FROM DAILY MAIL: ‘Come and get me,’ Illinois Governor JB Pritzker taunted Donald Trump last month.
And it now appears Trump’s Justice Department is doing just as he asked – launching a new criminal investigation that threatens to embroil the billionaire governor, the Daily Mail can exclusively reveal.
Pritzker is a potential 2028 presidential contender. He is worth an estimated $3.9 billion, according to Forbes, with much of his wealth coming from his inherited stake in the Hyatt Hotels fortune.
The case revolves around Pritzker’s alleged links to his wife’s friend, Jenny Thornley, who volunteered on his first gubernatorial campaign in 2018 and was convicted of forgery in 2023.
“We are investigating this,” a top official at the DOJ told the Daily Mail. “People have been so brazen for so long because they thought no one would ever look at them and they were above the law.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi’s DOJ will likely be accused by Democrats of targeting Pritzker due to politics. But court filings and internal reports reviewed by the Daily Mail appear to reveal links between known forger Thornley and Pritzker.
Lisa Thornley, 45, was employed by the Illinois State Police Merit Board, the agency that oversees police promotions and disciplinary actions. Illinois prosecutors alleged that from 2014 to 2019, she submitted falsified overtime records, forged her supervisor’s signature, and collected $67,071.14 in unearned pay.
She was later convicted of forgery.
Upon learning of the forgery investigation, Thornley accused her supervisor, Jack Garcia, of groping her in 2020 and filed a workers’ compensation claim for “psychological injury” related to the alleged assault, as detailed in a civil lawsuit brought by a Merit Board colleague.
The Merit Board hired the law firm McGuireWoods to investigate the groping claim. The firm found no supporting evidence and instead discovered computer logs showing Thornley was shopping on Amazon.com in a separate office at the precise time she claimed the incident occurred.
Thornley filed her workers’ compensation claim through Governor J.B. Pritzker’s office rather than her actual employer. On the paperwork, she falsely stated that she worked in the governor’s office, listed Pritzker as her direct supervisor, and provided two of his personal cellphone numbers as references.
An internal investigation also uncovered text messages Thornley allegedly sent in February 2020 to Pritzker’s wife, Mary Kathryn “MK” Pritzker, including: “I need JB to know what’s going on” and “I appreciate your friendship,” according to the McGuireWoods report.
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