Trump addresses police chiefs in Florida

By Maegan Vazquez, CNN

(CNN) -- President Donald Trump addressed the International Association of Chiefs of Police Annual Convention in Orlando Monday afternoon, voicing support for "stop and frisk" policies and touting the success of his Supreme Court pick, Brett Kavanaugh.

Trump said during his remarks that he has urged the city of Chicago to "strongly consider stop and frisk."

"It works and was meant for problems like Chicago," he said.

"And Rudy Giuliani, when he was mayor of New York City, had a very strong program of stop and frisk and it went from an unacceptably dangerous city to one of the safest cities in the country. And I think the safest big city in the country. So it works, 'gotta be properly applied, but stop and frisk works," he added.

The association represents some 30,000 members of law enforcement within 150 countries.

Last year, the President signaled permissiveness toward police roughing up suspects, telling a group of law enforcement officers: "When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in, rough, and I said, 'Please don't be too nice.'"

"Like when you guys put somebody in the car and you're protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over, like, don't hit their head, and they've just killed somebody ... Don't hit their head, I said, 'You can take the hand away, OK?' " he added.

The law enforcement group pushed back on Trump's remarks, saying that "managing use of force is one of the most difficult challenges faced by law enforcement agencies."

"Law enforcement officers are trained to treat all individuals, whether they are a complainant, suspect, or defendant, with dignity and respect," the statement said. "This is the bedrock principle behind the concepts of procedural justice and police legitimacy."

The President confirmed Monday that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will travel aboard Air Force One en route to the convention.

Boarding Marine One Monday morning, the President told members of the press that he and Rosenstein will be "talking on the plane" and noted that they "actually have a very good relationship."

"I didn't know Rod before, but I got to know him and I get along very well with him," Trump said.

The President told reporters on Monday that he has no plans to fire Rosenstein.

"No, I don't. No," Trump said when asked.

Late last month, it was reported that Rosenstein suggested secretly recording the President and discussed recruiting Cabinet members to remove Trump from office. Rosenstein said he never pursued recording the President and denied any suggestion he advocated for Trump's removal.

Trump said last week that he didn't want to meet with Rosenstein to discuss the issue until Kavanaugh was confirmed.