Arizona
Report from the Frontline—Arizona Workers Under Attack
As acting Secretary of Labor under President Biden, I traveled to Phoenix several times to ensure that federal funds spent in the region were benefiting all communities; to meet with my team, U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) staff who enforced essential protections for workers; and to partner with local elected officials and organizations to ensure the jobs being created were good jobs that brought not only decent wages and working conditions but real security and dignity. During these trips, I frequently sat down with workers to hear their concerns, to tell them what DOL was doing to address them, and to learn what more we could and should be doing. For example, I heard from workers who were affected by the record high temperatures in Arizona and told them that we were proposing the first nationwide standard to protect workers from the hazards of heat. The day of that discussion, the temperature approached 110 degrees, and it was not unique. Last year was the hottest summer on record and in Phoenix, there was a record 113 consecutive days with temperatures at or above 100 degrees. For workers, heat is not just uncomfortable or inconvenient; it can be deadly. The standard we proposed would save lives, but it requires the Trump administration to see it through.
Though my role as head of the Department of Labor has ended, my concern for workers has not. In May, I returned to Phoenix for a listening session with workers, to hear directly about the ongoing struggles of working people in the face of relentless attacks by the Trump administration. This was the latest stop in my continuing campaign for good jobs and worker rights, powered by The Century Foundation.
Workers Today Feel Attacked, Not Supported
For the listening session, we gathered at the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) Local 86, a place the union regularly opens up for community events.
What I heard was heartbreaking. While each person had a unique story to tell, the pervasive fear, anxiety, and sense of being under attack were not things I’d heard during my prior trips to Arizona. Immigrants feel vulnerable, as if the ground can be pulled out from under them at any moment. Indeed, immigrants being rounded up on the way to work or while at work has sent a message to the immigrant workers in attendance at the union hall that they could be next. A worker with Temporary Protected Status expressed his deep concern that the anti-immigrant administration currently in power will deport him on a whim.
One man wore a t-shirt that said, “Protect VA Healthcare.” As he talked about the importance of access to health services for veterans that are now on the chopping block, he adjusted his Army Vet cap. To him, this administration’s hostility to veterans is a breach of a promise that had been made to those who’ve served. As the evening unfolded, federal employees echoed this sentiment. “We served our country in uniform, then when we returned home, we traded our uniform in to serve in the federal government, and now we are being disrespected and pushed out,” said one federal worker who was in the room. The federal government is the largest employer of veterans in the country—roughly 30 percent of federal employees are veterans—and this administration’s reign of terror over its own federal staff has had a disproportionate impact on veterans.
I also heard about a program dedicated to giving women who had survived domestic violence and poverty a fresh start—a chance to gain new skills, receive counseling and other support, and experience independence and the pride that comes with a good job. Funding for that program has been cut by Trump’s Department of Labor. It was devastating.
A woman rose to share that she’d survived sexual harassment and abuse at the hands of her former employer. Another had been denied overtime pay. Both described the value of having federal government agencies with whom to lodge a complaint—and compassionate, knowledgeable public servants in those agencies who took seriously their responsibility to enforce the laws. What I witnessed was a sense of community: the trust built between those in government and those who rely on them, and the pain and outrage caused by the Trump administration’s indiscriminate cuts. The public servants who chose government careers in Phoenix are not, as the Trump administration believes, enemies of the people; to the contrary, they are neighbors, friends, coaches, community volunteers, and trusted fellow citizens.
Workers Deserve a Partner in Government, Not an Adversary
Throughout the night, I heard about suffering, but I also heard hope and strength. Immigrant workers talked about the power of speaking up and how critical it is to have U.S. Department of Labor investigators who live in the community, conduct outreach and education, and work in local offices. They shared how much it meant when, under the Biden administration, we helped make sure that when workers speak up about abuse, their immigration status wouldn’t be weaponized against them. A farmworker who was there with his coworkers spoke about the power of unity. Workers from researchers to hotel housekeepers came that night to be heard. And federal employees who worked to combat discrimination and wage theft said they would keep speaking out despite threats from the Trump administration of criminal prosecution for exercising their First Amendment rights.
