Politics
Willie Brown says Trump claims of helicopter trip, Kamala Harris confessions are false
Former President Trump said that he and Willie Brown almost crashed in a helicopter and that the former San Francisco mayor told him “terrible things” about Trump’s Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris.
False and false, Brown says.
Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, conducted a meandering 65-minute news conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday where he insulted Harris, reasserted false and misleading claims and talked about the U.S. in apocalyptic terms.
He also related the tale of being in a helicopter and facing danger with Brown.
“Well, I know Willie Brown very well. In fact, I went down in a helicopter with him. We thought, maybe this is the end,” Trump said.
“We were in a helicopter going to a certain location together, and there was an emergency landing,” he said. “This was not a pleasant landing, and Willie, he was — he was a little concerned. So I know him pretty well. I mean, I haven’t seen him in years. But he told me terrible things about [Kamala Harris].”
Brown says Trump’s claims are untrue.
“I’ve never done business with Donald Trump, let’s start with that,” Brown told Bay Area TV station KRON. “And secondly, I don’t think I’d want to ride on the same helicopter with him.”
He also denied demeaning Harris to Trump.
“It’s just as accurate as all of the other components of what you’re asking me about,” Brown told the San Francisco Chronicle. “No, not accurate at all.”
Brown told KRON he “could not envision thinking of Kamala Harris in any negative way. She’s a good friend a long time ago, absolutely beautiful woman, smart as all hell, very successful, electorally speaking.”
Brown dated Harris in the 1990s at the beginning of her career in San Francisco. The connection drew backlash against Harris from critics who said she gained politically from the relationship.
Brown did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment Thursday evening.
Politics
Rep Ro Khanna demands prosecution of ICE agent in Minneapolis fatal shooting
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Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., called for the arrest and prosecution of the ICE agent who fatally shot Renee Good in a residential neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota on Jan. 7.
Khanna also urged Congress to back his legislation with Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, to require ICE agents to wear body cameras, display visible identification, stop wearing masks during operations and be subject to independent oversight.
In a post shared on X, the former Obama administration official said: “I am calling for the arrest and prosecution of the ICE agent that shot and killed Renee Good.”
“I am also calling on Congress to support my bill with @JasmineForUS to force ICE agents to wear body cameras, not wear masks, have visible identification, and ensure ICE has independent oversight,” Khanna added.
MINNESOTA BUREAU OF CRIMINAL APPREHENSION DROPS OUT OF ICE-INVOLVED SHOOTING INVESTIGATION
An ICE agent shot and killed the 37-year-old Minneapolis woman during a federal enforcement operation in south Minneapolis. Federal officials have said agents were attempting to make arrests when the woman tried to use her vehicle as a weapon against officers, prompting an ICE agent to fire in self-defense.
Good’s death sparked widespread protests in Minneapolis and across the U.S. as demonstrators called for changes to federal immigration enforcement.
Renee Nicole Good moments before she was shot and killed by a federal agent in Minneapolis. (Obtained by Fox News)
Local officials, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, criticized the federal account of the incident and rejected the claim that the officer acted in self-defense. Minnesota has since sued the Trump administration, claiming the immigration enforcement surge in the state is “unlawful” and “unprecedented.”
“What we are seeing right now is not normal immigration enforcement,” Frey said. “The scale is wildly disproportionate, and it has nothing to do with keeping people safe.”
The Trump administration pushed back sharply against the lawsuit, with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) accusing Minnesota leaders of undermining public safety and obstructing federal law enforcement.
MINNESOTA SUES TRUMP ADMIN OVER SWEEPING IMMIGRATION RAIDS IN TWIN CITIES
Federal officials, including DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, maintained that the agent fired in self-defense.
Renee Good’s crashed car after the shooting. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
Noem critisized Democrats on Sunday amid an Illinois lawmaker’s push to impeach her following the deadly shooting.
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“These law enforcement officers are trained to be in situations that are dangerous, and they rely on that training each and every day to make the right decisions,” Noem said during “Sunday Morning Futures.”
Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
Politics
Democrat-turned-Republican Gloria Romero announces run for lieutenant governor
Gloria Romero, a former Democrat and state Senate Majority Leader, announced Monday she is running for lieutenant governor as part of a ticket with GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, a former Fox News commentator.
“At the end of the day, it’s really about one-party rule in Sacramento. I’ve seen it. I left it,” Romero said in an interview. “We’ve got to make a change, otherwise we will never turn around on accountability or affordability and fight for working families like the Democrats once said the party stood for. Those days are gone. It’s a new day, and I’m proud to work alongside Steve in this exciting race to make California Golden again.”
