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Ken Buck denies he's leaving Congress early to hurt Lauren Boebert's re-election chances: 'It's ridiculous'
Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., on Thursday rejected claims that his decision to resign from Congress early is intended to hurt Representative Lauren Boebert’s chances of winning in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District.
Buck announced earlier this year that his current term would be his last in the House of Representatives. But on Tuesday, he stunned his GOP colleagues by announcing his resignation will be effective on March 22, which will trigger a special election for his seat in the 4th District on June 25 to temporarily fill the vacancy.
Boebert, a Republican, slammed the move as “a gift to the uniparty” and claimed establishment Republicans were attempting to “rig” an election “I’m winning by 25 points.”
Buck responded to those claims in an interview with the Colorado Sun on Friday. “It’s ridiculous,” he said, telling the paper he is not “giving anybody an advantage or disadvantage” in the race for his seat.
LAUREN BOEBERT WON’T ‘FURTHER IMPERIL’ SLIM GOP MAJORITY BY RUNNING IN SPECIAL ELECTION FOR KEN BUCK’S SEAT
Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., announced he will leave Congress on March 22, 2024. (Getty Images)
“I have done my very best to stay out of this primary election,” Buck said.
Buck explained that his decision to leave Congress early was based on his growing frustration with gridlock in Congress and desire to campaign for election reforms to improve the quality of candidates who win office, according to the Colorado Sun.
“I want to be a voice for change in our system,” Buck told the outlet.
He also said the timing of his decision was intended to have the special election coincide with Colorado’s June 25 primary, which will save taxpayer dollars.
GOP COLORADO REP KEN BUCK TO RESIGN FROM CONGRESS BY END OF NEXT WEEK
Instead of seeking re-election to Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, Rep. Lauren Boebert announced in December that she would be running for the House seat that’s being vacated by Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., in the state’s 4th District. In a social media video addressing the switch, Boebert insisted that she would be “moving to the fourth” in 2024. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“I thought that was really important,” Buck said.
Boebert said Wednesday she will not compete in the special election to fill Buck’s vacancy, as doing so would require her to vacate her own seat.
LAUREN BOEBERT SWITCHES DISTRICTS, ANNOUNCING RUN FOR COLORADO SEAT BEING VACATED BY KEN BUCK
Boebert slammed Buck’s decision to leave Congress early as a “gift to the uniparty” and claimed establishment Republicans were attempting to rig the election against her. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
“Forcing an unnecessary Special Election on the same day as the Primary Election will confuse voters, result in a lameduck Congressman on day one, and leave the 4th District with no representation for more than three months. The 4th District deserves better,” Boebert said in a post on X.
“I will not further imperil the already very slim House Republican majority by resigning my current seat and will continue to deliver on my constituents’ priorities while also working hard to earn the votes of the people of Colorado’s 4th District who have made clear they are hungry for a real conservative,” she added.
Boebert currently represents Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District. But earlier this year, she announced her decision to run for re-election in Colorado’s 4th, where more Republicans live.
The move is widely seen as a strategic choice after Democrat Adam Frisch came just 546 votes shy of defeating Boebert in the 2022 midterm election.
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Two years after October 7th attacks, Gaza war reshapes global politics
Two years after Hamas attacked Israel, Gaza lies in ruins and global alliances have shifted. Correction: A previous version of this video incorrectly identified the conflict. The conflict is between Israel and Hamas.
A man was arrested in Utah after allegedly stabbing a Muslim employee at a mall multiple times and telling investigators he targeted the victim because of his religion, according to court records.
Peter Michael Larsen, 48, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder and prohibited dangerous weapon conduct following the attack on July 13 at the Valley Fair Mall in West Valley City, Utah, court and online jail records show. West Valley City is a suburb of Salt Lake City.
The West Valley City Police Department said the incident occurred shortly before 3 p.m. local time, when Larsen approached a man working at a kiosk at the mall.
“After a brief interaction, the suspect pulled out a knife and began stabbing him multiple times,” police said in a statement on X. “A few bystanders interfered, and were able to separate the suspect from the victim and subdue the suspect until police arrived.”
The victim, who was not identified by authorities, sustained multiple stab wounds and was taken to a hospital in critical condition, according to police and court records.
Larsen told investigators that he had “targeted the victim with intent to kill him because of his religion (Muslim),” police said in an affidavit obtained by USA TODAY. The affidavit also states Larsen said he believes he is “a catalyst” and “intends to kill Muslims.”
The incident remains under investigation, and police said they were looking into any possible relationship between the suspect and victim. USA TODAY reached out to the West Valley City Police Department for comment.
