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  23.                <title><![CDATA[Trump Has a Secret List of 24 “Designated Terrorist Organizations.” We Got Some of the Names.]]></title>
  24.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/07/trump-dto-list-venezuela-boat-strikes/</link>
  25.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/07/trump-dto-list-venezuela-boat-strikes/#respond</comments>
  26.                <pubDate>Fri, 07 Nov 2025 22:16:23 +0000</pubDate>
  27.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Nick Turse]]></dc:creator>
  28.                                 <category><![CDATA[National Security]]></category>
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  31.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>The U.S. claims it is engaged in “armed conflict” with Tren de Aragua, Ejército de Liberación Nacional, and Cártel de los Soles, among others.</p>
  32. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/07/trump-dto-list-venezuela-boat-strikes/">Trump Has a Secret List of 24 “Designated Terrorist Organizations.” We Got Some of the Names.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
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  34.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  35. <p><span class="has-underline">To justify its</span> deadly strikes on alleged drug-smugglers at sea, the Trump administration now claims that there are 24 designated terrorist organizations engaging in armed conflict with the United States, three government sources told The Intercept.</p>
  36.  
  37.  
  38.  
  39. <p>This new list of Latin American cartels and criminal organizations is attached to a classified opinion produced by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel to support the administration’s argument that attacks on suspected drug-traffickers in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean are lawful.</p>
  40.  
  41.  
  42.  
  43. <p>The list of groups supposedly engaged in “non-international armed conflict” with the United States includes the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua; Ejército de Liberación Nacional, a Colombian guerrilla insurgency; Cártel de los Soles, a Venezuelan criminal group that the U.S. <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0207">claims</a> is “headed by Nicolas Maduro and other high-ranking Venezuelan individuals”; and several groups affiliated with the Sinaloa Cartel, according to two of those government sources who spoke to The Intercept on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose classified information. The full list has not been disclosed, even to all lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee.</p>
  44.  
  45.  
  46.  
  47. <p>Of the groups now known to be on the list, there is no evidence that they are actually participating in armed conflict with the United States.</p>
  48.  
  49.  
  50.  
  51. <p>“The administration has established a factual and legal alternate universe for the executive branch,” said Brian Finucane, a former State Department lawyer who is a specialist in counterterrorism issues and the laws of war. “This is the president, purely by fiat, saying that the U.S. is in conflict with these undisclosed groups without any congressional authorization. So this is not just a secret war, but a secret unauthorized war. Or, in reality, a make-believe war, because most of these groups we probably couldn&#8217;t even be in a war with.”</p>
  52.  
  53.  
  54.  
  55. <p>The U.S. military has carried out 17 known attacks on boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific Ocean since September, killing at least 70 people. The <a href="https://x.com/SecWar/status/1986631797547921741">most recent attack</a>, on a vessel in the Caribbean Sea on Thursday killed three civilians. Military officials admitted to lawmakers that they <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/31/trump-venezuela-boat-strikes-unprivileged-belligerants/">do not know the identities</a> of all the people on board a vessel before they conduct a lethal strike. Following most of the attacks, War Secretary Pete Hegseth or President Donald Trump have claimed that the victims belonged to an unspecified designated terrorist organization, or DTO.</p>
  56.  
  57.  
  58.  
  59. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote><p>“This is not just a secret war, but a secret unauthorized war. Or, in reality, a make-believe war, because most of these groups we probably couldn&#8217;t even be in a war with.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  60.  
  61.  
  62.  
  63. <p><a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/02/venezuela-boat-strike-justification/">Experts in the laws of war</a> and members of Congress <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/01/trump-venezuela-boat-strike-designated-terror-organization/">say the strikes</a> are illegal extrajudicial killings because the military is not permitted to deliberately target civilians — even suspected criminals — who do not pose an imminent threat of violence. The summary executions are a significant departure from standard practice in the&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/podcasts/collateral-damage/">long-running U.S. war on drugs</a>, in which law enforcement arrested&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/26/trump-venezuela-boat-strike-drugs/">suspected drug smugglers</a>.</p>
  64.  
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  66.  
  67. <p>Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Hegseth, and other administration officials held a briefing with a small, bipartisan group of lawmakers who oversee national security issues for roughly an hour in a secure facility in the Capitol on Wednesday. Attendees said the administration’s legal justifications didn’t hold up.</p>
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  79.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  80.        Related      </h2>
  81.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Are You on Trump’s List of Domestic Terrorists? There’s No Way to Know.</h3>
  82.    </span>
  83.    </a>
  84.  </div>
  85.  
  86.  
  87.  
  88. <p>“The Trump administration remains unable to provide any credible explanation for its extrajudicial and unauthorized military strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific. It was clear from this briefing that the administration’s legal justifications are dubious and meant to circumvent Congress’ constitutional power on matters of war and peace,” said Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, D-N.Y., the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, after attending the briefing. “I continue to believe these strikes are illegal, and an enormous overreach of executive power.”</p>
  89.  
  90.  
  91.  
  92. <p>The Pentagon has been withholding key information about the attacks and the list of DTOs for almost two months and has still yet to share all the relevant information with all lawmakers.</p>
  93.  
  94.  
  95.  
  96. <p>&#8220;While I am glad to have finally been provided the OLC opinion to review, I continue to find it unconvincing and am concerned that the legal reasoning it employs could be used to justify a range of operations that, like the current operations, are deeply problematic,” Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told The Intercept. “It’s unacceptable that only a handful of Members are allowed to understand the Administration&#8217;s interpretation of the law. The Administration needs to immediately make the opinion and list of DTOs available for all of Congress to review so that we can conduct our constitutionally mandated oversight of the use of lethal military force.</p>
  97.  
  98.  
  99.  
  100. <p>Senate Republicans <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/venezuela-war-powers-maga-rand-paul/">blocked a</a> <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/venezuela-war-powers-maga-rand-paul/">war powers resolution</a> on Thursday aimed at preventing Trump from attacking Venezuela after a bipartisan group of senators <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/venezuela-war-powers-maga-republican/">warned </a>that the undeclared war on alleged drug smugglers in the region could escalate. The vote to advance the resolution failed with 49 senators supporting it and 51 opposing it.</p>
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  105.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  106.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/trump-venezuela-boat-attack-drone/"
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  113.        Related      </h2>
  114.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Rand Paul Reveals Venezuela Boat Attack Was a Drone Strike</h3>
  115.    </span>
  116.    </a>
  117.  </div>
  118.  
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  120.  
  121. <p>The <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/90/text" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">resolution</a>, led by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., would have directed the president &#8220;to terminate the use of United States Armed Forces for hostilities within or against Venezuela, unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force.&#8221; The resolution had 15 co-sponsors, including <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/trump-venezuela-boat-attack-drone/">Sen. Rand Paul</a>, R-Ky.</p>
  122.  
  123.  
  124.  
  125. <p>&#8220;If colleagues believe that a war against the narco-traffickers in the ocean or a war against Venezuela is a good idea, then put an [authorization of military force] on the table and debate and vote it, but don&#8217;t just hand the power over to an executive,” Kaine said on Thursday. “That runs against everything that this nation was founded on.&#8221;</p>
  126.  
  127.  
  128.  
  129. <p>The administration has no plans to seek an authorization for the use of military force similar to the 2001 AUMF, which authorized counterterrorism operations by the U.S. military against those responsible for 9/11, Pentagon briefers told lawmakers last week. “Even if Congress authorized it, this would still be illegal under U.S. and international law because we are not in an armed conflict with these cartels,” Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., a member of the House Armed Services Committee who attended a briefing on the strikes last week, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/31/trump-venezuela-boat-strikes-unprivileged-belligerants/">told The Intercept</a>. “And so this is just murder.”</p>
  130.  
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  133.  
  134.  
  135.  
  136.  
  137. <p>Six government officials, among them two who confirmed the count of 24 DTOs, who spoke to The Intercept over weeks expressed high confidence that most, if not all, of the boats targeted in the strikes have been smuggling drugs. Sources said the United States has been using top secret sensitive compartmented information involving human sources and signals intelligence, provided by the National Security Agency and the CIA, to inform the attacks.</p>
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  148.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Collateral-Damage-boat-strike.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
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  151.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">License to Kill: Trump’s Extrajudicial Executions</h3>
  152.    </span>
  153.    </a>
  154.  </div>
  155.  
  156.  
  157.  
  158. <p>Lawmakers still expressed concern about U.S. targeting procedures. Himes said he wasn’t confident that U.S. forces are using the same “structure and architecture” employed in past counterterrorism strikes during the war on terror to prevent the killing of innocent civilians, and that sufficient safeguards within the intelligence community may not be in place.</p>
  159.  
  160.  
  161.  
  162. <p>“If they cannot find a connection or show a connection with a DTO, then it goes to the law enforcement route with an interdiction. So that was their decision tree. But nailing them down more on what that connection is and how they show it and what they&#8217;re looking for, we didn&#8217;t get a lot of good information on that,” said Jacobs. “They know how many people they killed, but they made it seem like they were not really doing any post-strike evidence gathering.”</p>
  163.  
  164.  
  165.  
  166. <p>The people aboard the boats are <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/26/trump-venezuela-boat-strike-drugs/">hardly drug kingpins</a>. An investigation by The Associated Press into the lives of<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuela-boat-strikes-drugs-cocaine-trafficking-95b54a3a5efec74f12f82396a79617ea"> nine of those killed in U.S. strikes</a> found that while they had been smuggling drugs, they were not narco-terrorists or gang leaders but laborers, a fisherman, a motorcycle taxi driver, two were low-level criminals, and one was a local crime boss. All were from a desperately poor area, and most were crewing such boats for the first or second time.</p>
  167.  
  168.  
  169.  
  170. <p>Military briefers have <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/31/trump-venezuela-boat-strikes-unprivileged-belligerants/">admitted</a> to members of Congress that they cannot satisfy the evidentiary burden necessary to hold or prosecute survivors of the strikes.</p>
  171.  
  172.  
  173.  
  174. <p>Neither U.S. Southern Command, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Justice Department, nor the White House would provide the list of 24 DTOs who it claims are engaged in secret wars with America. The count of 24, according to a single source, was first <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/politics/trump-venezuela-legal-congress-land">reported by CNN</a> on Thursday.</p>
  175.  
  176.  
  177.  
  178.  
  179.  
  180.  
  181.  
  182. <p>The fantasy conflicts between the United States and Tren de Aragua, Ejército de Liberación Nacional, Cártel de los Soles, and various Sinaloa Cartel groups and other criminal organizations are a farce since America’s adversaries do not even know they are considered at war with the U.S., nor do the American people know with whom the U.S. is facing in a supposed state of armed conflict.</p>
  183.  
  184.  
  185.  
  186. <p>Some experts <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250828-us-targets-venezuela-over-soles-cartel-does-it-exist">even doubt</a> the Cártel de los Soles — one the 24 DTOs — actually exists, explaining it is more a system of corruption than a group with a leadership structure. It is a foreign analogue to antifa, which the Trump administration claims is a “domestic terror organization” but is actually a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/18/trump-antifa-domestic-terrorism/">set of ideas</a>. Notably, Cártel de los Soles is not even mentioned in a two-volume, 670-page State Department<a href="https://www.state.gov/2025-international-narcotics-control-strategy-report"> report</a> on global anti-drug operations released earlier this year.</p>
  187.  
  188.  
  189.  
  190. <p>“The bottom line is, these strikes are illegal,” said Finucane. “We need to see the full list of groups that the government has given itself permission to attack without congressional authorization. And Congress needs to push back on this lawless killing and a potential real, illegal war with Venezuela.”</p>
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  194. <p></p>
  195. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/07/trump-dto-list-venezuela-boat-strikes/">Trump Has a Secret List of 24 “Designated Terrorist Organizations.” We Got Some of the Names.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
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  205. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Fighting Oligarchy town hall at the Leonard &#38; Claire Tow Center for the Performing Artson September 06, 2025 in New York City. Mamdani joined Sanders at his New York town hall after marching with union members in Manhattan’s Labor Day parade. Sanders, an early backer of Mamdani’s primary bid, has staged 34 rallies in 20 states since launching his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this year, aimed at challenging the power of billionaires and corporations in U.S. politics. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)</media:title>
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  208. <media:title type="html">BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - JANUARY 13: Chief Spokesperson European Commission, Paula Pinho speaks during the daily press meeting in Brussels, Belgium on January 13, 2025. Pinho stated the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen continues her treatment in Hannover. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
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  214.                <title><![CDATA[The President Is Perfectly Fine If You Starve]]></title>
  215.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/07/government-shutdown-snap-trump-hunger/</link>
  216.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/07/government-shutdown-snap-trump-hunger/#respond</comments>
  217.                <pubDate>Fri, 07 Nov 2025 17:38:50 +0000</pubDate>
  218.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Alain Stephens]]></dc:creator>
  219.                                 <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
  220. <category><![CDATA[Voices]]></category>
  221.  
  222.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
  223.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>The message behind the government shutdown is loud and clear: Hunger is acceptable collateral damage in service of Trump’s agenda.</p>
  224. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/07/government-shutdown-snap-trump-hunger/">The President Is Perfectly Fine If You Starve</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
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  232.    alt="President Donald Trump speaks during an event about drug prices, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington."
  233.    width="3614"
  234.    height="2409"
  235.    loading="lazy"
  236.  />
  237.      <figcaption class="photo__figcaption">
  238.      <span class="photo__caption">Donald Trump speaks during an event about drug prices on Nov. 6, 2025, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.</span>&nbsp;<span class="photo__credit">Photo: Evan Vucci/AP Photo</span>    </figcaption>
  239.    </figure>
  240.  
  241.  
  242.  
  243. <p><span class="has-underline">For the second</span> time in a decade, Washington has shut itself down in a budget standoff, and ordinary Americans are quite literally paying the price. As of this writing, the federal government is in its second month of a shutdown, and 42 million Americans who rely on food stamps <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/01/millions-lose-food-aid-snap-trump-shutdown-00632404">got nothing </a>on November 1<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/01/millions-lose-food-aid-snap-trump-shutdown-00632404"> </a>— the first time in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s 60-year history that benefits have been fully halted. Think about that: Millions of families woke up hungry because politicians in Washington couldn’t do their jobs. It’s nuts.</p>
  244.  
  245.  
  246.  
  247. <p>After public pleas of desperation and multiple <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/11/03/nx-s1-5596121/snap-food-benefits-trump-government-shutdown">court orders</a>, the Trump administration was<a href="https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/1986544355427905673"> forced to turn the food back on</a>, but it’s now <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/11/07/us/trump-news-shutdown#trump-court-food-stamps">appealing </a>that ruling, whiplashing Americans facing acute scarcity and economic anxiety.  </p>
  248.  
  249.  
  250.  
  251. <p>We’ve started to accept these crises as routine, like a new season of some twisted reality show. With each episode, the fatigue and fury of being used as political pawns only deepens. But this shutdown is different in a way. For the first time in modern American history, its leader is intentionally starving his own people.</p>
  252.  
  253.  
  254.  
  255. <p>In the United States, federal shutdowns have become de facto political theater — a reckless game of chicken that recurs with grim regularity. Since 1976, Congress has triggered 20 funding gaps resulting in <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/1/a-history-of-us-government-shutdowns-every-closure-and-how-long-it-lasted#:~:text=A%20history%20of%20US%20government,and%20how%20long%20it%20lasted">10 full or partial shutdowns</a>, with the longest stretching 35 days. What was once unthinkable has become almost seasonal. Autumn rolls around, and Americans brace for the familiar countdown to chaos: Will our representatives fund the government, or take it hostage?</p>
  256.  
  257.  
  258.  
  259.  
  260.  
  261.  
  262.  
  263. <p>The current saga began like so many before it: a clash of priorities and a collapse of governance. House Republicans pushed their budget cuts that would imperil health care; Senate Democrats insisted they would only vote to pass a budget that <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crrj1znp0pyo">extended tax credits on health care and reversed Medicaid cuts</a>. Republicans lack the needed majority to have their way and refuse to compromise with Democrats. Neither would blink, so on October 1, the lights went out. Offices shuttered. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers were <a href="https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-shutdown/2025/11/as-shutdown-hits-record-length-many-fear-long-term-impacts/">sent home or ordered to work without pay</a>. Lawmakers <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/29/politics/video/thune-shutdown-senate-floor-speech-digvid">gave floor speeches</a> and <a href="https://www.opb.org/article/2025/10/22/oregon-senator-jeff-merkley-speaks-holding-floor-overnight-decry-authoritarianism/">media soundbites</a>, and went to politicking. But behind the grandstanding, <a href="https://www.expressnews.com/news/article/snap-benefits-food-bank-san-antonio-21135897.php">real families</a> immediately <a href="https://mynews13.com/fl/orlando/news/2025/11/01/federal-workers-may-struggle-to-pay-rent-as-shutdown-drags-on--central-florida-nonprofits-step-in">began to hurt</a>.</p>
  264.  
  265.  
  266.  
  267. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p> For the first time in modern American history, its leader is intentionally starving his own people.</p></blockquote></figure>
  268.  
  269.  
  270.  
  271. <p>To many on Capitol Hill, this is all just part of the show. A shutdown is treated as a leverage move, a stunt to score ideological points or appease extremist donors. In 2013, one senator read <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/why-ted-cruz-read-green-eggs-and-ham-in-the-u-s-senate-1.1867499">Dr. Seuss on the Senate floor</a> during a shutdown, as if it were storytime instead of a national crisis. In 2019, then-President Donald Trump quipped that unpaid federal workers should encourage <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/federal-workers-miss-2-billion-every-missed-paycheck-trumps-shutdown/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CPeople%20that%20won't%20get,but%20also%20permanent%20monetary%20losses.">his shutdown tactics</a>, while his commerce secretary mused that he didn’t understand why unpaid workers <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/01/24/688189978/commerce-secretary-wilbur-ross-downplayed-shutdown-hardships-dems-raged#:~:text=Updated%20at%206:37%20p.m.,not%20a%20really%20valid%20idea.%22">were visiting food banks at all</a>. </p>
  272.  
  273.  
  274.  
  275. <p>These people behind mahogany desks don’t feel the flames they fan. They still draw their salaries — yes, members of Congress <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/government-shutdown-2025-does-congress-get-paid/#:~:text=Will%20members%20of%20Congress%20get,paid%20during%20a%20government%20shutdown">still get paid during a shutdown</a> — while a janitor or a park ranger loses theirs. The disconnect would be darkly funny if it weren’t so brutal. From the comfort of cushy offices, political strategists are already gaming out the next confrontation, like it’s a chess match.</p>
  276.  
  277.  
  278.  
  279. <p>No group of Americans has been more cynically weaponized in this standoff than those who depend on SNAP. This isn’t some fringe handout; it’s the nation’s <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/history">largest anti-hunger program</a>, serving working-poor families, children, seniors, and people with disabilities. Shutting down the government has put these Americans directly in the crosshairs. When November arrived, nearly 42 million people who count on SNAP to eat were told there was no money for food assistance. Despite access to a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/snap-shutdown-lawsuits-deadline-4af8b0dec6cd31cddd023cc99c131b73">$5 billion emergency</a> fund that the Trump administration refused to disburse, the program for the first time ever simply stopped.</p>
  280.  
  281.  
  282.  
  283. <p>Food aid quickly became a bargaining chip to extract concessions. Trump (back in office and seemingly emboldened by chaos) outright threatened hungry Americans on social media, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-says-snap-benefits-will-resume-radical-left-democrats-open-government">declaring </a>that benefits “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up government … and not before!” In other words: We’ll let your children starve until we get our way. Trump is using food as a weapon, and he’s hardly hiding it.</p>
  284.  
  285.  
  286.  
  287. <p>Democratic leaders, for their part, tried a symbolic move to fund SNAP during the shutdown — only to be blocked by the Republican Senate majority, who accused them of<a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/5587414-senate-gop-blocks-dem-effort-fund-snap/"> political stunt-making</a>. “Kids and families are not poker chips or hostages,” Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/03/senate-republicans-snap-funds-resolution">said</a>, decrying the “unbelievably cruel” reality that food aid was being held hostage by political games. Unbelievably cruel, indeed. To be absolutely clear, Republicans are holding Democrats to a dark arrangement: Give up <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/health-care-subsidies-are-at-the-heart-of-the-shutdown-fight-heres-who-loses-if-they-expire">extended health care tax credits</a> and preserve Trump’s Medicaid cuts, or watch the poorest Americans go hungry. </p>
  288.  
  289.  
  290.  
  291. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote><p>That people in a country this rich require such support is an outrage in itself and the result of decades of bipartisan governing that has harmed the poor.</p></blockquote></figure>
  292.  
  293.  
  294.  
  295. <p>At food pantries across the country, the lines began swelling almost immediately. Food banks from New York to Texas saw surging demand as low-income households — and even furloughed federal workers — scrambled to fill the void. States like <a href="https://www.medicarerights.org/medicare-watch/2025/11/04/snap-at-risk-impacts-for-medicare-beneficiaries">New York hustled to release emergency funds</a>, and charities begged for donations to stave off mass hunger. The stopgaps will feed some, but they can’t possibly replace SNAP’s reach. A federal court ordered the Department of Agriculture to draw on contingency funds to ensure SNAP benefits are paid in November, but the ruling only provides a temporary remedy, not a long-term solution to the program’s broader funding crisis.</p>
  296.  
  297.  
  298.  
  299. <p>It’s pure absurdity: We live in one of the wealthiest countries on Earth, yet our leaders have engineered a method where millions can be cut off from food overnight as a negotiation tactic. That people in a country this rich require such support is an outrage in itself and the result of decades of bipartisan governing that has harmed the poor.</p>
  300.  
  301.  
  302.  
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  313.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">The Housing Hunger Games</h3>
  314.    </span>
  315.    </a>
  316.  </div>
  317.  
  318.  
  319.  
  320. <p>Our government has spent years subsidizing corporations that pay poverty wages while providing just enough aid to keep workers afloat — and then they freeze that critical aid. Republicans and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoD6ccdmlfI">Democrats </a>alike have failed to tackle the chronic issues of increased costs of <a href="https://fortune.com/2025/07/25/us-median-rent-vs-wages/">rent</a>, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/06/24/americas-housing-expensive-inaccessible-harvard-report/83533083007/">housing</a>, food, and medical care, perpetually kicking the can down the road and placing ever-widening swaths of Americans at risk. Mega-employers like Walmart pay notoriously low wages that leave employees reliant on public assistance; in fact, Walmart’s low-paid workers <a href="https://www.worldhunger.org/report-walmart-workers-cost-taxpayers-6-2-billion-public-assistance/#:~:text=Walmart%E2%80%99s%20low,level%20progressive%20groups">cost taxpayers</a> an estimated $6.2 billion a year in food stamps, Medicaid, and other help. It’s a vicious cycle: Our policies prop up “working poverty” with programs like SNAP, effectively incentivizing companies to keep wages down. Both parties haven’t done enough to keep people off the brink, but <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5585888-majority-of-voters-blame-trump-and-gop-for-shutdown-poll/">one party</a> right now is pushing people off it. </p>
  321.  
  322.  
  323.  
  324.  
  325.  
  326.  
  327.  
  328. <p>We’ve set the stage so that millions of Americans are one missed check away from hunger, then we dangle that over their heads for political gain. As one grandmother in Tennessee put it when she heard her $563 in monthly food stamps might not come: “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-federal-food-aid-lapses-most-states-unable-fill-void-2025-11-01/#:~:text=But%20her%20November%20benefits%20may,pay%20for%20the%20aid%20themselves">I don’t know what I’ll do</a>.” There’s nothing abstract about a mother skipping meals so her kids can eat, or a disabled veteran quietly rationing canned soup because his country won’t keep its doors open. “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-snap-benefits-begin-only-when-us-government-opens-2025-11-04/#:~:text=Lawyers%20for%20the%20cities%20and,making%20only%20partial%20benefits%20available">Time is of the essence when it comes to hunger</a>,” lawyers for food aid recipients reminded a federal judge, urging immediate intervention. </p>
  329.  
  330.  
  331.  
  332. <p>The cruelty goes further. In this shutdown, even WIC — the program for women, infants, and children — teetered on the brink. Nearly 7 million mothers and young kids who rely on WIC for baby formula and basic nutrition were at risk of being cut off. Only a last-ditch shuffle of funds (raiding an Agriculture Department tariff revenue stash) kept WIC afloat for a few weeks. </p>
  333.  
  334.  
  335.  
  336. <p>But SNAP got no such rescue. The administration flatly refused to tap the same pool to cover food stamps, calling it “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/trump-administration-injects-more-temporary-funding-child-nutrition-program-2025-11-03/#:~:text=in%20the%20filing">unacceptable</a>” to shift $4 billion from other child nutrition programs. In other words, they argued feeding hungry families would steal from schoolchildren’s lunches — a false choice created entirely by their own refusal to govern.</p>
  337.  
  338.  
  339.  
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  350.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">House Republicans Want to Ban Universal Free School Lunches</h3>
  351.    </span>
  352.    </a>
  353.  </div>
  354.  
  355.  
  356.  
  357. <p>Meanwhile, the president’s allies in Congress insisted there was no reason to fund SNAP in isolation; if Democrats wanted to feed people, they should just surrender and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/03/senate-republicans-snap-funds-resolution#:~:text=But%20Republican%20senators%20objected%2C%20with,lies%20in%20reopening%20the%20government">reopen the government on Republican terms</a>. Hunger, in their view, is leverage. In 2023, one GOP state senator even claimed that he had “yet to meet a person in [his state] who is hungry,” as he voted to <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/gop-state-senator-met-hungry-person-minnesota/story?id=97912266">block free school meals</a>. Another Republican quipped that maybe a missed meal would motivate the unemployed to get a job.</p>
  358.  
  359.  
  360.  
  361. <p>Time after time, the GOP has made it public through policy and dialect its disdain for America’s working poor. Now the message is loud and clear: a little starvation is acceptable collateral damage in service of the agenda.</p>
  362.  
  363.  
  364.  
  365. <p>Step back and behold the full dystopia of this moment. We have a government that periodically sabotages itself. We have partisan warlords so entrenched in their battle that they’re willing to withhold food from their own citizens to win full control of the state machinery. The GOP’s long-term project isn’t just to shrink government — it’s to break it, to erode American’s faith that their government can or should serve the common good. </p>
  366.  
  367.  
  368.  
  369. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>How did we, the people, become the hostages?</p></blockquote></figure>
  370.  
  371.  
  372.  
  373. <p>We have surpluses and wealth in this country beyond imagination, yet <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-china-trade-war-25-million-tonnes-of-us-soybeans-to-go-unsold-2019-2?utm_source=intl&amp;utm_medium=ingest">27.5 million tons of American soybeans sat unsold at one point</a> as a result of trade war tariffs — food rotting in silos because of political machinations — while children in this same country go to bed hungry. How did basic governance get twisted into a hostage crisis? How did we, the people, become the hostages? Each shutdown, each manufactured crisis, chips away at whatever trust remains in our institutions. </p>
  374.  
  375.  
  376.  
  377. <p>The karmic cost of this dysfunction is incalculable. For a growing number of Americans, the idea that the government can solve problems or serve the public good is <a href="https://www.pew.org/en/trend/archive/fall-2024/americans-deepening-mistrust-of-institutions">dying out</a>, replaced by nihilism and anger. And perhaps that’s the point for some of the perpetrators: Break faith in government, then point to the wreckage and say, “See, it doesn’t work.” It’s a cynical self-fulfilling prophecy.</p>
  378.  
  379.  
  380.  
  381. <p>As this nightmare of a shutdown drags on, one can’t help but feel that our democracy is at a precipice. A government that repeatedly holds its own people hostage will eventually lose those people’s hearts. We are tired, bone-tired, of the political arsonists and their endless theater. The real test of patriotism now isn’t in the Capitol’s rhetoric, it’s in the character of the nation’s people. And if there’s any hope to be found, it’s in those everyday patriots with grumbling stomachs and unwavering resolve. They remind us that America is not its lawmakers. America is its people. And if the people can somehow endure this abuse and still help each other through it, then maybe — just maybe — this house won’t burn down completely. </p>
  382. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/07/government-shutdown-snap-trump-hunger/">The President Is Perfectly Fine If You Starve</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  383. ]]></content:encoded>
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  389. <media:title type="html">President Donald Trump speaks during an event about drug prices, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington.</media:title>
  390. </media:content>
  391. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/YouTube-deletes-Pal-accounts-crop-e1762272608972.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
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  393. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Fighting Oligarchy town hall at the Leonard &#38; Claire Tow Center for the Performing Artson September 06, 2025 in New York City. Mamdani joined Sanders at his New York town hall after marching with union members in Manhattan’s Labor Day parade. Sanders, an early backer of Mamdani’s primary bid, has staged 34 rallies in 20 states since launching his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this year, aimed at challenging the power of billionaires and corporations in U.S. politics. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)</media:title>
  394. </media:content>
  395. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2193191415-e1762284870477.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  396. <media:title type="html">BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - JANUARY 13: Chief Spokesperson European Commission, Paula Pinho speaks during the daily press meeting in Brussels, Belgium on January 13, 2025. Pinho stated the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen continues her treatment in Hannover. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
  397. </media:content>
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  403.                <title><![CDATA[Gaza’s Students Kept Studying Amid the Rubble. Now Universities Hope to Rebuild.]]></title>
  404.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/07/gaza-universities-scholasticide-israel-palestine/</link>
  405.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/07/gaza-universities-scholasticide-israel-palestine/#respond</comments>
  406.                <pubDate>Fri, 07 Nov 2025 12:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  407.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Taqwa Ahmed Al-Wawi]]></dc:creator>
  408.                                 <category><![CDATA[Voices]]></category>
  409. <category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
  410.  
