>> Mayor Brandon Johnson is once again vowing to fight the Trump administration.

This time after the federal government rejected a disaster relief request for Chicago, residents still struggling to recover from severe storms last summer.

Here's the mayor at City Hall news conference earlier today.

>> We're going to push back obviously in.

Yeah, it's unfortunate that administration has shown so much animus towards working people.

But I'm gonna use every single tool that's available to me to protect our people in our city.

But to ensure that we receive our fair share from the federal government, particularly when these families desperately need relief as quickly as possible.

>> And our head to Sharon joins us now to break down this latest point of conflict between Chicago and the federal government had to remind us what happened in August.

It was very stormy month and for some people on the city's southwest side, their houses flooded twice in 3 weeks as part of a severe storm that sent a deluge of rain water into the city sewer system.

Overwhelming them sending raw sewage into their basement and first floor and forcing them to struggle to make their houses livable Very big mess there.

The mayor wasn't the only elected official there to criticize the decision by the Trump administration.

He was not.

Governor JB Pritzker called it a, quote, new low for the president and said it was politically motivated.

Cook County Board, President Toni Preckwinkle accuse the federal government of turning their back on some of the people who need help the most.

Now to be clear, Illinois wasn't the only state to be hit by the storms, but the president approved just asked or declarations for Alaska, Nebraska, North Dakota, as he pointed out on social media, those 3 states voted for him in the 2020 2024 elections.

Illinois, Vermont and Maryland who had their disaster requests rejected, did It used to be routine for presidents to approve the governor's request for disaster assistance in cases like these what does the Trump administration up Well, they say they reviewed these requests carefully and they wanted to make sure that tax dollars was used appropriately.

They say responding to disasters of the responsibility of states, not the federal government, but this is clearly another instance where President Trump has not shied away from publicly using his power as president to reward those he sees as his political friends and punish his political opponents.

Of course, Illinois and Chicago has long been at the top of that list.

What can Illinois elected officials do now?

Well, the mayor said he's going to continue working with this with the city's congressional delegation.

Perhaps there's some money that can be stuck in a bill somewhere along the line.

I guess the city and the state could try to sue the federal government.

That's not clear.

The city has any recourse since this is a presidential decision and may not be subject to just due to shul oversight contender Sharon, thanks so much.

Thanks,