Politics
Dems join heavily funded effort to oust fellow Dem in crime-ridden city
Democratic operatives have joined an effort to recall a progressive Washington, D.C. councilmember over his criminal justice reform policies, raising tens of thousands of dollars since the campaign launched in December.
Capitol Hill resident Jennifer Squires began the effort to oust Councilmember Charles Allen amid an escalating crime surge in the nation’s capital. By February, the campaign had already raised over $56,000 and garnered support from Democratic political fundraisers and congressional staffers, including former President Obama superdelegate and Democrat lobbyist Moses Mercado, according to campaign filings.
“Crime has become a real issue in the District with lasting consequences,” Squires said in a statement in January. “As a mother whose children used to walk to school daily across Capitol Hill, it’s really frightening.”
“A growing group of us watched as our Councilman, someone I voted for, systematically did the exact opposite things he should be doing to keep us safe,” she said.
A recall effort was launched against Washington, D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen over his criminal justice reform policies as crime has run rampant citywide. (Getty Images)
In response to the recall effort, Allen pointed to his efforts to recruit more police officers with a $25,000 dollar signing bonus for new hires and helping pass anti-gun laws, such as increasing penalties for dangerous automatic weapons.
“This recall effort is misleading and misinformed,” Allen said in a statement to WUSA9. “I’ve worked to hold criminals accountable with strong laws and bring a whole of government approach to reducing crime long-term.”
Democrats supporting the recall effort include former House aide and TikTok lobbyist Michael Hacker, fundraiser Tonya Fulkerson and the chief of staff for Rep. Dan Kildee, Mitchell Rivard, Bloomberg reported. Around 100 people attended the first volunteer event on Thursday and at least a dozen hands raised after recall organizers asked who had been carjacked, the campaign wrote on X.
“I did national politics, not local politics,” Mercado said during the event, The Washington Post reported. “But I realized — I had a conversation with my wife about what if something happens, God forbid, somebody carjacks her?”
BLUE CITY’S RAMPANT VIOLENCE LED THIS FORMER DC RESIDENT TO FLEE THE CRIME-RIDDEN CAPITAL
Allen supporters have criticized the effort, including former councilmember and longtime D.C. resident Tommy Wells, who filed for an anti-recall committee and fundraising effort in support of Allen on Thursday, Axios reported. Wells argued that Allen has widespread support after three consecutive election victories and criticized the recall effort for also attracting significant Republican support.
Some D.C. residents are fed up with Democratic Councilmember Charles Allen and his handling of criminal justice reform as crime skyrockets across the district. (Charles Allen/Facebook)
5 MONTHS. 5 BURGLARIES. ANOTHER RESTAURANT SHUTTERS AS CRIME PUSHES BUSINESSES TO BRINK IN BLUE CITY
“The voters of Ward 6 overwhelmingly reelected, Charles Allen, one year ago,” Wells told Fox News in an emailed statement. “The people who launched this recall are upset about actions that Allen took long before his reelection, and now they are diverting his time and energy from doing his job, including fighting crime. They should be working with him and his team instead of devoting time and money to overturning the will of the voters.”
“The recall effort is playing into the hands of right wing Republicans, who claim that Democrats are mismanaging US cities, and that DC in particular does not deserve home rule,” Wells said. “These are the same Republicans who prevent sensible gun controls that would go far in reducing violent crime in a city awash in guns.”
But Squires, a fellow longtime Washington resident, said the neighborhood has worsened under Allen’s watch. She defended Republican support for the recall campaign and said they were welcome during a Thursday event, according to The Washington Post.
It’s “not about politics,” Squires said Thursday, reiterating that the campaign is focused on tackling the city’s crime crisis.
The nation’s capital is facing an ongoing crime wave, according to city police department data. The city hit a 26-year-high in homicides in 2023. (Astrid Riecken For The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“This is basically a campaign about ideas and trying to convince this man he’s got the wrong ideas,” Squires said about Allen’s criminal justice reform policies. “I don’t care if you’re Republican, I don’t care who you are — especially if you live in Ward 6. That’s his constituency.”
As crime has dipped in some major cities across the country, the nation’s capital has faced skyrocketing crime, ending 2023 with 274 murders — the most in over two decades, according to Metropolitan Police Department data. Robberies and thefts spiked 67% and 23%, respectively, while motor vehicle thefts almost doubled.
SURGING CRIME, COSTS FORCED 52 BUSINESSES TO SHUTTER IN THIS BLUE CITY LAST YEAR. ANOTHER IS ABOUT TO CLOSE
The recall campaign condemned Allen, who served as the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee’s chair from 2017 to 2022, for shepherding a criminal code reform last year that would have lowered penalties for certain offenses like burglaries and carjackings had Congress and President Biden not blocked the legislation. The councilmember was also criticized for his proposal that slashed millions from the police budget in 2020 and was accused of supporting progressive legislation enabling criminals.
Allen’s actions “to open the jail doors for violent offenders while slashing the police department budget is having real consequences,” Squires told Fox News in her statement. “We are now seeing the results of his failed leadership and misguided policies.”
