(The Center Square) – As he faces a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for the city’s hiring practices, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson verbally lashed back Tuesday against President Donald Trump’s administration. Local Republicans blasted Johnson in return.
Johnson told reporters at City Hall Tuesday he was not surprised by the investigation.
“You would be hard pressed to find qualified individuals who are in his administration. My administration reflects the country. It reflects the city. His administration reflects the country club,” Johnson said.
The Justice Department opened the probe after the mayor made comments about city hiring practices when he spoke at a South Side church last weekend. Johnson listed six high-ranking members of his administration and described each as either a “Black woman” or a “Black man.”
The investigation is intended to determine if the city might be engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
In a letter to the mayor, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said that the DOJ acted after Johnson’s comments last weekend at Apostolic Church of God on Chicago’s South Side.
“Our investigation is based on information suggesting that you have made hiring decisions solely on the basis of race,” Dhillon wrote.
Dhillon informed the mayor that the investigation is intended to determine if the city’s hiring practices are in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is firing back verbally against the Trump administration as he faces a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice over the city’s hiring practices.
On Tuesday, Johnson was asked about his messaging to the city as a whole.
“Why wouldn’t I speak to Black Chicago? Why wouldn’t I? Black Chicago and Black people in America have borne the brunt of the type of policies and the maneuvering and the humiliating tactics that are coming from the federal government right now. It’s not a secret,” Johnson said. “Who is going to be mad at the fact that we have to prioritize spaces in the city that have been harmed the most?”
The mayor claimed that there was one Black person in Trump’s entire administration.
“Now I don’t know if this is a correlation, but only having one Black person in his administration and individuals that I would have questioned their qualifications, you’re running major departments and your background is wrestling,” Johnson said. “If you just look at the way that Trump’s administration is reflecting right now, I’m calling on the Department of Justice to investigate the Trump’s administration and its discriminatory practices and their hiring.”
Cook County Republican Party Chairman Aaron Del Mar said it was outrageous for Johnson to try and turn the tables on the White House.
Del Mar said the administration is “100% right” to investigate Chicago hiring practices.
“Imagine for a moment if Brandon Johnson had lost to Paul Vallas and Paul Vallas said, ‘Hey, we’re going to make sure that 85% of our hires are going to be of Caucasian stature.’ Can you imagine the outrage that would be happening across Chicagoland? Say Paul Vallas said that he wanted to hire 85% Asians or any specific group” Del Mar told The Center Square. “[Johnson] is hiring people based on skin color, not based on their ability to be excellent, and I think that contributes to why Chicago has so many problems.”
Del Mar said the mayor should be concentrating on making Chicago safer, encouraging tourism and making it a place where people want to bring their families instead of moving out of the city.
“Chicago has been a hub for so much mismanagement, waste, fraud and cronyism for decades, and that hasn’t changed under Brandon Johnson’s administration,” Del Mar said.
Chicago Flips Red founder Zoe Leigh offered a warning to aldermen at the city council’s Budget and Government Operations Committee meeting on Monday.
“The feds [are] coming. The Department of Justice is coming, and a lot of y’all are going to prison,” Leigh said.
Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez, a frequent critic of the mayor, posted a photo on X from Tuesday’s aviation committee meeting that featured four Black people and one white person from the Chicago Department of Aviation.
“When I hear this [Johnson] administration say that we are striving for inclusivity, diversity, and I see a panel that does not reflect one single Latino here today, that perception does not match reality,” Lopez said during the meeting. “I find it abhorrent that there’s not one Latino in CDA that could have joined you today, even for the sake of making a good picture.”
Kevin Bessler contributed to this story.
