Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) teased Donald Trump over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal as the president declared a dubious “crime emergency” in the nation’s capital.
On Monday, Trump announced he was deploying National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., and seizing control of its police force to deal with “out of control” crime.
In reality, and according to the Department of Justice’s own analysis, violent crime in the District of Columbia is the lowest it has been in over 30 years.
The president went on to signal other cities, including Los Angeles, New York and Chicago, could be next to be taken over if they failed to “self clean up.”
Trump went hard on Chicago and singled out Pritzker, who is widely seen as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender.
Trump called Chicago a “disaster” and said “if we need to, we’re going to do the same thing” in the Windy City.
“We have an incompetent governor there,” Trump said. “Pritzker’s an incompetent. His family threw him out of the business, and he ran for governor. And now I understand he wants to be president, but I noticed he lost a little weight. So maybe he has a chance. You know, you never know what happens.”
Pritzker, the billionaire heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune, fired back on social media.
“Donald, thanks for the compliment!” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Let’s not lie to the public, you and I both know you have no authority to take over Chicago. By the way, where are the Epstein files?”
The Epstein scandal has engulfed the Trump presidency since the Justice Department failed to release more documents on the late sex offender, as promised, in July.
A memo that stated there was no evidence of a “client list” of powerful figures Epstein could potentially blackmail caused a split in Trump’s MAGA base.
Since then, Trump’s former friendship with Epstein has come into sharp focus.
Questions have also been asked about why jailed Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell was recently moved to one of the Bureau of Prisons’ least restrictive facilities at the behest of the Trump administration.
In 2019, Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges and later died in custody.
Trump has previously mocked Pritzker’s appearance, but the Democratic governor brushed off the slights.
“He loves to make fun of people any way he can,” he said of Trump. “Frankly, that’s how you know he’s afraid of you.”
In April, Pritzker delivered a fiery speech in New Hampshire, calling for “mass protests” in response to Trump’s agenda.
“Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption,” he said. “But I am now.”