A UNITE HERE shop steward shared how, before he got a union job, he had to pay for his root canal out of pocket; now that he has a union job, he has health insurance, and that makes all the difference. He loves his leadership role in the union because it allows him to take care of his fellow workers.
With everything that’s happening, it can feel like we are powerless to make things better. The workers I met, though, refuse to give up their power. They came to speak, many after a long day at work already, about the harm Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the Trump administration are inflicting. They came to testify about what working people really deserve, and about why we have to have each other’s backs. Some of the workers had never stood up in front of a room full of strangers to tell their story. Now that they have, I believe that they are not going to stop. They are part of the growing voices—many of whom never expected to speak at listening sessions, town halls, rallies or press conferences—who are speaking now, documenting the cruelty and lawlessness of an administration that has declared open season on immigrants, women, veterans, working people, people with disabilities, and federal civil servants.
Looking Ahead
Listening sessions like this one are essential in this moment, so that workers can voice their concerns, particularly in the face of an uncaring or even hostile federal government. This session would not have happened without the efforts of Fred Yamashita, who moderated the listening session, and the Arizona AFL-CIO, who moderated the listening session, and Andrea Moreno and the team at Honest Arizona. Fred and I were joined by Omar Algeciras, a U.S. Department of Labor wage and hour investigator who I had the honor of working with as acting secretary, Phoenix City Councilwoman Betty Guardado, and Steve Valencia of Arizona Jobs with Justice. All of them have built their careers around supporting workers and making sure they are heard.
One of the things I loved best about serving in the cabinet of the Biden administration was the ability to bring people together and to include the voices of those who are too seldom heard. Today, when those individuals are being vilified, fired, silenced, undermined, and attacked by the very government that is supposed to be there to protect them, their willingness to speak out is an incredible act of bravery and resistance.
Our work remains unfinished. Workers still need protections from heat. Too many jobs still don’t provide a just day’s pay and real security, which means working people are still working too hard and barely getting by. To the workers and families who came and spoke, your stories and solidarity matter more than you know.
The Arizona man known as the “QAnon Shaman” said Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s new Anti-Weaponization Fund is an abuse of power by a would-be “king.”
Jacob Angeli-Chansley – the face of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot with his red, white and blue face paint and horned fur headdress – denounced the $1.776 billion program as a “slush fund” for Trump to reward his loyalists.
The Justice Department announced the fund on Monday as part of a settlement with Trump, who had sued the IRS for $10 billion over the leak of his tax returns. The settlement included an assurance that the IRS will drop all audits and claims for back taxes against Trump, his family and businesses.
“You think I’m gonna take a f—ing dime from Trump and the government after he’s using this thing to cover him and his family in perpetuity for all of their crimes?” he told Cronkite News by phone. “You think I’m gonna take a dime of that blood money?”
Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people who participated in the Jan. 6 riot the day he returned to the White House in January 2025. Many had been convicted of assaulting police officers.
Cronkite News reached out to 17 of those defendants with Arizona ties. None besides Angeli-Chansley responded.
Thirteen were convicted or pleaded guilty to crimes related to the attack. Four of the cases were dismissed after the pardon. The charges included assault on federal agents, physical violence at the Capitol and seditious conspiracy.
See our previous coverage of the Anti-Weaponization Fund and “QAnon Shaman” in the video player above.
Angeli-Chansley pleaded guilty to a charge of obstruction of an official proceeding. He served 27 months of a 41-month sentence. He was released from federal prison in March 2023.
During the riot, he carried an American flag fastened to a spear and used a bullhorn to call other rioters to the dais in the Senate chamber.
“He stated that ‘Mike Pence is a f—-ing traitor’ and wrote a note on available paper on the dais, stating, ‘It’s Only A Matter of Time. Justice Is Coming,’” according to prosecutors.
At a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing Tuesday, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the compensation fund, saying it will be open to anyone victimized by a politically motivated prosecution, not just Jan. 6 defendants.
“It’s not limited to Republicans. … It’s not limited to the Biden weaponization. It’s not limited to, in any way scope or form, January 6 or to (targets of special counsel) Jack Smith. There’s no limitation on the claims,” Blanche said.
