Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) on Sunday defended the city of Aurora as a diverse and growing place with declining violent crime, after former President Trump attacked the city and the governor personally at a rally on Saturday.
In an interview on CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” moderator Margaret Brennan noted the Trump campaign has frequently pointed to Aurora as an example of the worst of the migrant crisis, and on Saturday, he took aim at the city and the governor once again at a rally.
“Under border czar Harris, Venezuelan gangs have taken over entire apartment buildings in Aurora, Colorado,” Trump said at his rally Saturday, in a clip Brennan played in the interview.
“The governor is petrified in Colorado,” Trump continued, referring to Polis. “He’s a liberal governor; he doesn’t know what to do. The guy is so scared of these guys, and maybe you can’t blame him.”
Polis did not address the personal criticism, but he defended the city in response to the clip and said he went shopping there Saturday.
“What a lot of Americans need to know is Aurora is over 400,000 people. It’s Colorado’s third-largest city. Violent crime is down two years in a row. Car thefts are down two years in a row. It’s a wonderful city. I’m there all the time. It’s really a great, diverse city, and it’s growing fast. It’ll probably be the No. 1 or No. 2 city in Colorado over the next decade or two,” Polis said. “It’s safer than it’s been.”
He acknowledged the city has had an “issue with gangs” in the past, but he said the situation was improving.
“It’s like any city: Chicago, LA, midsized cities, Denver. Of course, there’s been an issue with gangs for decades in Aurora, and I feel that we finally turned the corner,” he said.