JB Pritzker Blames Political Violence On Trump’s Jan. 6 Pardons and ‘Rhetoric’ — In Wake of Charlie Kirk Shooting

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker blamed President Donald Trump’s “rhetoric” and the “January 6th rioters” for “fomenting” political violence as news broke of the shooting which killed conservative activist Charlie Kirk on Wednesday.

In comments made before news of the activist’s death had been confirmed Pritzker offered his “sympathy” to Kirk’s family and to Kirk himself, who was reported hospitalized at the time, before mentioning Trump:

My sympathy to Charlie Kirk’s family and to Charlie Kirk, who obviously has become a target for somebody. I don’t know whether it’s political violence, because I don’t know who did it. I know they seem to have somebody in custody.

But I will say that political violence unfortunately has been ratcheting up in this country. We saw the shootings, the killings in Minnesota. We’ve seen other political violence occur in other states. And I would just say it’s got to stop. And I think there are people who are fomenting it in this country. I think the president’s rhetoric often foments it. We’ve seen the January 6th rioters who clearly have tripped a new era of political violence and the president, what did he do? Pardoned them. I mean what kind of signal does that send to people who want to perpetrate political violence. Not a good one.

Kirk was confirmed to have died as a result of the shooting which occurred during a Q&A on a campus in Utah.

Pritzker has been engaged in a war of words with Trump since the president floated sending the National Guard to Chicago, as he did recently in Washington, D.C., to help cut down on violent crime.

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