Pritzker slams Trump for trying to end birthright citizenship, demands apology from Musk for gesture compared to Nazi salute
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday shared fresh criticism of President Trump, calling for an apology from key ally Elon Musk for a controversial hand gesture at an inauguration rally, and accusing the White House of keeping Illinois in the dark on any plans for migrant deportations.
Pritzker and Mr. Trump had a fractious relationship during the president's first term, and things look to remain the same the second time around. Based on Pritzker's comments on Tuesday, their relationship could be even more heated than since Mr. Trump left office four years ago.
Most notably, the governor said, despite the president's executive order seeking to end it, birthright citizenship will remain the law in Illinois.
"That's unconstitutional what he issued, the executive order, and we will not follow an unconstitutional executive order, and we will follow the law in this state," Pritzker said.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit – alongside Democratic attorneys general from Arizona, Oregon, and Washington – seeking to invalidate Mr. Trump's order.
Meantime, Pritzker said his team has been kept out of the loop on the Trump administration's rapid-fire immigration policy changes since he took office, including any plans for mass deportation efforts in Illinois.
"The question was about whether I've received any communication from the Trump administration about their immigration actions. None, and I think that's just more evidence of the chaos and confusion that they're trying to sow, and it's very disappointing," Pritzker said. "We have heard that they are targeting as many as 2,000 people initially in the city of Chicago alone. I don't know whether they'll effectuate that or how."
As for Trump's decision to pardon nearly all of the 1,500 people charged or convicted of crimes in the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol, Pritzker said it reflects an about-face for the Republican party.
"What used to be the party of law and order is now the party of chaos and disorder, and that stands against law enforcement. The people who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 were attacking law enforcement, because that's who was there guarding the Capitol," Pritzker said.
Mr. Trump's sweeping act of clemency – commuting the sentences of 14 defendants in the Capitol riot, including some convicted of seditious conspiracy, while granting full pardons to the rest of those convicted, and ordering federal prosecutors to drop charges in all other remaining cases – effectively wipes out the Justice Department's effort to prosecute those who participated in the Jan. 6 riot.
The president has repeatedly sought to downplay the attack on the Capitol, when a mob of Mr. Trump's supporters broke into the Capitol to try to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election.
Meantime, as for the billionaires in the front row at Mr. Trump's second inauguration, Pritzker – himself a billionaire – said he thinks there's a reason they were making nice.
"Why are these people making nice? They hope to become greater than billionaires. They hope to double what they already have. That is why they are making nice. That's all I can imagine. I mean, maybe some of them have delusions of becoming dictators themselves," he said.
One billionaire in particular, Elon Musk, has faced sharp criticism for a hand gesture while speaking at an inauguration rally, with many comparing the gesture to a Nazi salute. Pritzker, who is Jewish, said Musk should apologize.
"I was, frankly, disgusted when I saw yesterday, at a presidential rally, not a campaign rally, this is a rally of the President of the United States, Elon Musk standing up and giving a Sieg Heil, and then excusing himself for it by saying he was just putting his heart out to people," Pritzker said. "I think it's disgusting, and should be called out. The president should call it out, and Elon Musk owes an apology to the American people."
Musk, in a statement on Tuesday on X, formerly known as Twitter, said, "Frankly, they need better dirty tricks. The 'everyone is Hitler' attack is sooo tired."
The Anti-Defamation League also said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that it appeared Musk "made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute."
"In this moment, all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt, and take a breath. This is a new beginning. Let's hope for healing and work toward unity in the months and years ahead," the group wrote.
