From USA TODAY.
President Donald Trump, during a March 23 visit to Memphis where he was slated to tout the Memphis Safe Task Force, hardly spoke about the federal crime-fighting effort.
He started the visit by talking about the Iran war, saying he had ordered the U.S. military to pause some planned strikes on "major energy and electricity" sites in Iran after what the president described as improving discussions. He said the U.S. had planned to "shoot down some of their power plants" on March 24, but those plans had been halted for the time being.
"No matter what, we’ll ensure that Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon," he said.
Trump meandered for twenty minutes between the war in Iran, discussing the midterm elections, Democrats blocking funding to the Department of Homeland Security, and voter registration legislation. He slowly segued into Memphis’ crime by referencing the late Fred Smith, whom Trump described as his friend. Eventually, Trump began talking about the task force’s arrest numbers.
Regularly throughout his speech, Trump would stop talking about Memphis and instead begin talking about similar efforts in Washington, D.C., and New Orleans.
Sign up for our newsletter for the day’s top stories, from sports to movies to politics to world events: https://profile.usatoday.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/
