Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton says she still has confidence in Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, amid controversy surrounding the delayed release of a video that showed Chicago police shooting a black teenager last year.
Clinton responded “I do” when asked whether she stood by Emanuel, who is a veteran of both the Obama and Clinton administrations.
{mosads}“He loves Chicago and I’m confident that he’s going to do everything he can to get to the bottom of these issues and take whatever measures are necessary to remedy them,” she told reporters Friday in Iowa, according to Bloomberg.
Emanuel penned an op-ed Friday contesting the idea that the video showing the killing of Laquan McDonald by police was withheld because of his election.
Emanuel finished first in a general election for the Chicago mayorship in February. Because he didn’t reach 50 percent support, the city held a runoff in April, which Emanuel won.
McDonald was killed in October 2014. Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke was charged with murder last month, hours after the video’s release.
Emanuel said it is policy to withhold evidence until after an investigation, but said he takes responsibility as mayor and will “fix it.”
Both Clinton and presidential rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) earlier this week called for an independent Justice Department investigation into the Chicago Police Department.
In a statement Friday, Sanders said any elected official “with knowledge that the tape was being suppressed or improperly withheld should resign.”
Though he did not name anyone, Sanders said no public official should be shielded by their position.