Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is asking President Donald Trump to reconsider his denial of disaster aid to thousands of Chicago residents whose homes were flooded during severe rainstorms this summer.
Trump, who called the Democratic governor “a big fat slob” four days after Pritzker sent his appeal, has rejected two separate requests for a total of $130 million to help households affected by the storms in late July and mid-August.
The denial was unusual because the damage documented by the administration was at such a high level that it would routinely lead to a presidential approval for disaster aid.
Trump has waged a public war with Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson over immigration enforcement, crime and other issues. The president called Johnson, a Democrat, “incompetent” at the same time he assailed Pritzker during a White House event Thursday.