  411.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
  412.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>Palestinian students learned remotely, with flickering internet, through two years of Israel’s genocide. Now universities need funding to rebuild.</p>
  413. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/07/gaza-universities-scholasticide-israel-palestine/">Gaza’s Students Kept Studying Amid the Rubble. Now Universities Hope to Rebuild.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  414. ]]></description>
  415.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  416. <figure class="wp-block-ft-photo is-style-default">
  417.    <img decoding="async"
  418.    src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2240962149_803baa.jpg?fit=6720%2C4480"
  419.    srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2240962149_803baa.jpg?w=6720 6720w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2240962149_803baa.jpg?w=300 300w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2240962149_803baa.jpg?w=768 768w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2240962149_803baa.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2240962149_803baa.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2240962149_803baa.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2240962149_803baa.jpg?w=540 540w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2240962149_803baa.jpg?w=1000 1000w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2240962149_803baa.jpg?w=2400 2400w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2240962149_803baa.jpg?w=3600 3600w"
  420.    sizes="auto, (min-width: 1300px) 650px, (min-width: 800px) 64vw, (min-width: 500px) calc(100vw - 5rem), calc(100vw - 3rem)"
  421.    alt="GAZA CITY, GAZA - OCTOBER 16: A view of the area as many Palestinian families who were forced to migrate south due to Israeli attacks return to the Islamic University, where they previously stayed, as a ceasefire is established, despite many buildings being destroyed or heavily damaged by the attacks, on October 16, 2025. (Photo by Khames Alrefi/Anadolu via Getty Images)"
  422.    width="6720"
  423.    height="4480"
  424.    loading="lazy"
  425.  />
  426.      <figcaption class="photo__figcaption">
  427.      <span class="photo__caption">A view through the gate of the Islamic University of Gaza, where bombed buildings have doubled as shelters for families amid the genocide, on Oct. 16, 2025.</span>&nbsp;<span class="photo__credit">Photo: Khames Alrefi/Anadolu via Getty Images</span>    </figcaption>
  428.    </figure>
  429.  
  430.  
  431.  
  432. <p><span class="has-underline">In Gaza,</span> where universities lie in rubble and classrooms have been replaced by screens, education has refused to die. Amid the constant hum of drones and power outages, students and educators have fought to keep learning — and to restore their campuses for the next generation. </p>
  433.  
  434.  
  435.  
  436. <p>Studying was “an escape,” amid the genocide, said Aseel, a student of English translation at the Islamic University of Gaza, “a small space of hope and achievement that gave me motivation to keep going.”&nbsp;</p>
  437.  
  438.  
  439.  
  440. <p>Students and faculty at the Islamic University of Gaza, where I study English literature, described in interviews how they kept studying throughout two years of genocide by charging their laptops with solar energy, watching recorded lectures, and meeting in improvised study groups. The stopgap measures have allowed education to continue amid the most extreme conditions, but Gaza’s universities now need millions of dollars to rebuild the educational system. The Islamic University recently announced that it had begun initial renovations.</p>
  441.  
  442.  
  443.  
  444.  
  445.  
  446.  
  447.  
  448. <p>Samah, a 21-year-old translation student at the Islamic University, said studying online felt like “a desperate attempt to keep learning despite everything.”</p>
  449.  
  450.  
  451.  
  452. <p>“It was frustrating,” she said. “The internet was weak, and I’d lose time reconnecting. But after every exam I managed to pass, I felt an achievement — it gave me strength to continue.”</p>
  453.  
  454.  
  455.  
  456. <p>Israel’s destructive campaign often <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/10/12/israel-gaza-internet-access/">cuts off internet access</a> entirely. “If I had the slides and books printed, I could study temporarily until power and the internet came back,” said Aseel. “We depended mainly on recorded lectures — they were comprehensive, but there was little engagement.”&nbsp;</p>
  457.  
  458.  
  459.  
  460. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“If I had the slides and books printed, I could study temporarily until power and the internet came back.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  461.  
  462.  
  463.  
  464. <p>These measures were necessary in part because Israel has engaged in scholasticide, the intentional destruction of a society’s educational infrastructure. According to <a href="https://www.etf.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2025-07/Gaza%20update%202025%20final%20072025.pdf">figures released</a> by the European Training Foundation, by the spring of this year 95 percent of all school buildings in Gaza had been damaged or destroyed — <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/02/09/deconstructed-gaza-university-education/">including every university</a>. The Islamic University <a href="https://www.facebook.com/share/16XmV2GJvq/">announced</a> in November 2024 that extensive genocide damage had destroyed 16 of its buildings, the central library, and over 240,000 books, 8,000 periodicals, and more than 16,000 master’s and doctoral theses — an estimated $141.9 million value.&nbsp;</p>
  465.  
  466.  
  467.  
  468. <p>“We lost equipped labs, classrooms, and office work materials — much of our physical resources vanished,” said Tawfiq, the former dean of the Faculty of Information Technology.</p>
  469.  
  470.  
  471.  
  472. <p>The university has developed a reconstruction plan requiring approximately $15 million for rebuilding campuses, purchasing equipment and furniture, and other student resources. According to a recent university announcement, limited renovations have begun on the Faculty of Medicine and other colleges. But for most of the necessary work, said Ismail, director of the engineering office, there is “no funding yet.”</p>
  473.  
  474.  
  475.  
  476.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  477.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  478.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/10/gaza-palestinian-student-visa-ban-trump/"
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  483.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2223693298-e1757530760868.jpeg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  484.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  485.        Related      </h2>
  486.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Gaza Students Found a Lifeline to U.S. Colleges. Then Trump Shut the Door.</h3>
  487.    </span>
  488.    </a>
  489.  </div>
  490.  
  491.  
  492.  
  493. <p>Besides the destruction, the university waived tuition fees during the first year of the genocide — making it easier for students to continue learning but meaning the institution would miss out on its already limited revenue.</p>
  494.  
  495.  
  496.  
  497. <p>But the human toll was the most devastating. From 2023 to 2024, 56 academic and administrative employees at the Islamic University of Gaza<strong> </strong>were killed, according to the university’s public figures. Approximately 1,500 employees did not receive salaries in the same period. And 17,000 students dropped out of their studies due to the genocide.</p>
  498.  
  499.  
  500.  
  501. <p>Because the Israeli military has repeatedly targeted Gaza’s educators, the students and faculty interviewed for this story are being identified by their first names only for their safety.</p>
  502.  
  503.  
  504.  
  505.  
  506.  
  507.  
  508.  
  509. <p><span class="has-underline">When I graduated</span> from high school in 2023, I was excited to major in English literature at the Islamic University of Gaza. I was less than a month into my first year of university when Israel’s genocide made physical classrooms inaccessible.</p>
  510.  
  511.  
  512.  
  513. <p>Charging my laptop and phone added to the existing challenges of studying amid genocide — especially during winter, when solar energy wasn’t available — and internet outages were constant. When there was bombing or when Israel deliberately cut communications, everything stopped. You could study all day and night, but sometimes your exam gets ruined by an internet cut — all your effort gone in seconds.</p>
  514.  
  515.  
  516.  
  517. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“Online learning was just a way to get through the courses. It lacked the soul.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  518.  
  519.  
  520.  
  521. <p>We learned to adapt. Whenever I had electricity and internet, I downloaded all the lectures and materials in advance, so I could study offline later.</p>
  522.  
  523.  
  524.  
  525. <p>“Online learning was just a way to get through the courses,” said Hala, a student of Islamic law, who said she wants to use her law degree to fight for justice. “It lacked the soul: the early walks to class, the debates, the cafes, the sea road to university … that was real learning.”</p>
  526.  
  527.  
  528.  
  529. <p>For some students, the brutalities of genocide coincided with the typical mundanities of schooling. Mo’min, a web computing student, described his experience as a battle with both genocide and procrastination.</p>
  530.  
  531.  
  532.  
  533. <p>“Because nothing was mandatory, it was easy to delay things,” he admitted. “But I charged my phone early every morning, downloaded lectures, and followed along with the chapters.”</p>
  534.  
  535.  
  536.  <aside class="promote-banner">
  537.    <a class="promote-banner__link" href="https://theintercept.com/collections/israel-palestine/">
  538.              <span class="promote-banner__image">
  539.          <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="150" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?fit=300%2C150" class="attachment-medium size-medium" alt="DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA - NOVEMBER 7: Civil defense teams and citizens continue search and rescue operations after an airstrike hits the building belonging to the Maslah family during the 32nd day of Israeli attacks in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza on November 7, 2023. (Photo by Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)" srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=5760 5760w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=300 300w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=768 768w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=540 540w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=1000 1000w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=2400 2400w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?w=3600 3600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />        </span>
  540.            <div class="promote-banner__text">
  541.                  <p class="promote-banner__eyebrow">
  542.            Read our complete coverage          </p>
  543.        
  544.        <h2 class="promote-banner__title">Israel’s War on Gaza</h2>
  545.      </div>
  546.    </a>
  547.  </aside>
  548.  
  549.  
  550.  
  551. <p>He said some professors “deserve to be saluted,” while others disappeared under the strain of genocide. Despite psychological exhaustion, faith kept him grounded. “I comforted myself with the Qur’an,” he said. “I learned to depend on myself — completely.”</p>
  552.  
  553.  
  554.  
  555. <p>“Education played a vital role in supporting the psychological and social endurance of students, faculty, and families alike,” said Sulaiman, a professor and specialist in educational foundations and administration. He stressed that professors worked hard to keep in touch with students under “extremely difficult circumstances.”</p>
  556.  
  557.  
  558.  
  559.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  560.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  561.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/05/17/palestine-gaza-war-education-school/"
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  567.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  568.        Related      </h2>
  569.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Students and Teachers in Gaza: “Education Itself Is a Form of Defiance”</h3>
  570.    </span>
  571.    </a>
  572.  </div>
  573.  
  574.  
  575.  
  576. <p>As Gaza rebuilds, professors are hoping to gradually reopen classrooms with essential furniture and equipment. They plan to prioritize laboratories and smart classrooms for hands-on training. And as soon as reconstruction allows, they hope for a full return to face-to-face education.</p>
  577.  
  578.  
  579.  
  580. <p>“The university’s future is tied to the country’s reconstruction,” Sulaiman said. “When Gaza rebuilds, the university will rise architecturally and become a leading institution. Curricula should also evolve to meet contemporary demands and develop students capable of thriving in modern life.”</p>
  581.  
  582.  
  583.  
  584. <p></p>
  585. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/07/gaza-universities-scholasticide-israel-palestine/">Gaza’s Students Kept Studying Amid the Rubble. Now Universities Hope to Rebuild.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  586. ]]></content:encoded>
  587.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/07/gaza-universities-scholasticide-israel-palestine/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  588.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  589.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2240962149-e1762449784626.jpg?fit=6720%2C3360' width='6720' height='3360' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">502748</post-id>
  590. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2240962149_803baa.jpg?fit=6720%2C4480" />
  591. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2240962149_803baa.jpg?fit=6720%2C4480" medium="image">
  592. <media:title type="html">GAZA CITY, GAZA - OCTOBER 16: A view of the area as many Palestinian families who were forced to migrate south due to Israeli attacks return to the Islamic University, where they previously stayed, as a ceasefire is established, despite many buildings being destroyed or heavily damaged by the attacks, on October 16, 2025. (Photo by Khames Alrefi/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
  593. </media:content>
  594. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/YouTube-deletes-Pal-accounts-crop-e1762272608972.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  595. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2234061775-e1762458214803.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  596. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Fighting Oligarchy town hall at the Leonard &#38; Claire Tow Center for the Performing Artson September 06, 2025 in New York City. Mamdani joined Sanders at his New York town hall after marching with union members in Manhattan’s Labor Day parade. Sanders, an early backer of Mamdani’s primary bid, has staged 34 rallies in 20 states since launching his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this year, aimed at challenging the power of billionaires and corporations in U.S. politics. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)</media:title>
  597. </media:content>
  598. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2193191415-e1762284870477.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  599. <media:title type="html">BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - JANUARY 13: Chief Spokesperson European Commission, Paula Pinho speaks during the daily press meeting in Brussels, Belgium on January 13, 2025. Pinho stated the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen continues her treatment in Hannover. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
  600. </media:content>
  601. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2223693298-e1757530760868.jpeg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  602. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GettyImages-1768403880-2.jpg?fit=300%2C150" medium="image">
  603. <media:title type="html">DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA - NOVEMBER 7: Civil defense teams and citizens continue search and rescue operations after an airstrike hits the building belonging to the Maslah family during the 32nd day of Israeli attacks in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza on November 7, 2023. (Photo by Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
  604. </media:content>
  605. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/AP25121611198346-e1747423436919.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  606.            </item>
  607.        
  608.            <item>
  609.                <title><![CDATA[Rand Paul Warns of “Warmongers,” but MAGA Rejects Venezuela War Powers Bill]]></title>
  610.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/venezuela-war-powers-maga-rand-paul/</link>
  611.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/venezuela-war-powers-maga-rand-paul/#respond</comments>
  612.                <pubDate>Thu, 06 Nov 2025 23:14:11 +0000</pubDate>
  613.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Matt Sledge]]></dc:creator>
  614.                                 <category><![CDATA[National Security]]></category>
  615. <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
  616.  
  617.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
  618.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>It was potentially the last chance for Paul, Tim Kaine, and Adam Schiff to block U.S. military action in Venezuela with a war powers resolution.</p>
  619. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/venezuela-war-powers-maga-rand-paul/">Rand Paul Warns of “Warmongers,” but MAGA Rejects Venezuela War Powers Bill</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  620. ]]></description>
  621.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  622. <p><span class="has-underline">A push to</span> block Donald Trump from making war on Venezuela fell short in the Senate on Thursday when nearly every Republican sided with the White House.</p>
  623.  
  624.  
  625.  
  626. <p>Advocates for the war powers resolution sought to cast it as an<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/venezuela-war-powers-maga-republican/"> embodiment of MAGA non-interventionism</a> in a bid to sway Republican senators. The GOP, however, largely lined up behind Trump instead as he mulls attacking Venezuela.</p>
  627.  
  628.  
  629.  
  630. <!-- BLOCK(pullquote)[0](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PULLQUOTE%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22pull%22%3A%22right%22%7D) --><blockquote class="stylized pull-right" data-shortcode-type="pullquote" data-pull="right"><!-- CONTENT(pullquote)[0] -->“For decades, the globalists in Washington have led our country into one disastrous foreign war after another.&#8221;<!-- END-CONTENT(pullquote)[0] --></blockquote><!-- END-BLOCK(pullquote)[0] -->
  631.  
  632.  
  633.  
  634. <p>Senators voted 51-49 against the resolution, dooming it even as a U.S. aircraft carrier <a href="https://taskandpurpose.com/tech-tactics/uss-gerald-r-ford-carrier-strike-group/">sailed toward the Caribbean</a>. The resolution would have faced long odds even if it had passed, since Trump could have vetoed it, as he did in 2019 in the face of a measure blocking him from supporting <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/04/18/trump-veto-yemen-saudi-arabia-mbs/">Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen</a>.</p>
  635.  
  636.  
  637.  
  638. <p>Using language drawn from the MAGA lexicon, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/90/cosponsors">lone Republican co-sponsor</a> of the measure, asked his colleagues on the Senate floor to block the potential strikes.</p>
  639.  
  640.  
  641.  
  642.  
  643.  
  644.  
  645.  
  646. <p>“For decades, the globalists in Washington have led our country into one disastrous foreign war after another, whether in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and now Venezuela,” Paul said. “The warmongers have recycled these experiments in regime change again and again, and what has it brought? Instability, chaos, suffering, and resentment. It is the height of arrogance to think we can forcibly remove the dictatorship in Venezuela and expect a different result.”</p>
  647.  
  648.  
  649.  
  650. <p>The sole Republican to vote in favor of the resolution with him was Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.</p>
  651.  
  652.  
  653.  
  654.  
  655.  
  656.  
  657. <p>Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who last month was <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/08/venezuela-boat-strikes-senate-war-powers/">the sole Democrat to vote against a different war powers resolution</a> aimed at blocking strikes on alleged drug boats, flipped to vote with the rest of his caucus on Thursday.</p>
  658.  
  659.  
  660.  
  661. <p>Ahead of the vote, Senate Foreign Relations Chair Jim Risch, R-Idaho, tried to rally Republican opposition to the war powers bill by noting that the White House had issued a statement against the resolution.</p>
  662.  
  663.  
  664.  
  665. <p>“President Trump has taken decisive action to protect thousands of Americans from lethal narcotics,” he said. “As commander-in-chief, the president sees a group of terrorists planning to harm America or our allies, he has the right — and not only the right, but the duty — to do something about it.”</p>
  666.  
  667.  
  668.  
  669.  
  670.  
  671.  
  672.  
  673. <p>Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said that while Risch’s comments focused on Trump’s on attacks at sea, the resolution up for a vote Thursday was about attacks on Venezuelan land.</p>
  674.  
  675.  
  676.  
  677. <p>“This is about the prospect, openly discussed by the president, for a land invasion of the sovereign nation of Venezuela. The president has not asserted a rationale for it,” he said.</p>
  678.  
  679.  
  680.  
  681. <p>The vote came amid reports that some Republican lawmakers <a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/11/05/congress/key-republicans-waver-ahead-of-war-powers-vote-00637591">are not satisfied with the administration’s justification</a> for its strikes on alleged drug boats. On Wednesday, top administration officials attempted to assure members of Congress in a briefing that they had no immediate plans to attack Venezuela — although they did not rule out strikes either, according to a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/politics/trump-venezuela-legal-congress-land">CNN report</a>.</p>
  682.  
  683.  
  684.  
  685.  
  686.  
  687.  
  688. <p>Trump has not openly committed to attacking Venezuela, but according to multiple reports he is considering military force aimed at destabilizing President Nicolás Maduro.</p>
  689.  
  690.  
  691.  
  692. <p>Strikes on Venezuelan territory itself would represent a dramatic escalation from the U.S. military’s <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/31/trump-venezuela-boat-strikes-unprivileged-belligerants/">extrajudicial killings of alleged drug trafficking boat crew members</a> in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean, which so far have claimed at least 67 lives.</p>
  693.  
  694.  
  695.  
  696. <p>Ahead of the vote, advocacy groups sought to convince GOP senators that the war powers resolution reflected Trump’s oft-stated hostility toward nation-building and regime change.</p>
  697. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/venezuela-war-powers-maga-rand-paul/">Rand Paul Warns of “Warmongers,” but MAGA Rejects Venezuela War Powers Bill</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  698. ]]></content:encoded>
  699.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/venezuela-war-powers-maga-rand-paul/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  700.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  701.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2235970442-e1762468405174.jpg?fit=5348%2C2680' width='5348' height='2680' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">502834</post-id>
  702. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/YouTube-deletes-Pal-accounts-crop-e1762272608972.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" />
  703. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/YouTube-deletes-Pal-accounts-crop-e1762272608972.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  704. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2234061775-e1762458214803.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  705. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Fighting Oligarchy town hall at the Leonard &#38; Claire Tow Center for the Performing Artson September 06, 2025 in New York City. Mamdani joined Sanders at his New York town hall after marching with union members in Manhattan’s Labor Day parade. Sanders, an early backer of Mamdani’s primary bid, has staged 34 rallies in 20 states since launching his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this year, aimed at challenging the power of billionaires and corporations in U.S. politics. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)</media:title>
  706. </media:content>
  707. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2193191415-e1762284870477.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  708. <media:title type="html">BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - JANUARY 13: Chief Spokesperson European Commission, Paula Pinho speaks during the daily press meeting in Brussels, Belgium on January 13, 2025. Pinho stated the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen continues her treatment in Hannover. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
  709. </media:content>
  710. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GettyImages-2238577683_3052da-e1759968677521.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  711. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243239687_dbe39f-e1762445247410.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  712.            </item>
  713.        
  714.            <item>
  715.                <title><![CDATA[New York’s Billionaires Are Bending the Knee to Zohran Mamdani]]></title>
  716.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/zohran-mamdani-wins-new-york-billionaires/</link>
  717.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/zohran-mamdani-wins-new-york-billionaires/#respond</comments>
  718.                <pubDate>Thu, 06 Nov 2025 20:53:34 +0000</pubDate>
  719.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Katherine Krueger]]></dc:creator>
  720.                                 <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
  721. <category><![CDATA[Voices]]></category>
  722.  
  723.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
  724.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>After fighting the democratic socialist’s candidacy tooth and nail, the city’s ruling class is lining up to shake his hand.</p>
  725. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/zohran-mamdani-wins-new-york-billionaires/">New York’s Billionaires Are Bending the Knee to Zohran Mamdani</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  726. ]]></description>
  727.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
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  733.    alt="NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Fighting Oligarchy town hall at the Leonard &amp; Claire Tow Center for the Performing Artson September 06, 2025 in New York City. Mamdani joined Sanders at his New York town hall after marching with union members in Manhattan’s Labor Day parade. Sanders, an early backer of Mamdani’s primary bid, has staged 34 rallies in 20 states since launching his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this year, aimed at challenging the power of billionaires and corporations in U.S. politics. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)"
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  735.    height="4000"
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  737.  />
  738.      <figcaption class="photo__figcaption">
  739.      <span class="photo__caption">Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Fighting Oligarchy town hall on Sept. 6, 2025, in New York City.</span>&nbsp;<span class="photo__credit">Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images</span>    </figcaption>
  740.    </figure>
  741.  
  742.  
  743.  
  744. <p><span class="has-underline">Boy does it</span> feel good in New York City. On Tuesday night, just over 30 minutes after polls closed, Zohran Mamdani <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/nyc-mayor-election-results-zohran-mamdani-cuomo/">won the election</a> to become the city’s next mayor. To do so, he overcame substantial political headwinds: The man who will be our first Muslim mayor was constantly <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/zohran-mamdani-antisemitism-islamophobic-israel/">tarred as an antisemite</a> and, as too often seems to follow, was subject to an undercurrent of Islamophobic attacks about “sharia law” and “global jihad” throughout the race. Mamdani also faced the city’s <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/06/24/zohran-mamdani-andrew-cuomo-nyc-mayor/">ruling class of millionaires and billionaires</a>, who engaged in some heartwarming class solidarity by <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/30/mamdani-cuomo-nyc-mayor-bid-billionaire-spending.html">spending tens of millions</a> against him and vowing to flee the headquarters of global capital if he won, which perhaps motivated ordinary New Yorkers to turn out to support the mayor-elect. In other words, the New York assembly member stared down the ruling class and still won.</p>
  745.  
  746.  
  747.  
  748. <p>In a stunning turn of events, many of those high-class naysayers have come right back around to offer a helping hand in governing the city, effectively bending the knee to the man they cast as an existential threat.</p>
  749.  
  750.  
  751.  
  752.  
  753.  
  754.  
  755.  
  756. <p>Chiefest among these converts is billionaire hedge fund mogul Bill Ackman, who famously contributed nearly $2 million of his own money to efforts to kill Mamdani’s candidacy and <a href="https://x.com/BillAckman/status/1938094628034506984">warned </a>on social media that the city would “become much more dangerous and economically unviable” after Mamdani routed former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the June Democratic primary. In that same Twitter tome, Ackman promised there were “hundreds of million of dollars of capital available” if the right candidate would simply throw his hat in the race, and reduced the democratic will of the people to a plug-and-play scheme where this mythical person would be able to defeat Mamdani simply by running Michael Bloomberg’s “how-to-win-the-mayoralty IP.” (It’s well worth noting that New York saw the highest turnout in a mayoral election in <a href="https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/politics/nyc-voter-turnout-breaking-records/6414233/">more than 50 years</a>.) As a result, it was with no small measure of glee that I read the Pershing Square Capital boss’s <a href="https://x.com/BillAckman/status/1985909487363113246">tweet </a>on Tuesday night at-ing Mamdani: “congrats on the win. Now you have a big responsibility. If I can help NYC, just let me know what I can do.” A rival billionaire hedge fund guy responded by calling this olive branch “<a href="https://nypost.com/2025/11/05/business/nyc-moguls-rip-bill-ackman-for-congratulating-zohran-mamdani/">gimp-like</a>.” If that’s what it takes, so be it!</p>
  757.  
  758.  
  759.  
  760.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  761.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  762.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/05/briefing-podcast-democrats-election-results-zohran-mamdani/"
  763.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
  764.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: briefing-podcast-democrats-election-results-zohran-mamdani"
  765.      data-ga-track-label="briefing-podcast-democrats-election-results-zohran-mamdani"
  766.          >
  767.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Post-Election-MidTerm-Signals.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  768.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  769.        Related      </h2>
  770.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Democrats Swept Tuesday Night’s Election. Now What?</h3>
  771.    </span>
  772.    </a>
  773.  </div>
  774.  
  775.  
  776.  
  777. <p>Elsewhere in the world of high finance, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who previously <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/jamie-dimon-criticizes-zohran-mamdani-marxist-blasts-democrats-dei-push-big-hearts-little-brain">called </a>Mamdani “more a Marxist than a socialist” and slammed him as pushing “ideological mush that means nothing in the real world,” is also offering his help. In an <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/05/business/mamdani-mayor-jamie-dimon-detroit">interview with CNN</a> on Wednesday, Dimon urged Mamdani to call up the outgoing mayor of Detroit for advice because “that’s the way you learn,” which is more than a little bit condescending. The billionaire also said he left a message for Mamdani the day after the election and selflessly offered to meet with him: “If I find it productive, I’ll continue to do it.” (The mayor-elect, for his part, responded that he’d take the CEO up on the offer, despite not agreeing across “every single issue.”) With all due respect, New York City is not Detroit, a city that was hollowed out by corporate flight, and Dimon, whose bank has<a href="https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/jpmorgan-investment-detroit-model-plans-other-us-cities-2025-11-05/"> invested $2 billion </a>in that city’s recovery, seems to know this full well. Detroit “wasn’t like New York, which is kind of healthy,” he told CNN. That’s a real understatement, especially for the ultra-wealthy.</p>
  778.  
  779.  
  780.  
  781. <p>Elsewhere, the crypto billionaire Mike Novogratz urged his countrymen to reach out to Mamdani. “Once he’s the mayor, we’ve got to be sure he’s successful in keeping New York a thriving community,” he <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-05/mamdani-gets-wary-wall-street-s-support-after-nyc-mayoral-election-win">told </a>Bloomberg News on Wednesday, a “community” for whom Novogratz did not say. “He’s tapping into a message that’s real: that we’ve got a tale of two cities in the Dickensian sense, to a degree we haven’t seen since we’ve been alive, and can you address the affordability issue in creative ways without driving business out.” The crypto industry might mourn the <a href="https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2025/10/mayor-adams-takes-action-to-position-new-york-city-as-global-cap">booster it had</a> in the outgoing mayor, but something tells me “business” at large is going to be alright.</p>
  782.  
  783.  
  784.  
  785.  
  786.  
  787.  
  788.  
  789. <p>This isn’t to say everyone at the top has gracefully accepted the results. Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, whose company was severely affected by new city rules limiting short-term rentals and who <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/nyregion/cuomo-super-pac-nyc-mayoral-election-mamdani.html">donated $2 million</a> total to two anti-Mamdani super PACs, hasn’t publicly reacted to the news. Bloomberg, the former mayor who poured $5 million into fighting <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/11/05/us-news/new-york-posts-cover-on-zohran-mamdani-election-sold-out-in-nyc-and-already-being-resold-on-e-bay/">the red menace</a>, has also stayed quiet. <a href="https://newrepublic.com/post/202770/rudy-giuliani-repubicans-react-zohran-mamdani-win">Crashouts abounded</a> lower on the tax bracket as well.</p>
  790.  
  791.  
  792.  
