Donald Trump’s newest line of attack in his war with Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker smells a bit fishy.
The president dangled the possibility that he might remove financing for a project to tackle “invasive” carp unless Pritzker “asks” him for it.
The move would leave Illinois voters and the Democratic leader on the hook for $1.15 billion in federal funding.
However, Congress has already set aside the money, and if the project does not net the promised cash, then Trump could be breaking the law, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Tensions have been rising in Illinois over Trump’s threats to deploy the National Guard to Chicago, as part of his widening crackdowns on migration and crime.
Speaking about the nationwide carp issue from the Oval Office on Monday, Trump tossed out the line, “I didn’t get a request from the governor of Illinois. Until I get that request from that guy (Pritzker), I’m not going to do anything about it.”
Trump was angling at the $1.15 billion Brandon Road Lock and Dam fix in Joliet—a project meant to keep silver and bighead carp from swimming upstream into Lake Michigan. Phase One started in May, with the feds covering about 90 percent of the construction, and Michigan and Illinois chipping in bait-sized state shares of $64 million and $50 million.
And while Trump has been freezing pots of cash across agencies like a cold snap, the Government Accountability Office and Democrats on Senate appropriations say that kind of “keep it on the dock” routine runs afoul of the Impoundment Control Act.
The president calls that law unconstitutional and vows to have it struck down in court—but he hasn’t filed the test case.
Pritzker’s press man Matt Hill also waded in, telling the Tribune not to swallow the president’s story “at face value” because “many are lies.”
Trump’s fishy claim comes amid a personal slugfest between Trump and Pritzker, as the president threatens to send the National Guard to Chicago and snipes about the governor’s weight.
“He ought to spend more time at the gym. The guy is a disaster,” the 79-year-old president said after Pritzker slammed Trump’s D.C. crime crackdown, which Trump says he could broaden to Chicago.
Pritzker clapped back, saying that Trump is “not in good shape,” adding: “It takes one to know one on the weight question.”
This feud has already scuppered timelines, reports the Tribune. In February, a groundbreaking was canceled when the state held off a land closing, spooked that the administration’s wider freeze on Illinois Department of Natural Resources grants would leave taxpayers “on the hook” for later phases.
After Team Trump issued an order casting Pritzker as the one who “decided to delay the State’s acquisition of property,” the governor fired back that Washington had finally agreed to shoulder its load and that Illinois would only proceed with proper assurances.
Phase One will see site prep and rock work, plus the first layers of deterrent tech—a bubble curtain to blow hitchhikers out from under barges and an acoustic system that hits carp with painful sound. Later phases add an electric barrier and more acoustics, while a flushing lock will send any stragglers back downstream.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and Gov. Pritzker’s office for comment.
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