Southwest
MIKE DAVIS: Driving a stake through 2020 election lawfare
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
The 2020 election ended six years ago. Yet, two power-hungry Democrat attorneys general up for re-election next year, Kris Mayes of Arizona and Josh Kaul of Wisconsin, persist in their lawfare against Trump supporters who lawfully challenged the election. These disgraceful cases must end immediately.
President Trump and many supporters found numerous discrepancies with the 2020 election. They challenged the results in several closely-contested states. The First Amendment and the Electoral Count Act of 1887 permitted such challenges — just like Democrats challenged Republican presidential wins in 1968, 2000, 2004 and 2016. Leftists maliciously alleged that the challengers submitted “fake electors” as part of the effort to overturn certified results in these states.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul weigh next steps in their 2020 fake elector prosecutions. (Mario Tama/Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for Democratic Party of Wisconsin)
This is utter nonsense. No one was duped by the intent of these alternate electors. Rudy Giuliani didn’t have the “real” electors tied up in his trunk while sending in the “fake” electors.
The slates of electors submitted were alternate electors in the event that, on Jan. 6, 2021, Congress sustained objections to the certification of electors in the contested states.
SOCIAL MEDIA ERUPTS AS RESURFACED AG JAMES POSTS COME BACK TO HAUNT HER: ‘NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW’
In 2022, Democrat Mayes defeated Republican Abraham Hamadeh by less than 300 votes to become attorney general of Arizona. She immediately started pursuing illegal lawfare against Trump supporters. Mark Brnovich, the previous attorney general, took no action against those who had disputed the 2020 election, because he recognized that they had committed no crimes. Mayes didn’t care and sought indictments against the eleven Arizona alternate electors and seven other defendants, including Mike Roman, President Trump’s campaign head of operations on election day.
Former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani speaks during a news conference outside the federal courthouse in Washington, Dec. 15, 2023. (Jose Luis Magana, File/The Associated Press)
A Maricopa County trial court correctly threw out the indictment and ordered Mayes to seek a new one. Mayes had not provided the grand jury with the full text of the Electoral Count Act, a complicated and arcane statute that has direct bearing on the case. If the statute permitted the defendants’ actions, the state cannot sustain its case. Federal election law preempts state law with respect to federal elections. The statute was so complex that Congress amended it a few years ago through the Electoral Count Reform Act.
Mayes scurried to the Arizona Court of Appeals. That court wisely declined to hear her appeal. Now, she has petitioned the Arizona Supreme Court for review. The justices should follow the sage lead of the appellate court and decline to hear Mayes’ appeal.
JONATHAN TURLEY: FANI WILLIS’ CASE AGAINST TRUMP COLLAPSES UNDER ITS OWN INSANITY
Mayes is the same prosecutor who threatened to investigate President Trump for a supposed death threat against former Rep. Liz Cheney — a Trump-deranged RINO — during a campaign rally in Phoenix. Trump, of course, made no such threat, and Mayes abandoned her stunt shortly after the president’s resounding victory last November.
Wisconsin also suffers from a partisan Democrat attorney general seeking re-election. In 2024, nearly four years after the conclusion of the 2020 election, Kaul, a radical leftist like Mayes, obtained indictments against three defendants, including Roman and two of Trump’s attorneys.
The facts were the same as in Arizona, except that Kaul did not charge the 10 Wisconsin alternate electors. The defendants are now facing a preliminary hearing in Dane County, a leftist bastion home to the state capital and the ultra-liberal University of Wisconsin-Madison, where they are hard-pressed to find a fair and impartial jury.
MIKE DAVIS: AFTER TRUMP CASE COLLAPSES, TIME FOR FANI WILLIS TO LAWYER UP
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 15. One defendant has sought to disqualify Judge John Hyland, alleging that a retired judge named Frank Remington wrote the opinion denying a defense motion to dismiss. The recusal motion included support from a Georgetown expert who concluded that, based on writing styles, Remington had written the opinion. Hyland denied the motion to recuse and asserted that he had written the opinion.