  793. <p>It remains to be seen how Mamdani will govern and how big business will respond. Many onlookers have been eager to point out that the facts of governance and the world as it exists today will likely involve compromises and, as a result, disappointments. I’m sure many New Yorkers would love for Mamdani to leave these billionaires on read for all eternity, but New Yorkers are not known for their naiveté. It’s still a giddy feeling to see the masters of the universe sweat and prostrate themselves, if only for now. Our lame-duck, court-jester mayor got at least one thing right during his tenure: The haters truly do become your waiters at <a href="https://tableofsuccess.hellgatenyc.com/">the table of success</a>.</p>
  794. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/zohran-mamdani-wins-new-york-billionaires/">New York’s Billionaires Are Bending the Knee to Zohran Mamdani</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  795. ]]></content:encoded>
  796.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/zohran-mamdani-wins-new-york-billionaires/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  797.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  798.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2234061775-e1762458214803.jpg?fit=6000%2C3000' width='6000' height='3000' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">502785</post-id>
  799. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2234061775_d9fc8a.jpg?fit=6000%2C4000" />
  800. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2234061775_d9fc8a.jpg?fit=6000%2C4000" medium="image">
  801. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Fighting Oligarchy town hall at the Leonard &#38; Claire Tow Center for the Performing Artson September 06, 2025 in New York City. Mamdani joined Sanders at his New York town hall after marching with union members in Manhattan’s Labor Day parade. Sanders, an early backer of Mamdani’s primary bid, has staged 34 rallies in 20 states since launching his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this year, aimed at challenging the power of billionaires and corporations in U.S. politics. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)</media:title>
  802. </media:content>
  803. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/YouTube-deletes-Pal-accounts-crop-e1762272608972.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  804. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2193191415-e1762284870477.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  805. <media:title type="html">BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - JANUARY 13: Chief Spokesperson European Commission, Paula Pinho speaks during the daily press meeting in Brussels, Belgium on January 13, 2025. Pinho stated the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen continues her treatment in Hannover. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
  806. </media:content>
  807. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243051340_9b22dd-e1762316099565.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  808. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 24: Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic front-runner in the New York City mayoral race, prepares to speak outside a Bronx Mosque and cultural center on October 24, 2025 in the Bronx borough of New York City. Mamdani used the afternoon news conference to respond to Andrew Cuomo, his main rival, after Cuomo suggested Thursday that Mamdani would cheer if the 9/11 attacks happened again. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)</media:title>
  809. </media:content>
  810. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Post-Election-MidTerm-Signals.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  811.            </item>
  812.        
  813.            <item>
  814.                <title><![CDATA[Trump’s Federal Cops Just Gave Themselves Expansive Anti-Protest Powers Targeting Masks]]></title>
  815.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/trump-federal-protective-service-protests/</link>
  816.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/trump-federal-protective-service-protests/#respond</comments>
  817.                <pubDate>Thu, 06 Nov 2025 19:19:07 +0000</pubDate>
  818.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Matt Sledge]]></dc:creator>
  819.                                 <category><![CDATA[Justice]]></category>
  820.  
  821.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
  822.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>The Trump administration’s fast-tracked rules grant the Federal Protective Service sweeping powers to make arrests off federal property.</p>
  823. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/trump-federal-protective-service-protests/">Trump’s Federal Cops Just Gave Themselves Expansive Anti-Protest Powers Targeting Masks</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  824. ]]></description>
  825.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  826. <p><span class="has-underline">Citing “civil unrest”</span> in American cities, the Department of Homeland Security has accelerated new regulations meant to expand the powers of a little-known federal police force.</p>
  827.  
  828.  
  829.  
  830. <p>The new rules drew scant notice when they were first proposed during the twilight of the Biden administration. Now, using language about “rioters” at federal facilities, the Trump administration is fast-tracking the rule changes — which critics say DHS could use as a pretext to go after protesters wearing frog costumes or making a racket on the streets of Chicago and Portland, Oregon.</p>
  831.  
  832.  
  833.  
  834. <p>The new regulations could empower the Federal Protective Service, a little-known police force under DHS tasked with securing federal facilities, to pursue more arrests outside of federal property itself. The Federal Protective Service has played has played an outsized role in Trump’s crackdown on Democratic-majority cities, where protests against U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement have turned into scenes of brutal crowd dispersal and arrests.</p>
  835.  
  836.  
  837.  
  838. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“It is clear that DHS sees what is in this regulation as a go-ahead to operate well off federal property.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  839.  
  840.  
  841.  
  842. <p>“It is clear that DHS sees what is in this regulation as a go-ahead to operate well off federal property, including potentially in private homes and businesses and the like,” said Spencer Reynolds, a former Homeland Security lawyer turned critic. “We are seeing that play out on U.S. streets. Federal agents are taking a really aggressive hand to protesters who are largely peaceful.”</p>
  843.  
  844.  
  845.  
  846. <p>Among the new rules was the criminalization of protesters wearing masks. The mask ban ostensibly applies only to those trying to conceal their identity during a crime, but the Trump administration has taken an expansive view of criminal behavior in protests that includes an array of First Amendment-protected activity.</p>
  847.  
  848.  
  849.  
  850. <p>The Department of Homeland Security said in a <a href="https://public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2025-19793.pdf">written filing </a>Tuesday that it was bypassing the standard notice process and moving up the effective date of the <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/01/15/2024-31206/protection-of-federal-property">new rules</a> by two months to address a “cascade of violence, which is threatening the lives of federal law enforcement officers and the safety of federal property on a daily basis.” On Wednesday, the agency <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/11/05/dhs-announces-advanced-charging-authority-address-rioter-violence-federal-buildings">announced</a> the expedited changes.</p>
  851.  
  852.  
  853.  
  854. <p>“Under President Trump and Secretary [Kristi] Noem, we will not tolerate violence perpetuated by Antifa and other domestic extremists who are targeting federal property and law enforcement. Law and order will prevail,” Homeland Security assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in the announcement.</p>
  855.  
  856.  
  857.  
  858. <p>The Federal Protective Service has the power to deputize agents from Customs and Border Protection and ICE to enforce the regulations, which carry the force of law.</p>
  859.  
  860.  
  861.  
  862.  
  863.  
  864.  
  865.  
  866. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-rushed-rule-change"><strong>Rushed Rule Change</strong></h2>
  867.  
  868.  
  869.  
  870. <p>When the Department of Homeland Security proposed the new regulations on January 15, five days before Trump’s inauguration, they drew little attention. Only a single person <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/docket/DHS-2024-0033/comments">submitted a comment</a> to the rule-making docket.</p>
  871.  
  872.  
  873.  
  874. <p>Perhaps that was because the Federal Protective Service has long flown under the radar. With roughly 900 officers, the agency is charged with protecting thousands of federal buildings and their grounds. Its mission and staffing were expanded after the 1995 Oklahoma City federal building bombing and the September 11 attacks.</p>
  875.  
  876.  
  877.  
  878. <p>Moreover, the Department of Homeland Security cast the new rules as mostly a matter of bureaucratic housekeeping. Yet they could give the Trump administration new tools to go after protesters, as the department seemed to acknowledge in the Tuesday notice that it was moving up their effective date from January 1, 2026.</p>
  879.  
  880.  
  881.  
  882. <p>“DHS finds that there is ‘good cause’ to bypass notice-and-comment rulemaking and a delayed effective date, because such procedures are impracticable here,” the agency said. “There is an immediate need for DHS to move up the effective date of the June 2025 rule, because of the recent increase in civil unrest, targeting of federal law enforcement officials, and destruction of federal property across U.S. jurisdictions.”</p>
  883.  
  884.  
  885.  
  886. <p>The new rules expand the number of buildings where the Federal Protective Service can issue citations, and they create new categories of misdemeanor violations. Perhaps most notably, they also purport to expand the police force’s ability to investigate and enforce violations of “off-property misconduct.”</p>
  887.  
  888.  
  889.  
  890. <p>Under previous rules, unless there was either a specific federal criminal statute or a memorandum of understanding that would allow the Department of Homeland Security to enforce state and local laws, the agency’s hands were tied when it came to some types of “off-property” activity.</p>
  891.  
  892.  
  893.  
  894. <p>The changes, the department said in January, “serve to fill the void where there is no applicable federal statutory charge applicable to the conduct and no MOU permitting DHS to charge state or local offenses.”</p>
  895.  
  896.  
  897.  <aside class="promote-banner">
  898.    <a class="promote-banner__link" href="https://theintercept.com/collections/chilling-dissent/">
  899.              <span class="promote-banner__image">
  900.          <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="150" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?fit=300%2C150" class="attachment-medium size-medium" alt="" srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1536 1536w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=300 300w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=768 768w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1024 1024w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=540 540w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1000 1000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />        </span>
  901.            <div class="promote-banner__text">
  902.                  <p class="promote-banner__eyebrow">
  903.            Read our complete coverage          </p>
  904.        
  905.        <h2 class="promote-banner__title">Chilling Dissent</h2>
  906.      </div>
  907.    </a>
  908.  </aside>
  909.  
  910.  
  911.  
  912. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-unmasking-protesters"><strong>Unmasking Protesters</strong></h2>
  913.  
  914.  
  915.  
  916. <p>Newly banned “off-property” activities include wearing disguises, creating loud noises that disrupt government employees, or blocking the entrances and exits to federal property. While some of that behavior was previously banned on federal grounds, the mask provision is entirely new.</p>
  917.  
  918.  
  919.  
  920. <p>The Department of Homeland Security said in January that the mask ban would be “expressly limited to instances when a person is concealing his/her identity to avoid detection while violating an applicable law.”</p>
  921.  
  922.  
  923.  
  924. <p>Still, the provision is ripe for abuse, said Reynolds, the former Homeland Security attorney who now serves as a senior counsel in the Brennan Center’s liberty and national Security program.</p>
  925.  
  926.  
  927.  
  928. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“There is a significant risk that this will become another basis for targeting activists.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  929.  
  930.  
  931.  
  932. <p>“There is a significant risk that this will become another basis for targeting activists who may be wearing masks or full-body frog costumes, as we have seen in the past few months,” he said. “It gives another justification for federal agents to build a questionable narrative that these people are dangerous, and also for them to incorporate that in citations and criminal charges.”</p>
  933.  
  934.  
  935.  
  936. <p>The new regulations seem to be part of a larger push from the Trump administration to unleash the Federal Protective Service. In a memo last month <a href="https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/dhs-fps-memo-mazzara-chicago-portland">obtained by journalist Marisa Kabas</a>, the Homeland Security acting general counsel said there is “no legal barrier to FPS taking action off federal property where a reasonable nexus to protecting that property exists.”</p>
  937.  
  938.  
  939.  
  940.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  941.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  942.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/01/briefing-podcast-kat-abughazaleh-indictment-protest/"
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  946.          >
  947.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Kat-Abughazaleh-crop-e1761927116502.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  948.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  949.        Related      </h2>
  950.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Kat Abughazaleh on the Right to Protest</h3>
  951.    </span>
  952.    </a>
  953.  </div>
  954.  
  955.  
  956.  
  957. <p>No matter what the new regulations purport to do, they cannot give the Department of Homeland Security more powers than Congress or the Constitution have granted, said Athul Acharya, executive director of the Portland-based nonprofit law firm Public Accountability.</p>
  958.  
  959.  
  960.  
  961. <p>Acharya in 2020 helped <a href="https://www.rcfp.org/briefs-comments/index-v-us-marshals-service/">win an injunction</a> barring federal agents from targeting journalists for arrest during the George Floyd protests.</p>
  962.  
  963.  
  964.  
  965. <p>He said, “Whatever powers the Trump administration may have, or think it has, or tries to give itself, it can’t authorize the use of excessive force, it can’t stop people from exercising their right to free speech, and it can’t stop reporters from reporting on what’s happening at federal properties.”</p>
  966.  
  967.  
  968.  
  969.  
  970.  
  971.  
  972.  
  973. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-trump-s-crackdown-cops"><strong>Trump’s Crackdown Cops</strong></h2>
  974.  
  975.  
  976.  
  977. <p>Since Trump’s first term, the Federal Protective Service has stood at the center of legal debates over the extent of his authority to crack down on defiant American cities.</p>
  978.  
  979.  
  980.  
  981. <p>In 2020, Federal Protective Service officers faced off against demonstrators in Portland during the racial justice protests there. Bolstered by deputized agents from Border Patrol, the federal government’s response included <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/us/portland-protests.html">grabbing people into unmarked vans.</a></p>
  982.  
  983.  
  984.  
  985. <p>Three years ago, Federal Protective Service officers were accused of instigating a confrontation with abortion rights protesters in Los Angeles, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-05-05/why-were-federal-police-squaring-off-with-abortion-rights-protesters-in-l-a-s-streets">half a mile away from the courthouse</a> where a protest against a pending Supreme Court decision began.</p>
  986.  
  987.  
  988.  
  989.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  990.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  991.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/07/23/feds-criminalize-protests-masked-ice/"
  992.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
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  995.          >
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  997.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  998.        Related      </h2>
  999.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Feds Make It a Crime to Give PPE to ICE Protesters</h3>
  1000.    </span>
  1001.    </a>
  1002.  </div>
  1003.  
  1004.  
  1005.  
  1006. <p>More recently, the Justice Department was caught <a href="https://www.opb.org/article/2025/10/28/portland-oregon-national-guard-deployment-ice-protest/">overstating</a> the number of Federal Protective Service officers who were shuffled to Portland in response to this year’s protests against mass deportation, in an effort to bolster the legal case for sending the National Guard to backstop them.</p>
  1007.  
  1008.  
  1009.  
  1010. <p>Reynolds, the former Homeland Security lawyer, has <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/inside-federal-protective-service-homeland-securitys-domestic-police">called for limiting the agency’s powers</a> to ensure that it cannot be used for political repression. He acknowledged that is a long shot with this Congress, but he says local governments can take actions such as limiting data sharing in the meantime.</p>
  1011.  
  1012.  
  1013.  
  1014. <p>“Cities and states,” he said, “are absolutely in their right to opt out from helping the Federal Protective Service and other agencies go after their residents who are protesting and expressing dissent.”</p>
  1015. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/trump-federal-protective-service-protests/">Trump’s Federal Cops Just Gave Themselves Expansive Anti-Protest Powers Targeting Masks</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  1016. ]]></content:encoded>
  1017.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/trump-federal-protective-service-protests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  1018.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  1019.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-1227759602-e1762453952733.jpg?fit=5239%2C2620' width='5239' height='2620' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">502762</post-id>
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  1021. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/YouTube-deletes-Pal-accounts-crop-e1762272608972.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
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  1023. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Fighting Oligarchy town hall at the Leonard &#38; Claire Tow Center for the Performing Artson September 06, 2025 in New York City. Mamdani joined Sanders at his New York town hall after marching with union members in Manhattan’s Labor Day parade. Sanders, an early backer of Mamdani’s primary bid, has staged 34 rallies in 20 states since launching his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this year, aimed at challenging the power of billionaires and corporations in U.S. politics. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)</media:title>
  1024. </media:content>
  1025. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2193191415-e1762284870477.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  1026. <media:title type="html">BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - JANUARY 13: Chief Spokesperson European Commission, Paula Pinho speaks during the daily press meeting in Brussels, Belgium on January 13, 2025. Pinho stated the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen continues her treatment in Hannover. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
  1027. </media:content>
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  1032.        
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  1034.                <title><![CDATA[Last-Ditch Effort to Block Trump’s Venezuela War Appeals to MAGA Republicans]]></title>
  1035.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/venezuela-war-powers-maga-republican/</link>
  1036.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/venezuela-war-powers-maga-republican/#respond</comments>
  1037.                <pubDate>Thu, 06 Nov 2025 16:20:33 +0000</pubDate>
  1038.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Matt Sledge]]></dc:creator>
  1039.                                 <category><![CDATA[National Security]]></category>
  1040. <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
  1041.  
  1042.                <guid isPermaLink="false">https://theintercept.com/?p=502732</guid>
  1043.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>With a War Powers vote looming in the Senate, advocates are pointing to Trump’s past opposition to regime change wars.</p>
  1044. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/venezuela-war-powers-maga-republican/">Last-Ditch Effort to Block Trump’s Venezuela War Appeals to MAGA Republicans</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  1045. ]]></description>
  1046.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  1047. <p><span class="has-underline">With time running</span> out before an American aircraft carrier arrives in the Caribbean, Democrats and advocates are making one final pitch to Republican lawmakers to stop Donald Trump from making war on Venezuela.</p>
  1048.  
  1049.  
  1050.  
  1051. <p>Those advocates are trying to speak the language that Trump has sometimes adopted of opposing regime change wars abroad.</p>
  1052.  
  1053.  
  1054.  
  1055. <p>Though Trump himself is reportedly toying with the idea of strikes aimed at toppling Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, his far-right Make American Great Again movement has elements that shy away from expensive, large-scale interventionism abroad.</p>
  1056.  
  1057.  
  1058.  
  1059. <p>Whereas the hawks dominated the Republican Party two decades ago, the anti-interventionist wing of the party has gained steam in recent years since Trump ran in 2016 on opposing the folly of the Iraq War and the fallout of U.S. intervention in Libya.</p>
  1060.  
  1061.  
  1062.  
  1063.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  1064.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  1065.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/09/venezuela-boat-oil-trump-latin-america/"
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  1070.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/AP25140713197361.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  1071.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  1072.        Related      </h2>
  1073.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">The Rift in Trump World Over Venezuela</h3>
  1074.    </span>
  1075.    </a>
  1076.  </div>
  1077.  
  1078.  
  1079.  
  1080. <p>With what could be one final chance on Thursday night to stop Trump from attacking Venezuela — senators are poised to vote on a War Powers Resolution preventing strikes — opponents of a broader war are hoping to exploit that split. And the advocates urging restraint are pitting MAGA rhetoric against hawkish positions taken by figures like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, reportedly one of the<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/us/politics/trump-weighs-attacks-venezuela.html"> loudest voices</a> urging Trump to take more aggressive action in Latin America.</p>
  1081.  
  1082.  
  1083.  
  1084. <p>Republicans mostly rejected the idea of blocking Trump <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/08/venezuela-boat-strikes-senate-war-powers/">when it came to his strikes on alleged narco-boats last month</a>, but Democrats and advocacy groups hope that a few more will flip when faced with the potential of all-out war.</p>
  1085.  
  1086.  
  1087.  
  1088. <p>They are pointing to the experience of Libya after former President Barack Obama launched an intervention there that caused a massive increase in immigration to Europe.</p>
  1089.  
  1090.  
  1091.  
  1092. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“Voting for this resolution is a vote against the Rubio approach inspired by the Bush-Cheney years.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  1093.  
  1094.  
  1095.  
  1096. <p>The coalition of anti-interventionist groups made their pitch to Republicans in a letter, obtained by The Intercept, being sent to senators ahead of the vote.</p>
  1097.  
  1098.  
  1099.  
  1100. <p>“Recent reporting shows that Rubio has not managed to convince Trump to launch this war, and for good reason,” said Erik Sperling, whose group Just Foreign Policy signed the letter. “A regime change war would harm Trump&#8217;s popularity and agenda. Voting for this resolution is a vote against the Rubio approach inspired by the Bush-Cheney years, and it will actually help prevent Trump from being trapped into making a grave mistake.”</p>
  1101.  
  1102.  
  1103.  
  1104. <p>Trump and other MAGA figures like Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard have scathingly criticized Obama’s approach on Libya.</p>
  1105.  
  1106.  
  1107.  
  1108. <p>A similar push to constrain Trump, from figures inside and outside MAGA world, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/06/28/fetterman-iran-trump-war-powers/">fell short in the lead-up and aftermath of his administration’s strikes on Iran</a> in June.</p>
  1109.  
  1110.  
  1111.  
  1112.  
  1113.  
  1114.  
  1115.  
  1116. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-second-try-to-restrain-trump"><strong>Second Try to Restrain Trump</strong></h2>
  1117.  
  1118.  
  1119.  
  1120. <p>The resolution up for a vote in the Senate on Thursday night is co-sponsored by Democratic Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Adam Schiff of California, along with Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.</p>
  1121.  
  1122.  
  1123.  
  1124. <p>Paul and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska were the only two Republicans to vote in favor of the war powers resolution last month aimed at stopping the strikes on alleged drug boats.</p>
  1125.  
  1126.  
  1127.  
  1128. <p>Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., was the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/08/venezuela-boat-strikes-senate-war-powers/">sole Democrat to vote against the resolution</a> and in support of the Trump administration policy. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how he plans to vote Thursday night.</p>
  1129.  
  1130.  
  1131.  
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  1143.    </span>
  1144.    </a>
  1145.  </div>
  1146.  
  1147.  
  1148.  
  1149. <p>The latest resolution differs from the last one in focusing squarely on strikes on Venezuelan soil, rather than the open waters where the attacks on alleged drug boats have taken place.</p>
  1150.  
  1151.  
  1152.  
  1153. <p>Trump is considering military action aimed at toppling Maduro, according to multiple reports. The USS Gerald Ford, a powerful aircraft carrier, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-sends-worlds-most-powerful-warship-latin-america-historic-echoes-regime-change">could enable air attacks once it arrives in the Caribbean</a> from a tour in the Mediterranean.</p>
  1154.  
  1155.  
  1156.  
  1157. <p>Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna said in a statement that military action against Venezuela could lead to the type of “nation-building” that Trump has disdained in the past.</p>
  1158.  
  1159.  
  1160.  
  1161. <p>“Sadly, President Trump and JD Vance are betraying their promise to stay out of new regime change wars, so the U.S. Senate needs to step up and stop them,” Khanna said. “The American people are sick and tired of endless regime change wars.”</p>
  1162. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/venezuela-war-powers-maga-republican/">Last-Ditch Effort to Block Trump’s Venezuela War Appeals to MAGA Republicans</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  1163. ]]></content:encoded>
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  1165.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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  1171.        
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  1173.                <title><![CDATA[New York’s Largest ICE Prison Dogged by Allegations of Shoddy Medical Care]]></title>
  1174.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/batavia-ice-medical-care-buffalo/</link>
  1175.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/batavia-ice-medical-care-buffalo/#respond</comments>
  1176.                <pubDate>Thu, 06 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  1177.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[J. Dale Shoemaker]]></dc:creator>
  1178.                                 <category><![CDATA[Justice]]></category>
  1179.  
  1180.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
  1181.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>“I shouldn’t have lost my fingers,” one detainee said of ICE guards’ failure to get him the care a doctor prescribed.</p>
  1182. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/batavia-ice-medical-care-buffalo/">New York’s Largest ICE Prison Dogged by Allegations of Shoddy Medical Care</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  1183. ]]></description>
  1184.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  1185. <p><span class="has-underline">U.S. Immigration and</span> Customs Enforcement agents and staff have administered what experts said was shoddy medical treatment to at least a dozen detainees at its Batavia, New York, facility in the past two years, according to the findings of a new investigation.</p>
  1186.  
  1187.  
  1188.  
  1189. <p>Serious injuries went untreated, medications were denied or scaled back, and needed medical appointments were delayed at the ICE detention center, the state’s largest, located near Buffalo.</p>
  1190.  
  1191.  
  1192.  
  1193. <p>In one case, a Nigerian migrant arrived in February at the Batavia ICE detention facility suffering frostbite. A doctor who provided emergency care ordered that he see a specialist within a week before releasing him into ICE’s custody. Agents in Batavia never took him to the appointment. By the time he saw a doctor, it was too late to save his fingers; parts of six were later amputated.</p>
  1194.  
  1195.  
  1196.  
  1197. <p>In another case, <a href="https://rfkhumanrights.org/litigation/ceesay-v-kurzdorfer-defending-due-process-at-ice-check-ins/">a Gambian man</a> with numerous heart issues was detained by ICE in February after he showed up for a routine check-in appointment. The man went two weeks without his medications. He suffered a stroke-like syndrome as a result, according to a doctor.</p>
  1198.  
  1199.  
  1200.  
  1201. <!-- BLOCK(pullquote)[0](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PULLQUOTE%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22pull%22%3A%22right%22%7D) --><blockquote class="stylized pull-right" data-shortcode-type="pullquote" data-pull="right"><!-- CONTENT(pullquote)[0] -->“It certainly appears to be a violation of ICE&#8217;s own detention standards.”<!-- END-CONTENT(pullquote)[0] --></blockquote><!-- END-BLOCK(pullquote)[0] -->
  1202.  
  1203.  
  1204.  
  1205. <p>Attorneys and other detainee advocates said in interviews that the cases documented by this reporting are indicative of a wider problem. And a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/08/16/1190767610/ice-detention-immigration-government-inspectors-barbaric-negligent-conditions">2023 investigation by NPR</a> found similar problems across ICE’s network of detention centers.</p>
  1206.  
  1207.  
  1208.  
  1209. <p>Sophie Dalsimer, an attorney with <a href="https://www.nylpi.org/team/sophie-dalsimer/">New York Lawyers for the Public Interest</a> who has studied medical treatment in ICE facilities in New York, said the agency’s treatment of detainees amounts to “medical neglect in a legal sense.”</p>
  1210.  
  1211.  
  1212.  
  1213. <p>“The lack of medical care, and with ICE being deliberately indifferent to people&#8217;s medical needs, could, in many of these instances, rise to the level of a constitutional violation,” she said. “It certainly appears to be a violation of ICE&#8217;s own detention standards.”</p>
  1214.  
  1215.  
  1216.  
  1217. <p>Those <a href="https://www.ice.gov/doclib/detention-standards/2011/pbnds2011r2016.pdf">standards</a> include providing prescribed medications, timely responses to medical complaints, and hospitalization as needed.&nbsp;</p>
  1218.  
  1219.  
  1220.  
  1221. <p>The Batavia facility, officially called the Buffalo (Batavia) Service Processing Center, <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26035330-dhs-oig-report-on-ice-batavia-june-2025/">lacks a doctor and dentist</a> working on-site, this investigation found.That’s for a 650-bed detention center that’s been <a href="https://www.investigativepost.org/2025/10/03/ice-facility-batavia-overcrowded-2025/">overcapacity for months</a> due to the Trump administration’s <a href="https://www.investigativepost.org/2025/07/17/latinos-roofers-are-prime-ice-targets-in-wny/">crackdown</a> on migrants.</p>
  1222.  
  1223.  
  1224.  
  1225. <p>A Department of Homeland Security inspector general <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26035330-dhs-oig-report-on-ice-batavia-june-2025/">report</a> published in June noted that “staffing shortages caused delays in dental and off-site specialty care.” Between September 2024 and February 2025, the report said, ICE had a 150-person backlog of detainees who required outside medical treatment and were waiting for appointments.</p>
  1226.  
  1227.  
  1228.  
  1229. <p>That problem was noted previously in a 2018 <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23814500-10-buffalo-federal/">Civil Rights and Civil Liberties investigation</a> into medical care at Batavia. That audit gave the facility a passing grade but also found “several examples of detainees waiting for various specialty health care services for more than a month.” In one case, a detainee waited 168 days for an endocrinology appointment. In another case, the auditor found that a detainee requested an outside doctor appointment for blood in his stool, but that ICE deleted the request from its internal system.</p>
  1230.  
  1231.  
  1232.  
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  1244.    </span>
  1245.    </a>
  1246.  </div>
  1247.  
  1248.  
  1249.  
  1250. <p>“It&#8217;s just freak luck that no one has died in Batavia in the last two years,” said Aaron Krupp, the regional coordinator at <a href="https://www.justiceformigrantfamilies.org/">Justice for Migrant Families</a>. “But the way that they have treated people, people really easily could have died.”</p>
  1251.  
  1252.  
  1253.  
  1254. <p>This story is based on a review of nearly 600 pages of court filings from seven lawsuits, medical records, and other documents, as well as interviews with a dozen people including detainees, attorneys, and other experts. Neither ICE nor DHS, its parent agency, responded to detailed questions and requests for about each case in this story.</p>
  1255.  
  1256.  
  1257.  
  1258. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-injuries-go-untreated"><strong>Injuries Go Untreated</strong></h2>
  1259.  
  1260.  
  1261.  
  1262. <p>Chidi Nwagbo moved from Nigeria to the U.S. in 1988, living for 37 years as a “model resident” with no criminal history, according to his attorney. When Donald Trump took office in January, he said in a July interview, “things just went helter-skelter, like raids everywhere, and I didn&#8217;t know what to do.”</p>
  1263.  
  1264.  
  1265.  
  1266. <p>He made a plan to move to Canada to live with his brother and paid a smuggler $2,000 to shepherd him and three other migrants into Quebec. The final leg of the journey required them to cross the border on foot, but Nwagbo said he was unprepared for freezing temperatures and waist-deep snow. He and a woman in his party eventually called the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to rescue them.</p>
  1267.  
  1268.  
  1269.  