But Wells said Allen strengthened the community’s parks, retail shops and libraries, The Washington Post reported.
“They’ve moved to a fabulous place, and they’re upset and angry, and that’s understandable,” Wells said about residents fed up over crime. “Their focus is on Charles. But they also have to remember: Why did they move there to begin with? This is a great place that Charles helped create.”
The organizer of a recall effort against Washington, D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen said the ongoing crime crisis is a result of Allen’s failed leadership and misguided policies. (Megan Myers/Fox News Digital)
On Tuesday, the Washington, D.C. Board of Elections issued an official petition for the recall, The Washington Post reported. Recall organizers have 180 days to collect around 6,000 signatures in order to move forward with a recall election.
Allen did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
Politics
Socialism goes west as DSA-backed challenger ousts longtime Democrat
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Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., a 30-year incumbent, lost to a Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)-backed challenger in a high-profile primary on Tuesday evening.
Melat Kiros, a 29-year-old socialist, defeated DeGette in a Democratic primary for a deep-blue House seat anchored in Denver, according to The Associated Press, scoring a major victory for the socialist left on Tuesday evening.
The DSA had been aiming to cast DeGette’s loss as evidence of its growing momentum after a slate of socialist candidates won Democratic primaries in New York City last week.
“Today, the East Coast, next week the Mountain West,” the DSA wrote in a social media post last week.
Rep. Diana DeGette speaks during a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 10, 2024. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
SOCIALISTS CHEER ‘SHOCKWAVE’ PRIMARY NIGHT AS DSA-BACKED CANDIDATES WIN, ADVANCE ACROSS THE MAP
If elected in November, Kiros, who was born in Ethiopia, will likely join the ranks of the far-left group known as the Squad and become one of a handful of the House chamber’s outspoken socialists.
The millennial challenger was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and the anti-incumbent leftist organization Justice Democrats. Controversial socialist streamer Hasan Piker, who has said Hamas is “a thousand times better” than Israel and praised the Chinese Communist Party, also backed Kiros’ insurgent primary run.
DeGette, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who supports abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), sought to win a 16th House term by flexing her leftist bona fides. She argued her seniority on an influential House committee would allow her to push for Medicare-for-All legislation — a longtime priority of the party’s far-left flank.
DeGette, who was endorsed by former CPC Chairwoman Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., also spotlighted her experience as an impeachment manager during Trump’s second impeachment trial in 2021.
Though DeGette and Kiros shared few policy disagreements, they diverged sharply over Israel and antisemitism. Kiros also sharply criticized DeGette for accepting corporate PAC contributions.
Kiros, a PhD student and lawyer, was fired from a New York firm in 2023 after publishing an open letter, arguing that pro-Palestinian student protesters calling for the elimination of Israel were not antisemitic and appearing to defend Hamas.
Melat Kiros participated in a League of Women Voters Congressional District 1 candidate forum at Montview Presbyterian Church in Denver on May 28, 2026. (RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post)
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She has also described the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks against the Jewish state as the “inevitable consequence of apartheid” and declined to characterize the deadly firebombing of protesters in Boulder last year who were urging the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza as antisemitic.
“I don’t know what was in the heart of the perpetrator,” Kiros told Colorado’s 9News in a recent television interview. “All I know is that he went and attacked innocent people because of what they might have believed.”
A June 2025 bipartisan resolution condemning the attack as part of a “rise in ideologically motivated attacks on Jewish individuals” won every present lawmaker’s support, except for Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who voted present.
Kiros has also suggested the United States deserved 9/11.
“Inevitable in the sense that we destabilized a lot of the Middle East that forced people to believe that another act of violence was the only response,” Kiros told 9News when asked if she thought the terror attack was “the inevitable consequence of American foreign policy.”
“And again, just like I said before, our responsibility is to get rid of those conditions that lead to violence in the first place,” Kiros continued.
DeGette argued that Kiros’ embrace of Piker and her comments about antisemitism and 9/11 were disqualifying.
“I’m shocked and disgusted that Kiros is doubling down on excusing terrorism and the murder of innocent people,” the 30-year incumbent wrote on Facebook earlier this month.
Streamer and creator Hasan Piker speaks at a press conference during day two of Web Summit Vancouver at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, Canada, on May 13, 2026. (Sam Barnes/Web Summit via Sportsfile via Getty Images)
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Colorado’s 1st Congressional District is the most liberal seat in the state and voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris by 56 points in 2024.
The primary fight was further scrambled by University of Colorado Regent Wanda James, also running for DeGette’s seat. Though James did not pose the same threat as Kiros, her vote share could ultimately have swayed the contest.
Politics
Newsom signs off on 100% California tax for money from Trump’s $1.8-billion ‘slush fund’
Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed off on a 100% state tax on money any Californians receive from Trump’s $1.8-billion “anti-weaponization” fund for his political allies.
Newsom unveiled his proposal in May, after Trump’s Justice Department said it would create a fund to compensate Trump’s allies who claim they have “suffered weaponization and lawfare” under Biden’s Justice Department.
The settlement fund was criticized by politicians on both sides of the aisle, including Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who described it as a “slush fund to pay people who assault cops.”
