Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker blasted President Donald Trump as a «wannabe dictator» Monday, accusing him of trying to «occupy» Chicago with National Guard troops after reports the White House is preparing a possible deployment as soon as September.

The Democrat railed against a Washington Post report detailing the potential move, warning that Trump was escalating rhetoric against Chicago and its leaders over crime. 

«This is exactly the type of overreach that our country’s founders warned against,» Pritzker said at a press conference in front of Trump Tower in downtown Chicago.

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«What President Trump is doing is unprecedented and unwarranted. It is illegal. It is unconstitutional. It is un-American.»

Pritzker vowed to fight the move in court, accusing Trump of trying to occupy a U.S. city for political gain.

«Go talk to the people of Chicago who are enjoying a gorgeous afternoon in this city… ask if they want their neighborhoods turned into a war zone by a wannabe dictator,» Pritzker said, flanked by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and other local officials. 

«Donald Trump wants to use the military to occupy a U.S. city, punish his dissidents and score political points. If this were happening in any other country, we would have no trouble calling it what it is — a dangerous power grab.»

The Democrat said Trump was trying to militarize a blue state while simultaneously slashing $800 million in federal crime prevention grants. Most of the grants were headed to nonprofits and local community groups, not to police departments or federal law enforcement. 

Pritzker said that crime rates are down in Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city, and that Trump’s narrative of the city being engulfed in crime is manufactured. 

For instance, he said that murders are down 32% compared to last year and nearly cut in half since 2021.

«You are neither wanted here nor needed here,» Pritzker added. «We will see the Trump administration in court. We will use every lever at our disposal to protect the people of Illinois and their rights.»

Hours earlier Trump suggested he would prefer to be «asked» before sending troops. He has been floating the idea of deploying the National Guard in Chicago, replicating operations in Washington D.C. which has also seen the federal government take control of the local police. More than 1,000 arrests have been made and the capital has gone 11 days straight without a homicide, according to the latest figures.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker delivers remarks in Chicago alongside Mayor Brandon Johnson and other officials after reports the White House is preparing to deploy National Guard troops to the city. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)

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National Guard units sent without state approval are generally restricted to defending federal property and personnel. When Guard troops were deployed to Los Angeles in June over anti-ICE protests, they were confined to federal buildings and escort duties for immigration agents. In Washington, D.C., which is under federal jurisdiction, Guard units have conducted armed patrols alongside local police.

«In a certain way, you really want to be asked to go,» Trump told reporters, before taking a jab at Pritzker: «He has to spend more time in the gym.»

Trump continued his attacks on Pritzker and ripped the Windy City’s crime record.

«I’m thinking about you know, when I have some slob like Pritzker criticizing us before we even go there. I made the statement that next year be Chicago because, as you all know, Chicago’s a killing field right now and they don’t acknowledge it. And they say, we don’t need him.»

Chicago recorded 573 homicides in 2024, marking the 13th straight year Chicago has led the nation in total murders, according to Chicago Police Department data compiled by Wirepoints.

According to the Council on Criminal Justice’s year-end 2024 update, aggravated assaults declined by 4% compared to 2023 but remained 4% higher than in 2019, gun assaults fell 15% though they were still 5% above 2019 levels, and carjackings dropped 32% year-over-year yet were 25% higher than in 2019.

Meanwhile, Johnson echoed Pritzker’s defiance, insisting Chicagoans don’t want a «military occupation.» 

«We believe that you don’t solve crime by sending in the military,» Johnson said. «The last thing that Chicagoans want is someone from the outside of our city who doesn’t know our city, trying to dictate and tell us what our city needs.»

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office as he continues to defend a potential National Guard deployment to Chicago. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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Johnson called the plan «a stunt,» saying Trump’s targeting of Chicago is rooted in racism.

«We cannot incarcerate our way out of violence. We’ve already tried that, and we’ve ended up with the largest prison population in the world without solving the problems of crime and violence,» Johnson said.

