Vice President JD Vance, appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” did not go as far as President Donald Trump who has said Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker “should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers!” as Pritzker and Chicago Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson oppose Trump’s stated effort to deploy National Guard troops to the city to crack down on crime — and aid ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) in immigration policing.
In an interview with co-anchor George Stephanopoulos, Vance wouldn’t say flatly whether Pritzker had committed a crime but said he had failed to protect the safety of Chicagoans and “has violated his fundamental oath of office” which “seems pretty criminal.”
“He should suffer some consequences,” Vance told Stephanopoulos. “Whether he’s violated a crime — ultimately, I would leave to the courts, but I certainly think that he has violated his fundamental oath of office. That seems pretty criminal to me. I’d leave it to a judge and juries to decide whether he’s actually violated the crime,” Vance said.
Appearing on “This Week” after Vance, Pritzker told Stephanopoulos that he was “not afraid” of Trump’s threats, which have ramped up recently against many of the president’s political foes, including former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
“Come and get me,” Pritzker said, responding to Trump.
“They’re making things up to go after people,” Pritzker said. “I’m going to stand up for the people of my state. And we’ve got to all stand together because that there is truly unconstitutional actions that are coming out of this administration, coming at the states and the people of the United States and all of us, Democrats and Republicans, need to speak out about it.”
“It’s true that the president says things and sometimes he follows through on those threats, and he certainly has the power of the presidency,” Pritzker further said. “He does not have the power to overcome the Constitution. And so, am I afraid? I am not afraid. Do I think that he could do it? He might. But as I’ve said before, come and get me.”
Repeatedly asked if he agreed with Trump’s claims that Pritzker committed a crime, Vance focused on crime in Chicago.
“Well, I think that Governor Pritzker has allowed a lot of people to be killed in the city of Chicago and elsewhere. George. I think that it’s disgraceful, and I think that he absolutely should suffer some consequences for the fact that there are thousands of innocent Chicagoans who are dead because he failed to do his job,” Vance said.
Pressed by Stephanopoulos, Vance pushed back.
“It’s really a “yes” or “no” question. Do you believe he’s committed a crime?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“George, you are going to keep on asking this question, I’m going to keep on telling you that Governor Pritzker has failed to do his job,” Vance responded.
Vance said that the White House would “litigate this as much as we can” when it comes to their power to militarize troops across American cities.
A ruling this week from U.S. District Judge April Perry barred the White House deploying National Guard troops from Illinois and Texas into the city, claiming the administration’s claims “lack credibility.” Vance said the White House has the authority to “provide proper safety” in Chicago, however.
“We’re obviously going to litigate this as much as we can. We think that we have the authority to provide proper safety to our citizens all over the United States, but particularly in Chicago. But I think for any federal judge or anybody else to look at the situation and say, is it tolerable? And I think the obvious answer, George, is no,” Vance said. “The president looks at the situation. He sees the fact that you have multiple people dying of murders every weekend in the city of Chicago. And he says this is intolerable.”
Vance also responded to Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt’s recent opposition to sending National Guard troops across state borders without the permission of the state getting them.
By saying so, Stitt offered a rare Republican pushback to the Trump administration’s moves to send National Guard troops to blue-state cities like in Chicago, where Johnson and Pritzker are fighting in court to block the deployment of Texas Guard members.
Vance said Stitt, chair of the National Governors Association, should look at Chicago as a “different case” because of gang violence.
“Well, I’d say to Governor Stitt, you have to look at what’s happening on the ground in Chicago and the reason why Illinois is a different case … because Chicago has been given over to lawlessness and gangs for too long, George. If you look at the murder rates in Chicago, the violent crime rates you have, you have women who have young families, they’re terrified their kids are going to get killed in a drive-by shooting,” Vance said.
“Why shouldn’t federal troops empower the people in Chicago to live safe lives? When the governor and local — the local mayor just simply refuse to do their job?” Vance added.
Pritzker disputed those claims from the vice president.
“Well, you know, they’ve said that Portland is on fire. Portland is not on fire. In Chicago, we’ve cut the homicide rate in half. We’ve got double-digit declines in all of our violent crime statistics. He says that we’ve got the highest crime rate in the entire world. That’s ridiculous. We’re not even in the top 25 cities in the United States,” Pritzker said.
Vance won’t say whether Homan allegedly accepted $50,000 or what happened to money
Separately, Vice President Vance stood behind “border czar” Tom Homan when asked about the accuracy of reports that Homan had accepted $50,000 from undercover agents posing as businesspeople during an undercover FBI operation last year, leading to a bribery investigation that was subsequently shut down by the Trump administration Justice Department.
The sting operation, which stemmed from a broader public corruption probe that did not initially target Homan, led agents to an encounter in which they allegedly recorded Homan allegedly accepting a bag containing $50,000 in cash while agreeing to potentially help the men obtain government contracts in the event Trump won the 2024 election, sources said.
“Tom Homan did not take a bribe. It’s a ridiculous smear. And the reason you guys are going after Tom Homan so aggressively is because he’s doing the job of enforcing the law,” Vance said when asked by Stephanopoulos whether Homan kept the money or gave it back.
DOJ ended probe of ‘border czar’ Tom Homan for allegedly accepting $50K in FBI sting: Sources
In a statement to ABC News in September, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed the probe and said it “was subjected to a full review by FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors. They found no credible evidence of any criminal wrongdoing.”
Asked about the allegations on Fox News in September, Homan said, “I did nothing criminal. I did nothing illegal.”
Pressed on whether Homan did or did not accept the $50,000, Vance said that there was “no evidence” the border czar engaged in illegal activity but that he thought it was possible he’d been paid substantially for services in the past.
“George, this story has been covered ad nauseum. He did not take a bribe. Did he accept $50,000? I’m sure that in the course of Tom Homan’s life, he has been paid more than $50,000 for services. The question is, did he do something illegal? And there’s absolutely no evidence that Tom Homan has ever taken a bribe,” Vance said.
“Did he keep that money?” Stephanopoulos asked again about the allegations from the FBI probe.
“Accepting $50,000 for doing what, George? I’m not even sure I understand the question,” Vance replied. “Is it illegal to take a payment for doing services? The FBI has not prosecuted him. I’ve never seen any evidence that he’s engaged in criminal wrongdoing.”
“So, I’m actually not sure what the precise question is. Did he accept $50,000? Honestly, George, I don’t know the answer to that question. What I do know is that he didn’t violate a crime,” Vance said.