He rejected Democrats’ assertions that the fund is a massive, taxpayer-funded attempt by Trump to whitewash the assault on democracy.
“I think it’s telling that everybody on the left and … the liberal side of the media immediately says it’s a slush fund for President Trump’s friends,” Blanche said. “If anything else, that’s an outright admission that they know that the people that really had this Department of Justice weaponized against them were President Trump and his friends. But … that is not what the AG order that I signed yesterday says.”
Blanche, who served as Trump’s private attorney in several cases – prosecutions over election interference and classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago and allegations of hush money paid to an adult actress ahead of the 2016 election – faced strong criticism from Senate Democrats.
“You are acting today like the president’s personal attorney and that’s the whole problem,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who also noted that a huge banner with Trump’s portrait was draped over the front of the Department of Justice building in February.
At a homeland security committee meeting Tuesday, Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego called for legislation barring establishment of a fund of the sort proposed by the Trump administration.
He called it outrageous to provide compensation to “traitors who attacked the Capitol.”
“No president, Republican or Democrat, should be able to use the federal treasury as a personal checkbook,” he said.
Angeli-Chansley now refers to himself as the “American Shaman.” He was heavily involved in the QAnon movement, which centered on a conspiracy theory that Trump was fighting a cabal of Satan worshippers who engage in child sex trafficking.
He was a strong MAGA supporter when the pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, interrupting congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
Angeli-Chansley has since become disenchanted with Trump. He has also repudiated the QAnon movement.
In a rambling phone conversation with Cronkite News, he repeatedly cited Trump’s connections to Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy financier and convicted sex offender who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting federal trial for trafficking young women and girls for sex.
He reiterated his anger with Trump for resisting the release of the Epstein files.
And he criticized Trump for attacking Iran and supporting Israel, among other things.
Angeli-Chansley sued Trump for $40 trillion in September 2025, asserting he is the true leader of the free world and vowing to use the sum to wipe out the national debt. The lawsuit was dismissed. He later filed a lawsuit against the CIA, FBI, World Bank and others in Maricopa County.
He urged fellow Jan. 6ers to “reject that … money.”
If courts allow the fund to operate, Angeli-Chansley said, it would mean that Trump “can do whatever it is that he wants.”
Teacher unions call for board member’s resignation after ‘Nazi salute’
Teacher unions call for District Boardmember Kimberly Fisher’s resignation after she made a “Nazi salute” during a public meeting on May 26, 2026.
Provided by Deer Valley Unified School District
School teacher unions are calling for the resignation of a Deer Valley Unified School District board member after she made a “Nazi salute” and said “heil’ at the end of a public meeting on May 26.
Boardmember Kimberly Fisher stretched out her arm, making the salute motion and repeating the word “heil” twice after the board president called for a vote to adjourn the meeting.
Fisher defended her actions in a Facebook video after the meeting, stating she made the gesture because she felt that the board had been under a “dictatorship” led by Board President Paul Carver and the district’s superintendent.
“All I could think of tonight was Hitler, so that’s why I said heil or whatever,” Fisher said in an eight-minute-long video.
Prior to the motion, Fisher and the board members were speaking on scheduling future meetings to discuss changes to district boundaries. Superintendent Curtis Finch stated they could not discuss the topic because it was on the meeting’s agenda. Then Carver quickly called for a vote to end the meeting, which prompted Fisher to make the salute.
The board members did not immediately react or acknowledge Fisher’s salute at the May 26 meeting.
This was not the first time Fisher has recently come under scrutiny. In October, she was slammed with a violation of Open Meeting Law by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, The Daily Independent reported.
Fisher could not be immediately reached for comment.
How the community is reacting to Fisher’s Nazi salute
The local chapter of the Anti-Defamation League, an organization focused on advocating against antisemitism and hate, denounced Fisher’s use of the salute.
“We unequivocally condemn this behavior that glorifies Nazis and Hitler. Regardless of intent, these actions instill fear in the community and are unbecoming of officials entrusted with educating children,” said Sarah Kader, the deputy regional director of ADL Desert, in a social media post.
