Mayor Rahm Emanuel Meets With President-Elect Donald Trump for 'Frank and Honest' Talk

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and President-elect Donald Trump met for about 45 minutes Wednesday morning in New York City for a face-to-face discussion the mayor called "frank and honest," according to Crain's Chicago Business.

The meeting was scheduled last month during a phone call between Trump and Emanuel. It was one of several meetings the mayor will be having while he is in the East Coast city, a spokesman told the Chicago Tribune.

Immigration was one of the major topics of discussion Wednesday at the president-elect's Trump Tower. Throughout his campaign, Trump emphasized he would crack down on illegal immigration and talked about building a wall — paid for by Mexico — on the southern border of the United States. Emanuel has pushed back on that hard-line stance, reiterating that Chicago would remain a "Sanctuary City" for undocumented immigrants after Trump's election.

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The mayor continued to press the issue Wednesday, hand delivering to Trump a letter signed by other U.S. mayors that urged the president-elect to continue the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, according to Emanuel's office. That program allows adults brought in to the United States as children to stay in the country.

Other subjects discussed during the meeting included education, infrastructure and transportation, according to Crain's. Trump's Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and adviser Steve Bannon also attended the meeting, the report added.

Policy issues weren't the only items on Wednesday's agenda. The recently named Time Man of the Year asked Emanuel about his experiences working at the White House and how to deal with the public scrutiny that comes with running the country, Crain's reports. Before becoming mayor, Emanuel worked for both the Clinton and Obama administrations.

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Interestingly, crime was not mentioned as a topic the elected officials talked about Wednesday. Chicago and its epidemic of gun violence became a focal point for Trump during his campaign. The president-elect claimed he could "fix" the city's crime problem and that law enforcement officials should enact the controversial practice of stop and frisk.

Trump is reportedly close friends with Emanuel's brother, Ari Emanuel, a Hollywood talent agent who is the basis for characters on the TV series "The Larry Sanders Show" and "Entourage." Ari Emanuel had represented Trump during his reality TV show days, and the two met in November at the president-elect's New Jersey golf course, the Tribune reports.

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Mayor Emanuel also received a $50,000 campaign contribution from Trump about six years ago, the report stated.

Overall, Emanuel described Wednesday's meeting with Trump as "a conversation," and he expected to have more of them in the future, Crain's reports. When asked by Crain's if he requested anything from the president-elect, Emanuel replied: "That's not what you do on a first meeting."

UPDATED (12:42 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 7)

More via Crain's Chicago Business

President-elect Donald Trump (left) and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (photos via Patch archive)

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