Category: Politics
Eric Swalwell launches anti-Trump gubernatorial campaign amid criminal referral to DOJ
As more candidates throw their hats in the ring ahead of the 2026 midterms, yet another Democrat has joined the fray to succeed one of the most infamous governors in America.
Anti-Trump Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell announced on Thursday that he will be running for governor of California in 2026.
‘I love California. It’s the greatest country in the world.’
Swalwell, who spearheaded Trump’s second impeachment, made the announcement on a segment of “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” a show for which President Trump has repeatedly expressed his distaste.
Earlier this month, Trump’s director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Bill Pulte, sent a criminal referral for Swalwell to the Department of Justice, alleging that Swalwell may have committed mortgage fraud. Swalwell responded by claiming to be a victim of politically motivated prosecution.
“I refuse to live in fear in what was once the freest country in the world,” he said.
“I will not stop speaking out against the president and speaking up for Californians.”
RELATED: Eric Swalwell finally answers Chinese spy allegations: ‘I would hope that would be enough’
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images
Swalwell says California needs a “fighter and protector” on his X profile page.
“I’m ready to bring this fight home. So I came here tonight, Jimmy, to tell you and your audience that I’m running to be the next governor of California,” Swalwell announced to Kimmel.
During his remarks, Swalwell also referred to California as a “country.” “I love California,” he said. “It’s the greatest country in the world.”
Even Kimmel appeared confused, repeating, “Country?!” followed by a laugh.
Kimmel joked that Swalwell will have to “figure out the beard,” suggesting a full prospector look: “You’re either going to have to go more beard or less beard, because you’re in a beard nether region right now that we can’t have.”
Swalwell’s campaign video starts by saying the governor of California will have two jobs: “One, keep the worst president in our history out of our homes, out of our streets, and out of our lives.”
The second is to “bring us a new California,” a variation of one of his campaign slogans.
Swalwell joins an already crowded gubernatorial race. Other Democrats include Rep. Katie Porter, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, and state Superintendent Tony Thurmond.
Blaze News reached out to the White House for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
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Woman allegedly tossed coffee at mom and her infant over dog leash dispute — and is now facing deportation
A Florida woman who was apparently angry over a dog being walked without a leash reacted outlandishly and may be deported after police investigated the incident.
The altercation unfolded on Friday morning when Nina Jaaskelainen confronted a mother outside of a home on Quail Nest Lane in Volusia County according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office. Video of the altercation was posted to social media.
Jaaskelainen even mocked and ridiculed the mom as she recorded.
Kelly Brisell told WESH-TV that she was walking with her 11-month-old son, Owen, and her dog named Ponce.
“She started screaming at us,” Brisell recalled. “I ignored her. She kept saying it, and I said, ‘I don’t have a leash,’ and kept walking. Then she looked at Ponce, walked up, and threw her coffee on him.”
At one point, Jaaskelainen warned that her own dog had previously killed another dog.
She then tossed cold coffee on them, according to the police.
“It was all over my clothes and all over him,” Brisell added. “It was over his eyes, nose, and temple. Thank God the coffee wasn’t hot.”
Jaaskelainen even mocked and ridiculed the mom as she recorded.
“You just threw coffee on my child!” Brisell yelled on the video.
“Good!” Jaaskelainen replied.
The woman was charged with two counts of battery, but investigators eventually determined that she was also in the country illegally. Jaaskelainen, who had no prior criminal history, is being held on an ICE detainer and is facing deportation.
RELATED: Democrat fires staffer accused of posing as immigration attorney at ICE facility
The woman is originally from Finland.
“Had she not done that, we would have all went about our day. It could have been an exchange of words, and I would have left and probably never saw her again,” Brisell added. “The way she escalated it changed everything.”
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MR. GRIFT GOES TO WASHINGTON: Socialist Mamdani to Meet With Trump in the Oval Office This Week
Two ends of the political spectrum are set to collide.
Federal judge rules Trump’s troop surge to DC is illegal
A federal judge sided Thursday with the attorney general in Washington, D.C., who sued against the National Guard deployment ordered by President Donald Trump.
The president ordered a deployment of troops into D.C. to quell the violent crime rampant in the area, but many on the left have accused him of militarizing the streets in order to intimidate his political opponents.
‘This unprecedented federal overreach is not normal, or legal. It is long past time to let the National Guard go home — to their everyday lives, their regular jobs, their families, and their children.’
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb ruled that the president had exceeded his presidential authority but gave the administration 21 days to appeal the ruling.
Cobb said that Trump could not deploy troops for “non-military, crime-deterrence missions in the absence of a request from the city’s civil authorities.”
