Milwaukee, WI
7 Members Of Congress DEBUNK Claim Trump Disparaged Milwaukee As A 'Horrible City'
Seven members of Congress have debunked the misleading media claim that former President Donald Trump supposedly called Milwaukee a “horrible city” during a closed-door meeting with members of the U.S. House. We round up their comments below.
“I was in the meeting. President Trump never disparaged Milwaukee. Just another Democrat hoax,” U.S. Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana wrote.
I was in the meeting. President Trump never disparaged Milwaukee.
Just another Democrat hoax.
— Jim Banks (@Jim_Banks) June 13, 2024
The claim first originated from a reporter for a Washington D.C. area site called Punchbowl News and ricocheted throughout the media, sending Democrats rushing to their keyboards to post their sputtering outrage on social media. The Punchbowl News reporter claimed Trump said, “Milwaukee, where we are having our convention, is a horrible city.”
The only problem is that the claim is misleading at best, completely lacking context. Members of Congress who were actually in the closed-door meeting, which was not open to the press, said that Trump did not disparage or insult Milwaukee, where the upcoming Republican National Convention will be held. Rather, they say he was expressing specific and legitimate concerns about election integrity and crime, not trashing the city as a whole.
You cannot make this up. @fox6now was interviewing people in Milwaukee about Trump’s supposed comments.
They throw it back to the studio. The next story:
“Well, a man was shot and killed in Milwaukee…” pic.twitter.com/dFbEqLZA6d
— Brooks (@EBrooksUncut) June 15, 2024
Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung wrote on X that Trump “was talking about how terrible crime and voter fraud are.”
That didn’t stop the liberal myth from being endlessly perpetuated, with Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers saying, “We know he said that. He’s the biggest con we’ve seen, and he’ll continue to do that.”
Apparently, Evers has decided to ignore the seven members of Congress who say that, actually, it’s not that simple.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other media outlets reported as a fact that Trump made the “horrible city” comment, even dropping the attribution – that the claim came from a single reporter for Punchbowl News. Other news outlets were careful to only say that Trump used the word “horrible” when discussing Milwaukee.
It’s astonishing that @journalsentinel is STILL reporting Trump said this, as if it’s a fact, without attribution, when it’s disputed whether he said exactly this and in what context. Bad journalism. pic.twitter.com/1fHlilM4tU
— Wisconsin Right Now (@wisconsin_now) June 14, 2024
“That odor that’s in the air right now is the stench of desperation from Democrats who are grasping at straws to salvage Joe Biden’s failing re-elect bid. Instead of pouncing on yet another fake news hit on President Trump, Biden and Democrats ought to spend their time and energy doing something about their horrendous record on inflation, crime, and immigration– the real issues driving Americans to the polls this November, said RNC Spokesman Kush Desai.
Milwaukee has a host of problems, from recent years of record homicide numbers to a reckless driving epidemic. Milwaukee Public Schools is in a fiscal meltdown, and the city begged to raise its sales tax to prevent bankruptcy.
Here is a round-up of comments from the members of Congress who are debunking the claim:
Rep. Claudia Tenney (NY-24)
President Trump was responding directly to my question about the lack of ELECTION INTEGRITY by election officials in certain US cities including Milwaukee. President Trump made no derogatory remarks about the great citizens and communities in those cities.
Much like New… https://t.co/f4J8h5KZpT
— Claudia Tenney (@claudiatenney) June 13, 2024
“President Trump was responding directly to my question about the lack of ELECTION INTEGRITY by election officials in certain US cities including Milwaukee. President Trump made no derogatory remarks about the great citizens and communities in those cities.
Much like New Yorkers, Wisconsinites are fed up with violent crime and rampant voter fraud.
Democrats know the voters are on our side, so they’re trying to twist President Trump’s words.”
Rep. Bryan Steil (WI-01)
I was in the room. President Trump did not say this. There is no better place than Wisconsin in July. https://t.co/MJUpqyAt4G
— Bryan Steil (@RepBryanSteil) June 13, 2024
“I was in the room. President Trump did not say this. There is no better place than Wisconsin in July.”
Steil also said to WISN-TV, “He wasn’t talking about the city. He was talking about specific issues in the city. I think it was horrible that a 9-year-old boy was killed on the north side of Milwaukee yesterday. We’ve had challenges in the city as it relates to the public school system.”
Rep. Glenn Grothman (WI-06)
“Well, he said nothing that I considered an insult to Milwaukee,” Grothman told The Hill.
“He made it clear we had to do better in Milwaukee, as we have to do in many of the big cities in the northern United States. But having been born in Milwaukee raised right north of Milwaukee, there was nothing I found offensive. I think you had, like always, some mainstream media personalities, who like to think of an excuse to drag down President Trump, and that’s not true.”
“He said nothing that I consider to be a criticism of Milwaukee, other than that we’ve got to get more of them to be voting Republican in the future.”