  1270. <p>After a hospital stint, he was released into federal immigration custody on February 10 with orders from a doctor that he see a specialist at Kessler Burn and Trauma Center in Rochester, New York, to treat his frostbitten fingers within a week. Nwagbo’s medical records, which he shared for this investigation, show the physician made a referral to a specific specialist. ICE never took him to the appointment, according to Nwagbo’s medical records. By the time he saw a different doctor at a different practice 16 days later, his fingers were too far gone. Amputations would be necessary, the doctor told him. He’s now missing portions of six fingers.</p>
  1271.  
  1272.  
  1273.  
  1274. <p>“I shouldn&#8217;t have lost my fingers,” he said.</p>
  1275.  
  1276.  
  1277.  
  1278. <figure class="wp-block-ft-photo is-style-default">
  1279.    <img decoding="async"
  1280.    src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/chidi-nwagbo-medical-discharge-paperwork.jpg?fit=3839%2C1191"
  1281.    srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/chidi-nwagbo-medical-discharge-paperwork.jpg?w=3839 3839w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/chidi-nwagbo-medical-discharge-paperwork.jpg?w=300 300w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/chidi-nwagbo-medical-discharge-paperwork.jpg?w=768 768w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/chidi-nwagbo-medical-discharge-paperwork.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/chidi-nwagbo-medical-discharge-paperwork.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/chidi-nwagbo-medical-discharge-paperwork.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/chidi-nwagbo-medical-discharge-paperwork.jpg?w=540 540w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/chidi-nwagbo-medical-discharge-paperwork.jpg?w=1000 1000w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/chidi-nwagbo-medical-discharge-paperwork.jpg?w=2400 2400w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/chidi-nwagbo-medical-discharge-paperwork.jpg?w=3600 3600w"
  1282.    sizes="auto, (min-width: 1300px) 650px, (min-width: 800px) 64vw, (min-width: 500px) calc(100vw - 5rem), calc(100vw - 3rem)"
  1283.    alt=""
  1284.    width="3839"
  1285.    height="1191"
  1286.    loading="lazy"
  1287.  />
  1288.      <figcaption class="photo__figcaption">
  1289.      <span class="photo__caption">A screen capture of Chidi Nwagbo&#039;s medical records.</span>&nbsp;<span class="photo__credit">Screenshot: J. Dale Shoemaker/Investigative Post</span>    </figcaption>
  1290.    </figure>
  1291.  
  1292.  
  1293.  
  1294. <p>The case of Tim, another Nigerian, is similar.</p>
  1295.  
  1296.  
  1297.  
  1298. <p>In April this year, Tim, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution against his family, was days away from finishing a federal prison sentence for a fraud conviction when he fell down a set of stairs. He suffered a major concussion and was taken to a Massachusetts hospital. Upon discharge, he was prescribed nine drugs, ordered to attend inpatient physical therapy, and transferred to the Batavia detention center. Once at the detention center, he went at least a month without medication and received only one physical therapy session before being deported this summer. By that point, Tim required a walker.</p>
  1299.  
  1300.  
  1301.  
  1302. <!-- BLOCK(pullquote)[1](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PULLQUOTE%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22pull%22%3A%22right%22%7D) --><blockquote class="stylized pull-right" data-shortcode-type="pullquote" data-pull="right"><!-- CONTENT(pullquote)[1] -->“I suffer a lot of mental health issues. I cannot sleep. I am on zero medications.”<!-- END-CONTENT(pullquote)[1] --></blockquote><!-- END-BLOCK(pullquote)[1] -->
  1303.  
  1304.  
  1305.  
  1306. <p>“I&#8217;m very traumatized at the moment,” he said during an interview in May, several weeks after his injury. “I suffer a lot of mental health issues. I cannot sleep. I am on zero medications.”</p>
  1307.  
  1308.  
  1309.  
  1310. <p>Reached recently by email, Tim said his condition has only deteriorated since his return to Nigeria.</p>
  1311.  
  1312.  
  1313.  
  1314. <p>He wrote, &#8220;I am dire need of a comprehensive mental health/neurological treatment in order to get my life back to where it used to be before my detention in the United States.”</p>
  1315.  
  1316.  
  1317.  
  1318.  
  1319.  
  1320.  
  1321.  
  1322. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-medications-denied"><strong>Medications Denied</strong></h2>
  1323.  
  1324.  
  1325.  
  1326. <p>ICE, in some cases, denied detainees access to needed medications. In other cases, the agency allowed lapses in their medication schedules.</p>
  1327.  
  1328.  
  1329.  
  1330. <p>That was the case with Sering Ceesay, the Gambian man with heart conditions. He was <a href="https://habeasdockets.org/dockets/docket/307/">detained by ICE in New York City</a> on February 19 after what he expected to be a routine immigration appointment.</p>
  1331.  
  1332.  
  1333.  
  1334. <p>Instead, ICE placed him in shackles and chains and transported him to Batavia. He went two weeks without his medications. On March 4, he attended a legal clinic hosted by attorneys from the legal advocates at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, who quickly realized Ceesay needed medical attention, according to court filings from a later lawsuit by Ceesay alleging he was being held in violation of his rights.</p>
  1335.  
  1336.  
  1337.  
  1338. <p>“I was feeling very weak, and my entire body just hurt,” Ceesay said in a filing. “I felt like when I had my heart attacks.”</p>
  1339.  
  1340.  
  1341.  
  1342. <p>U.S. District Judge Lawrence Vilardo <a href="https://buffalonews.com/news/local/article_3ecd1ca3-c636-4fcd-9af7-7040eb738c6f.html">later ordered Ceesay released</a>, but not before he was diagnosed with a stroke-like syndrome because he had missed so many days of his medicine.</p>
  1343.  
  1344.  
  1345. <!-- BLOCK(promote-post)[3](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PROMOTE_POST%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22slug%22%3A%22immigrants%22%2C%22crop%22%3A%22promo%22%7D) -->  <aside class="promote-banner">
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  1347.              <span class="promote-banner__image">
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  1349.            <div class="promote-banner__text">
  1350.                  <p class="promote-banner__eyebrow">
  1351.            Read Our Complete Coverage          </p>
  1352.        
  1353.        <h2 class="promote-banner__title">The War on Immigrants</h2>
  1354.      </div>
  1355.    </a>
  1356.  </aside>
  1357. <!-- END-BLOCK(promote-post)[3] -->
  1358.  
  1359.  
  1360.  
  1361. <p>“Without … strict adherence to these medications, [Ceesay] is likely to suffer from recurrent heart attacks, worsening peripheral artery disease and strokes and increasing his risk of further disability and avoidable premature death,” Dr. Joseph Shin, a physician and professor with Weill Cornell Medicine, wrote in a letter submitted as part of Ceesay’s lawsuit.</p>
  1362.  
  1363.  
  1364.  
  1365. <p>In Owen Simms’s case, ICE provided him with medication but lowered his dosages, he said, leaving him at risk of a seizure.</p>
  1366.  
  1367.  
  1368.  
  1369. <p>An extensive immigration and criminal history landed Simms in the Batavia detention center last March, where he remained until he was transferred to an out-of-state facility earlier this month. During a previous deportation to his home country, Jamaica, Simms was struck in the head with a machete, he and his wife testified in immigration court filings, which left him suffering from seizures. An immigration judge later ruled that he should not be deported due to the likelihood he’d be attacked again if he returned to Jamaica.</p>
  1370.  
  1371.  
  1372.  
  1373. <p>In an interview, Simms said his detention by ICE caused him to miss several days of his anti-seizure medication. He said the agency then lowered his daily dosage from 1,500 mg to 1,000 mg. He now worries he’ll suffer another seizure, which in the past has put him in a coma.</p>
  1374.  
  1375.  
  1376.  
  1377. <p>“My seizures come on to me when I&#8217;m sleeping, and if you&#8217;re not next to me, you can&#8217;t even know that I am having a seizure,” he said. “It&#8217;s scary, like it&#8217;s really scary.”</p>
  1378.  
  1379.  
  1380.  
  1381. <p>Five other detainees have claimed that ICE denied or delayed them receiving prescribed medication. ICE’s standards call for all detainees to be provided prescribed medications, including a week’s supply before a deportation.</p>
  1382.  
  1383.  
  1384.  
  1385. <ul class="wp-block-list">
  1386. <li>In March 2024, an ICE transfer from Florida to Batavia caused <a href="https://rfkhumanrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/1-1.pdf">Raheem Fulton</a>, a Jamaican immigrant suffering from end-stage renal disease, to miss a regularly scheduled dialysis appointment. He went five days without the treatment and had to be rushed to Buffalo’s Erie County Medical Center. A spokesperson for RFK Human Rights said ICE caused additional lapses in his dialysis treatment in the past and delayed other medical appointments too. Attorneys for the group are currently suing ICE and have alleged the agency has delayed other treatments Fulton needs, including a cardiology appointment. (Fulton’s lawyers are appealing to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after a Buffalo judge dismissed it in January, agreeing with the government’s argument that the court lacked jurisdiction.)</li>
  1387.  
  1388.  
  1389.  
  1390. <li>In October 2024, ICE attempted, unsuccessfully, to deport Naim Qasemi to his native Afghanistan. Against its protocols, ICE failed to provide Qasemi with medications for his diagnosed bipolar disorder, his attorneys allege in a lawsuit to stop his deportation. Qasemi, they wrote, “was unmedicated and was not receiving any kind of therapeutic treatment in advance of his removal.” In court filings, Justice Department officials did not address Qasemi’s claim. (A judge dismissed the case last month after Afghanistan cleared Qasemi’s return, paving the way for his deportation.)</li>
  1391.  
  1392.  
  1393.  
  1394. <li>In a July letter to ICE officials in Batavia, advocates with Justice for Migrant Families wrote that a Honduran man was not receiving a prescribed medical cream to treat a skin condition. The man also suffers from chronic pain, and ibuprofen was no longer working, Jennifer Connor, the organization’s executive director, and Krupp wrote. They demanded ICE take the man to a specialist and administer a different pain medication. Krupp said that hasn’t happened.</li>
  1395.  
  1396.  
  1397.  
  1398. <li>Arzou Hami, an Iranian woman suffering from “serious mental health issues” was detained in June, as part of a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/07/04/are-we-at-risk-wave-of-ice-arrests-strikes-fear-in-iranian-communities/">sweep of Iranian migrants </a>shortly after the U.S. bombed Iran. Matthew Borowski, her attorney, alleged in court filings that her detention has prevented her from receiving medications. She was detained by Buffalo ICE agents at the Niagara County Jail before being transferred to Texas where “she is being denied adequate mental health care,&#8221; Borowski wrote in a court filing. In an interview, he said his client has now gotten “some medication, but it&#8217;s not the same thing that she was on before.” (Officials have not responded to those claims in court yet; the case was transferred to Texas last month.)</li>
  1399.  
  1400.  
  1401.  
  1402. <li>In a fifth case, a detainee known only as K.U. in court filings alleged he has not received proper medical care for “numerous life-threatening health conditions.” His lawsuit states an independent physician reviewed the man’s case and “expressed extreme concern that he is ‘not receiving the standard of appropriate medical care.’” (Officials have yet to address his medical claims in court, and a judge ordered him released in August.)</li>
  1403. </ul>
  1404.  
  1405.  
  1406.  
  1407.  
  1408.  
  1409.  
  1410.  
  1411. <p>In yet another case, a Jordanian man named Mohammed Saleh had treatment for a massive brain tumor and a chronic eye condition delayed by ICE between the fall of 2023 and 2024, when he was deported.</p>
  1412.  
  1413.  
  1414.  
  1415. <p>He arrived in Batavia in September 2023 following a federal prison sentence for his involvement in a failed bombing plot and began complaining of “tingling sensations in his fingers and toes” several weeks later. An MRI and a CT scan revealed the tumor. Krupp, of Justice for Migrant Families, said Saleh eventually attended follow-up appointments for his tumor but was only given ibuprofen and Tylenol as treatment. Saleh also had a prescribed injection for his eye condition delayed by three months.</p>
  1416.  
  1417.  
  1418.  
  1419. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-harmed-while-in-custody"><strong>Harmed While in Custody</strong></h2>
  1420.  
  1421.  
  1422.  
  1423. <p>Some detainees were not properly treated for an injury or illness they suffered while detained, this investigation found.</p>
  1424.  
  1425.  
  1426.  
  1427. <p><a href="https://www.investigativepost.org/2025/02/27/522014/">Lansine Sidibe</a>, a Malian man, alleged he was beaten by seven guards at the Batavia facility in February 2024 after he refused to sign some paperwork. According to a human rights complaint his attorneys filed with the Department of Homeland Security’s office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in December, he alleged the guards broke his fingers, a claim an ICE doctor denied, according to the complaint. Nonetheless, it took a month before the agency agreed to X-ray his fingers.</p>
  1428.  
  1429.  
  1430.  
  1431. <!-- BLOCK(pullquote)[5](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PULLQUOTE%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22pull%22%3A%22right%22%7D) --><blockquote class="stylized pull-right" data-shortcode-type="pullquote" data-pull="right"><!-- CONTENT(pullquote)[5] -->“The abuses are consistent across all the facilities.”<!-- END-CONTENT(pullquote)[5] --></blockquote><!-- END-BLOCK(pullquote)[5] -->
  1432.  
  1433.  
  1434.  
  1435. <p>Renny Arcaya-Ventura, a Venezuelan man, said in an interview that he suffered a severe allergic reaction and body pains after he was booked into the ICE facility and didn’t receive adequate medical care.</p>
  1436.  
  1437.  
  1438.  
  1439. <p>“I am in intense pain every day,” he said. “Every day I have a fever, pains in my body [and] I can&#8217;t even walk. I have even lost a lot of weight.”</p>
  1440.  
  1441.  
  1442.  
  1443. <p>His attorney, Guanlin Yang, shared photos of Arcaya-Ventura that appear to show swelling in his hands and rashes on his arms. (Arcaya-Ventura was deported in August.)</p>
  1444.  
  1445.  
  1446.  
  1447. <p>Dalsimer, of New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, has studied medical care at the Orange County Jail — the second largest ICE detention facility in New York. Through her research and legal work, she’s concluded that medical care offered by ICE is “almost always subpar.”</p>
  1448.  
  1449.  
  1450.  
  1451. <p>“The abuses are consistent,” she said, “across all the facilities.”</p>
  1452. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/batavia-ice-medical-care-buffalo/">New York’s Largest ICE Prison Dogged by Allegations of Shoddy Medical Care</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  1453. ]]></content:encoded>
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  1456.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/batavia2-e1762378698830.jpg?fit=5712%2C2856' width='5712' height='2856' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">502670</post-id>
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  1462. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Fighting Oligarchy town hall at the Leonard &#38; Claire Tow Center for the Performing Artson September 06, 2025 in New York City. Mamdani joined Sanders at his New York town hall after marching with union members in Manhattan’s Labor Day parade. Sanders, an early backer of Mamdani’s primary bid, has staged 34 rallies in 20 states since launching his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this year, aimed at challenging the power of billionaires and corporations in U.S. politics. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)</media:title>
  1463. </media:content>
  1464. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2193191415-e1762284870477.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  1465. <media:title type="html">BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - JANUARY 13: Chief Spokesperson European Commission, Paula Pinho speaks during the daily press meeting in Brussels, Belgium on January 13, 2025. Pinho stated the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen continues her treatment in Hannover. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
  1466. </media:content>
  1467. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/guatemalan-immigrant-cpb-feat-1530033149.jpg?fit=300%2C150" medium="image">
  1468. <media:title type="html">MCALLEN, TX - JUNE 23: A Guatemalan father and his daughter arrives with dozens of other women, men and their children at a bus station following release from Customs and Border Protection on June 23, 2018 in McAllen, Texas. Once families and individuals are released and given a court hearing date they are brought to the Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center to rest, clean up, enjoy a meal and to get guidance to their next destination. Before President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that halts the practice of separating families who are seeking asylum, over 2,300 immigrant children had been separated from their parents in the zero-tolerance policy for border crossers (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)</media:title>
  1469. </media:content>
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  1471.        
  1472.            <item>
  1473.                <title><![CDATA[Democrats Swept Tuesday Night’s Election. Now What?]]></title>
  1474.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/05/briefing-podcast-democrats-election-results-zohran-mamdani/</link>
  1475.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/05/briefing-podcast-democrats-election-results-zohran-mamdani/#respond</comments>
  1476.                <pubDate>Thu, 06 Nov 2025 00:45:00 +0000</pubDate>
  1477.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[The Intercept Briefing]]></dc:creator>
  1478.                                 <category><![CDATA[The Intercept Briefing]]></category>
  1479.  
  1480.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
  1481.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>Maurice Mitchell and Amanda Litman discuss the lessons from Tuesday night, as Democrats and progressives prepare for the midterm elections.</p>
  1482. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/05/briefing-podcast-democrats-election-results-zohran-mamdani/">Democrats Swept Tuesday Night’s Election. Now What?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  1483. ]]></description>
  1484.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
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  1490. </div>
  1491. <!-- END-BLOCK(acast)[0] -->
  1492.  
  1493.  
  1494.  
  1495. <p><span class="has-underline">On Tuesday,</span> voters in Virginia, New York City, New Jersey, Texas, California, and Mississippi overwhelmingly supported Democratic candidates and ballot initiatives.</p>
  1496.  
  1497.  
  1498.  
  1499. <p>In New York, despite facing racist opposition from both Republicans and much of the Democratic establishment, Zohran Mamdani <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/nyc-mayor-election-results-zohran-mamdani-cuomo/">sailed to victory</a>. The new mayor-elect won over 50 percent of the vote in a three-way race.&nbsp;</p>
  1500.  
  1501.  
  1502.  
  1503. <p>And in Virginia, Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger won with an even greater margin over her opponent, Winsome Earle-Sears, whose campaign weaponized transphobia in a vain attempt to defeat Spanberger.</p>
  1504.  
  1505.  
  1506.  
  1507. <p>In California, as of Wednesday, nearly two-thirds of the vote favored redrawing the congressional map to counter Republican gerrymandering in Texas.</p>
  1508.  
  1509.  
  1510.  
  1511.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  1512.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  1513.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/nyc-mayor-election-results-zohran-mamdani-cuomo/"
  1514.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
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  1518.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2244556121-e1762311374802.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  1519.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  1520.        Related      </h2>
  1521.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Zohran Mamdani Beats Andrew Cuomo in Victory for the Left in NYC Mayoral Race</h3>
  1522.    </span>
  1523.    </a>
  1524.  </div>
  1525.  
  1526.  
  1527.  
  1528. <p>The Intercept Briefing spoke with Amanda Litman, co-founder and president of the PAC Run for Something, and Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party, to discuss what lessons Democrats and progressives should take heading into the midterm elections.&nbsp;</p>
  1529.  
  1530.  
  1531.  
  1532. <p>Mitchell pointed to Mamdani’s and other Democrats&#8217; success last night at driving home a positive economic message for working-class voters as an important roadmap for next year.</p>
  1533.  
  1534.  
  1535.  
  1536. <p>“There’s elements of [Mamdani’s] victory that are very particular to New York, that are very particular to him, but the politics and the conditions that are a part of the victory are happening all across the country,” said Mitchell. “It&#8217;s clear that this was a wave election. And inside of that wave are a number of independent, progressive-minded folks who didn&#8217;t wait their turn, who are willing to fight for working people.”&nbsp;</p>
  1537.  
  1538.  
  1539.  
  1540. <p>Similarly, Litman argued that Democrats need to embrace a big tent that includes progressive voices. &#8220;You need candidates who know what they believe, who know how to communicate, who love the place they&#8217;re running, and who can articulate why voters should want them to win,” she said.</p>
  1541.  
  1542.  
  1543.  
  1544. <p>Litman continued, “Does every candidate need to have the exact same ideological profile? No. But also, the person who&#8217;s running and winning a seat on the Iowa City Council is probably not a good fit for the New York City Council, and vice versa. And that&#8217;s OK. To be a party that can win everywhere, which is what we need to be in order to stop authoritarianism and stop what the Republican Party has done, we need to have a big tent.”&nbsp;</p>
  1545.  
  1546.  
  1547.  
  1548. <p>Listen to the full conversation of The Intercept Briefing on<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-intercept-briefing/id1195206601"> Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2js8lwDRiK1TB4rUgiYb24?si=e3ce772344ee4170">Spotify</a>, or wherever you listen.</p>
  1549.  
  1550.  
  1551.  
  1552.  
  1553.  
  1554.  
  1555.  
  1556. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-transcript">Transcript</h2>
  1557.  
  1558.  
  1559.  
  1560. <p><strong>Jessica Washington:</strong> Welcome to The Intercept Briefing, I’m Jessica Washington.&nbsp;</p>
  1561.  
  1562.  
  1563.  
  1564. <p>On Tuesday, voters in New York City, Virginia, New Jersey, Texas, California, and Mississippi cast their ballots, in an early test of where the public stands ahead of a midterm election that could fundamentally reshape the political landscape.&nbsp;</p>
  1565.  
  1566.  
  1567.  
  1568. <p>The New York City mayoral election, in particular, has captured national attention — with both Republicans and establishment Democrats largely painting Zohran Mamdani as “dangerous” and weaponizing his Muslim identity to gin up post 9/11 levels of Islamophobia.&nbsp;</p>
  1569.  
  1570.  
  1571.  
  1572. <p>But Zohran Mamdani is now the mayor-elect, capturing more than <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/11/04/us/elections/results-new-york-city-mayor.html">50 percent</a> of votes in a three-way race as of Wednesday.&nbsp;</p>
  1573.  
  1574.  
  1575.  
  1576. <p>In Virginia, Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger won by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/11/04/us/elections/results-virginia-governor.html">even greater </a>margins.</p>
  1577.  
  1578.  
  1579.  
  1580. <p>And in California, voters <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/11/04/us/elections/results-california-proposition-50-congressional-redistricting.html">overwhelmingly</a> passed a proposition to redistrict the state in favor of giving Democrats more congressional seats and counter Republican states’ gerrymandering efforts.</p>
  1581.  
  1582.  
  1583.  
  1584. <p>Now, as Democrats eye trying to reclaim Congress in the midterms, they’ll have to figure out which strategies to take from this election — and which ones belong in the political trash heap.</p>
  1585.  
  1586.  
  1587.  
  1588. <p>Joining me now to discuss are Amanda Litman, co-founder and president of the progressive PAC Run for Something, and Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party.</p>
  1589.  
  1590.  
  1591.  
  1592. <p>Amanda and Maurice, welcome to the show.&nbsp;</p>
  1593.  
  1594.  
  1595.  
  1596. <p><strong>Amanda Litman:</strong> Good morning.&nbsp;</p>
  1597.  
  1598.  
  1599.  
  1600. <p><strong>Maurice Mitchell:</strong> Good to be with you.</p>
  1601.  
  1602.  
  1603.  
  1604. <p><strong>JW:</strong> Amanda. I&#8217;ll start with you, the million-dollar question: Did the results of Tuesday&#8217;s selection tell us anything about where the Democratic Party is headed, or at least where it should be headed?&nbsp;</p>
  1605.  
  1606.  
  1607.  
  1608. <p><strong><strong>AL</strong>:</strong> I think it told us lots of things about where the Democratic Party should be headed — which is that it needs to be heading in lots of different directions.</p>
  1609.  
  1610.  
  1611.  
  1612. <p>Run for Something had 222 candidates on the ballot yesterday. We&#8217;re still waiting for results in about 100 of them or so, but we&#8217;ve already had 94 wins, including red-to-blue flips in all kinds of places. The thing that I think we saw with our Run for Something candidates —&nbsp;with the New York City mayoral, with the New Jersey and Texas and California and Virginia —&nbsp;is that Democrats are, or voters, rather, are pissed at Trump. They don&#8217;t like this economy. And they want candidates who can speak to their issues in a way that makes sense to them. Now, that doesn&#8217;t necessarily mean that every candidate is going to be fully aligned on every policy, but every candidate is fully aligned on values, and they are connected to their community.</p>
  1613.  
  1614.  
  1615.  
  1616. <p>So when we look forward to what the Democratic Party needs to do going into 2026 and, honestly, beyond. I don&#8217;t want to say like I&#8217;ve been right for a long time here, but we need to keep doing what Run for Something has been doing, which is finding great candidates who can connect to their voters, who understand the issues folks care about, who keep it hyper-local, and who can communicate it in a way that makes sense to them.</p>
  1617.  
  1618.  
  1619.  
  1620. <p>It is not complicated. It is hard work, but it is not rocket science.&nbsp;</p>
  1621.  
  1622.  
  1623.  
  1624. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>:</strong> And Maurice, I want to get your thoughts.&nbsp;</p>
  1625.  
  1626.  
  1627.  
  1628. <p><strong><strong>MM</strong>:</strong> We have a slightly different perspective when we ask and answer this question at the Working Families Party because we are building a separate third party that is labor community-backed from the ground up.</p>
  1629.  
  1630.  
  1631.  
  1632. <p>But a lot of my assessments align with what Amanda said. So I think there&#8217;s two driving forces here: the affordability crisis that Americans — regardless of their race or their region or their religion, or anything else — are feeling in a very, very deep way. It&#8217;s a crisis, and it&#8217;s going in the wrong direction. And people&#8217;s deep concerns and antipathy and fear of MAGA and Trumpism — at a time when there&#8217;s a government shutdown.</p>
  1633.  
  1634.  
  1635.  
  1636. <p>And those are two animating forces that I think are affecting the electorate writ large. But the other thing I want to say is that in June, when Zohran Mamdani won focused on affordability. There were Democratic Party strategists that were ripping up their playbooks and recognizing that in 2025, if you wanted to secure victory, you had to tell a story about affordability.</p>
  1637.  
  1638.  
  1639.  
  1640. <p><strong>JW: </strong>Right, he won the Democratic Primary in June.</p>
  1641.  
  1642.  
  1643.  
  1644. <p><strong><strong>MM</strong>:</strong> And so the Democratic Party and the pro-democracy movement writ large, that we&#8217;re a part of — even as we&#8217;re building our own party and our own brand with our own candidates — it&#8217;s a complicated united front that includes a lot of different factions with different opinions, different ideologies. But the question of who&#8217;s leading the united front, I think, is clear.</p>
  1645.  
  1646.  
  1647.  
  1648. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote><p>“Zohran’s victory in June had a huge impact on how the Democratic Party in general is seeking to secure victories and to compel working people.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  1649.  
  1650.  
  1651.  
  1652. <p>The leaders of the united front, I think, are the folks that took a chance on the idea that working people deserve — in the richest country in the history of countries — deserve a dignified life. I think everybody in all the factions are learning from the people that are often called the “left” or the “progressive” faction of that coalition.</p>
  1653.  
  1654.  
  1655.  
  1656. <p>And so even candidates like Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger and many, many candidates around the country that are considered “moderates” — they ultimately were running on affordability. And I think Zohran&#8217;s victory in June had a huge impact on how the Democratic Party in general is seeking to secure victories and to compel working people, many of whom left them, to vote for them.</p>
  1657.  
  1658.  
  1659.  
  1660. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>:</strong> I want to dive deeper into the New York City mayoral election. That is the election that has arguably garnered the most attention of any of Tuesday&#8217;s races. Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa on Tuesday with 50 percent of the vote. Now that he&#8217;s won, do you think Democrats can take lessons for his victory, or does a candidate like Mamdani only work in a place like New York City?</p>
  1661.  
  1662.  
  1663.  
  1664. <p>And Maurice, I want to start with you on this.&nbsp;</p>
  1665.  
  1666.  
  1667.  
  1668. <p><strong><strong>MM</strong>:</strong> I think when we zoom out, the answer is pretty clear to us. Yes, Zohran was able to secure a victory in New York City. But what isn&#8217;t as touted is the fact that WFP-aligned progressives that built a labor and community coalition around them won in the cities of Buffalo, Syracuse, and Albany. Also, we had an upset victory in Dayton, Ohio, for a mayor&#8217;s race that wasn&#8217;t top of mind for a lot of people — but I think it suggests that what&#8217;s happening is much deeper than a unitary phenomenon.</p>
  1669.  
  1670.  
  1671.  
  1672. <p>I think it&#8217;s true that Zohran is a singular talent. I think he&#8217;s a brilliant communicator, and we couldn&#8217;t be more proud that he built this movement in New York. And there&#8217;s aspects of the victory that are very particular to New York, are very particular to him. But the politics and the conditions that are a part of the victory are happening all across the country.</p>
  1673.  
  1674.  
  1675.  
  1676. <p>And we&#8217;re still counting votes in Seattle. There&#8217;re other places we&#8217;re still counting votes, but I think it&#8217;s clear that this was a wave election. And inside of that wave are a number of independent, progressive-minded folks who didn&#8217;t wait their turn, who are willing to fight for working people.</p>
  1677.  
  1678.  
  1679.  