«The addiction on jails and incarceration in this country. We have moved past that. It is racist. It is immoral. It is unholy. And it is not the way to drive violence down.»

Elección

La mayor Viktoria Kravchenko juega con sus hijos en su casa de Kiev, el 16 de enero de 2025. Soldados ucranianas embarazadas dicen que luchan por el futuro de su país y de sus hijos. «Estoy agradecida de traer hijos al mundo», dijo. «Considerando cuántas vidas estamos perdiendo, también lo considero mi misión divina». (Oksana Parafeniuk/The New York Times)

Licencias

Olya, una médica de combate, ya no podía abrocharse los pantalones y esperaba un uniforme de maternidad de Zemliachky, en Sloviansk, Ucrania, el 25 de enero de 2025. Dijo que fue «con los chicos a todas las posiciones de combate, a las trincheras» en un Nissan Pathfinder cubierto de barro, con las puertas laterales llenas de torniquetes y brillo de labios en la consola central. (Brendan Hoffman/The New York Times

A former attorney general under George W. Bush’s administration is testifying to House Oversight Committee investigators on Tuesday.

Alberto Gonzales, who led the Department of Justice (DOJ) from February 2005 until mid-September 2007, is the second witness being called in the bipartisan House probe into Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

It’s not immediately clear how many lawmakers will appear at the closed-door deposition, which is expected to largely be staff-led. House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., is likely to attend, however.

Gonzales notably led the DOJ during early talks with Florida federal prosecutors for Epstein’s infamous non-prosecution agreement, which was formed in 2007 and finalized in 2008. 

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He left shortly before it was signed, however – something Comer noted in a subpoena cover letter to Gonzales earlier this month.

«Your tenure as U.S. Attorney General, from 2005 to late 2007, coincided with a time period when the FBI investigated Jeffrey Epstein for sex crimes, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Florida prepared a draft 60-count indictment of Mr. Epstein, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida offered a plea bargain to Mr. Epstein, leading to the signing of Mr. Epstein’s non-prosecution agreement only one week after you left office,» Comer wrote.

The House Oversight Committee sent a flurry of subpoenas regarding Epstein earlier this month, kicking off a bipartisan investigation into the late pedophile.

In addition to Gonzales, subpoenas were also issued seeking depositions from former FBI directors Robert Mueller and James Comey, ex-attorneys general Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions, as well as former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Notably excluded from the list is Alex Acosta, the former Trump Labor Secretary who approved the non-prosecution agreement with Epstein while serving as a U.S. attorney in Florida.

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Alberto Gonzales, pictured here in April 2013, served as attorney general from 2005 to 2007. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The subpoenas were directed via a bipartisan vote during an unrelated House Oversight subcommittee hearing on illegal immigrant children in late July.

Renewed interest in Epstein’s case has gripped Capitol Hill after the DOJ’s handling of the matter spurred a GOP revolt by far-right figures.

The DOJ effectively declared the case closed after an «exhaustive review,» revealing Epstein had no «client list,» did not blackmail «prominent individuals,» and confirmed he did die by suicide in a New York City jail while awaiting prosecution.

Democrats seized on the discord with newfound calls for transparency in Epstein’s case – spurring accusations of hypocrisy from their Republican colleagues.

Indeed, the bipartisan unity that the investigation was kicked off with quickly disintegrated after the first witness, Barr, was deposed last week.

Reps. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., and Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, who attended part of Barr’s deposition, left the room roughly halfway through the sit-down and accused Republicans of insufficiently probing questions during their allotted time to depose Barr.

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Comer, in response, implored Democrats not to politicize a bipartisan investigation.

Divisions deepened after Comer said Barr had no knowledge of, nor did he believe, any implications of wrongdoing on President Donald Trump’s part related to Epstein.

House Oversight Committee ranking member Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., who was not in the room, released a statement after the deposition, claiming Barr did not clear Trump.

In addition to Gonzales’ deposition Tuesday, the House Oversight Committee is also expected to hear this week from former Trump Attorney General Jeff Sessions.