President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Washington, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and War Secretary Pete Hegseth. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo)
Regardless of how the preliminary hearing goes, the case should end. Kaul brought the charges, after the facts were known for four years, in the middle of the 2024 election, in which Wisconsin was a pivotal swing state. We cannot criminalize politics.
There was another prosecutorial embarrassment who brought charges against a slew of defendants over the 2020 election in Georgia: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Her case got derailed when it became public, thanks to Roman’s attorney Ashleigh Merchant, that Willis was having an affair with one of the special prosecutors she had hired, Nathan Wade, who received nearly $700,000 courtesy of the taxpayers of Fulton County. Wade spent much of it on Willis, treating her to lavish global trips. The lovers claimed Willis had reimbursed Wade, but there was no corroborating evidence. Georgia courts disqualified Willis, and a special prosecutor who replaced her dismissed the case earlier this month.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Lawfare Democrats failed to lock up, bankrupt, or defeat Trump electorally. They are trying to get one last pound of flesh from some of the president’s former aides and supporters. If Mayes and Kaul do not follow the Georgia special prosecutor’s stellar example and drop their sham cases, the courts in Arizona and Wisconsin should.
The Justice Department also should pursue charges against these affronts to the legal profession for conspiracy to violate the civil rights of these lawfare victims under 18 U.S.C. § 241. After all, as we heard so much during the lawfare campaign against President Trump, no one is above the law.
Read the full article from Here
Southwest
Body found during search for missing Texas teen Camila Mendoza Olmos as another teen girl disappears
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A body was found Tuesday evening as authorities in Bexar County, Texas, grapple with a series of disappearances involving teen girls who all went missing within a week.
The body was found during the search for 19-year-old Camila Olmos, though police said it is too early to determine whether the remains belong to her.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said during a news conference that investigators had “just recently found a body in a field” around 4:40 to 4:45 p.m., adding that the medical examiner will determine both the identity of the body and the cause and manner of death.
The body was found by a joint team of sheriff’s deputies and FBI agents in an area of tall grass near a landscaping business, a few hundred yards from Olmos’ home, according to Salazar.
MISSING CAMILA MENDOZ OLMOS: DASHCAM CAPTURES LAST SIGHTING OF TEXAS TEEN WHO VANISHED CHRISTMAS EVE
Camila Olmos was reported missing on Christmas Eve. (Bexar County Sheriff)
A firearm was recovered near the body, which authorities said had been an item of interest during the search.
Salazar said investigators do not currently suspect murder and noted there were indicators consistent with possible self-harm, though he stressed it is too early to draw conclusions while the scene is still being processed.
Olmos was last seen leaving her home in far northwest Bexar County around 7 a.m. on Dec. 24, authorities said. Her case came as two other girls were reported missing in the area. Fourteen-year-old Sofia Gabriela Peters-Cobos has since been found safe, while 17-year-old Angelique Johnson remains missing, according to police.
Law enforcement has said there is no confirmed connection between the cases.
MISSING CAMILA MENDOZ OLMOS: DASHCAM CAPTURES LAST SIGHTING OF TEXAS TEEN WHO VANISHED CHRISTMAS EVE
Angelique Johnson, from San Antonio, Texas, was reported missing. (Bexar County Sheriff’s Office)
Texas Department of Public Safety said the Clear Alert for Olmos has been discontinued, though authorities urged anyone with information related to the cases or the whereabouts of Angelique Johnson to contact the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office and the San Antonio Police Department did not respond immediately to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman and Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.
Read the full article from Here
Southwest
Former GOP Sen Jon Kyl announces dementia diagnosis, steps away from public life
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Former Republican Sen. Jon Kyl announced on Tuesday he is withdrawing from public life after being diagnosed with dementia.
Kyl, 83, became one of Arizona’s most prominent Republicans during a career that spanned nearly three decades across both chambers of Congress, including a stint as Senate minority whip.
“I was blessed to represent the people of Arizona in Congress and to have numerous other opportunities to contribute to the political and civic life of our nation and state,” Kyl said in a statement. “However, the time has come for me to withdraw from public life. I have been diagnosed with a neurological disease manifesting as dementia.”
