Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) used a House committee hearing on sanctuary states and immigration policy to berate Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) about a joke he told about restroom use in 2017. It didn’t go well for Gill.
Pritzker was summoned to the hearing alongside two other Democratic governors — Minnesota Gov. Walz and New York Gov. Hochul — to explain their states’ refusal to have their legal authorities aid federal agents with detainment and deportation efforts. Then, Gill tried to have his “viral moment,” WLS-TV reported.
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“Governor, do you think biological men should be able to use women’s restrooms?” Gill asked.
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Pritzker responded, “I’m not sure how this has to do with immigration.” Gill responded by saying that it was a “yes or no” question. Pritzker then said he didn’t understand, adding, “I thought we were here to do fact-finding.”
Gill then read Pritzker’s February 23, 2017, social media post that said, “As a protest against Trump‘s rescinding protections for trans kids, everyone should use the other gender’s bathroom today.”
Pritzker, at the time, said that he “was not being literal” when joking about everyone using the wrong bathroom for a day.
At the hearing, Gill then asked Pritzker, “Have you ever used the women’s restroom?”
Pritzker said, “Not that I can recall.”
Gill responded, “So you wanted everybody else to do it, but you didn’t.”
As Pritzker again expressed confusion about the topic’s relation to the hearing, and as Gill repeated his questions, Pritzker then said that he doesn’t advocate for men to use women’s restrooms and said that the conversation should be focused on immigration, which was the designated topic of the hearing.
Gill asked, “Did you ever consider that women don’t want you in their bathrooms?”
Pritzker then asked Gill, “So you’re admitting that this is just a political circus? This has nothing to do with immigration and is really about you grandstanding.” He then pointed out that Gill and his Republican colleagues have voted in favor of cutting social service funding that will cause Gill’s constituents to die.
During the hearing, Pritzker said he isn’t afraid that administrative officials will try to arrest him. The White House’s border czar Tom Homan recently threatened to arrest California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) for interfering with possibly unconstitutional federal immigration raids.
“I will stand in the way of Tom Homan going after people who don’t deserve to be frightened in their communities, who don’t deserve to be threatened, terrorized. I would rather that he came and arrested me than do that to the people of my state,” Pritzker said.
After the hearing, Pritzker said, “This hearing was a demonstration of just how bad this Republican-controlled Congress really is, again, nothing accomplished, an entire day of just harping on something that, frankly, most of which was false. And would I say it’s a waste? I think this entire Republican-controlled Congress is a waste.”
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