Illinois Governor Pritzker has obtained much needed medical supplies from China, without Trump’s and the Federal government’s knowledge, behind their backs. And the White House is not happy about it. Pritzker cites his fear that if he hadn’t gone behind the Federal Government’s back that the supplies would have just been seized before they arrived in his state.
The White House issued a sharp rebuke Saturday to Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, who reportedly spent over $1.7 million on flights bringing medical supplies from China in secret—out of fear the Trump administration would seize the cargo for the federal stockpile.
To put this into perspective, and step back for a second here: Pritzker, who was specifically told by Trump that he was on his own to buy medical supplies in the open market, does so, and the White House is not happy with this because he did this without notifying them, he did it in secret? Why did Pritzker do this in secret? Because many shipments to states were diverted, seized, and confiscated for the federal stockpile, stolen, even though these states paid Millions of Dollars for these essential supplies, just to have them taken away right under their noses in an act of highway robbery.
Reports first emerged earlier this week that Illinois was “secretly” getting PPE and other medical supplies shipped from China in order to avoid interference from the federal government.
The Chicago-Sun Times first reported Pritzker’s China flight payments, citing a source familiar with the matter who said that the governor didn’t want to release details “because we’ve heard reports of Trump trying to take PPE in China and when it gets to the United States.”
In an online portal that tracks all of the state’s coronavirus-related spending, released by the Illinois State Comptroller on Tuesday, there are two payments of $888,275 each, listed as “aircraft charter flight to Shanghai, China for COVID-19 response.”
“We’ve had to search the entire globe to find what we need. Shipping is very difficult,” Pritzker told reporters at a briefing on Wednesday, after his office confirmed the original reports a day earlier.
Unbelievable. The governor of Illinois has to be afraid that PPEs and medical supplies he needs for his state would be confiscated by Trump’s Feds right out from under his nose, so he has to arrange shipments in secret to make sure he actually gets what he needs? What kind of Banana Republic are we? “Trump trying to take PPE in China and when it gets to the United States?” FOR REAL? What is wrong with this monster?
He said that because “the federal government seems to be interrupting supplies that are being sent elsewhere in the nation” he “wanted to make sure that we received what we ordered,” and also told CNN that he had “given up” on receiving help from the Trump administration.
White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere responded, telling RealClearPolitics that Pritzker, “through ignorance or incompetence or a propensity to politicize everything,” was wrong, and that the administration had been providing Illinois with resources.
Stealing them is more like it.
Dick Durbin explains it:
Earlier this month, Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said in an interview with MSNBC that Pritzker was calling CEOs of major airlines and begging them for help in organizing airlifts of PPE and medical supplies from China to Illinois. “They couldn’t get flights, cargo flights out,” he said. “You know, I’ve got a very talented governor here… but to think it’s his responsibility to airlift what should have been in the national stockpile is incredible.”
Indeed, providing PPEs and Coronavirus test kits was quite clearly the federal governments’ responsibility in this national crisis. What Trump, Kushner and the entire criminal Trump enterprise have been doing instead, delaying, diverting, confiscating, seizing, has been nothing short of a gross dereliction of duty, a callous disregard for human lives and a disgusting “game” of politics and favoritism when many human lives have been and are being lost daily because of the actions, past and present, of Trump and his mob-like cabal.
Let’s go back in time 3 weeks to set the table for this sorry state of affairs, which now is forcing governors to go behind the White House’s backs to obtain medical supplies, test kits and PPE material (surely Pritzker isn’t the only one):
From the very beginning Trump told governors they are on their own obtaining life saving PPEs and medical supplies such as masks, ventilators, face shields, gowns, gloves, etc. So, the governors had to look around in the open market and bid for these life saving items without any help from the Federal government.
In typical GOP manner it wasn’t about getting the needed equipment to the states quickly, without red tape, in the fastest way possible, but the idea was “Let the market make the price and whoever is willing to pay the most gets PPEs”. Human lives be damned.
To make matter worse the feds decided to actually participate in the market themselves, outbidding states for these life saving PPEs so they can accumulate them for their federal stockpile, a federal stockpile that Trump and Kushner made clear was not meant for the states. Kushner: The federal stockpile is ours, not the states'
Now, to make matters even MUCH worse, and to add insult to injury, the feds didn’t just outbid the states to beef up their stockpile, which wasn’t for the states, they also would confiscate, aka steal, supplies that the states had “won” fair and square in those ridiculous bidding wars, outbidding other states and the federal government for them. That was criminal on the part of the Trump cabal.
So, against the backdrop of the federal government and the Trump criminals doing everything in their power to deprive states from getting life saving PPEs is it any wonder that Illinois Governor Pritzker had to go behind their backs to get the supplies he needs for his state? And, the Trump White House isn’t happy about it. Well, well. Get THE HELL over it. You are robbing states and you are not happy that they are forced to go out on their own to find the supplies they need, fearing that you’ll just seize them at the point of entry again, as you’ve done countless times?
Pritzker has given up on the White House ever doing the right thing, ever being helpful to them:
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday that he has "given up" on receiving federal assistance to help combat the novel coronavirus pandemic, saying instead that his state is "doing what we need to do despite" President Donald Trump.
"We have gotten very little help from the federal government. It's fine. I've given up on any promises that have been made," Pritzker, a Democrat, told
CNN's Erin Burnett on "OutFront." "I hope something will get delivered from the federal government, but I don't expect it anymore."
His comments follow the President's statement earlier Tuesday at a White House news conference that governors "are supposed to do testing" for Covid-19, despite many state leaders saying they need federal assistance to do so. The lack of testing has been
a point of contention between governors and the federal government, as the number of coronavirus cases increases.
For Illinois, Pritzker said Tuesday, "the President at this point is near irrelevant when it comes to this question of testing."
Pritzker, an outspoken state leader during the pandemic, has expressed frustration before over how Trump has handled the federal response to the outbreak. He previously said he had told the Trump administration
his state needed 4,000 ventilators, and he told CNN's Jake Tapper that the President's inaction on states' requests had created a "a Wild West" environment for procuring much-needed medical supplies.
