President Trump posts on Truth Social that Chicago Mayor Johnson, Gov. Pritzker “should be in jail”

By Adam Harrington

In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, President Trump said Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker “should be in jail.”

“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] Officers!” Mr. Trump posted. “Governor Pritzker also!”

Speaking to reporters at a rally by federal workers in downtown Chicago on Tuesday afternoon, Pritzker shrugged off the president’s comments.

“Look, he’s a coward. He says a lot of things to the cameral. He likes to pretend to be a tough guy. Come and get me. Come and get me,” Pritzker said. “He’s demented, literally; unhinged. This is somebody who is so insecure that he lashes out pretending that he can come arrest people for no reason at all. He can’t. He isn’t going to do it. TACO – Trump always chickens out.”

Johnson also had harsh words for the president.

“This president is unstable, unhinged, a double-minded individual that quite frankly is a threat to our democracy, and it’s certainly not the first time that Donald Trump has called for the arresting of a Black man unjustly. I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to stay firm as the mayor of this amazing city,” Johnson said in an interview on CNN. “We’re going to defend all of Chicago.”

The president has repeatedly called both Johnson and Prizker weak, and has described Chicago as a crime hot spot, despite violent crime rates falling in the city.

The two leaders also have sparred with Trump for weeks over his plan to send troops to Chicago.

Approximately 200 Texas National Guard troops landed in the Chicago area on Tuesday, and another 300 troops from the Illinois National Guard also have been deployed for at least 60 days to protect federal agents and facilities in the Chicago area amid the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown in the Chicago area, despite objections from Pritzker and Johnson.

“This president is absolutely out of control, and it’s incumbent on all of us, if there was ever a time for working people to unite in this country, now is the time,” Johnson said.

Pritzker has vowed to use “every lever” at the state’s disposal to resist the troop deployment. The state and city of Chicago have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block the troop deployment, and a federal judge is expected to rule Thursday on their request for a temporary restraining order halting the Trump administration’s move.

Arrests, raids and protests have become daily occurrences as the presence of ICE in Chicago has drastically increased since the Department of Homeland Security launched what it dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz” at the beginning of September.

On Tuesday, Mayor Johnson signed an executive order prohibiting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies from using city property for civil immigration enforcement.

The order prohibits federal authorities from using city-owned or controlled parking lots, vacant lots and garages as staging areas, processing locations or operations bases for civil immigration enforcement activity.

Meanwhile, Pritzker has taken Mr. Trump to task repeatedly for his use of federal forces, and most recently for deploying National Guard troops to Illinois. The deployment comes amid clashes between demonstrators and federal agents outside an ICE processing facility in Broadview, Illinois, where, within the past couple of weeks, over a dozen protesters were arrested.

On Tuesday night, Pritzker also denounced federal immigration enforcement in Chicago.

“It is striking fear in the hearts of everybody in Chicago, and we have residents — this isn’t just about undocumented people,” Pritzker said Tuesday night during a discussion in Minnesota with that state’s governor, Tim Walz. “U.S. citizens who are brown or Black are being stopped only for that reason, and asked for identification that proves they’re a U.S. citizen.”

Both governors said they believe the Trump administration is targeting blue states.

Pritzker is also calling for governors nationwide to denounce the National Guard deployments. In a statement on social media, he said Illinois could withdraw from the National Governors Association over the issue.

“If the National Governors Association chooses to remain silent, Illinois will have no choice but to withdraw from the organization,” Pritzker wrote. “We should be standing as one against the idea that Donald Trump can call up the National Guard against our will.”

The National Governors Association represents governors from all 50 states and across the political spectrum. California Gov. Gavin Newsom also made the same threat.   

CBS News Chicago reached out to the White House to ask about the president’s call for Pritzker and Johnson to be jailed, and what would warrant their arrest.

“JB Pritzker and Brandon Johnson have blood on their hands. These failed leaders have stood idly by while innocent Americans fall victim to violent crime time and time again,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said. “Instead of taking action to stop the crime, these Trump-Deranged buffoons would rather allow the violence to continue and attack the President for wanting to help make their city safe again.”

President Trump has for years called for his political opponents to be jailed, but the Department of Justice has recently acted on some of those calls, with former FBI Director James Comey facing federal charges for allegedly lying to Congress.

Comey pleaded not guilty on Wednesday, and his attorney has said he would seek to have the case dismissed on several grounds: vindictive and unlawful prosecution, and the legality of interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan’s appointment to that role.