Chicago. What's happening in Chicago shouldn't be happening in this country."

But the Rev. Michael Pfleger, the prominent South Side activist and pastor of St. Sabina Catholic Church, was skeptical that Scott had any significant contact with anyone connected with Chicago's factious gangs.

“I’ve never heard of this guy," Pfleger told the Chicago Sun-Times. "If he has these relationships, has he ever been here? This is serious business. We have people dying in the streets here. I’m tired of (Trump) using us as a punch line.”

Soon after reports of Scott's invitation-by-proxy to Trump to meet with Chicago gangs, activist Jedidiah Brown countered the pastor's claims that gang leaders — or "top gang thugs in Chicago" as Scott called them — had contacted him. In a string of messages over Twitter on Wednesday, Brown said Scott did indeed speak with people from the area, but not in the way the pastor presented it:

A South Shore pastor who recently made an unsuccessful run at the 5th Ward alderman seat, Brown and his activism reached the national stage last year when he rushed the stage during a campaign stop for then-candidate Trump at the University of Illinois at Chicago, an event Trump was forced to cancel because of protesters. Brown has worked with the families of victims of Chicago's gun violence, and later Wednesday, he assured people that his criticism of Trump's rhetoric directed at the city isn't a sign that he doesn't want to find solutions.

More via Town Hall

UPDATED (7:17 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 1)

President Donald Trump (photo via The White House)

Like What You're Reading? Stay Patched In!

• Like our Crime page on Facebook
• Live Traffic and Transit Updates