Grothman said Trump spoke for an hour and told The Hill that it’s too bad he couldn’t speak “without having a devious reporter mischaracterizing what you say. And that’s what happened here.”
Grothman made similar comments in an interview with Wisconsin Right Now.
He told WRN that Trump said he “felt we have to do better in big northern cities. He mentioned Milwaukee.” He said that Trump was referring to the GOP winning elections and said something to the effect that “our performance has to improve, which everyone knows. For us to win Wisconsin, we have to do better in Milwaukee and Madison.”
He said that Trump was meeting with Republican congressmen to “give us a pep talk.” Grothman said it went “fantastically well. Everyone was enthralled. Trump is always great in private and in public.” He said that Donald Trump “said we have to do better in Milwaukee.”
Asked what specific words Trump used, and whether he used the words “horrible city,” Grothman said that it was a 70-minute speech, and he doesn’t remember every word Trump said in it but that he doesn’t believe Trump “said anything derogatory about Milwaukee,” other than referring to the problems the GOP has in winning elections there.
Rep. Tom Tiffany (WI-07)
Tiffany told ABC News that he never heard Trump use the phrase “horrible city.”
“What I heard is to make sure there’s election integrity in Milwaukee,” Tiffany told ABC. “He’s talking about the states that are in play and the states of greatest importance and Wisconsin is top of the list.”
Rep. Derrick Van Orden (WI-03)
Another classic example of shitty reporting by a Democratic Party shill pretending to be a journalist.
Lies busy omission. @realDonaldTrump was specifically referring to the crime the CRIME RATE in Milwaukee. https://t.co/lOB06vBD5e pic.twitter.com/UpL3HYMyJy
— Derrick Van Orden (@derrickvanorden) June 13, 2024
“Another classic example of sh*tty reporting by a Democratic Party shill pretending to be a journalist.” He said that the claim was “lies” through “omission,” and added that Trump “was specifically referring to” the “CRIME RATE in Milwaukee.”
Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (WI-05)
“What he was talking about was the elections in Milwaukee. They’re concerned about them.”
Rep. Scott Fitzgerald says Trump’s Milwaukee ‘horrible’ comments came after an election question and says Trump said there are 19 places the campaign is concerned with including Milwaukee pic.twitter.com/3D8QwulAnN
— Matt Smith (@mattsmith_news) June 13, 2024
“Congresswoman Claudia Tenney from New York raised her hand and asked a question that related to elections and election integrity,” Fitzgerald said to WISN. “And the president began to answer by saying that there are 19 specific places throughout the nation that they’re very concerned about. And one of the places that he was concerned about was the city of Milwaukee. And so that’s that’s where the comment came from.”
Rep. Jim Banks (IN-03)
I was in the meeting. President Trump never disparaged Milwaukee.
Just another Democrat hoax.
— Jim Banks (@Jim_Banks) June 13, 2024
“I was in the meeting. President Trump never disparaged Milwaukee. Just another Democrat hoax.”
Brice Turang drove in four runs and David Hamilton had four hits as the Milwaukee Brewers routed the Detroit Tigers 12-4 on Tuesday night.
Despite missing their top three hitters, the Brewers put 19 runners on base and scored in double digits for the second time this season. They have won five of six.
All nine Milwaukee starters reached base at least once, and Detroit catcher/knuckleballer Jake Rogers limited the damage by pitching a scoreless ninth inning.
Detroit lost its second straight after winning eight of nine.
Milwaukee used speed and small ball to take a 3-0 lead in the second inning. Garrett Mitchell led off with an infield single, took second on a walk and scored on Sal Frelick’s base hit. Hamilton beat out a bunt to load the bases.
After Blake Perkins struck out, Turang lined a two-run single to right. Turang, though, got caught in a rundown between first and second and the Tigers threw Hamilton out at the plate when he tried to score.
Detroit loaded the bases with no one out in the fourth, but Grant Anderson relieved Harrison and got Javier Báez to ground into a double play. That made it 3-1, but Anderson struck out pinch-hitter Kerry Carpenter to end the inning.
The Brewers made it 5-1 in the seventh on RBI singles by Turang and William Contreras.
Milwaukee added seven runs in an 11-batter eighth, an inning that included the fourth triple of Gary Sanchez’s 12-year MLB career.
Detroit scored three times in the ninth inning to cut the final margin to eight runs.
The teams continue the series on Wednesday night with the second of three games. Detroit RHP Casey Mize (1-1, 2.78) is scheduled to face RHP Chad Patrick (1-0, 0.95).
West Allis Fire demonstrates using Narcan for opioid overdoses
West Allis Fire Department Assistant Chief Armando Suarez Del Real illustrates how a Narcan nasal spray kit is administered in the event of an overdose.
The number of Milwaukee County residents who died from a drug overdose fell for a third year in 2025, which county officials say is a promising sign that more money spent on harm reduction, treatment and prevention efforts is working.
New data released April 21 show 387 overdose deaths across the county last year, down about 43% from their peak in 2022.
