Chicago out of control, says Trump after train attack left woman critically burned

Trump called Chicago crime out of control after a woman was set on fire by a man with 72 prior arrests, blaming "liberal judges" and urging Illinois leaders to allow federal troops into the city.

In Short

• Woman set on fire by man with 72 prior arrests
• Trump urges federal troops to tackle rising violence
• Criticises Illinois leaders for blocking intervention

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said crime in Chicago is out of control, blasting what he called liberal judges after a 26-year-old woman was set on fire on a subway train, allegedly by a man with 72 prior arrests who had been released on bond despite prosecutors urging he be jailed.

Speaking during the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardon at the White House, Trump renewed his demand that Illinois officials allow federal troops into the city to confront rising violence.

“This is a very serious thing,” Trump said, describing the attack on Bethany MaGee, who remains hospitalized with critical burns. “They burned this beautiful woman riding in a train. A man was arrested 72 times — think of that. And they’ll let him out again, the liberal judges will let him out again.”

The attack, which left the victim — identified by friends as Bethany MaGee — critically injured, was allegedly carried out by a man with a long history of arrests across Chicago. Authorities say the suspect has 72 prior arrests, including eight felony convictions and multiple misdemeanors. Prosecutors say he doused the woman with gasoline, chased her through the train car and set her on fire in broad daylight.

Trump said Chicago leaders continue to block federal intervention. He criticised Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker by name, repeating his claim that deploying troops in other major cities had sharply reduced crime. “We’re ready to go,” he said. “It’s horrible what’s happening in Chicago. The people of Chicago want us to go there.”

The president went further, calling Johnson incompetent and labelling Pritzker a big fat slob, adding: “He ought to invite us in and say, ‘Please make Chicago safe.’ We’re going to lose a great city if we don’t do it quickly.”

Illinois officials have pushed back for months, calling federal intervention unconstitutional and accusing the White House of exaggerating crime levels. Pritzker and Trump also clashed publicly this week after the governor criticised the president over rising Thanksgiving food prices.

A White House statement issued later intensified the criticism, accusing Democratic leaders of creating a “blood-soaked catastrophe” through policies such as Illinois’s no-cash-bail law. “This animal was walking free because of the radical, dangerous ‘no cash bail’ law proudly signed by Governor JB Pritzker,” the statement said, also blaming Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. The statement noted that the suspect had been released on electronic monitoring after a violent crime just months earlier and had repeatedly violated those conditions without consequence.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt sharply condemned what she described as liberal soft-on-crime policies, saying they helped enable the brutal attack in Chicago where a 26-year-old woman was set on fire on a subway train.

In a post on X, Leavitt described the victim as an innocent, beautiful 26-year-old woman and asked, “How was this allowed to take place?” before declaring, “These liberal soft-on-crime policies threaten the safety and lives of law-abiding Americans. Enough is enough.”

The White House said President Donald Trump is fighting tooth and nail to make America’s cities safe again, pledging to confront what it called reckless Democrat policy disasters and to back police departments with additional federal support.

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