Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has accused Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth of being too consumed with trying to set a world record for push-ups to bother consulting him about the deployment of troops in his state.
As tensions escalate over the growing use of the military in U.S. cities, the Democratic governor has lashed out at the Trump administration for keeping him in the dark about its contentious plan to send thousands of National Guard troops to Chicago to deal with crime and anti-ICE protests.
Pritzker, who Trump suggested on Tuesday should be thrown into jail, even says he cleared his schedule on Saturday waiting to hear from Hegseth about the expected deployment.
However, the Democratic governor says the call never came because Hegseth was too busy helping to beat a simultaneous push-up record during a Navy and Air Force football game.
“I got no call. And I got no call all afternoon, all evening, and I have not received a call at all,” Pritzker said in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times.
“And it turns out that Pete Hegseth was at a football game, and he was doing pushups as part of a show of Guinness Book of World Records.
“So he was out having fun after saying that he was going to call me and didn’t. And they’re sending troops while he’s going to a football game and ignoring what he should have been doing.”
The Defense Secretary’s push-up prowess was put on display during a football game between the Navy and the Air Force in Annapolis, Maryland, this weekend.
The former Fox News host led 3068 participants—including cadets, officers, and fans—in a Guinness World Record for simultaneous push-ups, surpassing the previous record of 2926.
Asked about the issue on Wednesday, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson told the Daily Beast: “This is Governor Pritzker’s latest tantrum. The Governor is more than welcome to join a PT session with the Secretary and the troops any time.
“In the meantime, the Department of War is proud to help clean up the disaster he’s created in Illinois.”
However, Pritzker argues that Hegseth’s antics were yet another example of the lack of communication by the administration over its bid to send troops into Chicago, despite the objections of state and local officials.
Trump insists the use of the troops is necessary to quell violence in Democratic-controlled cities, crack down on crime, and support his mass deportation strategy.
After sending National Guards to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., the president has now set his sights on Chicago and Portland, Oregon.
He has also not ruled out invoking the Insurrection Act if state officials and courts continue to block him.
On Tuesday, he escalated his rhetoric even further, writing on Truth Social that Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson “should be in jail for failing to protect Ice officers!”
But the two Democratic leaders, who believe that Trump is manufacturing a crisis to expand his authority in blue states, pushed back fiercely.
“Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power,” Pritzker wrote on X, declaring, “I will not back down.”
“What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?”
Johnson also said in a statement that he was “not going anywhere”, adding: “This is not the first time Trump has tried to have a Black man unjustly arrested.”
Hegseth’s push-up activities come days after he took aim at overweight members of the military during a meeting of top generals last week.
“Frankly, it’s tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops,” he said as he unveiled new fitness standards across the department.
“Likewise, it’s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon leading commands around the country and the world.”
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