“Normalizing the use of military troops for domestic law enforcement sets a dangerous precedent, where the President can disregard states’ independence and deploy troops wherever and whenever he wants — with no check on his military power,” D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb said after the ruling.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller excoriated the ruling.
“Judicial despotism is one of the gravest hazards we face to the functioning and endurance of our Republic,” he wrote on social media. “No district judge can steal for himself the powers of the Commander-in-Chief.”
The president has sent National Guard members to other cities to combat crime and faced other challenges in court from his opponents and local government officials.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said Schwalb’s lawsuit was “nothing more than another attempt — at the detriment of D.C. residents — to undermine the president’s highly successful operations to stop violent crime in D.C.”
RELATED: DC Dems are furious at Mayor Bowser for admitting Trump’s troops are lowering crime
“This unprecedented federal overreach is not normal, or legal. It is long past time to let the National Guard go home — to their everyday lives, their regular jobs, their families, and their children,” Schwalb added.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser admitted that the surge had helped decrease violent crime in the district, but she was widely criticized by other Democrats for saying it publicly.
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Florida Christians win $70K over anonymous complaint against tiny cross displayed in their yard
An anonymous complaint against a small cross in the yard of some Christian homeowners has led to a community development district paying out nearly a quarter of a million dollars.
Wayne and Bonnie Anderson were notified on April 1, 2019, that their 1-foot white cross was in violation of yard decoration standards at The Villages.
‘In law, there has to be harm — what’s the harm? What’s behind all this? Something sinister, I guess.’
“I thought it was an April Fool’s Day joke,” Wayne Anderson said. “We call it a religious icon; they call it yard art — like the same with pink flamingos.”
He says that someone anonymously complained, and the Village Community Development District 8 began to fine him $25 for each day that he refused to take the cross down.
“The last I heard it was $44,000 for us,” he said.
“It’s not hurting anybody — there’s no harm,” Anderson added. “In law, there has to be harm — what’s the harm? What’s behind all this? Something sinister, I guess.”
The community district filed a lawsuit against the couple, and more than five years later, a judge ordered the district to settle with the couple. The district agreed to pay $173K in court costs and legal fees, as well as $70K for the Andersons.
And the cross gets to stay in the yard.
RELATED: California parents file lawsuit to stop curriculum that makes kids pray to Aztec gods
“Quarter of a million dollars nearly — over the little white cross,” Wayne Anderson said. “Can you believe that?”
WOFL-TV said the community district did not respond to requests for comment. The report noted that other crosses had popped up in the same neighborhood.
“This should never have happened, and it should never happen again,” Anderson added. “In the end, we get to display [it] as is our constitutional and God-given right.”
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‘Abortion Is Everything’ book for kids calls killing unborn children ‘human superpower’
Abortions are described as a “uniquely human superpower” in a new kids’ book meant for children as young as 5 years old.
The book, titled “Abortion Is Everything,” was created by Amelia Bonow, an activist who is also responsible for the “Shout Your Abortion” campaign.
‘The book is marketed to children from 5 to 8, with the goal of explaining abortion in kid-friendly language. This isn’t just propaganda. It’s grooming.’
A post on the group’s social media page proudly marketed the book, according to the Live Action pro-life group.
“Parents, caregivers, and educators who work with children have long been searching for a tool to talk with kids about abortion, especially given the volume of political noise currently surrounding the issue,” reads a post on Instagram.
The book intends to describe how an abortion feels and why people have them.
“With accessible, inclusive language, ‘Abortion Is Everything’ frames abortion as the actualization of a uniquely human superpower: our capacity to imagine the future and make choices that lead us towards the life we envision,” the post reads. “Abortion is a tool that allows human beings to shape our destinies, and which has shaped the entire world around us.”
The Live Action group strongly condemned the effort in a post on social media.
“The founder of ‘Shout Your Abortion’ is now targeting kids. With a children’s book. Promoting abortion,” the post reads. “The book is marketed to children from 5 to 8, with the goal of explaining abortion in kid-friendly language. This isn’t just propaganda. It’s grooming.”
RELATED: Missouri man admits to kidnapping pregnant girlfriend at gunpoint to force her to have abortion
Photo by Chris Polk/E! Entertainment/NBC via Getty Images
“The abortion industry has long tried to indoctrinate children into their pro-abortion agenda,” the group continued on its website. “This book, presenting abortion as human empowerment, is just the latest example.”
The political fight over abortion has moved to the state level after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the decision establishing federal abortion rights in the historic 2022 Dobbs decision.
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