Lori Lightfoot on phone calls with Trump, her future in politics

CHICAGO (CBS) -- With the Democratic National Convention less than a week away from kicking off in Chicago, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot is going to give her perspective on the latest in national politics.

Lightfoot recently joined CBS News Chicago as a political analyst, and in the first part of a wide-ranging interview , talked about how the effort began to get Chicago to host this year's DNC and what she thinks Democrats need to do to win in November.

In the second part of the conversation with CBS News Chicago's Irika Sargent, Lightfoot gives details on her phone calls with former President Donald Trump while she was mayor and if she will run for political office again.

Sargent : "Let's talk about civility in politics."

Lightfoot : "Ha."

Sargent : "What, if anything, do you think needs to be changed in terms of the rhetoric?"

Lightfoot : "Look, the rhetoric is too heated. It's too personal, and we cannot create an atmosphere where we are giving tacit approval to violence. We should argue forcefully on the issues. We've got to get back to our democracy, because win or lose in November, we need to carry on as a nation.

"You can't get there if we are, at least through words alone, engaged in a constant civil war."

Sargent : "Former President Trump mentioned Chicago many times, mentioned the leadership in Chicago and you had responses. When you talk about the discourse, and those exchanges got pretty heated."

Lightfoot : "Yes, they did."

Sargent : "So take me back to that and what your thoughts are."

Lightfoot : "With the benefit of hindsight, I wish they had not gotten so heated. I wish, frankly, the president hadn't decided to make me and a lot of other Black mayors across the country the target of his really unnecessary and nasty rhetoric.

"You can't ignore that as a leader of a city. You have to defend not so much yourself but you have to defend your city. I'm hoping that doesn't become part of a mantra this time around, that there's a focus on issues."

Sargent : "Is there any regret in the way that you responded?"

Lightfoot : "Well, you know, look, I don't like to live my life with regret. When you have the benefit of hindsight, you're not in the moment, there's always times when you think, 'Well, I could've done that a little bit differently.'

"He's a very schizophrenic guy. I mean, I had personal phone calls with him where he was a completely different person than what he was on his social media and in speeches. Very, very different, very complimentary. Totally different person."

Sargent : "I know when we're the ones interviewing you as a public official, the questions can get heated. The responses can get heated."

Lightfoot : "Yeah."

Sargent : "Has there been any shift on how you see the way that we do our jobs?"

Lightfoot : "I believe very, very strongly that the media plays an absolutely essential role in our democracy. So, what I hope is that we will continue to challenge each other to get the story right and frankly to hold elected officials accountable as you all held me accountable."

Sargent : "We invited you to be our analyst here and I think a few of us were surprised mayor when you took us up on that offer. Why did you agree?"

Lightfoot : "Well I agreed because I thought it was an interesting moment in our history. I agreed because I care a lot about our country. I care a lot about my city, and I wanted to have my voice be a part of the discussions certainly as we're heading into, I think, one of the most consequential elections of our time.

"I gave it a lot of thought. It wasn't without hesitation, because I'm not interested in running again for elected office."

Sargent : "You said never running again for public office. Is that a hard 'never' or could you see any scenario where you would return in some form?"

Lightfoot : "Well, I don't see that happening. My people tell me never say never, but I don't see that happening. My time was there. I enjoyed it. I felt like we did a lot of good work. My season for being [an] elected official has come and gone but I'm always going to be active and engaged in my community."