Pritzker hurls 'dementia' claim at Trump amid National Guard feud despite defending Biden's mental fitness

Texas National Guard troops arrived in Illinois on Tuesday to protect federal personnel and property amid anti-immigration protests, the Pentagon confirmed. A Pentagon official said 200 guardsmen were mobilized for an initial 60-day period. 

"And then, unfortunately, he has the power of the military, the power of the federal government to do his bidding, and that's what he's doing," Pritzker reportedly added. 

"I smell a rat," Pritzker was quoted as telling reporters the day after Hur's report was made public. 

Pritzker further defended Biden's fitness to serve. 

At a time Pritzker was being floated as potentially joining the Democratic ticket and was holding speaking engagements in battleground states, the Illinois governor released a statement on Biden's decision to withdraw from the race. 

"President Joe Biden has dedicated his life in service to this nation, and its citizens are all the better for it. His is a storied political career culminating in one of the most accomplished and effective presidencies of our lifetime," Pritzker said at the time. He praised Biden as having "restored dignity to the Oval Office, bringing the statesmanship and honor that have been the hallmarks of his years of service, back to the White House." 

An X account affiliated with the Trump White House on Tuesday called Pritzker "one SICK scumbag," sharing a clip of his recent interview with WGN. 

"What I know is, in the early days of Nazi regime, they started slowly but surely taking away people's rights. And what we are seeing now is the very same thing. They have gone into cities now with the military," Pritzker said in the clip posted on X by the White House Rapid Response team. "Think about that - in your lifetime have you ever seen anything like that? Where the President of the United States is sending military or troops dressed as military - ICE and CBP - in camouflage, with automatic weapons, into our major cities? It's wrong." 

The White House Rapid Response team said Pritzker "calls President Trump a Nazi - fomenting more deranged violence from his Radical Left lunatic supporters." 

Trump on Wednesday said on Truth Social that Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson should be jailed for not defending ICE agents. The White House provided Fox News Digital with a statement elaborating on the president's post, noting that 30 people were shot, five of whom died, in Chicago last week alone, yet "these Trump-Deranged buffoons would rather allow the violence to continue and attack the President for wanting to help make their city safe again." 

The White House did not immediately address Pritzker's specific "dementia" comment about Trump.

Fox News Digital also reached out to Pritzker's office for comment but did not immediately hear back.

Fox News' Brooke Singman, Aubrie Spady, Alexandra Koch and Patrick McGovern contributed to this report.