Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker says he and the state are still prepared for the potential of National Guard and other federal forces to be deployed to Chicago, even as the White House suggests its focus may have changed.
Attorney General Pam Bondi told cable's FOX News Channel that the President is preparing to send National Guard crime-fighting forces into a state that wants them. "Chicago should be begging Donald Trump for help keeping Chicago safe. But they aren't. That's on them."
After a tour of exhibits at the Fabtech trade show going on at McCormick Place in Chicago, the governor told reporters the state is still prepared for the possibility of a federal deployment.
"I'm not convinced that we're not going to see military troops on the ground. We don't know," the governor said.
Pritzker also noted that the sources he's leaned on inside the Administration before for information about a potential deployment, whom he's called "patriotic Americans" in the past, have gone quiet.
"They're not calling us now, which I think is a good sign," the governor said. "Maybe there's some other place or other focus that the President is putting his attention."
The governor reiterated that there's no emergency that requires federal forces on the ground in Chicago or anywhere in Illinois.