  1680.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  1681.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  1682.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/01/briefing-podcast-kat-abughazaleh-indictment-protest/"
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  1687.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Kat-Abughazaleh-crop-e1761927116502.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  1688.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  1689.        Related      </h2>
  1690.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Kat Abughazaleh on the Right to Protest</h3>
  1691.    </span>
  1692.    </a>
  1693.  </div>
  1694.  
  1695.  
  1696.  
  1697. <p>But also, when you&#8217;re fighting for working people that can&#8217;t just be performative. You actually need to fight against corporations. You need to fight against the establishment politics that have held back the possibility of a dignified life for everyday working people. Those candidates that did that were rewarded.</p>
  1698.  
  1699.  
  1700.  
  1701. <p>And so I think that there&#8217;s a story that includes Zohran and includes New York, but it portends to politics that are much deeper and broader than the politics of New York City.</p>
  1702.  
  1703.  
  1704.  
  1705. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>:</strong> Amanda, it looks like you have something to say. I want to hear your thoughts on this as well.</p>
  1706.  
  1707.  
  1708.  
  1709. <p><strong><strong>AL</strong>:</strong> I think there&#8217;s two distinct components to Zohran&#8217;s victory.</p>
  1710.  
  1711.  
  1712.  
  1713. <p>Some are replicable, and some are not and shouldn&#8217;t be. He deeply deeply held his values. He was very principled. He clearly knew who he is, what he believes, and why it should matter to the voters of New York City.</p>
  1714.  
  1715.  
  1716.  
  1717. <p>He was really able to answer the question, which is what Run for Something asks every candidate thinking about running for office: not why do you want to win, but why should they want you to win? Why should your community want you to win? What is going to feel different in their lives? What are you going to do for them? He had a such clear answer for that. In fact, he had three, and there&#8217;s a reason people could recite his platform back to him. They could see it, they could picture it. </p>
  1718.  
  1719.  
  1720.  
  1721. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“You cannot organize people you do not respect and care for.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  1722.  
  1723.  
  1724.  
  1725. <p>He also really loves New York City and loves New Yorkers. Like, loving the people you are trying to lead — it feels so obvious, but we have seen, the alternative is someone like Andrew Cuomo, who doesn&#8217;t live here but also doesn&#8217;t like New York City, does not like New Yorkers, campaigned against this place as a hellhole he wanted to try and save from the trash of the street. That vibe is very different. You cannot organize people you do not respect and care for.&nbsp;I think Zohran’s ability to do that is really powerful.</p>
  1726.  
  1727.  
  1728.  
  1729. <p>He campaigned with deep joy. He took the work seriously, but not himself. He showed deep respect for voters. And he communicated them to them and to us as a New York City voter where we got our information. You could not escape your social media feed, your news feed, your “For you” page without seeing him. Not just talking to the press, but talking to creators, to influencers, to other New Yorkers.  </p>
  1730.  
  1731.  
  1732.  
  1733. <p>When he was bopping around the city, going to all these clubs, I saw literally hundreds of videos of different perspectives of him in these clubs, talking to folks where they are. And then more from him campaigning with cab drivers outside LaGuardia Airport at midnight on a Saturday night.</p>
  1734.  
  1735.  
  1736.  
  1737. <p>Now all of that, if not the exact specifics, are replicable in other places. You need candidates who know what they believe, who know how to communicate that, who love the place they&#8217;re running, and who can articulate why voters should want them to win.</p>
  1738.  
  1739.  
  1740.  
  1741. <p>Does every candidate need to have the exact same ideological profile? No. But also the person who&#8217;s running and winning a seat on the Iowa City Council is probably not a good fit for the New York City Council, and vice versa. And that&#8217;s OK. To be a party that can win everywhere, which is what we need to be in order to stop authoritarianism and stop what the Republican Party has done, we need to have a big tent.</p>
  1742.  
  1743.  
  1744.  
  1745. <p>Now, I think this is where you get some of the tension here, which is, there is one side of the Democratic Party that seems to understand this, and the other that does not. And the one that does not thinks that Zohran needs to be pushed out, that the tent should not be big enough to include him and candidates like him. And that is where I think some of our problem currently lies.</p>
  1746.  
  1747.  
  1748.  
  1749. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>:</strong> Maurice, I want to start with you and follow up on something that you said. And then Amanda, also, this is something that is very clearly following up from what you&#8217;ve been saying, but what about what Mamdani did is replicable within a red state area within the South, within places that are not as liberal as New York City?</p>
  1750.  
  1751.  
  1752.  
  1753. <p><strong><strong>MM</strong>:</strong> There&#8217;s a number of lessons that we could take from his victory. Number one, organizing gets the goods. And it&#8217;s accurate that he&#8217;s a wonderful communicator and he leveraged new media and he leveraged social media in an expert masterful way. I think there&#8217;s some lessons here, but organizing gets the goods.</p>
  1754.  
  1755.  
  1756.  
  1757. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>“Organizing gets the goods.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  1758.  
  1759.  
  1760.  
  1761. <p>So I was at the victory party yesterday, and the campaign’s field director touted a number that&#8217;s just, on its face, incredible: 104,000 individual volunteers. If you&#8217;re interested in building a movement candidacy, you need to figure out how to organize that grassroots energy of your people, your neighbors actually being involved in a deep way in the race, so it&#8217;s bigger than you. It&#8217;s actually a movement. You could repeat that anywhere.&nbsp;Actually considering how we&#8217;re building this organizing forward, people forward. </p>
  1762.  
  1763.  
  1764.  
  1765. <p>But the second thing is connecting that organizing, like Amanda says, I agree, to a compelling story that everyday people are actually hungry for. Which means not just speaking — listening. That&#8217;s organizing 101. I&#8217;m a trained organizer, and we talk about 70/30, 80/20: 80 percent listening, 20 percent talking. One of Zohran&#8217;s early videos was him just listening to his neighbors, many of whom voted for Trump. And so actually concerning your community, concerning your potential constituents in how you tell the story of your campaign, that is replicable.</p>
  1766.  
  1767.  
  1768.  
  1769. <p>I think the other thing is, look, not waiting your turn. We need more and more people willing to run for local office. And I&#8217;m happy that the Zohran story is about local office because that&#8217;s where the goods are at. Like at the Working Families Party, just in this election cycle we have close to 700 candidates that we&#8217;ve endorsed. Most of our candidates in any election cycle, including the big presidential cycle, are local candidates. If we&#8217;re serious about governing, then we have to think about how we&#8217;re recruiting folks to run for city council, to run for mayor, to run for state legislature, because that&#8217;s where the governing happens and that&#8217;s how you build a pipeline.</p>
  1770.  
  1771.  
  1772.  
  1773. <p>That&#8217;s how you build the ultimate ability for folks to have governing chops so that they can run for these higher offices. All of those things can be replicable and could be systematized — in some of the ways that our friends on the right-wing have systematized their pipelines for governance, right?</p>
  1774.  
  1775.  
  1776.  
  1777. <p>And then the laser-like focus on what working people have been telling us again and again. Like in 2024, we were screaming from the rafters, “It&#8217;s affordability. Tell a story about affordability and also name names of the villains.”</p>
  1778.  
  1779.  
  1780.  
  1781. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“Tell a story about affordability and also name names of the villains.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  1782.  
  1783.  
  1784.  
  1785. <p>I think Zohran was an expert in running not just against Cuomo, but also running against the MAGA billionaires and the other billionaires that spent more than $20 million against him. That&#8217;s a excellent contrast, and those are excellent villains. It turns out that it&#8217;s true that those are the folks that are actually making it hard to afford living in New York City.</p>
  1786.  
  1787.  
  1788.  
  1789. <p>And that focus, that commitment to those principles and to the issues of affordability, we&#8217;re able to build a bigger &#8220;we&#8221; — where people across religion, race, ethnicity, were able to see themselves in the race.</p>
  1790.  
  1791.  
  1792.  
  1793.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  1794.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  1795.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/zohran-mamdani-antisemitism-islamophobic-israel/"
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  1800.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243051340_9b22dd-e1762316099565.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  1801.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  1802.        Related      </h2>
  1803.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">They Tried to Smear Zohran Mamdani as an Antisemite. Voters Saw Right Through It.</h3>
  1804.    </span>
  1805.    </a>
  1806.  </div>
  1807.  
  1808.  
  1809.  
  1810. <p>Then the last thing is that, even though he focused on affordability, no matter how much people tried to detract him, no matter how much there were bad faith messages, no matter how much at the end, there was so much blatant racism and Islamophobia — he was willing to and able to hold onto his values. </p>
  1811.  
  1812.  
  1813.  
  1814. <p>He didn&#8217;t shirk from having it be known that he was going to support trans rights because that is a core value of who he was. He didn&#8217;t shirk from letting it be known that he was a proud member of the Democratic Socialist of America and that he was a proud Working Families Party candidate. And he also made sure that in telling that, he was telling a story about who he was as a person, but ultimately, it had to come back to what he was going to do for you as a voter.</p>
  1815.  
  1816.  
  1817.  
  1818. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>:</strong> Maurice, I want to touch on something that you said about local being king and this idea of we have to focus on local races, but obviously we also live in the Trump era where his hands are in everything. And so I wanted to ask you, can Zohran Mamdani get his agenda across if Trump is threatening to withhold federal funds? How does this — and I don&#8217;t want to even say his issues, I think Trump&#8217;s issues with Mamdani would be more accurate — but how does that play into being able to actually get his agenda across?</p>
  1819.  
  1820.  
  1821.  
  1822. <p><strong><strong>MM</strong>:</strong> I actually think that in some ways, like in union organizing, they say the boss is the best organizer. Trump being so fixated with Zohran both helped Zohran and our movement electorally because Trump and MAGA actually is being repudiated and was repudiated electorally.</p>
  1823.  
  1824.  
  1825.  
  1826. <p>But when it comes to governing, I think one of the arguments that Cuomo was trying to make was like, “Trump is fixated on Zohran, so you should ultimately vote for me because I&#8217;m closer to Trump.” But <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/03/15/appeasing-trump-doesnt-work/">what people have seen</a> is that Trump is a mercurial authoritarian, and there&#8217;s no way to get on his good side and stay on his good side.</p>
  1827.  
  1828.  
  1829.  
  1830. <p>So ultimately what you need is a fighter, right? And the governing project is gonna rely on Mamdani’s ability to use this tremendous mandate in order to negotiate with Kathy Hochul, the governor, as well as his colleagues, his former colleagues at the state legislature, to draw down revenue in the state budget.</p>
  1831.  
  1832.  
  1833.  
  1834. <p>But the reality is that always was going to be true for any blue state. In every blue state, they&#8217;re having those conversations in their legislatures where they&#8217;re going to need more revenue because the federal government is abrogating its responsibility. That&#8217;s not a Zohran phenomenon, that&#8217;s the nature of America under MAGA authoritarianism. </p>
  1835.  
  1836.  
  1837.  
  1838. <p>And what we need are bold leaders that are going to have to in state legislatures figure out where we get the revenue. And of course we believe that means taxing corporations, taxing billionaires and the ultrawealthy in order to fill the gap where the federal government is leaving us behind.</p>
  1839.  
  1840.  
  1841.  
  1842.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  1843.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  1844.            href="https://theintercept.com/2022/08/19/deconstrcuted-economy-dean-baker/"
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  1848.          >
  1849.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/deconstructed-economy-final.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  1850.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  1851.        Related      </h2>
  1852.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">A Progressive Vision for the Economy</h3>
  1853.    </span>
  1854.    </a>
  1855.  </div>
  1856.  
  1857.  
  1858.  
  1859. <p>But also, we can&#8217;t just fill the gap. We have to be bolder and invest in programs Zohran run on mandate to make real in New York, like free buses, like childcare. Those are going to cost money. And I think we&#8217;re in a really good position because, again, it wasn&#8217;t just Zohran&#8217;s victory in New York. For example, the fact that we won in Syracuse, Buffalo, and Albany, and the fact that the Onondaga County Legislature flipped. There&#8217;s all types of things that took place in New York and around the country that are going to reset our politics that will make it easier to argue for revenue and to argue for progressive revenue — a billionaire&#8217;s tax of some form, some sort of corporate tax in the New York State legislature because of the nature of the victories. </p>
  1860.  
  1861.  
  1862.  
  1863. <p>And no serious person could claim that the victory only happened in New York. There was a wave that took place all across New York state, and Kathy Hochul is up for reelection next year, and she&#8217;s thinking about her politics.</p>
  1864.  
  1865.  
  1866.  
  1867. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>:</strong> Amanda, I want to have you come in and speak to this. How does Mamdani deal with Trump and get his agenda across? What does that look like in the next year or two years going forward? </p>
  1868.  
  1869.  
  1870.  
  1871. <p><strong><strong>AL</strong>:</strong> I think the strength that Zohran has is that he is able to communicate what&#8217;s happening to New Yorkers in a way that can help explain the challenges he&#8217;s going to face.</p>
  1872.  
  1873.  
  1874.  
  1875. <p>Not every politician has the skills he has where when they run into roadblocks, like people won&#8217;t get it. He has the platform and the capacity to create transparency into how things will be going. So I think it&#8217;s going to be hard. It would&#8217;ve been hard even without Trump. I also think he has already proven he can build really good relationships with people who are not fully ideologically aligned with him.</p>
  1876.  
  1877.  
  1878.  
  1879. <p>Lik,e he&#8217;s out there with Hochul eating wings at the Buffalo Bills bar in Astoria, and bringing aboard state legislators and city council members who maybe are not fully with him on every issue. Knowing that he has a clear goal. And I think that&#8217;s actually the benefit of his clarity of agenda, which is that he is clear-eyed about what he wants the outcome to be and has already proven during his campaign.</p>
  1880.  
  1881.  
  1882.  
  1883. <p>You can see over the course of interviews over the last six months, he&#8217;s flexible on tactics. Because it&#8217;s not really about how he gets there, but what he gets done. So I am cautiously optimistic that by the end of his hopefully second term, but by the end of his leadership, he will have been able to deliver on the things that he has promised in at least some meaningful way.</p>
  1884.  
  1885.  
  1886.  
  1887. <p>And if he&#8217;s not, it&#8217;s not going to be because he didn&#8217;t try hard enough, which I think for a lot of elected leaders, it&#8217;s often because they didn&#8217;t feel like they could spend the political capital to try and swing for the fences. At this point, the status quo is so clearly not working that you gotta appreciate someone who’s willing to take a big swing.</p>
  1888.  
  1889.  
  1890.  
  1891. <p><strong><strong>MM</strong>:</strong> And to your point, I feel like Zohran has rescued pragmatism from the status quo. And I&#8217;ve had a problem with the idea that being “pragmatic” somehow couldn&#8217;t mean that you were aligned with your values. Pragmatism just means getting things done, operationalizing things.</p>
  1892.  
  1893.  
  1894.  
  1895. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>“I feel like Zohran has rescued pragmatism from the status quo.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  1896.  
  1897.  
  1898.  
  1899. <p>And I think he&#8217;s shown that pragmatism in very principled ways in how he was able to broaden the tent during the general election. He was able to communicate different messages to different audiences, while maintaining his core values and not turning himself into a pretzel in order to reach those audiences.</p>
  1900.  
  1901.  
  1902.  
  1903. <p>And we&#8217;re going to need that type of pragmatism in order to govern and to bring together the largest coalition to make the governing aspirations and experiment of the Zohran Momdani coalition real, and that&#8217;s very exciting. A pragmatic progressive that has vision — like that&#8217;s exactly what we need in cities like New York.</p>
  1904.  
  1905.  
  1906.  
  1907.  
  1908.  
  1909.  
  1910.  
  1911. <p>[Break]</p>
  1912.  
  1913.  
  1914.  
  1915. <p><strong>Jessica Washington:</strong> I want to switch gears over to the Virginia race because we obviously had a bunch of races yesterday. Something that stuck out to me about the race between Abigail Spanberger and Winsome Earle-Sears was the really blatant use of transphobia from the Republican side in this campaign.</p>
  1916.  
  1917.  
  1918.  
  1919. <p>I honestly couldn&#8217;t tell you how many advertisements — I live in D.C. — that I saw attacking Spanberger for her support of trans youth. After the presidential election, some more conservative Democrats, like Rep. Seth Moulton, were making the case that the party will continue to lose unless they back away from advocating for transgender rights.</p>
  1920.  
  1921.  
  1922.  
  1923. <p>But in this election, those attacks didn&#8217;t seem to land. Why do you think that is? And what does this tell you about how Democrats should handle anti-trans bigotry heading into the midterms? Amanda, I want to start with you.</p>
  1924.  
  1925.  
  1926.  
  1927. <p><strong><strong>AL</strong>:</strong> I think it&#8217;s clear it didn&#8217;t land. They spent something like $30 million on anti-trans ads. I think it was the biggest topic of Winsome Earle-Sears’s advertising campaign. Most people aren&#8217;t thinking about trans kids in sports, day in, day out. They&#8217;re thinking about the fact that Trump just laid off huge numbers of federal workers, especially Black women across Northern Virginia and across the Commonwealth. They&#8217;re thinking about the fact that the federal government is currently shut down, and they&#8217;re not getting paid. They&#8217;re thinking about the fact that he&#8217;s trying to build data centers or the folks are trying to build data center, not Trump, but that there are big corporations trying to build data centers that are making their energy prices skyrocket.</p>
  1928.  
  1929.  
  1930.  
  1931. <p>In the list of things that people care about, this is not high on there — especially given everything else that&#8217;s happening in this moment. And I think voters are smarter than we give them credit for. They know this is a bullshit argument. I am glad to see that Spanberger was very clear on her values here and kept refocused on the issues that really affect people&#8217;s quality of life.</p>
  1932.  
  1933.  
  1934.  
  1935. <p>And also, we shouldn&#8217;t let the federal government bully kids. Which is what they&#8217;re trying to do here. So I think that is really the place where people need to stay strong: We know this is a distraction, we know this isn&#8217;t about your quality of life, we don&#8217;t want them to bully kids, we don&#8217;t want them to make kids feel unsafe.</p>
  1936.  
  1937.  
  1938.  
  1939. <p>We need to focus on the things that matter to you and your ability to live where you want to live and have the kind of life you deserve.&nbsp;</p>
  1940.  
  1941.  
  1942.  
  1943. <p><strong>JW: </strong>Maurice, I want to get your thoughts.&nbsp;</p>
  1944.  
  1945.  
  1946.  
  1947. <p><strong><strong>MM</strong>:</strong> Yeah, I just think that there&#8217;s a set of people — and this is one of the reasons why we built the Working Families Party — there&#8217;s a set of establishment politicians and consultants that read polls and believe that polls are somehow determinative for the future prospects of politics, right?</p>
  1948.  
  1949.  
  1950.  
  1951. <p>And polls are one way to get a sense of where people might be at any given point. But I think those anti-trans ads in 2024, in as much as they were effective, they were only effective in the context of a larger story about Democrats abandoning working people. And those anti-trans ads had less to do with trans people because they don&#8217;t care about trans people. Trans people are simply a cudgel for them to make the larger argument about Democrats not caring about you.</p>
  1952.  
  1953.  
  1954.  
  1955.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  1956.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  1957.            href="https://theintercept.com/2024/09/11/kamala-harris-debate-immigration/"
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  1961.          >
  1962.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/GettyImages-2171257469-e1726031140229.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  1963.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  1964.        Related      </h2>
  1965.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Kamala Harris Accepted Trump’s Racist Lie That Immigration Is Bad</h3>
  1966.    </span>
  1967.    </a>
  1968.  </div>
  1969.  
  1970.  
  1971.  
  1972. <p>Our politics have transformed significantly. When you look at where people are with immigration. There were a number of Democratic elected officials that totally swung and <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/09/24/immigrants-migrants-language-harris-trump/">basically aligned with the anti-immigration position </a>based on that signal, right? And what ends up happening is that you have a set of elected officials that have no center. Have no moral core, have no vision, have no clarity chasing the pulse, chasing the culture instead of setting the culture. </p>
  1973.  
  1974.  
  1975.  
  1976. <p>If you want to learn from the right wing, is the right wing was clear about setting the culture. And you&#8217;re either telling the story or you&#8217;re in somebody else&#8217;s story. And instead of trying to figure out how they tell a more compelling story, they were simply seeking to figure out how best they can manage inside of the Republicans’ anti-trans story, and that&#8217;s not how you win, and that&#8217;s not leadership.</p>
  1977.  
  1978.  
  1979.  
  1980. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“People don’t need to agree with you, but they need to believe in you.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  1981.  
  1982.  
  1983.  
  1984. <p>And ultimately what that looks like to most voters is weakness. There&#8217;s a reason why, again and again, when voters, when they talk about the attributes of the Democratic Party, one of the attributes is weakness. Because ultimately people don&#8217;t need to agree with you, but they need to believe in you, and you can&#8217;t believe in somebody who one day is pro-trans, and then after an election, another day, it turns out that they&#8217;re anti-trans. One day they&#8217;re pro-immigration, and then it turns out after a bad election, then they&#8217;re anti-immigrant. Whether or not I agree with you, I don&#8217;t <em>believe </em>in you.</p>
  1985.  
  1986.  
  1987.  
  1988. <p>And I&#8217;m happy to see the results and hopefully this is a lesson to a number of those consultants that swung wildly to the right. And days after November&#8217;s really hard showing, they were jumping over each other to prove who was the hardest on immigration, who was the hardest on gender. And I think this is a rebuke of many of those folks inside of the Democratic Party that thought that&#8217;s how anybody wins in this moment.</p>
  1989.  
  1990.  
  1991.  
  1992. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>:</strong> I want to switch gears again over to California. As you both know, California had a very important proposition on the ballot, Prop 50, which allows for the use of new congressional maps until 2030. This is meant to counter gerrymandering of Republican states to add congressional seats. It won by a resounding majority.</p>
  1993.  
  1994.  
  1995.  
  1996. <p>What does this tell us about the appetite to fight against Republicans and the Trump administration? Amanda, I want you to go first.&nbsp;</p>
  1997.  
  1998.  
  1999.  
  2000. <p><strong><strong>AL</strong>:</strong> People are hungry to do literally anything they can to show Trump that they do not like what is happening. They do not like what the Republicans are doing. I think Trump won the popular vote by what, like a point and a half in 2024, and everyone seemed to think that indicated a massive vibe shift, and we are a reactionary country. We&#8217;re not. People don&#8217;t like this. He&#8217;s not popular. I hope that more institutions and business leaders and Democratic senators understand that, that if they fight back, the people will have their back. And the reverse is also true. </p>
  2001.  
  2002.  
  2003.  
  2004. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>“The powerful are cowards, but the people are brave and they are willing to push back.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  2005.  
  2006.  
  2007.  
  2008. <p>The people are fighting back. They are using every possible lever they can. It is one of the most frustrating narratives I&#8217;ve seen over the last year is, “Oh, the resistance is dead.” No, it&#8217;s not. Run for Something had 72,000 young people raise their hands to say they want to run for office in the last year. That is more than we had in the entirety of Trump&#8217;s first term. People are pissed. They do not like this. The powerful are cowards, but the people are brave and they are willing to push back.</p>
  2009.  
  2010.  
  2011.  
  2012. <p>I am, I think, comforted to see that even in this moment where no, it&#8217;s not great, gerrymandering is bad. People understand that we have to fight fire with fire. We have to neutralize what they&#8217;re doing. And I think the results from this week really tell us that the Republicans may be overplaying their hand here, because if you just took a bunch of Trump plus-10 districts and turned them into Trump plus-5 in order to create more Republican areas, that may not cut it in a wave election in 2026. </p>
  2013.  
  2014.  
  2015.  
  2016. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>:</strong> Maurice, what did you make of the gerrymandering vote?&nbsp;</p>
  2017.  
  2018.  
  2019.  
  2020. <p><strong><strong>MM</strong>:</strong> I couldn&#8217;t agree more. The California Working Families Party was very much a part of the Prop 50 vote. And what we saw on the ground was incredible. People are looking for meaningful avenues to push back against authoritarianism. I see it every single day. I criss-cross the country. I&#8217;m in sometimes rural communities. I&#8217;m in suburban communities. I&#8217;m in urban communities. I&#8217;m in Black communities. I&#8217;m in Latino communities, I&#8217;m in white communities. There is a through line through all of these communities. Most everyday people have completely rejected MAGA and the Trump policies. It&#8217;s exhausting to them. This includes people who are self-identified progressives and activists. It also includes people who don&#8217;t really attach themselves to politics in the way that people who are more ideological are, and people who identify as independents.</p>
  2021.  
  2022.  
  2023.  
  2024. <p>There was an opening for Trump to actually deliver on his populism, and he failed because he was always the self-interested con man that he&#8217;s always been. And people see it for what it is and are looking for any avenue to demonstrate their displeasure with Trump and MAGA. And that&#8217;s what this vote was about. That&#8217;s what that&#8217;s what this vote was about. That&#8217;s what the more than 7 million people that came together <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/18/no-kings-protests-trump-fascism/">during the No Kings rallies</a> was about, and it&#8217;s growing. The momentum is growing and I couldn&#8217;t agree more, I think we&#8217;re looking towards a wave election in 2026. And you could only gerrymander a district so much. And they might be surprised with the outcomes, despite their best efforts at gerrymandering and engineering a majority for themselves.</p>
  2025.  
  2026.  
  2027.  
  2028.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  2029.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
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  2036.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  2037.        Related      </h2>
  2038.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Solidarity Forever: Building Movements Amid Today’s Crises</h3>
  2039.    </span>
  2040.    </a>
  2041.  </div>
  2042.  
  2043.  
  2044.  
  2045. <p>I think they might be overwhelmed by what&#8217;s coming. Because I don&#8217;t see any indication as the economy continues to fail, as Trump administration officials continue to signal that there will be a recession as prices go up, as Trump continues to operate in the chaotic fashion that he operates, and as we know when he becomes more desperate, when he is more in a corner, when he recognizes that his grip on power is becoming more fleeting, then that&#8217;s the version of Trump that is the most chaotic.</p>
  2046.  
  2047.  
  2048.  
  2049. <p>And so when he builds this culture of chaos, it actually creates an opportunity for solidarity and more and more Americans across all types of difference are coming together. And so when I look at what happened in California, that&#8217;s what I see. People wanted a meaningful action to demonstrate that they do not support the Trump agenda and they want to fight back.</p>
  2050.  
  2051.  
  2052.  
  2053. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>:</strong> Now that we&#8217;ve spent so much time talking about the lessons from this election, I want to get into the future of the party. Are there any emerging Democratic or progressive leaders that you&#8217;re watching out for as we head into midterm season? Including those whose names aren&#8217;t even on the ballot yet?</p>
  2054.  
  2055.  
  2056.  
  2057. <p>Maurice, I&#8217;d like to hear from you first.&nbsp;</p>
  2058.  
  2059.  
  2060.  
  2061. <p><strong><strong>MM</strong>:</strong> I continue to be inspired by congressional leaders like Greg Casar, like Summer Lee, like <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/05/14/delia-ramirez-birthright-citizenship-supreme-court-immigration/">Delia Ramirez</a> who started off running on the local level. They governed, they secured things for their people. They built coalitions that were multiracial, that included labor and community, and now they&#8217;re representing us in Congress.</p>
  2062.  
  2063.  
  2064.  
  2065. <p>And they&#8217;re arguing for a working class politics. And they&#8217;re arguing it in a way that is something other than just a sectarian or ideological means. Summer has been on the front line talking about accountability for the victims of [Jeffrey] Epstein. And that has won her popularity with a whole new group of people who are not necessarily progressives, but want accountability too.</p>
  2066.  
  2067.  
  2068.  
  2069. <p>Greg has been an excellent communicator on the issues of affordability and focusing like a laser on the issues of working-class people, and has reached out to colleagues that don&#8217;t fit within the narrow confines of what you think of as a progressive.</p>
  2070.  
  2071.  
  2072.  
  2073. <p>So not only are they leading in ways that are focusing on the working class, challenging the corporate agenda, but they&#8217;re also bridge- builders — those are the leaders that we&#8217;re going to need in the future. The very clear, very sharp young progressive voices that are interested in building a bigger “we” and interested in building a coalition of all types of people.</p>
  2074.  
  2075.  
  2076.  
  2077. <p>I couldn&#8217;t be more excited about the politics to come. And the other thing I&#8217;ll say is that those politics are going to be about what we&#8217;re fighting for, what we&#8217;re willing to vote for, not simply based on all the horrible things that MAGA and Trump have to offer. Like at a certain point, American people are like, &#8220;Yes, we understand Trump&#8217;s brand. We know it&#8217;s bad. Tell us what you&#8217;re going to do for us.&#8221; And I think those are the leaders that are best positioned to tell that story.&nbsp;</p>
  2078.  
  2079.  
  2080.  
  2081. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>:</strong> Amanda, your organization focuses on recruiting progressive candidates. Who should we keep an eye out for?</p>
  2082.  
