WASHINGTON (Reuters) - US President Donald Trump said on Friday (June 30) he was sending federal help to fight crime in Chicago that has reached "epidemic" proportions.

The president, who in January decried the high crime rate in the Midwestern U.S. city as "carnage," did not specify what type of help he planned to send.

"Crime and killings in Chicago have reached such epidemic proportions that I am sending in Federal help. 1714 shootings in Chicago this year!" Trump wrote in an early morning Twitter post.