During a press briefing on Tuesday, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D-IL) was asked about a DOJ probe into alleged antisemitism on school campuses.
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00:00I have a quick question on, a follow-up question on the Springfield agenda and then my own question.
00:05Is pushing Springfield to change who's ultimately responsible for paying the CPS non-teacher pensions and the MABF on your agenda for next week?
00:15Well, look, Senator Martwick, who is the chief negotiator and sponsor around our elected school board,
00:23we made this very clear from the very beginning that we have to work to disentangle the district.
00:27That's an ongoing assignment.
00:29That's not something that is necessarily provocated by a trip to Springfield.
00:36That work continues.
00:38And then more than a month ago, you know, on Trump administration threats,
00:42the Justice Department announced it would investigate Chicago for what they allege is anti-Semitism on school campuses
00:47and demand that you sit down with investigators.
00:50What's your understanding of the status of that probe?
00:52Have you gotten any requests or formal subpoenas as part of that investigation?
00:57Well, the first thing that I'll say is that we don't have, you know, tolerance and we will not accept any forms of anti-Semitism in our city.
01:08And I have been quite vocal about my position on making sure that the Jewish community and all of our communities feel protected, loved and safe.
01:20We know that there has been a concerted effort, however, to intimidate and to provocate fear amongst the Jewish community.
01:35And we're going to stand firm as a city and continue to put our arms around our Jewish neighbors to ensure that they have maximum support.
01:45You know, as far as the direction of this particular investigation, we can have somebody get back to you about any specifics related to that.
01:55But what I can say unequivocally is that I'm not going to tolerate it, you know, and, you know,
02:05I want our Jewish siblings to know the profound and deep love that I have for them.
02:14It's a love that, quite frankly, comes from my own personal faith as a believer, as a Christian.
02:24I never want to see harm promulgated against a particular group because of their beliefs, their religion, or just their cultural identity.
02:35It is antithetical to my value system.
02:39And so I'm going to remain firm in my position and continue to surround, again, of course, all of our communities,
02:44but in particular the Jewish community that has been under an incredible amount of an attack,
02:51that they are loved and supported by my administration.
02:53Sorry, are you aware of any requests from the Justice Department to sit down with that task force?
02:58You know, again, we'll get back with you on that.
03:00All right, thank you all very much.