Ken Griffin knocks Pritzker — and Trump

Happy Tuesday, Illinois. President Joe Biden’s trip to Chicago is back on. He’ll be here Thursday.

GAUNTLET HAS BEEN THROWN. Hedge fund manager and political donor Ken Griffin on Monday blasted Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s response to last year’s Black Lives Matter protests in Chicago, discouraged Donald Trump from running in 2024, and lamented the current legislative shenanigans in Washington.

But it was Pritzker’s handling of George Floyd rallies where the Citadel Corp. CEO really laid into the governor during a Q&A with Bloomberg TV’s Erik Schatzker for members of the Economic Club of Chicago.

“I told him to deploy the National Guard and he goes, ‘It won’t look good for there to be men and women on Michigan Avenue with assault weapons,’” Griffin claimed. “If that saves the life of a child, I don’t care. And he doesn’t care.”

In fact, Pritzker did call up the Guard in wake of the protests, prompting the governor’s team on Monday to label Griffin an outright “liar.”

“He lied to Congress last year and he is lying to Chicagoans now,” said spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh, a reference to Griffin testifying before Congress after Robinhood investment firm halted trading of GameStop Corp.

“Governor Pritzker is dedicated to the safety of this city and state, deployed the National Guard during the social unrest in the summer of 2020, and is making landmark investments in crime prevention,” Abudayyeh added. “The governor will continue working to help local leaders as they confront the national epidemic of gun violence.”

A spokeswoman for Griffin did not return a request for comment.

Call it a declaration of war in a long-simmering battle that escalated when Griffin threw nearly $50 million to successfully oppose a graduated income tax referendum Pritzker had backed to the tune of $56 million.

As Griffin considers throwing his billionaire weight behind a Republican candidate for governor, Monday’s tit for tat hints at what’s to come in the 2022 campaign.

Griffin seemed to take delight Monday in mentioning the referendum’s failure and though his comment about the Guard might have been a flub, his intention to blame Pritzker for crime was deliberate. It was one of a number of provocative comments Griffin made during the in-person event streamed online.

Griffin even showed a love-hate relationship for Trump, praising the former president’s efforts on Operation Warp Speed to develop and manufacture Covid-19 vaccines while also lobbing criticisms. “Our country wasn’t willing to declare war against Covid-19,” Griffin said.

The Chicago billionaire who says, “I don’t care about the sticker on your back but how you play in the field,” a reference to one’s politics, also said he wouldn’t back Trump for president in 2024.

“It’s time for America to move on,” Griffin said. Except for his…