CHICAGO — The national media has been piling on Rahm Emanuel lately, and some prominent Republicans are now getting in on the action.
Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, who served as a moderator on a few of the GOP presidential debates, has been bringing up Emanuel a lot in recent weeks, asking everyone from Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy whether the mayor should step down in light of the Laquan McDonald shooting video.
"It’s pretty clear that Chicago is melting down," Hewitt said in an interview with Christie on Monday. "Should Rahm Emanuel resign?"
Christie was the most delicate in his response about the mayor, saying Emanuel needs to "come clean" about the city's handling of the video and attempt to regain the public's trust. Christie, who held a 2½ hour news conference after his own Bridgegate political scandal, said Emanuel should answer every question "until they have no questions left."
"He has to really come clean with what went on in Chicago, and why there has been such a disintegration of order in Chicago, and why the people of Chicago fear that they’ve been lied to," Christie said.
GOP presidential candidate and former Hewlitt-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina was less forgiving, and took a moment to throw President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton under the bus as well.
“I mean, most of the time, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are right out front, way before the facts are known, in saying that the police have done something terrible here,” Fiorina told Hewitt. "Just imagine for one moment if the mayor of Chicago were not President Obama’s personal friend. Just imagine for a moment if this were a Republican, what President Obama would be saying and doing. He has been incredibly silent on this tragedy."
State Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) introduced the bill in the Illinois General Assembly last month that would allow Chicagoans to recall their mayor. On Monday, Gov. Bruce Rauner said he would sign the recall bill if it reached his desk.
Last month, a poll showed that 51 percent of Chicagoans thought Emanuel should resign following the release of a video that shows Chicago police shooting and killing the 17-year-old McDonald. Police were responding to a call that the knife-wielding teen was vandalizing cars. Authorities say McDonald had the drug PCP in his bloodstream.
Emanuel has been accused of attempting to hide the video and City Hall emails released Dec. 31 show how his administration struggled to downplay the incident.
On a recent Hewitt show, Rep. McCarthy told the host, "I think you see [Emanuel] no longer has the support of the community."
"I mean, I looked at the latest polling, [Chicago] overwhelmingly thinks he should resign. ... This is a situation where he has not answered the questions needed. He’s lost the trust of the people. I don’t see how he can continue to govern."
A poll last month showed that 51 percent of the participants said the mayor should resign. Rahm said at the time he was not surprised by the numbers: "I'm supposed to be held accountable," he said during an appearance on WTTW's Chicago Tonight.
Emanuel, who worked as former President Bill Clinton's senior adviser, "clearly believes in the Clinton way," Fiorina said. "What’s the Clinton way? Say whatever you have to say, lie as long as you can get away with it and do whatever you need to do to get reelected. And that’s what Rahm Emanuel clearly has done, this whole terrible tragedy has been swept under the rug for a year to assure that Rahm Emanuel will be reelected.”
In an interview last month, Emanuel told Politico he did not plan on resigning despite ongoing protests throughout the city.
"We have a process called the election," he told Politico. "The voters spoke. I'll be held accountable for the decisions and actions that I make."
Meanwhile, in his own party, Emanuel was finding little love from Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who said last month that he doesn't need or want the mayor's endorsement.
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