Pritzker vs. Trump

Gov. JB Pritzker took aim at President Donald Trump this week, calling him “unfit to lead” because of his comments following a midair collision in Washington, D.C. that killed 67 people.  

The president offered his condolences at a Thursday press briefing before transitioning to blaming former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden for air traffic control hiring standards and suggesting that diversity practices at the Federal Aviation Administration were to blame for the crash.  

“The buck stops with him – yet he is failing to demonstrate his role as protector of the American people and head of our government,” Pritzker said in a Thursday statement.  

In an unrelated move Thursday, Pritzker also blocked state officials from hiring anyone who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.  

Late Thursday, Pritzker directed the state’s Department of Central Management Services, the state’s central hiring office, to restrict hiring of those who took part in the attack on the Capitol by declaring they had taken part in “infamous and disgraceful conduct that is antithetical to the mission of the State.”

“These rioters attacked law enforcement officers protecting people in the Capitol, disrupted the peaceful transfer of power, and undermined bedrock principles of American democracy,” Pritzker said in his letter. “Our State workforce must reflect the values of Illinois and demonstrate honesty, integrity, and loyalty to serving the taxpayers. No one who attempts to overthrow a government should serve in government.”

In his first day in office last week, Trump pardoned about 1,500 people and commuted the sentences of 14 others who had stormed the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021 after President Trump claimed that the 2020 presidential election win by Joe Biden was stolen.

Individuals associated with the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, who were convicted of seditious conspiracy, were among those who were commuted. Trump deemed “a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” a category that included people who assaulted law enforcement officers.

Pritzker also pushed back on the President’s executive order that called for a freeze in federal aid. A judge in Washington, D.C. blocked the move and the White House rescinded the order the next day.