Pritzker: Trump ‘suffering from dementia’

Skip to content

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) on Tuesday accused President Trump of “suffering from dementia.”

Pritzker appeared on CNN, where anchor Kaitlan Collins asked the governor about recent comments made by the president, like claiming communism is a bigger threat to the U.S. than both world wars, the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

“Look, the man is continually suffering from dementia,” Pritzker replied. “I don’t think he really understands what he’s saying. The truth is that — I mean, this is a man who’s threatened to jail the mayor of Chicago, the governor of Illinois. He regularly threatens to go after people and indeed, has used the Department of Justice to go after people.”

He added that Trump comes up with “concepts in his head, and he blurts them out without really thinking.”

In response, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle called Pritzker “a slob and an incompetent governor who pushes blatantly false narratives like this in a desperate attempt to stay relevant.”

“Instead of lying in media interviews, Pritzker should focus on fixing his broken state and do his job,” Davis said. “President Trump’s sharpness, unmatched energy, and historic accessibility stand in stark contrast to what we saw during the past four years when the legacy media intentionally covered up Joe Biden’s serious mental and physical decline from the American people. Unlike the Biden White House, President Trump and his entire team have been fully open and transparent about the President’s health, which remains exceptional.”

Trump, 80, has faced repeated questions about his health, having completed his third physical examination in 13 months in May.

Last month, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) wrote to the president’s physician, Capt. Sean Barbabella, asking why 22 specialists were required to say Trump was in “excellent health” at his recent physical examination.

“As the oldest person ever elected to the White House, President Trump turned 80 just this past Sunday,” Raskin wrote. “In light of these troubling medical reports, so many unexplained signs of illness, and the existence of nearly two dozen different doctors on the case, the American people deserve honest and serious answers about whether he is up to the task.”

Raskin previously called for a full evaluation of the president’s cognitive abilities in a letter to Barbabella in April, pointing to Trump’s comments at the time about the Iran war.

The White House faced further questioning after bruises were visible on the president’s hand, later covered in makeup. Trump has also had signs of swelling in his ankles, which Barbabella attributed to chronic venous insufficiency.

Barbabella also attributed the bruising to “minor soft tissue irritation” caused by frequent hand shaking and a high dose of aspirin that he takes daily for “cardiac prevention.”

Tags

Donald Trump

Jamie Raskin

JB Pritzker

Joe Biden

Kaitlan Collins

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.