AURORA, Colo. — Aurora leaders are reacting to former President Donald Trump’s announcement that he will visit the city in the next two weeks.
The Republican presidential nominee has made several references to Aurora on the campaign trail, claiming a Venezuelan gang has "taken over" the city. He first referenced the Colorado city during the presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman, a Republican, refuted those claims to Denver7.
Then, during a press conference in California, Trump again singled out Aurora, promising to conduct “large deportations” of immigrants.
Trump held a campaign rally in Uniondale, New York, on Wednesday, where he announced he would be visiting Aurora and Springfield, Ohio. Springfield has also gained national attention following debunked claims that immigrants were eating residents' pets.
The former president said he will be visiting the two cities "in the next two weeks."
"I'm going to go there in the next two weeks. I'm going to Springfield and I'm going to Aurora," Trump said. "You may never see me again. But that's OK. I got to do what I gotta do."
Politics
Former President Donald Trump says he will visit Aurora 'in the next two weeks'
Mayor Coffman on Thursday said he is "excited" about a potential visit from the former president.
"I think it's a great opportunity to show the president that we are not a city that is overrun by Venezuelan gangs,” said Coffman.
However, the mayor said he is not comfortable with the way Trump has portrayed Aurora. He said the narrative that has been spread has harmed the city.
“I think it has hurt the city,” Coffman said.
Coffman hopes Trump will agree to a briefing from the Aurora Police Department if he visits.
“I think it's a great opportunity to break that narrative and to be able to provide a briefing, a law enforcement briefing to the [former] president in terms of our efforts in dealing with this issue,” said Coffman.
Watch his full interview in the video player below.
Coffman has made questionable claims of his own, including some that contradict what Aurora PD has said.
The mayor previously claimed that “multiple” apartment complexes had been “taken over” by gang members. During an interview earlier this month with conservative radio host Dan Caplis, Coffman was asked how many apartment complexes had been “taken over.”
“Several,” Coffman replied. “There are three.”
When Denver7 asked Coffman about his answer, he said he didn’t recall saying “several.”
“I think that probably two is more accurate. I think one may have had some gang issues, but those would've been secondary to the habitability concerns of the known property,” Coffman said.
Coffman said property managers were no longer on the premises and he has yet to come across any tenants who were paying rent gang members. He issued a statement on Sept. 6 saying he agreed with an assessment from the then-interim police chief that gangs were not in control of the apartment complexes.
Denver7 asked Coffman if he regretted his previous comments.
“My comments were based on the briefings that I received from the initial briefings that I received from law enforcement,” said Coffman. “I think we found since then that there are some elements of that briefing that are questionable. But at one point in time, we had a problem in a couple of apartment complexes that was real.”
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Aurora PD has maintained for weeks that investigators have not found any evidence of a gang takeover but acknowledged gang members were present at the properties.
Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky, who was one of the first local officials to raise concerns about safety at the apartment complexes, issued a joint statement with Coffman last week, clarifying that the entire town of Aurora had not been taken over by gang members.
Jurinsky said she hopes if Trump visits, it won’t be a photo-op.
“If President Trump does visit Aurora, I hope to hear what his plan is specifically for the people of Aurora,” Jurinsky said in a statement. “We will not be used as a photo op or a political prop. The people of Aurora deserve to hear from President Trump how he will provide help should he be elected.”
Coffman said the Trump campaign has not reached out about a visit, noting that such a visit by a major party’s presidential nominee would require a lot of coordination between different agencies.
