In this Aug. 7, 2016, photo, Chicago police investigate a scene in Chicago where gunfire at a birthday party left a man dead and a woman injured. (Ashlee Rezin /Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

(CNSNews.com) – President Donald Trump said Wednesday that if Chicago does not do something about its high murder rate, he would.



During a meeting with African-American leaders on African American History month, Trump supporter, Pastor Darrell Scott of the New Spirit Revival Center in Cleveland Heights, Ohio., said he was contacted by Chicago gang leaders for a sit down at which time, Scott told them “Get that body count down.”





“I was recently contacted by some of the top gang thugs in Chicago for a sit-down. They reached out to me, because they associated me with you. They respect you. They believe in what you’re doing, and they want to have a sit-down about lowering that body count. So in a couple of weeks, I’m going into Chicago,” Scott said.



“Great idea, because Chicago is totally out of control,” Trump said.



“I said we gotta lower that body count. We don’t want to talk about anything else. Get that body count down, and they agreed that the principles, they can do it. These are the guys straight from the streets, no politicians, straight street guys, but they’re going to commit that if they lower their body count, we’ll come in. We’ll do some social programs,” Scott said.



“If they’re not going to solve the problem – and what you’re doing is the right thing - then we’re going to solve the problem for them, because we’re going to have to do something about Chicago, because what’s happening in Chicago should not be happening in this country,” Trump said.



Scott said the gang leaders he talked to believe in the Trump administration, but did not believe in the Obama administration.



“But they want to work with this administration,” Scott said. “They want to. They reached out. I didn’t reach out to them. They reached out to me. They want to work with this administration. They believe in this administration. They didn’t believe in the prior administration. They told me this out of their mouth, that they saw hope with you.”



According to the Chicago Tribune, there were 762 homicides in 2016 – “the most since 1996 when there were 796.” Meanwhile, the murder rate in 2017 also started off with the same trend. According to the Chicago Police Department, the number of murders in Chicago was up compared to last year. In January 2017, there were 51 murders – one more than January 2016.