Kyl represented Arizona’s 4th Congressional District in the House from 1987 to 1995 before serving in the U.S. Senate from 1995 to 2013.
DAVID MARCUS: BEN SASSE IS DYING, BUT HIS LETTER TO AMERICA WILL LIVE FOREVER
Former Arizona Republican Senator Jon Kyl announced on Tuesday he is withdrawing from public life after being diagnosed with dementia. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
After leaving the Senate, Kyl joined the lobbying firm Covington and Burling, before being appointed in 2018 by then-Gov. Doug Ducey to fill the vacancy caused by the death of former Sen. John McCain.
Kyl held the seat for several months in the Senate before rejoining the firm in 2019, where he helped guide the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
The longtime Arizona lawmaker described himself as “a very fortunate man” despite the diagnosis.
FORMER COLORADO SEN. BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL DEAD AT 92
Former Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, left, and Bruce Babbitt, right, former Arizona Republican governor and secretary of the Interior, wave to the crowd as they are recognized during Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s state of the state address Monday, Jan. 14, 2019, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
“My family and I now head down a path filled with moments of joy and increasing difficulties,” he stated. “I am grateful beyond expression for their love and support, in these coming days as in all the days of my life.”
Kyl moved to Arizona as an 18-year-old freshman to attend the University of Arizona, where he met his wife.
The university said Kyl devoted more than two decades to public service, leaving a lasting impact on water policy, national defense and intelligence.
“His leadership, integrity, and commitment to service reflect the highest ideals of public life,” the university said in a statement.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Former Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., announced he is withdrawing from public life after being diagnosed with dementia. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., said Kyl gave “decades of his life” serving Arizona, adding that he’s grateful for the former GOP senator’s “commitment to our state and country.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Read the full article from Here
Southwest
Girl begged for help months before alleged killing by father, girlfriend — earlier abuse case closed: report
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Newly released police records show that 10-year-old Rebekah Baptiste pleaded for help months before she was allegedly killed by her father and his girlfriend in Arizona, revealing an earlier abuse report that was closed despite documented injuries.
According to FOX 10 Phoenix, a Phoenix police report details a 911 call made from a local gas station in October 2024, roughly nine months before Rebekah was found unresponsive. The report states the child approached a gas station clerk and begged for help, prompting officers to respond.
Police wrote that Rebekah told officers her father’s girlfriend, Anicia Woods, had hit her with a brush and a belt as punishment and forced her to run laps and endure other physical discipline for “acting out,” the outlet reported. Officers documented visible injuries, and Rebekah was taken to Phoenix Children’s Hospital, where she was treated for a bloody lip and bruising on her hands and feet, according to the report.
Despite the child’s statements and her injuries, investigators closed the case after her father, Richard Baptiste, and Woods told police the injuries were self-inflicted, the outlet reported.
911 CALLS, POLICE REPORT DETAILS DARK TIMELINE TO ARIZONA GIRL’S TRAGIC DEATH
A father and girlfriend face murder charges after 10-year-old Rebekah Baptiste died from extensive injuries while living off-grid in rural Arizona. (GoFundMe)
Rebekah was later found unresponsive on July 27, 2025, near a remote campsite outside Concho, Arizona, where investigators say the family had been living off-grid in a yurt without electricity or running water after relocating from Phoenix earlier that month. The family slept on thin mattresses on the floor and hauled water in plastic jugs from a convenience store roughly 15 miles away, according to investigators.
A 36-page probable-cause affidavit from the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office detailed what detectives described as escalating abuse and repeated attempts by Rebekah to flee. Records show the girl had previously jumped out of a window while living in Phoenix and made multiple escape attempts after the move to Concho, including the day she was taken to the hospital.
Despite Rebekah’s visible physical decline, including being too weak to drink from a straw, Woods, who claimed to have a background in nursing, told investigators she believed the girl “would be fine” and did not seek immediate medical care.