The fund remains in legal limbo. Earlier this month, a federal judge in Virginia extended a court-ordered block on the plan, which critics warned could be used to pay pardoned Jan. 6 rioters.
Fast-tracked into law as part of Senate Bill 122, Newsom’s plan imposes “a tax on any settlement fund payment from the federal Anti-Weaponization Fund, or any subsequent fund, settlement, or agreement, as provided, at a rate of 100%,” according to the bill text. The tax applies to all tax years between 2026 and 2030.
Newsom signed the bill Tuesday. In a statement, his office said the tax is meant to ensure that, should Trump’s fund proceed, California recipients won’t “receive favorable state treatment on those payments.”
“We believe democracy is worth defending, the rule of law matters, and public dollars should support victims—not those who attacked the very institutions that protect our freedoms,” Newsom said in the statement.
University of Southern California law professor Ariel Jurow Kleiman, an expert on tax law and policy, said that while Newsom’s tax is a “novel legal strategy,” she believes there is “no categorical legal restriction” preventing California from implementing it.
States have a “wide degree of discretion” to design their tax systems — including how they define income — so long as they do not violate their constitutions, Jurow Kleiman said.
If a California resident wanted to challenge the tax in court, they would need to show they were harmed by it to have standing to sue, according to Jurow Kleiman. That would mean receiving a payment from Trump’s settlement fund and then paying the 100% California tax. Unless the settlement fund is established and distributes payments, that scenario is unlikely.
While there have been proposals to levy a 100% tax on income above certain thresholds — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in 2023 said he supports a 100% tax on income exceeding $1 billion — Jurow Kleiman said she is not aware of any governments that have adopted such a policy.
Politics
Congress eyes rare bipartisan housing win with or without Trump’s help
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The House has officially shipped a colossal bipartisan housing package to President Donald Trump, and lawmakers are hoping that, at the very least, he doesn’t veto it.
Trump was supposed to sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act last week, but his last-minute decision to ghost the signing ceremony with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., put into question whether the bill was dead.
His refusal to sign the bill, which passed with overwhelmingly bipartisan support in both chambers, was to leverage the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, which doesn’t currently have the votes to succeed in the Senate.
WARREN TELLS TRUMP TO ‘SIGN THE DAMN BILL’ AS BIPARTISAN HOUSING PACKAGE REMAINS STALLED IN WASHINGTON
Trump has refused to sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. (Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Trump appears to be in no hurry to sign the bill, despite Republicans who are hungry for a win in the affordability fight ahead of the midterm elections.
“It’s so unimportant … compared to the SAVE America Act,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. “I think the SAVE America Act is exactly what it says. It’s saving America from crooked elections.”
“Here’s what I would like to sign, much more than a bill that — big deal, it’s a yawn,” he continued. “Some people say it’s wonderful. To me, compared to the SAVE America Act, just about everything is a big yawn.”
GOP INFIGHTING OVER TRUMP’S VOTER ID BILL ERUPTS AS TOP SENATOR CALLS STRATEGY ‘FANTASY’
It’s legislation that is loaded with nearly 60 provisions from both sides of the aisle in both chambers that’s designed to make it easier for homes to be built and for younger Americans to buy their first home. It also includes a ban on hedge funds buying up housing stock that Trump pushed Congress to include during the State of the Union earlier this year.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., one of the architects behind the bill in the upper chamber alongside Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., charged that Congress handed the bill to Trump “on a silver platter.”
“When you ask me what happens next, if he cared about the American people, he’d have already signed the damned thing, and we’d be underway,” Warren said on WCVB’s “On the Record” on Sunday.
But Trump doesn’t have to put his signature on the bill for it to become law.
IRATE REPUBLICANS ACCUSE TRUMP OF HANDING DEMOCRATS A WIN AFTER BLOWING UP HOUSING PACKAGE
The Senate advanced a massive, Trump-backed housing package geared toward lowering the costs of homes and supercharging the housing supply. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., pitched it as legislation to prevent America from becoming a “nation of renters.” (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Protect Borrowers; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The Constitution grants presidents the ability to veto a bill within 10 days of it being transferred over to the White House. In that scenario, Congress could override a veto of the housing package.
It’s happened before under the Trump administration. In early 2021, Congress overrode Trump’s veto of the annual National Defense Authorization Act — a massive Pentagon funding authorization package that some House Republicans are trying to use as a vehicle to pass the SAVE America Act.
But during that 10-day period, if Trump doesn’t sign the bill, it would automatically become law. That’s unless Congress completely adjourns, in which case a “pocket veto” could happen. The Senate is currently in recess and the House is scheduled to leave town by week’s end, but neither count as a full adjournment.
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Johnson, who spent the last few days meeting with Trump at the White House about the housing bill and the SAVE America Act, said: “I hope he does sign it.”
“If he doesn’t, it’s still law,” Johnson said. “We’ll still celebrate it, but he’s trying to make a point, and I think he’s making it very effectively. And the fact that you all ask me every three steps down the hallway illustrates that he has achieved the desired objective, and that is to make SAVE America the number one thing, because if we don’t get that right, everybody’s concerned about what happens next.”
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