President Donald Trump said in a post to Truth Social on Wednesday that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker “should be in jail” in an escalation of his conflict with the two Democratic officials.
“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers!” he said in the post. “Governor Pritzker also!”
The president’s post comes a day after Texas National Guard troops arrived in Illinois, despite the Democrats’ fierce opposition. Trump has threatened for weeks to send troops to Chicago as part of a crime-fighting and immigration effort, and Democrats have slammed his push as overreach and a political stunt.
Reached for comment on Trump’s post, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said that “JB Pritzker and Brandon Johnson have blood on their hands” and accused them of having “stood idly by while innocent Americans fall victim to violent crime time and time again.”
She argued that “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.”
The statement did not address NBC News’ questions about what crimes the president believes Johnson and Pritzker and whether the White House planned to try to have federal agents arrest them.
During a White House event Wednesday afternoon, Trump was asked if he had called on the Justice Department to look at potential charges against Pritzker and Johnson. He doubled down on his Truth Social post.
“I’ve seen the law. And when you have a group of people where the police call off the safety for ICE officials, I’ve understood that, and I’ve read it today in numerous journals, that that’s illegal,” Trump said.
The Chicago Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Pritzker responded to the president’s Truth Social post in by writing on X, “I will not back down.”
“Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power,” he wrote. “What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?”
Later, Pritzker told reporters that Trump is “a coward.”
“He likes to pretend to be a tough guy,” Pritzker said of the president. “Come and get me.”
Reached for comment, Johnson said that “this is not the first time Trump has tried to have a Black man unjustly arrested.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he added.
On Monday, Illinois sued in an attempt to prevent the White House from deploying federalized troops to Chicago. A judge scheduled a hearing on the case for Thursday and declined to sign a temporary restraining order, which would have blocked the administration as the case proceeds in court.
The president’s comments about Johnson and Pritzker come as protests across Immigration and Customs Enforcement have rippled across the country as the Trump administration ramped up efforts to detain and deport migrants.
The White House has previously argued that deploying the National Guard is necessary to “protect federal assets and personnel” and prevent “attacks on law enforcement.”
Trump first deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles, over California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s objections, after protests broke out in response to immigration raids. The president then ordered the National Guard to the streets of Washington, D.C., painting it as an effort to fight crime.
The administration is also trying to send federalized National Guard troops from California to Portland, Oregon, but a judge granted a temporary restraining order this week to block the move as the case is considered in court. A Pentagon spokesperson had said that the troops would have worked to “support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal personnel performing official duties, including the enforcement of federal law, and to protect federal property.”
In Chicago, a frequent target of the president, Johnson signed an executive order on Monday in an effort to block immigration agents from using city property during their operations in Chicago.
“We will not tolerate ICE agents violating our residents’ constitutional rights nor will we allow the federal government to disregard our local authority,” Johnson said in a news release marking the so-called ICE Free Zone executive order.
Pritzker has emerged as a leading critic of the Trump administration as his state faces the president’s ire. Trump has compared Chicago to a “war zone,” and Pritzker said Sunday in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” that “they’re just making this up.”
“Then what do they do? They fire tear gas and smoke grenades, and they make it look like it’s a war zone,” Pritzker said, appearing to refer to federal agents. “And they, you know, get people on the ground are, frankly, incited to want to do something about it, appropriately.”
In recent days, Pritzker also said that he believed that Trump should be removed from office.
“There is something genuinely wrong with this man, and the 25th Amendment ought to be invoked,” he said, referring to a process for removing the president from office.
On Tuesday, Pritzker was asked during an event whether he believed he could be arrested.
“I’m asking any of you to come visit me in the gulag in El Salvador,” Pritzker joked, referring to the prison where the Trump administration has deported some immigrants.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., did not say whether he believed Mayor Johnson and Gov. Pritzker should be jailed when asked by NBC News about Trump’s post.
“Should they be in prison? Should the mayor of Chicago and the governor of Illinois be in prison?” Johnson responded. “I’m not the attorney general. I’m the speaker of the House, and I’m trying to manage the chaos here. I’m not following the day-to-day on that.”
Trump has repeatedly threatened legal action against some of his political opponents, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Last month, he urged Attorney General Pam Bondi in a post to Truth Social to not “delay any longer,” slamming his political opponents and writing, “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”
Comey was indicted days later and arraigned on Wednesday. He pleaded not guilty.