“The work is paying off,” Dr. Ben Weston, Milwaukee County’s chief health policy adviser, said at a news conference, touting the county’s vending machines stocked with Narcan and drug testing strips, as well as a state-sponsored data collection system that helps local health departments understand when and where overdoses occur.
Still, the hundreds of county residents who lost their lives last year to a drug overdose means that work isn’t close to done, officials say – especially as the drug landscape continues to change, presenting new challenges.
“We can’t let our foot off the gas quite yet,” said Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley.
Drug mixing continues to drive lethal outcomes
Milwaukee County’s decline in overdose deaths is a trend mirrored across the state and the country, following years of climbing fatalities that were deemed a public health crisis.
The county will spend $111 million in opioid settlement funds over the next several years and is already putting what it has received to use, focusing on “reaching residents where they are,” said Jeremy Triblett, prevention integration manager with the Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services.
That includes initiatives like the harm reduction vending machines and also knocking on doors, providing county EMS workers with Narcan and seeking the opinions of people who use drugs to shape the county’s strategy.
But officials say they still see a concerning trend of combinations of drugs leading to overdose, particularly fentanyl being cut with stimulants such as cocaine. These mixes of drugs make it harder to reverse an overdose, said Dr. Wieslawa Tlomak, Milwaukee County’s chief medical examiner.
Nearly a third of all autopsies the medical examiner’s office conducted in 2025 were deaths by drug overdose, Tlomak said, and the majority involved multiple drugs. Data show the most common combinations were fentanyl and cocaine, cocaine and alcohol, and opoids and fentanyl.
Methamphetamines are also involved in more overdose deaths than a few years ago, Tlomak said.
For drug users, not knowing exactly what’s in the drug they are getting is one of the most dangerous elements of the current drug landscape, she said.
Fatal drug overdoses were most common among American Indian and Alaska Native residents in 2025, the data show, followed by Black residents. About two-thirds of fatal overdoses were in men, and the median age of death from an overdose was 49, a number that’s been climbing steadily since 2018.
Triblett said the county is focusing on how substances interact with cultural norms in different communities and that a community advisory board is convening to develop harm reduction messaging for specific populations. His team will also host a door-knocking event June 12 to reach new people across the county with prevention and treatment resources.
Madeline Heim covers health and the environment for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact her at 920-996-7266 or mheim@usatodayco.com.
Drone video shows dug‑up yard at former Michael Lock home
Drone video shows a dug‑up yard at a Milwaukee home once owned by Michael Lock, following a police search for possible homicide victims.
Milwaukee police on Monday, April 20, began digging up a home once owned by notorious Milwaukee drug dealer Michael Lock.
The dig marks another chapter in Lock’s long criminal history in Milwaukee, which has included convictions for homicide, drug dealing, kidnapping, torture and running a prostitution ring.
As of 6 p.m., April 20, police had partially dug up the concrete driveway and yard in Lock’s former home. Lock has been convicted of murders of other drug dealers whose bodies were found under concrete slabs at a different home he owned.
As the dig continues, here’s what to know about Lock:
Who is Michael Lock?
Lock was the head of a murderous criminal organization known as the “Body Snatchers” and one of the leading criminal operators in Milwaukee until his 2007 arrest.
Over the course of a decade, Lock’s organization sold large volumes of cocaine, tortured and killed other dealers, prostituted women across the Midwest and ran a mortgage fraud scheme.
A jury convicted Lock in July 2008 in the homicides of two drug dealers in 1999 and 2000, whose remains were found in 2005 under concrete slabs in the backyard of a home once owned by Lock at 4900 W. Fiebrantz Ave. He has also been found guilty of running a prostitution ring, various kidnapping and drug dealing charges and mortgage fraud.
Where is Michael Lock now?
Lock is is serving multiple terms of life in prison at Waupun Correctional Institution without the chance of parole.
Where are Milwaukee police digging on April 20?
Milwaukee police confirmed they are executing a search warrant at the home on 4343 N. 15th St. in Milwaukee’s north side. City tax records show the property is owned by Shalanda Roberts, formerly Shalanda Lock, Michael Lock’s former wife.
Why are police digging up the yard of Lock’s former home?
There has long been suspicion on the part of law enforcement that there are additional bodies buried under the yard. In 2011, police dug another Milwaukee yard looking for remains.
In that warrant 15 years ago, investigators said at least four victims are buried somewhere in Milwaukee. Before that, police had dug a half-dozen other yards. Police have found no remains in the other digs.
Who lives at the property now?
It is unclear if anyone currently lives at the North 15th Street property. Shalanda Roberts told the Journal Sentinel she owns the property where police are digging, but it is a rental and she lives out of state now.
She said she has no information on the dig and has not spoken to her former husband in years.
Read the Journal Sentinel’s past coverage on Michael Lock
The Journal Sentinel documented the case against Lock in a five-part investigative series, “The Preacher’s Mob,” published in 2009.
You can read the series below:
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