By Illinois Review
On Monday, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who remains a loyal and respected ally within President Donald Trump’s orbit – posted a statement on X urging the President-elect to sue Gov. JB Pritzker for defamation after the Democratic governor repeatedly referred to Trump as an “adjudicated rapist.”
Last Friday, ABC News agreed to a multi-million dollar settlement and agreed to contribute $15 million to President Trump’s presidential foundation and museum to settle a defamation lawsuit filed by Trump and his legal team against the network.
During a March 10 interview, ABC’s George Stephanopolous, who was interviewing U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-SC, falsely claimed that Trump had been found “liable for rape,” when in fact he wasn’t – and the Trump legal team easily pointed out that Stephanopolous’ statement was completely false. And as a result, the news organization quickly agreed to a settlement to avoid any more embarrassing legal trouble.
Seizing on the opportunity – and continuing a more than 5-year feud with Pritzker, Blagojevich went on social media, writing, “Now that Trump successfully won his defamation case against ABC for calling him a ‘rapist,’ when will he sue Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker for repeatedly lying & calling him the same thing?”
In 2019, Pritzker lobbied the Trump White House not to commute Blagojevich’s 14-year prison sentence that resulted in a re-review of his case – and further delayed his return home. But on February 18, 2020, President Trump commuted his sentence after having served 8 years behind bars for things that were not crimes.
Since June, Pritzker has repeatedly and consistently referred to Trump as a “rapist” – despite the assertion being totally false and an outright lie. On June 3, 2024, in an MSNBC interview with former Biden White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, Pritzker – on national television – called Trump an “adjudicated rapist.” A month later on July 31, Pritzker posted on X, referring to Trump as a “racist” and “adjudicated rapist.”
A billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune, Pritzker is not afraid of spending his own money if it helps him politically. Since 2018, Pritzker has spent nearly $330M of his personal fortune on his last two governor races. And earlier this year, he even offered to pay for the entire Democratic National Convention if Biden chose Chicago as the host city. And it’s no secret in Illinois that Pritzker has presidential aspirations. He even designed a podium to mirror the presidential podium at The White House to hide his large frame.
The next election for governor is in 2026.