The Arizona Education Association and the Deer Valley Education Association are calling for Fisher’s resignation.
“Kimberly Fisher should apologize to the DVUSD community and step down,” the state union group wrote on X.
The local teacher union wrote in a Facebook statement that they were “horrified and disgusted” to see Fisher’s actions.
“Any leader who uses a Nazi salute during a School Board meeting is unfit for public service. There is no justification for this behavior,” the union wrote.
Boardmember Stephanie Simacek, in a statement, said “this is what antisemitism looks like when people get comfortable” and called for an “immediate censure.”
“I am calling for accountability. And I am calling on every parent, educator, and elected official Republican or Democrat — to stand up and say clearly: THIS HAS NO PLACE HERE,” she wrote in the statement.
Simacek is also a house member in the Arizona State Legislature and is running for a state senate seat.
She wrote, “What happened in that room was not a joke.”
The school district “does not condone, support, or endorse gestures or language associated with hate, discrimination, intimidation, or violence in any form,” said Kayla Pologa, a spokesperson for Deer Valley, in a written statement.
“As an elected official, Mrs. Fisher speaks and acts independently,” Pologa wrote.
She said Fisher’s views don’t reflect nor should be attributed to other board members or members of the school district.
Who is Kimberly Fisher?
Fisher has been a Deer Valley School District parent for 24 years, according to her biography on the district’s website. She had two children graduate from the district and her third is being homeschooled in his final year, her biography states.
She had previously served on the board from 2015 to 2018.
In 2017, Fisher was the school board president and was criticized for a social media exchange with a teacher.
She was reelected in 2020. Fisher’s current term ends in 2028.
Former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, the Republican candidate for Congressional District 5, is facing new criticism following a recent report published by The Arizona Republic.
What we know:
The article cites unidentified sources who allege Lamb engaged in racist and homophobic text exchanges and sent inappropriate and threatening messages to women.
There are a few things working in Lamb’s favor, which are his name recognition combined with an endorsement from President Donald Trump.
Big picture view:
Analysts said it ultimately comes down to what voters decide at the ballot box.
“People have weathered worse,” Stan Barnes said.
Barnes is a political consultant and former Republican state senator. He points to other figures, like former President Bill Clinton and current President Trump, who both faced high-profile misconduct allegations.
“The American people said, all right, but we still want to vote for him, and Mark Lamb could be in the same situation,” Barnes said.
What they’re saying:
Lamb has largely kept quiet on the issue, a strategy Barnes said can work for candidates.
“He might decide, you know what? It’s salacious, it’s unprovable,” Barnes said. “A lot of people won’t believe it, people aren’t paying attention, and name ID and Trump endorsement’s going to carry me through.”
Inquiries were made to Lamb’s campaign. They responded with a statement, saying in part: “The Arizona Republic admitted that their article was based on a 10-year-old text from a person that couldn’t be located, or might not be a real person. Not exactly what one would call quality, independent journalism.”
However, the allegations could present challenges for his path to Congress.
The other side:
“The problem for Mr. Lamb and his candidacy is that his opponent will attempt to remind voters,” Barnes said.
Lamb’s Republican opponent, Daniel Keenan, spoke out against the former sheriff following the report.
“This story only adds to a pattern of disqualifying, disgraceful, and embarrassing behavior unbecoming of a congressman,” Keenan said in part.
Dig deeper:
Noble, a political data researcher, said the accusations could hurt Lamb with moderate voters.
“There’s really no strong candidates running in that primary because he’s cleared the field,” Mike Noble said. “It’s going to hurt him with women, it’s going to hurt him with independents, self-identified moderates, those that have a high school or less education.”
In a heavily Republican district, Noble said if the accusations gain traction, it could help the opposing party.
“It could potentially be fatal for him in the general election and actually give Democrats an opening in the general election, which normally they wouldn’t,” Noble said.
What’s next:
On the Democratic side, there are four people running in the primary for Congressional District 5. The primary election is scheduled for July 21.
The Source: This information was gathered from the article from The Arizona Republic, a political consultant and Lamb’s campaign.
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