  2083.  
  2084.  
  2085. <p><strong><strong>AL</strong>:</strong> I am so excited about so many of our alum who, you know, as Maurice noted, started on the local level because Run for Something exclusively works with candidates running for local office and are now running for higher office going into 2026.</p>
  2086.  
  2087.  
  2088.  
  2089. <p>I&#8217;m pumped about Christian Menefee, who just moved into the runoff in Texas for the open congressional seat there. </p>
  2090.  
  2091.  
  2092.  
  2093. <p>Aftyn Behn, who&#8217;s running for a special election in Tennessee: incredible progressive organizer who&#8217;s been fighting especially for reproductive rights in an open election, special election, for Congress in Tennessee next month.</p>
  2094.  
  2095.  
  2096.  
  2097. <p>I&#8217;m excited about James Talarico in Texas, a state legislator, pastor, former teacher who really speaks the language of faith and can connect his progressive values to how it really translates to Texans all across the state. </p>
  2098.  
  2099.  
  2100.  
  2101. <p>I&#8217;m excited about Ruwa Romman, who&#8217;s running for governor in Georgia, a state legislator, a young Muslim woman who&#8217;s been a fierce and strategic thinker, really centering working families there. </p>
  2102.  
  2103.  
  2104.  
  2105. <p>Francesca Hong, running for governor in Wisconsin. Francesca’s a single mom, a restaurateur, another union organizer who&#8217;s been an incredible leader in the state assembly there — running for governor.</p>
  2106.  
  2107.  
  2108.  
  2109. <p>Alexis Hill, who&#8217;s running for governor of Nevada. My buddy Zach Wahls, who&#8217;s running for Senate in Iowa. Anna Eskamani, who&#8217;s running for mayor in Orlando. She&#8217;s a state rep down there who&#8217;s flipped a seat red to blue back in 2018 is now running to be the executive there. That&#8217;s actually a 2027 election. So looking even further ahead. </p>
  2110.  
  2111.  
  2112.  
  2113. <p>We have so many amazing leaders who Run for Something has been working with now for years. We&#8217;ve built this incredible bench of candidates who are so deeply connected to community, who have the receipts of delivering for folks in these local offices, and are now moving up the ranks — I wouldn&#8217;t say to better jobs, but more prominent ones for sure. I&#8217;m just really excited for the country to get to know them because I think they, much like Mamdani can give you hope that actually a better way of politics is possible and that we don&#8217;t have to constantly be disappointed by our leaders or by choosing from the lesser of two evils — that actually one of them doesn&#8217;t have to be evil to begin with. </p>
  2114.  
  2115.  
  2116.  
  2117. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>:</strong> We&#8217;re going to leave it there, but you both have shared such great insights into this election and what&#8217;s going to happen moving forward, so I really appreciate you both for joining me on the Intercept Briefing.</p>
  2118.  
  2119.  
  2120.  
  2121. <p><strong><strong>AL</strong>: </strong>Thank you.&nbsp;</p>
  2122.  
  2123.  
  2124.  
  2125. <p><strong><strong>MM</strong>: </strong>Thanks, good to be with you.</p>
  2126.  
  2127.  
  2128.  
  2129. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>: </strong>That does it for this episode of the intercept briefing.</p>
  2130.  
  2131.  
  2132.  
  2133. <p>We want to hear from you. What do you want to see more coverage of? Are you taking political action? Are there organizing efforts in your community you want to shout out? Shoot us an email at podcasts@theintercept.com. Or leave us a voice mail at 530-POD-CAST. That’s&nbsp; 530-763-2278.</p>
  2134.  
  2135.  
  2136.  
  2137. <p>This episode was produced by Laura Flynn. Sumi Aggarwal is our executive producer. Ben Muessig is our editor-in-chief. Chelsey B. Coombs is our social and video producer. Desiree Adib is our booking producer. Fei Liu is our product and design manager. Nara Shin is our copy editor. Legal review by David Bralow.</p>
  2138.  
  2139.  
  2140.  
  2141. <p>Slip Stream provided our theme music.</p>
  2142.  
  2143.  
  2144.  
  2145. <p>If you want to support our work, you can go to <a href="https://join.theintercept.com/donate/Donate_Podcast?source=interceptedshoutout&amp;recurring_period=one-time">theintercept.com/join</a>. Your donation, no matter the amount, makes a real difference. If you haven’t already, please subscribe to The Intercept Briefing wherever you listen to podcasts. And leave us a rating or a review, it helps other listeners to find us.</p>
  2146.  
  2147.  
  2148.  
  2149. <p>Until next time, I’m Jessica Washington.</p>
  2150. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/05/briefing-podcast-democrats-election-results-zohran-mamdani/">Democrats Swept Tuesday Night’s Election. Now What?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  2151. ]]></content:encoded>
  2152.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/05/briefing-podcast-democrats-election-results-zohran-mamdani/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  2153.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  2154.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Post-Election-MidTerm-Signals.jpg?fit=2000%2C1000' width='2000' height='1000' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">502666</post-id>
  2155. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2244556121-e1762311374802.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" />
  2156. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2244556121-e1762311374802.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  2157. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/YouTube-deletes-Pal-accounts-crop-e1762272608972.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  2158. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2234061775-e1762458214803.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  2159. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Fighting Oligarchy town hall at the Leonard &#38; Claire Tow Center for the Performing Artson September 06, 2025 in New York City. Mamdani joined Sanders at his New York town hall after marching with union members in Manhattan’s Labor Day parade. Sanders, an early backer of Mamdani’s primary bid, has staged 34 rallies in 20 states since launching his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this year, aimed at challenging the power of billionaires and corporations in U.S. politics. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)</media:title>
  2160. </media:content>
  2161. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2193191415-e1762284870477.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  2162. <media:title type="html">BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - JANUARY 13: Chief Spokesperson European Commission, Paula Pinho speaks during the daily press meeting in Brussels, Belgium on January 13, 2025. Pinho stated the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen continues her treatment in Hannover. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
  2163. </media:content>
  2164. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Kat-Abughazaleh-crop-e1761927116502.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  2165. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243051340_9b22dd-e1762316099565.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
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  2170.        
  2171.            <item>
  2172.                <title><![CDATA[Episode Five: What Fourth Amendment? ]]></title>
  2173.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/05/collateral-damage-episode-five-fourth-amendment/</link>
  2174.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/05/collateral-damage-episode-five-fourth-amendment/#respond</comments>
  2175.                <pubDate>Wed, 05 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  2176.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Collateral Damage]]></dc:creator>
  2177.                                 <category><![CDATA[Collateral Damage]]></category>
  2178.  
  2179.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
  2180.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>How the killing of Trevon Cole by Las Vegas police almost made prime-time TV.</p>
  2181. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/05/collateral-damage-episode-five-fourth-amendment/">Episode Five: What Fourth Amendment? </a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  2182. ]]></description>
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  2187. </div>
  2188. <!-- END-BLOCK(acast)[0] -->
  2189.  
  2190.  
  2191.  
  2192. <p><span class="has-underline">In June 2010,</span> Las Vegas police conducted a no-knock raid on Trevon Cole’s apartment, where he lived with his nine-months-pregnant fiancée. Cole, who occasionally sold small amounts of marijuana, rushed to the bathroom to flush a bag down the toilet. An officer followed and shot him in the head, killing him. Cole was unarmed. The officer claimed Cole made a “furtive” movement, but others present, including Cole’s fiancée, never heard any warning.</p>
  2193.  
  2194.  
  2195.  
  2196. <p>Cole had no prior criminal record, but police secured the warrant by falsely linking him to a different Trevon Cole with a criminal history in Texas. Despite the clear misidentification and Cole’s lack of threat, a coroner’s inquest cleared the officer, who had previously shot two other men, killing one. This episode of Collateral Damage, hosted by Radley Balko, examines how the courts have failed to protect the Fourth Amendment in drug cases, featuring interviews with constitutional law scholars, Cole’s fiancée, and the daughter she was carrying during the raid, now a teenager.</p>
  2197.  
  2198.  
  2199.  
  2200. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-transcript"><strong>Transcript</strong></h2>
  2201.  
  2202.  
  2203.  
  2204. <p><strong>Radley Balko:</strong> At the time Trevon Cole was shot and killed by a Las Vegas police officer, he and his fiancée Sequoia Pearce were sketching out plans for a life together. The couple was engaged, and she was 40 weeks pregnant with their first child.</p>
  2205.  
  2206.  
  2207.  
  2208. <p><strong>Sequoia Pearce: </strong>We were high school sweethearts. I was 40 weeks pregnant, so my due date was any day.</p>
  2209.  
  2210.  
  2211.  
  2212. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>They had moved to Vegas from Los Angeles so Pearce could be closer to her mother. With a baby on the way, it seemed important to be close to family.</p>
  2213.  
  2214.  
  2215.  
  2216. <p><strong>Sequoia Pearce: </strong>He was a family man. Like, he loved his mother. He was the person who got me more family-oriented — that’s what moved us to Vegas.</p>
  2217.  
  2218.  
  2219.  
  2220. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>Cole was 21 years old and worked at a “True Religion” clothing store. Pearce was just 20.&nbsp;</p>
  2221.  
  2222.  
  2223.  
  2224. <p><strong>Sequoia Pearce: </strong>Trevon was just full of life. Like, he was full of life. Everyone knew him. He was very popular.&nbsp;</p>
  2225.  
  2226.  
  2227.  
  2228. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>On the night of June 11, 2010, Cole and Pearce were watching TV in their home. At around 9 p.m., their peaceful evening was abruptly interrupted.</p>
  2229.  
  2230.  
  2231.  
  2232. <p><strong>Sequoia Pearce: </strong>We were hanging out, watching TV, laying in bed. We heard like an aggressive knock on the door. And then we heard like glass shatter. So we kind of like, felt like someone was coming in on us, and we didn&#8217;t know like if we were being robbed.</p>
  2233.  
  2234.  
  2235.  
  2236. <p><strong>Radley Balko:</strong><strong> </strong>The couple jumped from the bed. Cole soon realized that the men breaking into their home were the police.</p>
  2237.  
  2238.  
  2239.  
  2240. <p><strong>Sequoia Pearce: </strong>He was like, “Babe, where, where&#8217;s my weed?” And I was like, “I don&#8217;t know.”</p>
  2241.  
  2242.  
  2243.  
  2244. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>Cole had a bag of marijuana, about 7 grams’ worth — a typical amount for personal use. At the time, in 2010, cannabis was legal in Nevada for medicinal purposes but not for recreational use. Cole wanted to get rid of his pot before the cops could find it.</p>
  2245.  
  2246.  
  2247.  
  2248. <p><strong>Sequoia Pearce: </strong>I ran into the closet, and then he ran into the restroom.</p>
  2249.  
  2250.  
  2251.  
  2252. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>As the raid team battered down the door and made their way through the house, Cole knelt down by the toilet and tried to flush the marijuana.</p>
  2253.  
  2254.  
  2255.  
  2256. <p><strong>Sequoia Pearce: </strong>So I was in the furthest room of the apartment. So the first officers had their guns drawn and told me to get out the closet. And then as I got out of the closet, I stepped into our bedroom. The way, the facing of where I was in the bedroom, I can see inside the restroom. So when the officer kicked the door open and said “Freeze” and when Trevon raised his hands, it was just — the guys just shot him, and then the whole house just went silent.</p>
  2257.  
  2258.  
  2259.  
  2260. <p><strong>Radley Balko:</strong><strong> </strong>Las Vegas Metro Police Officer Bryan Yant had shot Trevon Cole in the face. The bullet pierced Cole&#8217;s cheek before burrowing into his neck. He died at the scene.</p>
  2261.  
  2262.  
  2263.  
  2264. <p><strong>Sequoia Pearce: </strong>After they kicked the door in and shot Trevon, they dragged me out of the house. I had on shorts and a tank top. And initially, I was sitting in front of the apartment, and one of the officers just kept staring at me. I&#8217;ll never forget this guy&#8217;s face.</p>
  2265.  
  2266.  
  2267.  
  2268. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>Pearce was shocked, angry, and confused.</p>
  2269.  
  2270.  
  2271.  
  2272. <p><strong>Sequoia Pearce: </strong>He&#8217;s like, “I believe they did say there&#8217;s someone in the house deceased.” I&#8217;m like, “No, it&#8217;s not. No, it&#8217;s not.” I was like, “No, it&#8217;s not.”</p>
  2273.  
  2274.  
  2275.  
  2276. <p>At some point, I figured something went wrong. And then from there, I don&#8217;t know if mentally I kind of shut out because I literally — I can say, like, when my mom came to get me from the scene, I really kind of wasn&#8217;t really aware of what just had happened before my eyes.</p>
  2277.  
  2278.  
  2279.  
  2280. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>Pearce had just watched the father of her soon-to-be born daughter, shot to death, right in front of her, while he knelt beside a toilet. She didn&#8217;t understand. Why had the police raided their home? Why didn&#8217;t they knock and let someone answer the door? Why had they opened fire so quickly?</p>
  2281.  
  2282.  
  2283.  
  2284. <p><strong>Reporter: </strong>It wasn&#8217;t long after the shooting at this apartment complex that the family of the victim started having questions.&nbsp;</p>
  2285.  
  2286.  
  2287.  
  2288. <p><strong>Sequoia Pearce [in news spot]: </strong>There was no weapons, no, like, Level 4 drugs. The only thing in there was marijuana because I knew he smoked.&nbsp;</p>
  2289.  
  2290.  
  2291.  
  2292. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>It would be bad enough if this had been your typical, hyped-up, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/08/collateral-damage-episode-one-dirty-business/">no-knock raid by overly gung ho cops relying on sketchy information</a>.&nbsp;Or another example of cops misconstruing an innocent gesture for a &#8220;furtive&#8221; one, then shooting an unarmed man, as Yant claimed. That was common enough at the time, particularly in Las Vegas.</p>
  2293.  
  2294.  
  2295.  
  2296. <p>But in this case, Yant had also misled a judge to get permission for their violent raid by pointing to the criminal history of an entirely different Trevon Cole.</p>
  2297.  
  2298.  
  2299.  <aside class="promote-banner">
  2300.    <a class="promote-banner__link" href="https://theintercept.com/podcasts/collateral-damage/">
  2301.              <span class="promote-banner__image">
  2302.          <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="150" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CD_podcast-landing.jpg?fit=300%2C150" class="attachment-medium size-medium" alt="" srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CD_podcast-landing.jpg?w=2000 2000w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CD_podcast-landing.jpg?w=300 300w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CD_podcast-landing.jpg?w=768 768w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CD_podcast-landing.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CD_podcast-landing.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CD_podcast-landing.jpg?w=540 540w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CD_podcast-landing.jpg?w=1000 1000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />        </span>
  2303.            <div class="promote-banner__text">
  2304.                  <p class="promote-banner__eyebrow">
  2305.            Collateral Damage Podcast          </p>
  2306.        
  2307.        <h2 class="promote-banner__title">Collateral Damage</h2>
  2308.      </div>
  2309.    </a>
  2310.  </aside>
  2311.  
  2312.  
  2313.  
  2314. <p>From The Intercept, this is Collateral Damage.</p>
  2315.  
  2316.  
  2317.  
  2318. <p>I’m Radley Balko. I&#8217;m an investigative journalist who has been covering the drug war and the criminal justice system for more than 20 years.&nbsp;</p>
  2319.  
  2320.  
  2321.  
  2322. <p>The so-called “war on drugs” began as a metaphor to demonstrate the country’s fervent commitment to defeat drug addiction, but the “war” part quickly became all too literal. When the drug war ramped up in the 1980s and ’90s, it brought helicopters, tanks, and SWAT teams to U.S. neighborhoods. It brought dehumanizing rhetoric, and the suspension of basic civil liberties protections.&nbsp;</p>
  2323.  
  2324.  
  2325.  
  2326. <p>All wars have collateral damage: the people whose deaths are tragic but deemed necessary for the greater cause. But once the country had dehumanized people suspected of using and selling drugs, we were more willing to accept some collateral damage.&nbsp;</p>
  2327.  
  2328.  
  2329.  
  2330. <p>In the modern war on drugs — which dates back more than 50 years to the Nixon administration — the United States has produced laws and policies ensuring that collateral damage isn’t just tolerated, it’s inevitable.</p>
  2331.  
  2332.  
  2333.  
  2334. <p>This is Episode 5, “What Fourth Amendment? How the Killing of Trevon Cole Almost Made Prime-Time TV.”</p>
  2335.  
  2336.  
  2337.  
  2338.  
  2339.  
  2340.  
  2341.  
  2342. <p><strong>Andre Lagomarsino:</strong> I remember first hearing about this incident because I was watching the NBA finals at the time, and a newsflash came over television about the shooting that involved Trevon Cole.&nbsp;</p>
  2343.  
  2344.  
  2345.  
  2346. <p><strong>Newscaster: </strong>Tonight, Action News is learning new details in the Metro shooting death of a suspected drug dealer last week.&nbsp;</p>
  2347.  
  2348.  
  2349.  
  2350. <p><strong>Andre Lagomarsino: </strong>Trevon Cole&#8217;s family was driving in from California. They were Googling attorneys, and somehow they came across this article where my name was in, and they reached out to us to represent them.</p>
  2351.  
  2352.  
  2353.  
  2354. <p><strong>Radley Balko:</strong><strong> </strong>Las Vegas area attorney Andre Lagomarsino.&nbsp;</p>
  2355.  
  2356.  
  2357.  
  2358. <p><strong>Andre Lagomarsino: </strong>And as soon as they got into town, they just came to my office, and that&#8217;s where we first met. So we not only became involved in the case and the investigation but trying to figure out, how do we deal with funeral arrangements, and how do we help the family get counseling, and how do we comfort them?</p>
  2359.  
  2360.  
  2361.  
  2362. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>Pearce spoke briefly to the press after Cole’s death. But with her baby arriving the following week, Lagomarsino stepped in as the family’s spokesperson.</p>
  2363.  
  2364.  
  2365.  
  2366. <p><strong>News reporter: </strong>The family&#8217;s attorney tells me Trevon Cole had his hands in the air following officers instructions for several seconds before he was shot. But sources close to the investigation say that while they respect the family&#8217;s mourning, they stand by their case.&nbsp;</p>
  2367.  
  2368.  
  2369.  
  2370. <p><strong>Andre Lagomarsino: </strong>It was my second case involving the police department. I had been practicing law for about 12 years. And I thought we would get a lot of blowback for representing somebody against the police department. I quickly learned the opposite.</p>
  2371.  
  2372.  
  2373.  
  2374. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>There&#8217;s a familiar debate that unfolds after police kill an unarmed person —&nbsp;about whether these sorts of cases are systemic problems, or merely the fault of a few “bad apples.&#8221; That can serve as a way for police to minimize abuse and misconduct. But there are a couple important points that get lost in the discourse: First, the aphorism is &#8220;A few bad apples spoil the bunch.&#8221; The point being, when you fail to remove the rotting apples, the rot eventually takes over the entire barrel.</p>
  2375.  
  2376.  
  2377.  
  2378. <p>This brings us to the second point: Any system that lets the &#8220;bad apples&#8221; continue working — or that even rewards or promotes them — is a fundamentally broken system. And in this case, the Las Vegas police department continued to coddle an incredibly rotten apple.&nbsp;</p>
  2379.  
  2380.  
  2381.  
  2382. <p><strong>Andre Lagomarsino: </strong>We got a lot of anonymous calls, actually, from people within the department sharing information. They wouldn&#8217;t reveal their names, but they would provide information to us about Mr. Yant.</p>
  2383.  
  2384.  
  2385.  
  2386. <p><strong>Radley Balko:</strong><strong> </strong>Bryan Yant, the officer who shot and killed Trevon Cole.</p>
  2387.  
  2388.  
  2389.  
  2390. <p><strong>Andre Lagomarsino: </strong>Detective Yant had a prior history of including false information and documentation that he would submit to the police department. The way we found out about that in this case was other lawyers had contacted me about information that they had discovered in their cases, which involved criminal investigations conducted by Detective Yant, where he would make statements and affidavits that weren&#8217;t true. For example, in one case, he made an allegation that somebody was verified to be in Las Vegas at the time a particular incident occurred, and travel records proved that that person was out of the country at the time.</p>
  2391.  
  2392.  
  2393.  
  2394. <p><strong>Radley Balko:</strong> Detective Yant has denied these allegations.<strong> </strong>We reached out to him for comment, and he didn’t reply.</p>
  2395.  
  2396.  
  2397.  
  2398. <p>Yant had previously shot three other people — two of them fatally.</p>
  2399.  
  2400.  
  2401.  
  2402. <p>So in the months after Cole was killed, Lagomarsino had two lines of investigation to pursue: the policies and practices of the Las Vegas police department, and the history of Detective Yant himself.&nbsp;</p>
  2403.  
  2404.  
  2405.  
  2406. <p>There was one other variable in the raid that took Cole&#8217;s life.</p>
  2407.  
  2408.  
  2409.  
  2410. <p>The week police raided his home, they were being filmed by a crew from the long-running reality TV show “Cops.”</p>
  2411.  
  2412.  
  2413.  
  2414. <p>[<strong>“Cops” theme song “Bad Boys”]</strong></p>
  2415.  
  2416.  
  2417.  
  2418. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>“Cops” first aired in 1989; it features high-drama footage of police making arrests, chasing suspects, negotiating domestic disputes, and so on. It&#8217;s one of the longest running TV shows ever. And it has always been controversial for its unrealistic portrayals of policing and for perpetuating <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/06/20/cops-tv-show-canceled/">racial stereotypes</a>.</p>
  2419.  
  2420.  
  2421.  
  2422.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  2423.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  2424.            href="https://theintercept.com/2020/06/20/cops-tv-show-canceled/"
  2425.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
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  2428.          >
  2429.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/TSDCOPS_EC002_H-crop.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  2430.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  2431.        Related      </h2>
  2432.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Not Just &#8220;Cops&#8221;: It&#8217;s Time to End the Entertainment Industry&#8217;s Anti-Black, Pro-Police Programming</h3>
  2433.    </span>
  2434.    </a>
  2435.  </div>
  2436.  
  2437.  
  2438.  
  2439. <p>The show has also been criticized for the effect it can have on the agencies that agree to be filmed — that the prospect of making the final cut can prompt officers and deputies to <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/12/17/kelly-siegler-prosecutor-jeffrey-prible/">be more confrontational and aggressive</a>.</p>
  2440.  
  2441.  
  2442.  
  2443. <p><strong>[“Cops” theme song continues]</strong></p>
  2444.  
  2445.  
  2446.  
  2447. <p><strong>Narrator:</strong> “Cops” is filmed on location as it happens. All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty, in a court of law.</p>
  2448.  
  2449.  
  2450.  
  2451. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>As it turned out, the “Cops” crew was on another police bust the night Cole was killed, so the actual raid on his home wasn&#8217;t filmed. But the week prior, they did record an undercover drug buy from Cole. So there was an incentive for the officers investigating Cole to follow up — and to create the sort of drama that makes for good TV.</p>
  2452.  
  2453.  
  2454.  
  2455. <p><strong>Andre Lagomarsino: </strong>In many cases, police officers love to kick down doors with AR-15s and big guns. They don&#8217;t need the show “Cops” to be able to do that, but in this case, we believe there was extra motivation that “Cops” had originally planned to videotape this raid. So they wanted to make it as glamorous and as ratings-worthy as it could be, by using the type of raid that they did to go in and bust somebody who had just sold them a little weed.</p>
  2456.  
  2457.  
  2458.  
  2459. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>And it really wasn&#8217;t much pot at all. Over the course of three controlled purchases, Cole had sold undercover police about 2 ounces of marijuana in total. In one instance, Cole didn&#8217;t even have an ounce on hand to sell.</p>
  2460.  
  2461.  
  2462.  
  2463. <p><strong>Sequoia Pearce: </strong>When they raided our apartment, we had 7 grams of weed. And like, I can say today, at 34 — like, I wasn&#8217;t big on like smoking, so I didn&#8217;t really know like how much weed that was — but like, that&#8217;s not a lot of weed. That&#8217;s like a sitting consumption at some point, if you have a habit. He never had large quantities, like he never had a pound in the house. He never had that.</p>
  2464.  
  2465.  
  2466.  
  2467. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>In order to get a search warrant, Detective Yant had to convince a judge that there was probable cause of a crime. And in order to get a no-knock warrant, he&#8217;d have to show that Cole was dangerous. Yant did<em> </em>submit a sworn affidavit claiming that Cole had a lengthy criminal history of sales, possession, and trafficking narcotics in Los Angeles and Houston.</p>
  2468.  
  2469.  
  2470.  
  2471. <p>But it turns out, that was an entirely different Trevon Cole.</p>
  2472.  
  2473.  
  2474.  
  2475. <p><strong>Andre Lagomarsino:</strong> That statement was completely false. The Trevon Cole whom Yant was interacting with and whom he had allegedly identified had no history of sales and trafficking anywhere.</p>
  2476.  
  2477.  
  2478.  
  2479. <p><strong>Radley Balko:</strong> There was a Trevon Cole in the police database with charges in Texas and California. And in the affidavit, Yant attributed this other man’s criminal history to the Las Vegas Trevon Cole, even though they had different ages, heights, and weights.&nbsp;</p>
  2480.  
  2481.  
  2482.  
  2483. <p><strong>Andre Lagomarsino: </strong>Detective Yant used the criminal history of a different Trevon Cole to be able to get a search warrant approved for basically a break-in of the apartment.</p>
  2484.  
  2485.  
  2486.  
  2487. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote><p>“Detective Yant used the criminal history of a different Trevon Cole to be able to get a search warrant.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  2488.  
  2489.  
  2490.  
  2491. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>Detective Yant later claimed that it was an accidental case of mistaken identity. Truth be told, Cole probably didn&#8217;t even need to be a dangerous kingpin in order for the cops to get a warrant.&nbsp;</p>
  2492.  
  2493.  
  2494.  
  2495. <p>The legal bar for police to conduct these violent raids has been getting lower and lower for decades, and even when they fail to clear that bar, there&#8217;s rarely any accountability.&nbsp;</p>
  2496.  
  2497.  
  2498.  
  2499. <p>To understand how easy it was for police to conduct the raid that ended Cole&#8217;s life, we need to take a quick detour and look at the recent evolution of the Fourth Amendment.</p>
  2500.  
  2501.  
  2502.  
  2503. <p><strong>David Moran:</strong> The election in 1968 is pivotal. Richard Nixon becomes president. He&#8217;s running on a tough-on-crime platform.</p>
  2504.  
  2505.  
  2506.  
  2507. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>That&#8217;s <a href="https://michigan.law.umich.edu/faculty-and-scholarship/our-faculty/david-moran">David Moran</a>. He’s the co-director of the Michigan Innocence Clinic and a law professor at the University of Michigan Law School. He also argued one of the most important cases governing the police use of no-knock raids.</p>
  2508.  
  2509.  
  2510.  
  2511. <p><strong>David Moran:</strong> Richard Nixon becomes president, and he immediately changes the composition of the Supreme Court. He gets to make a series of appointments in his first term that changed the balance of the Supreme Court.</p>
  2512.  
  2513.  
  2514.  
  2515. <p><strong>Radley Balko:</strong> Nixon&#8217;s appointment of <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/186218/william-rehnquist-haunts-right-wing-supreme-court">William Rehnquist</a> in particular was important. Rehnquist would later become chief justice, and under his watch, the court would begin to roll back many of the civil liberties protections it had articulated under Chief Justice Earl Warren.</p>
  2516.  
  2517.  
  2518.  
  2519. <p>But it was Nixon&#8217;s policies that really paved the way for a more aggressive, militarized form of drug policing. In 1968, Nixon ran for president on a platform of cracking down on crime, as well as on anti-war and civil rights activists.</p>
  2520.  
  2521.  
  2522.  
  2523. <p><strong>Richard Nixon advertisement:</strong> We owe it to the decent and law-abiding citizens of America to take the offensive against the criminal forces that threaten their peace and their security, and to rebuild the respect for law across this country.</p>
  2524.  
  2525.  
  2526.  
  2527. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>His campaign attempted to paint all three groups as a public menace by declaring war on drugs — and by targeting marijuana in particular.</p>
  2528.  
  2529.  
  2530.  
  2531. <p><strong>Richard Nixon: </strong>America’s public enemy No. 1 in the United States is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage an all-out offensive.</p>
  2532.  
  2533.  
  2534.  
  2535. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>Here’s an excerpt from a 1994 interview of Nixon senior policy adviser <a href="https://harpers.org/archive/2016/04/legalize-it-all/">John Ehrlichman</a>.</p>
  2536.  
  2537.  
  2538.  
  2539. <blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
  2540. <p>The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.</p>
  2541. </blockquote>
  2542.  
