Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson plans to skip President Trump Donald John TrumpFederal prosecutor speaks out, says Barr 'has brought shame' on Justice Dept. Former Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick MORE's speech next Monday at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference in Chicago, the president's first visit to a city he has often berated, the Associated Press reports.

Shortly after the White House announced on Tuesday that Trump would be traveling to Chicago to give the speech, Johnson’s spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Johnson would not be there, though the chief planned to host and attend several other events at the conference.

ADVERTISEMENT

"The values of the people of Chicago are more important to him than anything that could be discussed at that speech," Guglielmi said.

Trump has heavily criticized Chicago, the third-largest city in the country, throughout his presidency, sometimes in similar terms to his attacks on other Democrat-controlled areas. He has used its high rates of gun violence to accuse its leaders of being soft on crime and call for tougher laws nationwide and knocked its position as a sanctuary city.

In 2017, Trump tweeted that he would "send in the Feds" if the city didn't improve its rate of gun violence. Then-mayor Rahm Emmanuel rejected Trump's seeming offer to mobilize the National Guard. He also suggested the city adopt stop-and-frisk policing.