Illinois Governor JB Pritzker dodged when confronted on his own state’s gerrymandered congressional map, pivoting to blame Texas Republicans of threatening “democracy.”

The Illinois governor appeared on NBC News for an interview that aired on Sunday, and, when asked if his criticism of Texas’ redistricting push is hypocritical, he said that attacks on his own state’s congressional map are distractions.

“What they’re talking about is a distraction. The reality is that the violation of people’s voting rights is what Texas is attempting to do. That’s what’s wrong with their efforts right now. And the fact that the president of the United States knows it and, nevertheless, is asking them to do it — that is what’s wrong with what we’re seeing right now. Democracy is at stake,” said Pritzker.

NBC: Every group that grades the fairness of congressional maps gives Illinois an F and says it’s a “perfect model of everything that can go wrong with redistricting.” Aren’t you a big hypocrite?

PRITZKER: “Democracy is at stake!” pic.twitter.com/g9NrY0VDDG

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 10, 2025

“Meet The Press” host Kristen Welker pointed to “F” grades that Illinois’ congressional map has received on the “fairness” of its district lines from independent watchdogs.

According to Common Cause, one of the watchdogs Welker referred to, “Illinois represents a nearly perfect model for everything that can go wrong with redistricting.”

“Illinois legislators used the redistricting process this cycle to protect a Democratic supermajority in the legislature and squeeze one additional Democratic congressional district out of the map despite the state’s loss of one U.S. House seat post-census,” the Common Cause report said.

Pritzker has hosted many of the Texas Democrats who fled their state earlier this month to deny a quorum in the Texas legislature and hold up passage of a newly redrawn congressional map. The map is expected to win Republicans five more seats in the U.S. House during midterm elections.

The Democrats’ abandonment of the state has also held up legislation aimed at assisting the victims of catastrophic flooding in central Texas earlier this year.

Texas leaders, including Governor Greg Abbott and state Attorny General Ken Paxton, have promised to scour legal mechanisms of forcing the rogue Democrats back to the state. Otherwise, the Democrat absences could leave the legislature hobbled for weeks or months.

“All I can say is we’re going to use every tool that we can to make sure that these runaway Democrats are going to be held accountable,” Abbott said on Friday.

“Democrats act like they’re not going to come back as long as this is an issue. That means they’re not going to come back until like 2027 or 2028, because I’m going to call special session after special session after special session with the same agenda items on there,” he added.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte voiced support on Sunday for President Donald Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin that is scheduled for later this week.

Rutte appeared on CBS News’ “Face The Nation” and said that Trump “broke the deadlock” and opened Putin to peace negotiations. In response to a question from host Margaret Brennan that compared the Trump-Putin meeting to appeasement of the Nazis in 1938, Rutte said Friday’s meeting will be about “testing” how serious Putin is about a ceasefire or an end to the war in Ukraine.

“Obviously, when it comes to peace talks, the ceasefire, and what happens after that on territories, on security guarantees for Ukraine, Ukraine will have to be and will be involved,” Rutte said. “But on Friday, it is important to see how serious Putin is, and the only one who can do that is President Trump.”

“It’s really crucial that a meeting takes place,” he continued. “It is important to start the next phase of this process, putting pressure on the Russians exactly as President Trump has been doing over the last six months.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte says President Trump “will test” Russian President Vladimir Putin during their meeting in Alaska this Friday.

“It is important to see how serious Putin is, and the only one who can do that is President Trump,” he says, though he adds that “there… pic.twitter.com/V4q1B7VgJE

— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) August 10, 2025

Putin has reportedly told the Trump administration that Russia would end the war if Ukraine ceded control of its eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, which Russia largely controls though Ukraine’s military is fighting back in some spots. Putin also demanded recognition of Russian control of the Crimean Peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.

On Friday, Trump said that a peace between Ukraine and Russia could involve “some swapping” of territories, a suggestion that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky flatly rejected on Saturday.

“Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier,” said Zelensky, according to The New York Times.

“Any decisions made against us, any decisions made without Ukraine, are at the same time decisions against peace,” Zelensky added in a video posted to Telegram. “They will bring nothing. These are dead decisions; they will never work.”

Ukrainian support for continuing the war against Russia has collapsed, according to a Gallup poll released last week. Support for finding a negotiated solution to end the war has surged to 69% up from 52% last year. Support to continue fighting dropped from 38% to 24% over the same period.