  2543.  
  2544.  
  2545. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>One way Nixon planned to crack down on drug offenders was by chipping away at the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. Conservatives at the time — and still today — were particularly angry about the Warren Court&#8217;s expansion of the <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/weeks-vs-u-s-4173895">exclusionary rule</a>. This rule states that when police conduct an illegal search, they can&#8217;t use any evidence they find in that search against you in court.</p>
  2546.  
  2547.  
  2548.  
  2549. <p>Proponents of the rule argue that because lawsuits against police officers are so difficult to win, the exclusionary rule is the only real deterrent forcing cops to adhere to the Fourth Amendment.</p>
  2550.  
  2551.  
  2552.  
  2553. <p><strong>David Moran: </strong>The theory being that the police don&#8217;t care if money damages are assessed against the state because of a knock-and-announce or other Fourth Amendment violation. The only way to enforce the Fourth Amendment is by telling the police that they&#8217;re going to lose the thing they care about, which is the collar — the conviction —&nbsp;or at least the evidence that they seize will be suppressed if they violate the Fourth Amendment.</p>
  2554.  
  2555.  
  2556.  
  2557. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote><p>“The only way to enforce the Fourth Amendment is by telling the police that they’re going to lose the thing they care about.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  2558.  
  2559.  
  2560.  
  2561. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>The knock-and-announce concept Moran references has been a part of American jurisprudence since the country was founded. In fact, it stems from centuries of English common law. The idea is that the home should be a place of peace and sanctuary. If the police want to violate that peace, they should first be required to knock on the door, announce their presence, and give those inside a reasonable amount of time to answer and let them in peacefully.</p>
  2562.  
  2563.  
  2564.  
  2565. <p>But there have always been exceptions to the rule — special circumstances that allow the police to barge right in. If, for example, the cops determine at the scene that knocking and announcing themselves would put them or somebody in the home at risk, or that it would give a suspect time to destroy evidence, they could enter without knocking.</p>
  2566.  
  2567.  
  2568.  
  2569. <p>But the Nixon administration pushed a proposal that would allow police to get a judge&#8217;s permission ahead of time to enter a home without announcing themselves. The idea was that drug dealers didn&#8217;t deserve that sort of consideration.</p>
  2570.  
  2571.  
  2572.  
  2573. <p>Congress passed a version of Nixon’s no-knock raid into law during his presidency, though the law was ultimately repealed following a series of botched and mistaken raids.</p>
  2574.  
  2575.  
  2576.  
  2577. <p>But then in the 1980s, the Reagan administration reinvigorated the drug war. Americans were continually fed fearsome, racially coded images of people involved in the use and sale of drugs.</p>
  2578.  
  2579.  
  2580.  
  2581. <p><a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40019763"><strong>Ronald Reagan</strong></a><strong>: </strong>This rise in crime, this growth of a hardened criminal class, has partly been the result of misplaced government priorities and a misguided social philosophy.</p>
  2582.  
  2583.  
  2584.  
  2585. <p>At the root of this philosophy lies utopian presumptions about human nature that see man as primarily a creature of his material environment. By changing this environment through expensive social programs, this philosophy holds that government can permanently change man and usher in an era of prosperity and virtue.&nbsp;</p>
  2586.  
  2587.  
  2588.  
  2589. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>Though Congress never formally reauthorized the no-knock raid policy, state and federal courts allowed them anyway, and so <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/08/collateral-damage-episode-one-dirty-business/">violent entry into private homes</a> to serve narcotics warrants became a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/15/collateral-damage-episode-two-death-dark/">primary tool in the drug war</a>.&nbsp;</p>
  2590.  
  2591.  
  2592.  
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  2598.      data-ga-track-label="collateral-damage-episode-two-death-dark"
  2599.          >
  2600.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/02_RyanFrederick_Article-crop2.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  2601.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  2602.        Related      </h2>
  2603.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Episode Two: A Death in the Dark</h3>
  2604.    </span>
  2605.    </a>
  2606.  </div>
  2607.  
  2608.  
  2609.  
  2610. <p>The increase of violent drug raids even became a TV news trope. Police would invite camera crews to join raid teams as they busted into homes. This footage would then be broadcast to millions of Americans, first on the evening national and local news, then in reality police shows like “Cops,” and the various “SWAT” series.</p>
  2611.  
  2612.  
  2613.  
  2614. <p><strong>News anchor: </strong>This kind of break-in is routine in Miami drug raids.</p>
  2615.  
  2616.  
  2617.  
  2618. <p>[Glass breaking]<br>“Police search warrant, open the door!”<br>[Pounding, smashing, gunshots]</p>
  2619.  
  2620.  
  2621.  
  2622. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>These raids proliferated from a few thousand per year in the late 1980s to 45,000 per year by the mid-2000s. Meanwhile, the courts steadily chipped away at the Fourth Amendment protections that were supposed to govern these kinds of police activity. The entire purpose of the knock-and-announce rule, for example, was to give residents of a home time to come to the door and let police in peacefully.</p>
  2623.  
  2624.  
  2625.  
  2626. <p>But the courts had slowly been giving police more and more authority to dispense with that rule, or allowed them to break down doors within seconds of announcing.</p>
  2627.  
  2628.  
  2629.  
  2630. <p><strong>David Moran: </strong>So I think there was a consensus that a few eggs have to be cracked in order to get at the drug war. You can&#8217;t run an effective war without some casualties. And one of those casualties was the right to be left alone in your home unless something really bad was going on.</p>
  2631.  
  2632.  
  2633.  
  2634. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>In 2006, Moran personally argued a seminal Fourth Amendment case before the U.S. Supreme Court. It was called <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/08/collateral-damage-episode-one-dirty-business/">Hudson v. Michigan</a>.</p>
  2635.  
  2636.  
  2637.  
  2638. <p><strong>David Moran: </strong>One of the fascinating things that I learned from doing my research when I was preparing to argue Hudson was how venerable the knock-and-announce doctrine was. It came from the era of English common law, not long after the Magna Carta. It was really medieval. I found cases and references by treatise writers from the Middle Ages about how a man&#8217;s home is his castle. And the concern with the knock-and-announce rule that planted it firmly in English common law was, if the constable came by or the sheriff came by and knocked your door down, that was really a bad thing. There was no Home Depot you could go to to get your door quickly rebuilt. Your door would then be open to highwaymen and common thieves and wolves and whatever was roaming the moor. So a man&#8217;s home is his castle really is a deeply held venerable part of English common law, which we inherited.</p>
  2639.  
  2640.  
  2641.  
  2642. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>The case involved a man named Booker T. Hudson, who was convicted of drug and firearm possession. The police had entered his home without knocking, announcing their presence, or waiting for a response.</p>
  2643.  
  2644.  
  2645.  
  2646. <p>Hudson argued that, based on the exclusionary rule, the police should not have been permitted to use the incriminating evidence they found against him. The state of Michigan argued that police had violated the rule, but that the contraband they found should still be fair game.&nbsp;</p>
  2647.  
  2648.  
  2649.  
  2650. <p>Moran was hopeful that the U.S. Supreme Court would make a strong ruling in defense of the exclusionary rule, which he argued was the best way to get police to comply with the knock-and-announce rule.</p>
  2651.  
  2652.  
  2653.  
  2654. <p><strong>David Moran: </strong>And the arguments went very well. I had the strong impression that we had at least five, and probably six, of the justices. Justice O&#8217;Connor in particular had spoken out during the arguments in a way that indicated she was leaning in our direction.</p>
  2655.  
  2656.  
  2657.  
  2658. <p>After the break, a pivotal ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court.</p>
  2659.  
  2660.  
  2661.  
  2662.  
  2663.  
  2664.  
  2665.  
  2666. <p><strong>[Break]</strong></p>
  2667.  
  2668.  
  2669.  
  2670. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>Three weeks after oral arguments in Hudson v. Michigan, but before the court issued its decision, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor retired — and was replaced by Samuel Alito.</p>
  2671.  
  2672.  
  2673.  
  2674. <p><strong>David Moran: </strong>And then very shortly after that, in a number of cases, the court ordered reargument. And what that means is that, with Justice O&#8217;Connor gone, there&#8217;s a 4-4 split, and so the case would have to be reargued in front of Justice Alito, who could make the deciding vote.</p>
  2675.  
  2676.  
  2677.  
  2678. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>Moran would have to go back to the U.S. Supreme Court a second time and argue the same case, four months later.</p>
  2679.  
  2680.  
  2681.  
  2682. <p><strong>Chief Justice Roberts: </strong>We&#8217;ll hear reargument this morning in <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2005/04-1360">Hudson v. Michigan</a>. Mr. Moran.&nbsp;</p>
  2683.  
  2684.  
  2685.  
  2686. <p><strong>David Moran [in court]: </strong>Mr. Chief Justice, and may it please the Court: For centuries, the knock-and-announce rule has been a core part of the right of the people to be secure in their houses from unreasonable searches and seizures. It reflects the notion …</p>
  2687.  
  2688.  
  2689.  
  2690. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>The court’s political alignment had been reconfigured by President George W. Bush’s appointee. Alito was far more conservative than O’Connor.</p>
  2691.  
  2692.  
  2693.  
  2694. <p><strong>David Moran: </strong>And we lost 5-4, in an opinion written by Justice Scalia.<strong>&nbsp;</strong></p>
  2695.  
  2696.  
  2697.  
  2698. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote><p>Because there’s no longer any real way to enforce it, the Fourth Amendment has basically become a right that really only exists on paper.</p></blockquote></figure>
  2699.  
  2700.  
  2701.  
  2702. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>The new majority ruled that even if police violate the knock-and-announce rule, the evidence they seize can still be used in court. The ruling didn&#8217;t change police behavior overnight, in part because the courts had already been lax in enforcing the Fourth Amendment.</p>
  2703.  
  2704.  
  2705.  
  2706.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  2707.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  2708.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/08/collateral-damage-episode-one-dirty-business/"
  2709.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
  2710.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: collateral-damage-episode-one-dirty-business"
  2711.      data-ga-track-label="collateral-damage-episode-one-dirty-business"
  2712.          >
  2713.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/CD_00_ShowTrailer_Article2_crop-e1759244318128.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  2714.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  2715.        Related      </h2>
  2716.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Episode One: Dirty Business</h3>
  2717.    </span>
  2718.    </a>
  2719.  </div>
  2720.  
  2721.  
  2722.  
  2723. <p>But in the two decades since, we&#8217;ve seen police departments, prosecutors, and even judges pay less and less attention to the knock-and-announce requirement. Because there&#8217;s no longer any real way to enforce it, it&#8217;s basically become a right that really only exists on paper. Police departments can be less cautious about corroborating information, about checking to see if there are children or other<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/08/collateral-damage-episode-one-dirty-business/"> uninvolved people in a home</a> before conducting one of these violent, volatile raids. Some departments have grown careless, cutting and pasting boilerplate language into search warrant affidavits instead of taking the time to show why an exception is justified in each particular case.</p>
  2724.  
  2725.  
  2726.  
  2727. <p>I have found numerous examples of this around the country in my own reporting.</p>
  2728.  
  2729.  
  2730.  
  2731. <p><strong>David Moran: </strong>The Fourth Amendment itself hasn&#8217;t changed. There hasn&#8217;t been a constitutional amendment. The text is exactly the same as it was. But what we&#8217;ve seen is that the definition of “unreasonable” has changed. The court has decided that lots of things that we thought were unreasonable before are now reasonable.&nbsp;</p>
  2732.  
  2733.  
  2734.  
  2735. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“The court has decided that lots of things that we thought were unreasonable before are now reasonable.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  2736.  
  2737.  
  2738.  
  2739. <p>So I really don&#8217;t think the framers or 19th-century or early 20th-century Americans would think, for example, that the police using a piece of military equipment like a tank to conduct an entry into a home would have been a reasonable search and seizure. But now it is. Now, courts have held that the use of overwhelming force — the use of flash-bang grenades, entries that terrify the homeowners, maybe even cause some of them to suffer cardiac arrest — that&#8217;s all reasonable.</p>
  2740.  
  2741.  
  2742.  
  2743. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>By 2010, four years after the Hudson decision, Las Vegas Metro police officers conducting narcotics investigation had every incentive to conduct their raids as quickly as possible — to get to the illicit drugs before they could be sold or moved to another location.&nbsp;</p>
  2744.  
  2745.  
  2746.  
  2747. <p>But there was also no punishment for going too<em> </em>fast. For getting careless or for taking shortcuts. Even if those shortcuts violated the Constitution, any incriminating evidence the officers found could still be used against their suspect. They&#8217;d still get their seizure, they’d still get their collar, they’d still get their conviction.</p>
  2748.  
  2749.  
  2750.  
  2751. <p><strong>Andre Lagomarsino: </strong>The Fourth Amendment in Nevada has been severely degraded with the way that the drug war has been pursued.</p>
  2752.  
  2753.  
  2754.  
  2755. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>Lagomarsino took on Cole’s case hoping to hold someone accountable for his death. But as he began investigating, he learned that the killing was about much more than just one problem officer.</p>
  2756.  
  2757.  
  2758.  
  2759. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>“You have overzealous police officers providing evidence to overzealous district attorneys. A lot of those district attorneys then become rubber-stamp judges.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  2760.  
  2761.  
  2762.  
  2763. <p><strong>Andre Lagomarsino: </strong>It&#8217;s my further view that it’s a systemic issue, meaning that you have overzealous police officers providing evidence to overzealous district attorneys. A lot of those district attorneys then become rubber-stamp judges who may not look at the evidence with the same lens and perspective that a neutral judge or a judge with a criminal defense background may look at it. And so the rights of individual citizens have been degraded along with the Fourth Amendment protections that they&#8217;re supposed to protect them with.</p>
  2764.  
  2765.  
  2766.  
  2767. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>When Detective Yant shot and killed Cole,<strong> </strong>Las Vegas used a process called a coroner&#8217;s inquest to investigate deaths in police custody. It&#8217;s a somewhat antiquated system in which an appointed county coroner assembles a jury to determine whether a death was justified, excusable, or criminal.&nbsp;</p>
  2768.  
  2769.  
  2770.  
  2771. <p>Lagomarsino knew the odds were stacked against him. In Clark County, such inquests had nearly always found killings by police officers to be justified. But he also had some reason to hope the inquest would rule against Yant. It wasn&#8217;t just that Cole was unarmed, or even that he wasn&#8217;t the same Trevon Cole claimed in the search warrant. It was also because Yant&#8217;s story just didn’t match the evidence.&nbsp;</p>
  2772.  
  2773.  
  2774.  
  2775. <p>Yant said Cole stood up and moved as if he was drawing a weapon. But that story was inconsistent with the autopsy results, which showed that the bullet had moved downward through Cole&#8217;s body. The medical examiner concluded that Cole was likely “crouched over the toilet,” just as Sequioa Pearce had told the police.</p>
  2776.  
  2777.  
  2778.  
  2779. <p>Yant also said he was sure he saw something shiny in Cole’s hand — what he thought was a gun. After he was killed, though, the only thing in Cole&#8217;s hand was a tube of lip balm.</p>
  2780.  
  2781.  
  2782.  
  2783. <p><strong>Andre Lagomarsino: </strong>No officers ever heard Yant say, “Put your hands up, let me see your hands.” Nobody ever heard anyone yell “gun,” even though it&#8217;s Metro policy to do so when a gun is spotted.</p>
  2784.  
  2785.  
  2786.  
  2787. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>In fact, the more information that came out about Cole&#8217;s death, the worse it began to look for the police — and for Yant in particular.&nbsp;</p>
  2788.  
  2789.  
  2790.  
  2791. <p>Then, less than a month after Cole&#8217;s death, Las Vegas police killed another man outside of a Costco, a military veteran named Erik Scott. Scott, carrying a permitted gun in his holster, was asked to leave the store. Police confronted him after a Costco employee reported that he was acting erratically.&nbsp;</p>
  2792.  
  2793.  
  2794.  
  2795. <p><strong>Douglas Gillespie: </strong>In the past 34 days, we at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department have had more than 325,000 calls for service. In that time, we have had five officer-involved shootings.&nbsp;</p>
  2796.  
  2797.  
  2798.  
  2799. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>Sheriff Doug Gillespe tried to reassure the public with a <a href="https://youtu.be/rdan1g8zHxw?si=S2S4TwpHVKKBv2bK&amp;t=128">video statement</a>.&nbsp;</p>
  2800.  
  2801.  
  2802.  
  2803. <p><strong>Douglas Gillespie:</strong> I need to allow the investigation to take place and the inquest process to be completed before I speak. I know some lack confidence in the coroner&#8217;s inquest process. But it is the process that we have.</p>
  2804.  
  2805.  
  2806.  
  2807. <p><strong>Radley Balko:</strong> There were plenty of reasons to be skeptical. Clark County’s inquest system was instituted in response to public outrage after a white police officer killed a Black teenager in 1969. That killing was deemed justified. But so have nearly all of the others.&nbsp;</p>
  2808.  
  2809.  
  2810.  
  2811. <p>In an investigative series published a year after Cole&#8217;s death, the <a href="https://www.reviewjournal.com/tag/deadly-force/">Las Vegas Review-Journal</a> found that the city’s police were responsible for a disproportionately high number of killings, and that many could have been prevented.&nbsp;</p>
  2812.  
  2813.  
  2814.  
  2815. <p>Yet in the 40 years since the inquest system was implemented, just once had it found a police officer killing unjustified, and even that officer was never criminally charged.</p>
  2816.  
  2817.  
  2818.  
  2819. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote><p>In the 40 years since Las Vegas’s inquest system was implemented, just once had it found a police officer killing unjustified.</p></blockquote></figure>
  2820.  
  2821.  
  2822.  
  2823. <p><strong>Andre Lagomarsino: </strong>Trevon Cole&#8217;s case followed decades of shootings, decades of police misconduct that went unpunished. Of all the officer-involved shootings, nobody was ever held accountable.</p>
  2824.  
  2825.  
  2826.  
  2827. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>The inquest system is unique to Las Vegas and mirrors an antiquated system once used in England. Under the rules of the inquest, family members and attorneys can submit written questions as part of the process, but a prosecutor ultimately conducts the questioning. There’s no cross-examination and only limited follow-up. Ultimately, the prosecutor decides whether the officer in question will be charged.&nbsp;</p>
  2828.  
  2829.  
  2830.  
  2831. <p>Cole’s inquest came first and lasted two days. The outcome was the same as nearly all the others.</p>
  2832.  
  2833.  
  2834.  
  2835. <p><strong>Newscaster: </strong>Good evening, and thanks for joining us tonight. A Metro officer at the center of his third shooting was found justified in the latest coroner&#8217;s inquest. An eight-person jury said Officer Bryan Yant was within his rights to kill 21-year-old Trevon Cole while executing a search warrant back in June.</p>
  2836.  
  2837.  
  2838.  
  2839. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>A few months later, Metro police’s Use of Force board — the department&#8217;s internal disciplinary system — also cleared Yant of any wrongdoing in Cole&#8217;s death. As for Erik Scott, the inquest had ruled police were justified in killing him too.</p>
  2840.  
  2841.  
  2842.  
  2843. <p>But the department&#8217;s prolific rate of killing people combined with the county&#8217;s prolific rate of clearing police officers was starting to draw scrutiny. The county ultimately decided that the inquest system needed reform. Sheriff Gillespie pledged that he was listening — that the department was evolving.</p>
  2844.  
  2845.  
  2846.  
  2847. <p><strong>Douglas Gillespie: </strong>We saw opportunities to improve and created the Critical Incident Review Team, CIRT. The findings of the CIRT team and the use of force board help us continue to learn from these incidents and how to improve upon our tactics, training, and decision-making in the future. We&#8217;re also making a change to how we respond to officer-involved shootings by creating a force investigation team. This team, made up of experienced homicide investigators, will only respond to officer-involved shootings and other use-of-force incidents.</p>
  2848.  
  2849.  
  2850.  
  2851. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>But then, in late 2011, another police killing. Las Vegas police shot and killed Stanley Gibson, a veteran experiencing mental illness, as he sat in his car. The U.S. Department of Justice finally stepped in and opened a six-month investigation of the department and focused specifically on the use of force.</p>
  2852.  
  2853.  
  2854.  
  2855. <p><strong>Bernard Melekian: </strong>We went back to the year 2007, with a careful eye on the history of how the department instructed officers on use of force.&nbsp;</p>
  2856.  
  2857.  
  2858.  
  2859. <p><strong>Radley Balko:</strong><strong> </strong>Here’s <a href="https://youtu.be/rTdNwfGDLJE?si=t2zPkmYGj4bfCxe_&amp;t=64">Bernard Melekian</a>, director of the Justice Department&#8217;s Community Oriented Police Services office.</p>
  2860.  
  2861.  
  2862.  
  2863. <p><strong>Bernard Melekian: </strong>That review has culminated in a report being distributed today. An extensive analysis that identifies 75 findings and recommendations.</p>
  2864.  
  2865.  
  2866.  
  2867. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>The report included a number of recommendations, from better training on racial profiling and deescalation, to analyzing use of force data, to being more transparent with the public. <a href="https://youtu.be/CfPZYLOmg6M?si=Cddofk7N4lVAnZ-R&amp;t=58">Sheriff Gillespie</a> said the department “embraced the report.”</p>
  2868.  
  2869.  
  2870.  
  2871. <p><strong>Douglas Gillespie: </strong>I think we have already seen the transformation taking place. I think we as a police department are being more critical of our use of force. And we are admitting when we don&#8217;t do things well.</p>
  2872.  
  2873.  
  2874.  
  2875. <p><strong>Andre Lagomarsino: </strong>Inch by inch there is progress. And there have been somewhat reduced-officer involved shootings because of the reforms. So reforms do work, but progress takes a really long time. And it&#8217;s almost like whack-a-mole where, yes, you might stop and prevent some more officer-involved shootings, but other problems arise with unwarranted stops, detentions, arrests, and beatings.</p>
  2876.  
  2877.  
  2878.  
  2879. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>In 2013,<strong> </strong>the county replaced the coroner’s inquest system with a fact-finding review process led by the district attorney’s office.&nbsp;</p>
  2880.  
  2881.  
  2882.  
  2883. <p>By most accounts, Las Vegas Metro police are<em> </em>less violent today than they were back in 2010, when they killed Trevon Cole. That year there were 25 officer-involved shootings. In 2023, there were only 10. But last year there was a slight uptick, despite a decline in crime.&nbsp;</p>
  2884.  
  2885.  
  2886.  
  2887. <p>Progress has been slow. In 2021, the Internal Affairs Bureau released its first-ever accountability report, detailing complaints against police officers and the outcomes of internal investigations. The police had promised to make this an annual report. But the department then decided the report didn’t meet its “business needs.” And so the department hasn&#8217;t published another report since.</p>
  2888.  
  2889.  
  2890.  
  2891. <p><strong>Andre Lagomarsino: </strong>This case happened in 2010, but even today, whether it&#8217;s a raid or just an arrest or a stop, the police department continues to stop, detain, and arrest individuals without probable cause. We have several cases in our office now that are captured on body cam, where the officers will stop, for example, motorists, who may look “shady,” in their words, or pedestrians who may look like “rappers,” in their words, and just stop, detain, search, and rough up these citizens.</p>
  2892.  
  2893.  
  2894.  
  2895. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>The Las Vegas criminal justice system has continued to routinely violate the rights of suspected drug offenders in other ways too.</p>
  2896.  
  2897.  
  2898.  
  2899. <p>In 2016, the journalism nonprofit <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/since-we-reported-on-flawed-roadside-drug-tests-five-more-convictions-have-been-overturned">ProPublica</a> published a damning report. It found that since the 1990s, Vegas metro police was one of several law enforcement agencies across the country that had been using drug field test kits known to produce false positives. These false positives were then used to arrest people, confiscate property under asset forfeiture laws, obtain search warrants, and coerce people into plea bargains.</p>
  2900.  
  2901.  
  2902.  
  2903. <p><strong>Reporter: </strong>Here is how the field drug tests work. Officers drop the substance into this small bag. If a vial changes color, that indicates the presence of an illegal drug.</p>
  2904.  
  2905.  
  2906.  
  2907. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>In 2024, <a href="https://youtu.be/elv7harlyN4?si=RZ2OigumBWUaUmxp&amp;t=108">NBC</a> reported on a Quattrone Center study with Penn university revealing that nearly half of the 1.5 million annual drug-related arrests involve field tests. Of those, approximately 30,000 arrests came from false positives.&nbsp;</p>
  2908.  
  2909.  
  2910.  
  2911. <p><strong>Reporter: </strong>How significant is that number?</p>
  2912.  
  2913.  
  2914.  
  2915. <p><strong>Ross Miller</strong>: For one thing, it&#8217;s not a number. It&#8217;s 30,000 people. That&#8217;s 30,000 times a year that the criminal justice system is getting it wrong.</p>
  2916.  
  2917.  
  2918.  
  2919. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>The really damning part is that ProPublica uncovered communications showing that in Las Vegas, city officials knew<em> </em>about the false positives. By 2010, the city crime lab wanted to abandon the test kits, and in 2014 it documented the problem in a report to the U.S. Department of Justice.</p>
  2920.  
  2921.  
  2922.  
  2923. <p>Yet the city continued using the tests. Between 2013 and 2015 alone, they were used to help win more than <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/unreliable-and-unchallenged">10,000 drug convictions</a> — 99 percent of those were through guilty pleas.&nbsp;</p>
  2924.  
  2925.  
  2926.  
  2927. <p>Here&#8217;s ProPublica reporter <a href="https://youtu.be/k2ZkZsJBihc?si=MAnba5QBX5ZbvJaU&amp;t=164">Ryan Gabrielson</a>, discussing the problem in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal.</p>
  2928.  
  2929.  
  2930.  
  2931. <p><strong>Ryan Gabrielson: </strong>Wrongful convictions on a level we don&#8217;t know. because the Las Vegas crime lab does not retest the field test results after somebody pleads guilty — and more than two-thirds of cases are ended by guilty plea at the first hearing.</p>
  2932.  
  2933.  
  2934.  
  2935. <p>So the vast majority of drug evidence in Las Vegas never gets tested, these field tests never get rechecked even though they&#8217;re known to produce false positives.</p>
  2936.  
  2937.  
  2938.  
  2939. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>Four years later, even as the city had begun overturning some of these convictions, police told ProPublica that they were still using the faulty kits.</p>
  2940.  
  2941.  
  2942.  
  2943. <p>While the field tests weren&#8217;t a factor in Cole&#8217;s case, they highlight a broader problem: a department that views the rights of suspected drug offenders as negotiable barriers to work around rather than fundamental protections enshrined in the Constitution.</p>
  2944.  
  2945.  
  2946.  
  2947. <p>In 2011, Trevon Cole’s family sued the police department. They eventually settled with the county for $1.7 million.</p>
  2948.  
  2949.  
  2950.  
  2951. <p>And as for Detective Yant?</p>
  2952.  
  2953.  
  2954.  
  2955. <p><strong>Andre Lagomarsino: </strong>He was moved over to the police union, where he now advises officers who are involved in officer-involved shootings.</p>
  2956.  
  2957.  
  2958.  
  2959. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>In fact, Yant&#8217;s bio on the police union website proudly notes that he was trained by the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/us/training-officers-to-shoot-first-and-he-will-answer-questions-later.html">Force Science Institute</a>, an organization profiled in the New York Times for routinely justifying police shootings and misconduct. The Justice Department has criticized the group’s theories as “lacking in both foundation and reliability.”</p>
  2960.  
  2961.  
  2962.  
  2963. <p>Most officers never fire their guns over the course of an entire career. Yet after shooting three people on duty, one of whom was unarmed, Yant now makes his living as an expert in police shootings.&nbsp;</p>
  2964.  
  2965.  
  2966.  
  2967. <p>Here’s a clip from a Las Vegas police union <a href="https://youtu.be/YfNm3tUwB5k?si=n_1r55fLB6JR79Y2">video</a>.</p>
  2968.  
  2969.  
  2970.  
  2971. <p><strong>LVPPA: </strong>As you can imagine, that officer is in a very difficult predicament, in as much as the officer doesn&#8217;t believe that he used reportable force at all. So, we have use-of-force experts at PPA. We have Detective Brian Yant who has been certified by Force Science.</p>
  2972.  
  2973.  
  2974.  
  2975. <p><strong>Andre Lagomarsino: </strong>It&#8217;s often asked why detective Yant was still allowed to be an officer after his prior shootings and his prior false statements. And nobody really has a straight answer to that. The best answer that I could ever come up with is that the police union in Las Vegas, and particularly Nevada, is extremely strong.&nbsp;</p>
  2976.  
  2977.  
  2978.  