Police: Suspect poses a ‘substantial danger to the public’
The suspect approached the Muslim man, asked for his name, asked about his religion, and indicated he wanted a bottle of water, The Salt Lake Tribune reported, citing comments from Imam Shuaib Din, who leads the Utah Islamic Center and had been in contact with the victim’s family.
As the victim turned to get the water, the attacker began stabbing him, Din told the newspaper. Police said in the affidavit that they received multiple 911 calls at around 2:30 p.m. local time reporting two men “involved in a physical altercation where one male was stabbing the other.”
When officers arrived at the scene, they observed bystanders pinning the suspect to the ground and “had already removed the knife from his hand,” according to the affidavit. Police said the victim was “bleeding profusely” and was then transported to the hospital.
The victim was identified by friends as Syed Sohail Uddin, local television station FOX 13 and The New York Times reported. A GoFundMe fundraiser organized on his behalf said he was stabbed 15 times and required multiple surgeries.
Larsen was also transported to the hospital “due to being punched in the head from bystanders trying to get the knife out of his hand,” according to the affidavit. He was later medically cleared and taken to the police station for an interview.
Police said in the affidavit that Larsen posed “a substantial danger to the public if released based on his violent actions today, ideologies and pre-planned mass casualty events.”
Advocates condemn stabbing attack at Utah mall
Muslim advocacy groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), condemned the attack.
“This horrific attack is yet another reminder that anti-Muslim rhetoric has real-world consequences. When Muslims are routinely demonized, portrayed as threats, or treated as less deserving of equal rights and dignity, some twisted individuals inevitably act on that hatred,” CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement on July 14.
Civil rights advocates have noted a rise in Islamophobia in the United States over the last two-plus decades following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and more recently because of immigration policies and the fallout of the Israel-Hamas war, according to Reuters.
CAIR, which is the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, reported last year that it received a record number of complaints of discrimination and Islamophobic attacks amid the war.
The organization received more than 8,650 complaints in 2024, the highest number since CAIR began publishing its annual civil rights report in 1996, according to the report released in March 2025. Complaints rose more than 7%, breaking the previous record set in 2023.
The Utah attack follows several high-profile incidents targeting Muslims in recent years, including the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy in Illinois in 2023 and a deadly shooting at a San Diego mosque earlier this year.
Contributing: N’dea Yancey-Bragg, USA TODAY; Reuters
SEATTLE – President Donald Trump fired a newly appointed federal prosecutor in Seattle less than an hour after he was named to the position.
What we know:
Former King County judge Roger Rogoff was assigned to take over as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington on Wednesday. The seat has remained empty since Charles Neil Floyd was appointed as First Assistant U.S. Attorney back in February, though he kept running the office as western Washington’s U.S. District Attorney.
Rogoff was named to the position by Chief U.S. District Judge David G. Estudillo, but soon after the judicial order was posted, the White House blocked the move and fired Rogoff.
The backstory:
The Trump administration made similar moves in the firings of two other U.S. attorneys — Donal Kinsella of New York and Desiree Grace of New Jersey — the same day they were sworn in. Both were set to replace Trump-appointed interim judges, but were fired shortly after getting the job.
Local perspective:
Western Washington is not a typical case though, as the district hasn’t had a permanent U.S. Attorney since now-Attorney General Nick Brown left the position in 2023. Since then, there’s been several interim U.S. attorneys, which only allows them to serve for a limited time.
Rogoff was set to serve as acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington until President Trump selected a replacement. Instead, the position remains unfilled.
What they’re saying:
Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote the following in response to Rogoff’s firing:
“District court judges can appoint a temporary U.S. Attorney, and POTUS can fire them. WDWA judges abandoned the time-honored process of consultation with the administration so that the selected U.S. Attorney is qualified to serve in the administration. Roger Rogoff has been fired by the President.”
However, Senator Patty Murray criticized the decision, saying Rogoff was qualified for the position and appointed legally. She issued the following statement:
“Roger Rogoff’s is eminently qualified—throughout his career, he has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to public service, and he was appointed legally by the federal judges in the Western District of Washington. He should have never been fired, but the President wants to appoint an out-of-touch extremist who will put Trump over the rule of law. This administration doesn’t want to deal with advice and consent—they just want to install cronies to carry out a corrupt political agenda. The people of Washington state deserve someone in this role who will enforce the law fairly and responsibly—not some Trump administration sock puppet. The President needs to understand that DOJ works for the American people—it’s not his personal law firm to enforce his mob-style politics.”
What’s next:
A federal lawsuit could be in order challenging Rogoff’s dismissal, however no immediate announcements were made by state leaders.
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The Source: Information in this story came from order filed in U.S. District Court in the Western District of Washington, statements from acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche and Senator Patty Murray, and FOX 13 Seattle reporting.
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