President Donald Trump’s administration is threatening to pull federal funding for public transportation in Chicago unless the city tightens security after a man allegedly set a woman on fire inside a commuter train in November.
Federal Transit Authority Administrator Marc Molina sent a letter Monday to Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker demanding the Chicago Transit Authority develop and implement an updated safety plan by Dec. 19. The letter did not call for any specific changes.
The demand comes after a man riding a Blue Line L commuter train on Nov. 17 doused fellow passenger Bethany MaGee with gasoline from a plastic drink bottle as she sat with her back to him, according to court filings. He then chased her through the train car and set her on fire. The man then got off the train at the next stop in downtown Chicago and walked away as MaGee, 26, stumbled out and fell to the ground. She suffered severe burns but survived.
Police arrested 50-year-old Lawrence Reed of Chicago the next morning. Federal prosecutors charged him with committing a terrorist attack, which carries a maximum sentence of life. Online court records did not list an attorney for him.
Information provided to The Associated Press by the Cook County Circuit Court shows more than 60 criminal cases filed against Reed since 1993, ranging from traffic, trespassing and drug possession offenses to more serious charges involving violent behavior — including at least 15 battery and assault cases and at least two arson cases.
At the time of the train attack, Reed was on electronic monitoring in an active battery case. Authorities say he hit a hospital social worker in the face in August.
The Cook County chief judge’s office pointed to state law that limits strictly limits judges from denying the release of defendants ahead of their trials.
Molinaro said in his letter that it was “unconscionable” that Reed was released in the battery case and the attack on MaGee reflects “systemic failures in both leadership and accountability on all levels that cannot be tolerated.”
“I will not accept the brutal assault of an innocent 26-year-old woman as an inevitable cost of providing public transportation,” he wrote.
Asked for comment, Chicago Transit Authority officials responded with an email saying the agency had received the letter and “will respond within the requested timeline.” The email did not elaborate. The AP also left messages with the mayor and the governor’s offices on Tuesday morning.
Chicago and other Democratic-led cities have been the focus of intense criticism from Trump and his administration, who have characterized them as crime-ridden despite steep drop in violent crime after a pandemic-era spike.
The administration in October announced it was withholding $2.1 billion for Chicago infrastructure projects, including expansion plans for the Red Line L commuter train. The project would have established stops in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. White House budget officials said then that they wanted to ensure funding wasn’t moving through race-based contracting. The administration withheld $18 billion for New York infrastructure the same week.
Pritzker has long been one of Trump’s loudest critics. The president’s crackdown on immigrants in Chicago has only heightened tensions. Pritzker has resisted Trump’s National Guard deployment, and Trump called the governor “a fat slob” during his ceremonial Thanksgiving turkey pardons.