Hilton, who has a long-standing political relationship with Romero, said her expertise in the state Capitol is among the reasons he selected her. Romero served in the state Senate and Assembly for about 12 years, including three as the state Senate’s first female majority leader.
“She’s been incredibly helpful already, helping me understand how Sacramento works and doesn’t work,” Hilton said. “When I’m the governor I will have to work with the legislature. And one of the most important things that I see as a real benefit from having Gloria there with me is that she’s not just been in the legislature, she’s led one of the chambers. She really understands how it works and still has relationships.”
Other candidates running for lieutenant governor include Treasurer Fiona Ma, former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs and Josh Fryday, a member of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s cabinet, all Democrats, and state Sen. Brian Jones (R-Santee).
Romero was a lifelong Democrat, including co-chairing President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign in California. But she began to break with her party over education reform, notably her support for school choice.
“Education is the key to the American dream, and yet my party was so beholden to the teachers union, the alphabet soup of power influencers in Sacramento,” she said.
Invoking the words of the late President Reagan, Romero said she didn’t leave the Democratic party, the party left her. She became a registered Republican in September 2024 after what she calls a “political coup” to oust President Biden as the Democratic nominee. She then endorsed President Trump and spoke at a rally supporting him near Coachella.
She said the lieutenant governor’s role is typically a sleepy perch for politicians as they bide their time to run for higher office.
“It should not be that way,” Romero said, adding that the lieutenant governor’s role on the boards that oversee the UCs, Cal States and community college is a particularly good fit for her wheelhouse. “Education and turning around education, it’s in my blood, it’s in my dreams. It’s my passion.”
Unlike presidential elections, statewide contests do not feature running mates; each candidate must be elected on their own merits.
Hilton said Romero was the first member of his “golden ticket for California” and that he planned to roll out other statewide candidates who will join their effort.
“I know it hasn’t been done before. It’s not how things are normally done,” he said. “But right from the beginning, when I was thinking about my race for governor, one of the things that I really wanted to do was to put together a strong team, because turning around California is going to take a strong team.”
Politics
Conservative legal group targets CFPB rule mandating race, sex data in home loans
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FIRST ON FOX: A Trump-aligned legal group is urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to scrap its demographic reporting mandate, arguing that the rule allows lenders to consider the race and sex of mortgage applicants as part of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
America First Legal said in a petition, first reviewed by Fox News Digital, that the CFPB should encourage mortgage lenders to focus strictly on the creditworthiness of home buyers. The CFPB’s Regulation C, which requires the lenders to track and report race and sex, is unconstitutional, the group argued.
“The disclosure of this information leaves applicants vulnerable to race- and sex-based discrimination by government and private actors in violation of federal civil rights law and the Constitution,” an America First Legal representative wrote.
A view of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) headquarters building in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 10, 2025. (Getty Images)
The petition comes as part of a broader effort by President Donald Trump to quash diversity, equity and inclusion, also known as DEI, in the public and private sectors. The petition aligns with an executive order Trump signed in April urging a “meritocracy and colorblind society.” The order was aimed at agencies responsible for evaluating people’s credit.
DEI is a framework that companies, schools, government agencies and other entities have adopted to promote equal treatment for minorities, but conservatives have long argued its practices can be discriminatory by improperly extending preferential treatment to them.
America First Legal said Regulation C flies in the face of the administration’s sweeping efforts to root out DEI across industries. The group’s petition functions as a request to the CFPB to formally begin the process of eliminating the regulation.
The Trump administration slashed $15 million in DEI contracts. (Reuters/Getty)
“The federal government has no business forcing Americans to disclose their race or sex as a condition of applying for a mortgage,” America First Legal President Gene Hamilton said in a statement. “Regulation C pressures lenders to sort borrowers by immutable characteristics and invites discrimination under the guise of ‘equity.’”
The CFPB was created by Congress in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to investigate complaints about mortgages, various other loans and other banking activity that involves consumers.
Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, is also leading the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
But since its inception, Republicans have targeted the agency as a rogue entity that imposes unnecessary and burdensome regulations on financial institutions.
The acting director of the agency, Russell Vought, has sought to shutter the CFPB entirely, but those efforts have thus far been stalled by the courts, which have found that only Congress can get rid of it. The CFPB has remained somewhat operational, as it has been filing reports through late last year, and Vought recently requested an additional $145 million to fund it to remain compliant with a recent court order.
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