JB Pritzker on political violence, holding ICE accountable and Democrats’ messaging

[0:00] J.B. Pritzker was first elected governor of Illinois back in 2018, and the billionaire has become one of Democrats' most vocal critics of President Trump's second term in office. [0:09] Pritzker hasn't ruled out a run for president in 2028, but before that, he's trying to make history this fall as the first Democrat to win a third term as Illinois governor. [0:20] Governor Pritzker, thank you so much for joining us tonight. I want to start with the Saturday night shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner here in Washington. [0:28] Just give me your first reaction when you heard the news. [0:30] That political violence continues in this country, it's abominable, and both parties need to call it out. [0:40] The president, the Democratic leaders, I certainly do. [0:44] I think that we've got to go back to a time when we could disagree and take our disagreement out at the ballot box and not endorse any kind of violence. [0:56] And unfortunately, I've seen too much of that over the last, well, decade. [0:59] Of course, there are some indications of political motivations behind the attempted attack. [1:05] Earlier this month, when the Illinois home of Pope Leo's brother was targeted with a false bomb threat, you condemned the rise in political violence and said, quote, [1:12] the level of rhetoric needs to come down. [1:15] How can that be accomplished? [1:17] Well, it takes leaders to do that. [1:22] And I mean, from the president to senators to congressmen to governors, all calling for calm, all calling out this kind of violence and standing up against it. [1:33] And then, of course, we've got to prosecute the people who are doing it and make sure that people understand that anybody that is threatening or acting in a violent fashion will be held responsible and accountable. [1:46] So I think that's the world we live in, is that we need leaders who are actually calling it out. [1:52] We don't have enough of that right now. [1:54] I want to take a step back to last fall and talk about the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in Chicago, Operation Midway Blitz. [2:02] You've sued the Trump administration over the campaign, and your Accountability Commission is holding hearings today on the conduct of federal agents. [2:08] Depending on what's found in those hearings, are you planning to press any state charges? [2:15] We've already seen that the federal agents have either broken protocol or broken the law. [2:23] And we've seen that in previous commission hearings. [2:28] This is now our fourth and fifth today and tomorrow of those hearings. [2:33] We have gathered the evidence there. [2:35] In fact, that evidence has been used in court cases, civil cases that have limited the ability of ICE and CBP to commit the kind of violence that they're committing. [2:47] We've caught the ICE and CBP officials, including Gregory Bovino, in lies. [2:53] You know, Greg Bovino said, well, he wasn't throwing tear gas. [2:56] We have a picture of him throwing tear gas. [2:58] So, thank goodness, I think, that as we collect this evidence, we think it can be used in court cases now, but very importantly, to hold people accountable, maybe have them fired, maybe actually held criminally liable if they've actually committed a crime, or civilly liable. [3:16] But the point is that they can't get away with it. [3:19] You've said the Democrats should have a Project 2029. [3:22] More recently, you referred to it as Agenda 48, because the next president will be the 48th. [3:27] What do you think should be top of mind, and what should definitely be on that agenda? [3:34] Well, let's start with making everything more affordable. [3:37] Let's raise the minimum wage. [3:39] You want to make life more affordable for people? [3:42] How about you raise wages for people? [3:43] I don't just mean the minimum wage, but let's start there. [3:46] $7.25 an hour, you can't survive on one full-time job, $14,000 a year. [3:53] No one can survive on just that. [3:55] Even two of those full-time jobs, $28,000, you can't raise a family on that. [3:59] You can barely survive on your own. [4:01] So let's start with raising the minimum wage, but let's also look at universal health care. [4:07] That's what Democrats ought to be fighting for. [4:09] It's what we've always believed in, but moved too slowly. [4:12] And that's why I think that we need an agenda that we're going to pass in a Democratic Congress in 2027 and 2028. [4:20] And then when we have a Democratic president who will sign those bills, we can actually effectuate things that really matter to the middle class, the working class, and the most vulnerable in this country. [4:32] You talk about the need for Democrats to focus on making life more affordable for working people. [4:37] So what's your response to those voters out there who may say, oh, Pritzker, he's a billionaire. [4:41] How could he possibly understand how I feel? [4:45] Well, just look at my record. [4:46] I raised the minimum wage in my state. [4:48] It was $8.25. [4:50] It's now $15. [4:52] We've expanded health care coverage in my state, and we've held our health insurance companies accountable. [4:59] They've got to cover mental health emergencies, for example, now that they didn't before. [5:04] We're making sure that we're protecting our working class in this state. [5:09] So, you know, it doesn't matter what your background is. [5:12] When you take a leadership post and you fight for the middle class and fight for the working class, I think people reward you for that. [5:18] And I've been reelected by record numbers. [5:20] And speaking of money and politics, we've seen groups like AIPAC playing a growing role in Democratic primaries as Democratic voters sour on Israel. [5:29] Usually the controversy is about candidates accepting donations from AIPAC. [5:33] You were actually previously a donor to AIPAC yourself, even though you later broke from the group. [5:37] What actually caused you to change your mind about AIPAC? [5:40] Well, AIPAC changed. [5:43] About 15 years ago, I stopped being engaged with AIPAC, and I supported it when it wasn't a super PAC. [5:52] Now it's a super PAC. [5:53] That's very different. [5:54] So when you give money to a super PAC and then they give money to right-wing zealots, [5:59] when they give money to Trump-supporting Republicans, MAGA Republicans, that I don't support, [6:06] that's not something I would want anything to do with. [6:08] And, look, we've got to hold accountable people that ought to be held accountable. [6:13] I think that Benjamin Netanyahu has done a terrible job as the leader of Israel. [6:18] We've got to hold him accountable. [6:20] So that's why I left that group. [6:22] And I do believe we've got to get money out of politics. [6:25] We need to end Citizens United. [6:27] We need to make sure that we're getting these super PACs out of the campaigns, 501c4, dark money organizations. [6:35] We need to either bring light to them or ban them from politics. [6:40] But we've got to change the way politics works. [6:43] As you know, I don't accept contributions at all. [6:46] I don't accept contributions from special interests because I'm not owned by a special interest and never will be. [6:51] And as you know, a growing number of Democrats in Congress no longer support U.S. funding for defensive weapons aid, like the Iron Dome to Israel. [6:59] What's your position on that? [7:02] Every country deserves to defend itself. [7:05] And that includes, by the way, the creation of what I think we should create, which is a Palestinian state. [7:11] They deserve to be able to defend themselves, too. [7:13] So, you know, whether the United States is supportive of weapons sales to different countries is really about whether or not it's a defensive or offensive posture. [7:24] Let's talk about Ukraine, for example. [7:26] We should be supporting Ukraine's defenses. [7:29] They're the ones who've been attacked. [7:30] Just like we should help create the Palestinian state and make sure that innocent Palestinians don't lose their lives because there are terrorists committing terrorist acts. [7:42] Governor Pritzker, so appreciate your time tonight. [7:45] Thank you. [7:47] Thank you.