MISSING MELODEE BUZZARD’S BODY FOUND, GIRL’S MOTHER TAKEN INTO CUSTODY: REPORT
An Arizona couple is facing murder charges after a young girl was found unresponsive on a highway and died days later. (Apache County Sheriff’s Office)
When first questioned, both Woods and Baptiste denied knowing what caused Rebekah’s condition, suggesting she may have fallen. Medical professionals later found extensive signs of abuse, including a brain hemorrhage, burn marks, missing toenails and hair, and numerous cuts and bruises, according to investigators.
Previously reviewed 911 calls from July 27 show Woods referring to Rebekah as her daughter and claiming she was providing rescue breaths, though dispatchers noted she had not begun chest compressions and hesitated to place the child on firm ground, citing nearby rocks. Emergency crews later arrived, but Rebekah did not survive her injuries and was pronounced dead days later at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
Investigators wrote that when Baptiste was shown what one detective described as “horrendous photos” of his daughter’s injuries, he “lacked in expressing any emotion.” The detective added it would have been impossible for a parent not to notice the extent of the child’s injuries.
CHARGE AGAINST MELODEE BUZZARD’S MOM DISMISSED, ANKLE MONITOR REMOVED AS FBI HUNTS FOR MISSING 9-YEAR-OLD
Authorities say Baptiste later admitted to striking Rebekah with a belt as punishment for running away, though he denied causing her head injuries. Detectives also reported finding bloody clothing inside the family’s tent that had been changed before emergency services were contacted.
Both Baptiste and Woods are now facing first-degree murder and multiple child abuse charges, including allegations involving Rebekah’s two younger siblings. Prosecutors have also alleged Rebekah suffered ongoing physical and sexual abuse.
Concerns about the children’s safety had been raised repeatedly before Rebekah’s death. School officials at Empower College Prep reportedly contacted Arizona’s Department of Child Safety (DCS) at least 12 times over two years, including after Rebekah’s unexplained absence from school, according to prior reporting.
MISSING ‘AT-RISK’ GIRL MELODEE BUZZARD’S MOM APPEARS IN COURT AFTER ALLEGED BOX-CUTTER STANDOFF
A memorial plaque for Rebekah Baptiste marks a planted tree in her memory at an outdoor garden, dated Dec. 20, 2014, to July 30, 2025. (Empower College Prep Elementary)
Rebekah was remembered by the school, where she attended for two years, in a tribute posted on its Facebook page the day after Christmas. School officials described her as intelligent, compassionate and a natural leader, noting she earned the Star Wolfpack award for exemplifying the school’s core values.
In her honor, the school planted a tree with pink flowers, surrounded by a rock garden made from stones created by staff and students, and displayed a decorative crane donated by a staff member. The school said the tributes allow students and staff to remember her life each day.
DCS has since launched a review into whether the agency failed to adequately protect the child. Gov. Katie Hobbs has also pledged to fully investigate the case amid growing public scrutiny.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
State Sen. Carine Werner has cited Rebekah’s case as part of a broader failure within Arizona’s child protection system, calling the deaths of three children with prior DCS contact a “wake-up call.”
Werner said a September stakeholder meeting, part of a multiphase review process, included testimony from families, tribal representatives and child welfare experts as lawmakers weigh possible reforms.
Fox News Digital reached out to DCS and Phoenix police.
Stepheny Price covers crime, including missing persons, homicides and migrant crime. Send story tips to stepheny.price@fox.com.
Read the full article from Here
-
Detroit, MI5 days ago2 hospitalized after shooting on Lodge Freeway in Detroit
-
Technology3 days agoPower bank feature creep is out of control
-
Dallas, TX4 days agoDefensive coordinator candidates who could improve Cowboys’ brutal secondary in 2026
-
Health5 days agoViral New Year reset routine is helping people adopt healthier habits
-
Nebraska2 days agoOregon State LB transfer Dexter Foster commits to Nebraska
-
Iowa2 days agoPat McAfee praises Audi Crooks, plays hype song for Iowa State star
-
Nebraska2 days agoNebraska-based pizza chain Godfather’s Pizza is set to open a new location in Queen Creek
-
Entertainment2 days agoSpotify digs in on podcasts with new Hollywood studios