  2979. <p>They have an officer&#8217;s bill of rights, even, enshrined in the Nevada revised statutes. And so it&#8217;s my belief that the union&#8217;s power was able to allow Detective Yant to continue to be an officer, even though he had no business being a police officer.</p>
  2980.  
  2981.  
  2982.  
  2983. <p><strong>Sequoia Pearce: </strong>It&#8217;s just crazy how you can just get away with murder on more than one occasion just because you have a badge.&nbsp;</p>
  2984.  
  2985.  
  2986.  
  2987. <p>I just feel like they can do whatever they want to do. They can break all the rules and still end up winning in the end.&nbsp;</p>
  2988.  
  2989.  
  2990.  
  2991. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote><p>“It’s just crazy how you can just get away with murder on more than one occasion just because you have a badge.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  2992.  
  2993.  
  2994.  
  2995. <p><strong>Radley Balko:</strong><strong> </strong>Incredibly, in 2022 Yant and the police union <a href="https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-las-vegas/metro-faces-suit-from-police-union-alleging-violation-of-officers-rights-2564980/">sued</a> the Metropolitan Police Department for violating the rights of police officers who were under investigation for misconduct.</p>
  2996.  
  2997.  
  2998.  
  2999. <p>We reached out to the Metro police and the police union for comment. They’ve declined.</p>
  3000.  
  3001.  
  3002.  
  3003. <p>Sequioa Pearce doesn&#8217;t live in Las Vegas anymore. But Trevon Cole will never be far from her life. He was, of course, her fiancée. And she endured the trauma of witnessing his death. But she also sees a part of him every day.</p>
  3004.  
  3005.  
  3006.  
  3007. <p><strong>Kalynn: </strong>I wouldn&#8217;t consider myself an activist, but I would consider myself an example.</p>
  3008.  
  3009.  
  3010.  
  3011. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>That’s the voice of Trevon Cole and Sequoia Pearce’s daughter, Kalynn. We didn&#8217;t expect to talk to her for this podcast. But while we were interviewing Pearce, Kalynn dropped by the recording studio and, with her mother’s permission, she was happy to talk about her dad — and at the time we talked, police in Illinois had just killed a woman named Sonya Massey in her home. Kalynn brought up the case.</p>
  3012.  
  3013.  
  3014.  
  3015. <p><strong>Kalynn:</strong> OK, so I&#8217;m Kalynn and I&#8217;m 14.</p>
  3016.  
  3017.  
  3018.  
  3019. <p><strong>Radley Balko:</strong> Hi, Kalynn, I&#8217;m Radley. Thanks for talking to us. Yeah, we were just talking about what happened to your dad. And your mom was telling us when you first heard about it, she said, I think, you were 3. I guess I&#8217;m just curious — we&#8217;ve heard lots of great things about your dad and that he was really full of life and a really kind person. How does his memory play into your life? Do you think about him often?</p>
  3020.  
  3021.  
  3022.  
  3023. <p><strong>Kalynn:</strong> I mean, it&#8217;s not that I think about him often, it&#8217;s that I <em>wonder </em>very often, especially because I didn&#8217;t really get to meet him. You see pictures, people tell you stories and stuff like that. And a lot of people tell me I remind them of him. Even though I know what he looks like and things of that sort, it&#8217;s still a — I&#8217;m looking for the word. It&#8217;s still a mystery in a way.</p>
  3024.  
  3025.  
  3026.  
  3027. <p><strong>Radley Balko:</strong> Knowing what happened to him, has that made you at all interested in learning about police abuse and cases like that, or is it just too difficult?</p>
  3028.  
  3029.  
  3030.  
  3031. <p><strong>Kalynn:</strong> Honestly, the story about Sonya Massey, is that her name?</p>
  3032.  
  3033.  
  3034.  
  3035. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>The most recent case, yeah.</p>
  3036.  
  3037.  
  3038.  
  3039. <p><strong>Kalynn: </strong>The most recent case. When I heard about it, it was just like it was, it was kind of, I wouldn&#8217;t say triggering for me, but it was just like, “Dang, it happened again.”</p>
  3040.  
  3041.  
  3042.  
  3043. <p><strong>News Anchor: </strong>People who attended rallies and vigils across the country yesterday are demanding justice for Sonya Massey. The 36-year-old is dead after calling 9-1-1 for help earlier this month and getting shot by a sheriff&#8217;s deputy in her own home.</p>
  3044.  
  3045.  
  3046.  
  3047.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  3048.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  3049.            href="https://theintercept.com/2024/09/05/sean-grayson-sonya-massey-false-drug-arrests/"
  3050.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
  3051.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: sean-grayson-sonya-massey-false-drug-arrests"
  3052.      data-ga-track-label="sean-grayson-sonya-massey-false-drug-arrests"
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  3054.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Kincaid-PD-2-e1725552473497.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  3055.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  3056.        Related      </h2>
  3057.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Cop Who Shot Sonya Massey Lied to Make a Drug Arrest. It Didn’t Hurt His Career.</h3>
  3058.    </span>
  3059.    </a>
  3060.  </div>
  3061.  
  3062.  
  3063.  
  3064. <p><strong>Reporter: </strong>Dozens gathered for a Justice for Sonya Massey rally after the mother of two was shot and killed by a downstate deputy earlier this month. Demonstrators coming together demanding Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a bill that aims to combat police misconduct, excessive force, and racial bias in law enforcement.</p>
  3065.  
  3066.  
  3067.  
  3068. <p><strong>Kalynn: </strong>It was a similar story, but it wasn&#8217;t a similar story. And it was just — it was just really something that happens way too often.</p>
  3069.  
  3070.  
  3071.  
  3072. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>Because she was born so soon after her father was killed, Kalynn’s birthday celebrations will always be somewhat muted by her dad&#8217;s death. Here&#8217;s her mom, Sequoia Pearce.</p>
  3073.  
  3074.  
  3075.  
  3076. <p><strong>Sequoia Pearce: </strong>I could honestly say I never really grieved because shortly after, I was a mom five days later. So I didn&#8217;t really — I beat myself up to not sink into postpartum because at that time I had newly started hearing about people having postpartum, and I just like had to force myself to like grow up.</p>
  3077.  
  3078.  
  3079.  
  3080. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>The 20-year-old Sequioa Pearce was forced to grow up fast after her fiancee&#8217;s death. Kalynn grew up without her biological dad. And we’ll never know what kind of father Trevon Cole may have been.</p>
  3081.  
  3082.  
  3083.  
  3084. <p>When we talk about the collateral damage of the drug war, it&#8217;s not just those who were killed. It&#8217;s the friends and family left behind. It&#8217;s the intergenerational trauma, and family ties hacked off before they can bloom.</p>
  3085.  
  3086.  
  3087.  
  3088. <p><strong>Sequoia Pearce:</strong> I don&#8217;t want anyone to forget about him. But I do want people to know that there are injustices and there are real victims. We are the real victims here.</p>
  3089.  
  3090.  
  3091.  
  3092. <p>We have to figure life out, and we&#8217;re still figuring it out, after they could just do what they want to do. They can falsify things and come after the wrong person and create this character and do what they want to do. I just feel like people need to know. They need to know.</p>
  3093.  
  3094.  
  3095.  <aside class="promote-banner">
  3096.    <a class="promote-banner__link" href="https://theintercept.com/podcasts/collateral-damage/">
  3097.              <span class="promote-banner__image">
  3098.          <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="150" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CD_podcast-landing.jpg?fit=300%2C150" class="attachment-medium size-medium" alt="" srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CD_podcast-landing.jpg?w=2000 2000w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CD_podcast-landing.jpg?w=300 300w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CD_podcast-landing.jpg?w=768 768w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CD_podcast-landing.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CD_podcast-landing.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CD_podcast-landing.jpg?w=540 540w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CD_podcast-landing.jpg?w=1000 1000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />        </span>
  3099.            <div class="promote-banner__text">
  3100.                  <p class="promote-banner__eyebrow">
  3101.            Collateral Damage Podcast          </p>
  3102.        
  3103.        <h2 class="promote-banner__title">Collateral Damage</h2>
  3104.      </div>
  3105.    </a>
  3106.  </aside>
  3107.  
  3108.  
  3109.  
  3110. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>Next time on Collateral Damage.&nbsp;</p>
  3111.  
  3112.  
  3113.  
  3114. <p><strong>Pilot 1: </strong>We&#8217;re trying to remain covert at this point.&nbsp;</p>
  3115.  
  3116.  
  3117.  
  3118. <p><strong>Pilot 2:</strong> See, I don&#8217;t know if this is Bandido or if it&#8217;s Amigo.</p>
  3119.  
  3120.  
  3121.  
  3122. <p><strong>Pilot 1: </strong>I recommend we follow him. I do not recommend Phase 3 at this time.</p>
  3123.  
  3124.  
  3125.  
  3126. <p><strong>Ian Vasquez:</strong> The drug war creates all sorts of innocent victims.&nbsp;</p>
  3127.  
  3128.  
  3129.  
  3130. <p><strong>Jan Schakowsky: </strong>We have spent billions of taxpayer dollars, employed personnel from numerous agencies around the world, and the drugs continue to flow into the United States. Are the Bowers acceptable collateral damage in this war on drugs?</p>
  3131.  
  3132.  
  3133.  
  3134. <p><strong>Radley Balko: </strong>Collateral Damage is a production of The Intercept.&nbsp;</p>
  3135.  
  3136.  
  3137.  
  3138. <p>It was reported and written by me, Radley Balko.</p>
  3139.  
  3140.  
  3141.  
  3142. <p>Additional writing by Andrew Stelzer, who also served as producer and editor.</p>
  3143.  
  3144.  
  3145.  
  3146. <p>Laura Flynn is our show runner.</p>
  3147.  
  3148.  
  3149.  
  3150. <p>Ben Muessig is our editor-in-chief:</p>
  3151.  
  3152.  
  3153.  
  3154. <p>The executive producers are me and Sumi Aggarwal.&nbsp;</p>
  3155.  
  3156.  
  3157.  
  3158. <p>We had editing support from Maryam Saleh.</p>
  3159.  
  3160.  
  3161.  
  3162. <p>Truc Nguyen mixed our show.</p>
  3163.  
  3164.  
  3165.  
  3166. <p>Legal review by Shawn Musgrave and David Bralow.&nbsp;</p>
  3167.  
  3168.  
  3169.  
  3170. <p>Fact-checking by Kadal Jesuthasan.</p>
  3171.  
  3172.  
  3173.  
  3174. <p>Art direction by Fei Liu.</p>
  3175.  
  3176.  
  3177.  
  3178. <p>Illustrations by Tara Anand.</p>
  3179.  
  3180.  
  3181.  
  3182. <p>Copy editing by Nara Shin.</p>
  3183.  
  3184.  
  3185.  
  3186. <p>Social and video media by Chelsey B. Coombs.</p>
  3187.  
  3188.  
  3189.  
  3190. <p>Special thanks to Peter Beck for research assistance.&nbsp;</p>
  3191.  
  3192.  
  3193.  
  3194. <p>This series was made possible by a grant from the Vital Projects Fund.&nbsp;</p>
  3195.  
  3196.  
  3197.  
  3198. <p>If you want to send us a message, email us at podcasts@theintercept.com</p>
  3199.  
  3200.  
  3201.  
  3202. <p>To continue to follow my work and reporting, check out my newsletter, The Watch, at <a href="http://radleybalko.substack.com/">radleybalko.substack.com</a>.</p>
  3203.  
  3204.  
  3205.  
  3206. <p>Thank you for listening.&nbsp;</p>
  3207. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/05/collateral-damage-episode-five-fourth-amendment/">Episode Five: What Fourth Amendment? </a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  3208. ]]></content:encoded>
  3209.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/05/collateral-damage-episode-five-fourth-amendment/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  3210.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  3211.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/05_TrevonCole_Article.jpg?fit=2000%2C1000' width='2000' height='1000' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">502176</post-id>
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  3215. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2234061775-e1762458214803.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  3216. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Fighting Oligarchy town hall at the Leonard &#38; Claire Tow Center for the Performing Artson September 06, 2025 in New York City. Mamdani joined Sanders at his New York town hall after marching with union members in Manhattan’s Labor Day parade. Sanders, an early backer of Mamdani’s primary bid, has staged 34 rallies in 20 states since launching his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this year, aimed at challenging the power of billionaires and corporations in U.S. politics. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)</media:title>
  3217. </media:content>
  3218. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2193191415-e1762284870477.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  3219. <media:title type="html">BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - JANUARY 13: Chief Spokesperson European Commission, Paula Pinho speaks during the daily press meeting in Brussels, Belgium on January 13, 2025. Pinho stated the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen continues her treatment in Hannover. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
  3220. </media:content>
  3221. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/TSDCOPS_EC002_H-crop.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  3222. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/02_RyanFrederick_Article-crop2.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  3223. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/YouTube-deletes-Pal-accounts-crop-e1762272608972.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  3224. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2234061775-e1762458214803.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  3225. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Fighting Oligarchy town hall at the Leonard &#38; Claire Tow Center for the Performing Artson September 06, 2025 in New York City. Mamdani joined Sanders at his New York town hall after marching with union members in Manhattan’s Labor Day parade. Sanders, an early backer of Mamdani’s primary bid, has staged 34 rallies in 20 states since launching his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this year, aimed at challenging the power of billionaires and corporations in U.S. politics. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)</media:title>
  3226. </media:content>
  3227. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2193191415-e1762284870477.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  3228. <media:title type="html">BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - JANUARY 13: Chief Spokesperson European Commission, Paula Pinho speaks during the daily press meeting in Brussels, Belgium on January 13, 2025. Pinho stated the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen continues her treatment in Hannover. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
  3229. </media:content>
  3230. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/CD_00_ShowTrailer_Article2_crop-e1759244318128.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  3231. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Kincaid-PD-2-e1725552473497.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
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  3234.        
  3235.            <item>
  3236.                <title><![CDATA[Zohran Mamdani Avoided Campaigning Against the Police. Will They Work With Him?]]></title>
  3237.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/05/zohran-mamdani-mayor-police-reform-nypd/</link>
  3238.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/05/zohran-mamdani-mayor-police-reform-nypd/#respond</comments>
  3239.                <pubDate>Wed, 05 Nov 2025 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  3240.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Akela Lacy]]></dc:creator>
  3241.                                 <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
  3242.  
  3243.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
  3244.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>To implement his sweeping agenda, Mamdani will have to navigate the New York Police Department and its influential union.</p>
  3245. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/05/zohran-mamdani-mayor-police-reform-nypd/">Zohran Mamdani Avoided Campaigning Against the Police. Will They Work With Him?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  3246. ]]></description>
  3247.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  3248. <p><span class="has-underline">Zohran Mamdani won</span> the New York City mayoral election on Tuesday night, ushering in a rare moment of optimism for progressives seeking to push the Democratic Party left and New Yorkers hoping he’ll make the city more affordable.</p>
  3249.  
  3250.  
  3251.  
  3252. <p>But in order to implement his sweeping agenda, Mamdani will have to confront an establishment that tried to keep him out of office and tackle one of the key issues it sought to leverage against him: the New York Police Department and its powerful union.</p>
  3253.  
  3254.  
  3255.  
  3256.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  3257.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  3258.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/nyc-mayor-election-results-zohran-mamdani-cuomo/"
  3259.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
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  3262.          >
  3263.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2244556121-e1762311374802.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  3264.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  3265.        Related      </h2>
  3266.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Zohran Mamdani Beats Andrew Cuomo in Victory for the Left in NYC Mayoral Race</h3>
  3267.    </span>
  3268.    </a>
  3269.  </div>
  3270.  
  3271.  
  3272.  
  3273. <p>As Mamdani’s opponents seized throughout the race on his past criticism of police, his public safety pledges on the campaign trail reflected an attempt to thread the needle between the NYPD and its critics — strengthening the power of the department’s civilian oversight board, keeping NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch in her job, and building a Department of Community Safety to “ensure that no New Yorker falls through the cracks of our social safety net.” Together, the proposals simultaneously aim to make it harder for police to escape accountability, preserve one of the department’s institutionalist leaders, and take certain responsibilities away from police as a way to lighten their load.&nbsp;</p>
  3274.  
  3275.  
  3276.  
  3277. <p>The Department of Community Safety, Mamdani’s marquee <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a7ejjSZWWIAcxfcWnkYaqvnjihTb0LAOQkj8g10-npg/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.2gazcsgmxkub">public safety proposal</a>, would do violence prevention, crisis response, and mental health work by deploying non-police personnel throughout the city. The idea, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/mental-health-crisis-911-police-alternative-civilian-responders-ca97971200c485e36aa456c04d217547">successfully modeled</a> in <a href="https://theappeal.org/non-police-crisis-response-programs-have-been-working-heres-how/">other cities</a>, is to free police officers from spending time on those issues and let them focus instead on responding to the most violent crime.</p>
  3278.  
  3279.  
  3280.  
  3281. <p>According to Alex Vitale, a sociology professor who runs the Policing and Social Justice Project at Brooklyn College, police have “mixed feelings” about the proposal. On one hand, rank-and-file cops largely don’t want to be in the business of responding to mental health crises. On the other, they’re part of an establishment coalition that may not want to support Mamdani for political reasons.&nbsp;</p>
  3282.  
  3283.  
  3284.  
  3285.  
  3286.  
  3287.  
  3288.  
  3289. <p>The city’s influential police union, which represents 50,000 retired and active police officers from the New York City Police Department, has said Mamdani’s plan won’t make a dent in their workload. “The NYPD responds to roughly 180,000 calls involving an emotionally disturbed person each year, out of roughly 9 million total 911 calls,” said NYC Police Benevolent Association spokesperson John Nuthall in a statement to The Intercept. “That means that mental health emergencies constitute less than 2% of calls the NYPD responds to.”&nbsp;</p>
  3290.  
  3291.  
  3292.  
  3293. <p>“We are really focused on a positive vision for change New York City,” said Grace Mausser, a co-chair of the New York City Democratic Socialists of America, at the Mamadani campaign’s election night party at the Paramount Theater in Brooklyn. “We know governing is going to be complicated, we knew it when we ran for mayor that it meant electing someone who was going to be in charge of the NYPD, but we can’t let complications stop us from taking power. Certainly the oligarchs don’t, so the working people can’t either.”</p>
  3294.  
  3295.  
  3296.  
  3297. <p>The Mamdani administration will also have to determine who will run the agency, who will staff it, how it might affect the next round of police union contract negotiations, and what relationship it will have with the NYPD and its oversight body, the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/08/23/nypd-75th-precinct-police-misconduct/">Civilian Complaint Review Board</a>. That, according to Mac Muir, a former CCRB investigator, represents “a serious bureaucratic and infrastructural challenge ahead.”</p>
  3298.  
  3299.  
  3300.  
  3301. <p>While Muir said the new department seems “designed to succeed,” he noted that it’s never been tested on New York City’s scale — or with a police force as big and influential as the NYPD. “It appears very clear that that entity could only succeed with an effective relationship with the NYPD,” Muir said.</p>
  3302.  
  3303.  
  3304.  
  3305. <p>Even if rank-and-file officers get on board with Mamdani’s plan, his administration will likely confront obstacles from department and union leaders.</p>
  3306.  
  3307.  
  3308.  
  3309. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>“In situations where the rank and file don’t trust the mayor, they just won’t do the things that they’re being asked to do.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  3310.  
  3311.  
  3312.  
  3313. <p>“His biggest issue, in my opinion, is going to be the extreme recalcitrance and push back from the rank-and-file members of the department and their union leaders to change and to reform,” said Sarena Townsend, the city’s former deputy commissioner for intelligence and investigation. Townsend was<a href="https://www.thecity.nyc/2022/01/04/eric-adams-jail-commissioner-pushes-out-acclaimed-investigations-head/"> pushed out</a> of city government under Mayor Eric Adams after she<a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/2022/01/13/mayor-adams-new-jails-commissioner-pressured-top-investigator-to-get-rid-of-2000-disciplinary-cases-then-fired-her-after-she-resisted/"> refused to dismiss</a> a backlog of use-of-force cases in city jails, and she’s currently leading<a href="https://www.thecity.nyc/2025/07/08/former-nypd-chiefs-lawsuit-whistleblower/"> whistleblower lawsuits</a> by former NYPD officers who say they were forced out after reporting alleged corruption and misconduct within the department.</p>
  3314.  
  3315.  
  3316.  
  3317. <p>“In situations where the rank and file don’t trust the mayor or the decision that the mayor is making, or their leadership,” Townsend said, “the rank and file just won&#8217;t do the things that they’re being asked to do, or they&#8217;ll revolt in other types of ways.”</p>
  3318.  
  3319.  
  3320.  
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  3329.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  3330.        Related      </h2>
  3331.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Bill de Blasio Promised to Change the NYPD. His Courage Failed Him, and Us.</h3>
  3332.    </span>
  3333.    </a>
  3334.  </div>
  3335.  
  3336.  
  3337.  
  3338. <p>Under Bill de Blasio, a progressive and vocal Mamdani supporter, the police union battled the former mayor to such a ferocious extent that he <a href="https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2020/06/meet-the-men-who-scared-de-blasio-away-from-police-reform/175932/">largely backed down</a> from many attempts at police reform.&nbsp;</p>
  3339.  
  3340.  
  3341.  
  3342. <p>If the cops don’t like Mamdani — whether on the grounds of his specific ideas or the leftist policies he represents — they can attempt to stymie him in a variety of ways, Vitale pointed out.</p>
  3343.  
  3344.  
  3345.  
  3346. <p>“Mamdani is going to have to dismantle a lot of phony task forces and committees,” he said, “and also deal with a workforce that may not share his vision on public safety.”</p>
  3347.  
  3348.  
  3349.  
  3350. <p>The Mamdani campaign did not respond to a request for comment.</p>
  3351.  
  3352.  
  3353.  
  3354.  
  3355.  
  3356.  
  3357.  
  3358. <p><span class="has-underline">While police present</span> a challenge for Mamdani within New York City’s political establishment, advocates for reform are skeptical about the way he’s distanced himself from some of his past criticism of police and his promise to keep Tisch in place as commissioner.</p>
  3359.  
  3360.  
  3361.  
  3362. <p>Tisch, Adams’s fourth appointed NYPD commissioner, has pushed police to more aggressively go after so-called “<a href="https://www.ourtownny.com/news/commish-tisch-unveils-new-quality-of-life-patrols-AA4165561">quality of life</a>” crimes — which Mamdani has said he would divert police away from.&nbsp;</p>
  3363.  
  3364.  
  3365.  
  3366. <p>“We’ve seen that Commissioner Tisch and perhaps Mayor Mamdani have serious distinctions in their political perspectives,” Muir said. “Can they sit down and identify mutual interests and work together?”</p>
  3367.  
  3368.  
  3369.  
  3370.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  3371.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  3372.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/06/zohran-mamdani-defund-the-police-adams-cuomo/"
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  3376.          >
  3377.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2228950358-e1757107708849.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  3378.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  3379.        Related      </h2>
  3380.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Zohran Mamdani Won’t Defund the Police. The Movement Can Grow With Him Anyway.</h3>
  3381.    </span>
  3382.    </a>
  3383.  </div>
  3384.  
  3385.  
  3386.  
  3387. <p>To many political observers, Mamdani’s decision to keep Tisch looked like an attempt to navigate a mainstream political climate that has become openly hostile to calls to rein in overpolicing and ballooning police budgets, and to placate detractors who warned his leadership would trigger a crime wave. His public safety plan largely focused on taking certain powers and responsibilities away from police, including getting rid of the NYPD’s controversial <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/04/07/nypd-strategic-response-unit-george-floyd-protests/">protest response group</a>, and he was the only candidate in the general election who didn’t call to increase the size of the NYPD.&nbsp;</p>
  3388.  
  3389.  
  3390.  
  3391. <p>But Mamdani <a href="https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2025/07/opinion-mamdanis-test-policing/407018/">didn’t really run</a> on the police reform agenda voters have seen proliferate in the post-2020 campaign era, Vitale said. That strategy was a response to largely<a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/12/07/defund-police-qualified-immunity/"> failed</a> liberal<a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/09/24/police-reform-bill-democrats/"> efforts</a> to rein police over the last several decades.&nbsp;</p>
  3392.  
  3393.  
  3394.  
  3395. <p>“He didn’t discuss accountability, training oversight, all the kinds of procedural reforms that have dominated liberal discourse around policing,” Vitale said. “We’ve been trying it in various forms for 10 years, and we really don’t have anything to show for it. Why waste political capital on symbolic superficial reforms that the police department is going to be up in arms about?”</p>
  3396.  
  3397.  
  3398.  
  3399. <p>That tack largely kept the police union out of the race, Vitale said. The union endorsed Adams in 2021 and did not endorse this cycle.&nbsp;</p>
  3400.  
  3401.  
  3402.  
  3403. <p>While Mamdani did say he wanted to make the Civilian Complaint Review Board’s decisions <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/10/01/us-news/zohran-mamdani-wants-to-strip-power-from-nypd-commissioner-revoking-final-say-on-officer-discipline/">binding</a> — rather than letting the commissioner have an effective veto on police discipline — he didn’t make it a central plank of his campaign. “If Mamdani had spent a lot of political capital talking about doubling the size of the CCRB and creating new accountability mechanisms and forcing more training, I think that might have pushed them into the race more forcefully,” Vitale said.</p>
  3404.  
  3405.  
  3406.  
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  3415.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
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  3417.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">There Are So Many Armed Cops on Subways That Now They’re Shooting Each Other</h3>
  3418.    </span>
  3419.    </a>
  3420.  </div>
  3421.  
  3422.  
  3423.  
  3424. <p>Strengthening the CCRB’s power would require dealing a blow to Tisch: As NYPD commissioner, she currently has the power to overrule many of the avenues that will become available for Mamdani to enforce oversight and police accountability. While Tisch has taken <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/nyregion/jessica-tisch.html">police accountability and discipline</a> seriously in some cases, she also shielded a lieutenant from an NYPD disciplinary judge’s CCRB-backed recommendation that he be fired after he<a href="https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2025/07/10/nypd-commissioner-won-t-fire-officer-who-killed-a-man-during-traffic-stop"> shot and killed a man</a> during a traffic stop.</p>
  3425.  
  3426.  
  3427.  
  3428. <p>”Am I excited about Tisch? Not super,” said Mausser, the DSA co-chair. “But there also was not a socialist police commissioner waiting in the wings. So if Tisch is committed to working with Zohran, committed to doing things like building a Department of Community Safety, then we’re gonna be open to working with that department to make it happen.” </p>
  3429.  
  3430.  
  3431.  
  3432. <p>These dynamics leave substantial room for pressure from reform advocates, who said they’ll be watching Mamdani’s administration closely for who he picks to lead his Department of Community Safety and how he responds to the next challenges facing the city, whether it be a National Guard deployment or a police shooting.</p>
  3433.  
  3434.  
  3435.  
  3436. <p>“If Mamdani comes into office and does not follow through on his promises, yes, we will protest outside of City Hall, just like we did again with de Blasio,” said Jeremy Saunders, co-executive director of the grassroots advocacy group VOCAL-NY. VOCAL supported de Blasio early on in his administration and put stronger pressure on him when he <a href="https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2020/06/meet-the-men-who-scared-de-blasio-away-from-police-reform/175932/">shied away</a> from some <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2020/05/31/longtime-supporters-dismayed-at-de-blasios-shift-from-police-reformer-to-defender-1289640">police reform proposals</a>, including making it a crime for police to use <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/02/25/nypd-chokehold-discipline-fabio-nunez/">chokeholds</a> and not policing fare evasion on the subway.</p>
  3437.  
  3438.  
  3439.  
  3440. <p>But ultimately, Saunders said, he’s concerned about bigger forces outside New York City.</p>
  3441.  
  3442.  
  3443.  
  3444. <p>“What are we going to do when the federal government is denying us our tax dollars or deploying the military or the National Guard here?” Saunders said. “I think we have less to worry about right now from a Mayor Mamdani than we do from the people who want a Mayor Mamdani to fail.”</p>
  3445.  
  3446.  
  3447.  
  3448. <p><strong>Update: November 5, 2025, 8:50 a.m.</strong> <strong>ET</strong><br><em>This story has been updated to include comments from NYC DSA co-chair Grace Mausser.</em></p>
  3449.  
  3450.  
  3451.  
  3452. <p></p>
  3453. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/05/zohran-mamdani-mayor-police-reform-nypd/">Zohran Mamdani Avoided Campaigning Against the Police. Will They Work With Him?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
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  3455.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/05/zohran-mamdani-mayor-police-reform-nypd/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
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  3457.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/AP25309169393733-e1762318791212.jpg?fit=4000%2C2000' width='4000' height='2000' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">502489</post-id>
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  3462. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Fighting Oligarchy town hall at the Leonard &#38; Claire Tow Center for the Performing Artson September 06, 2025 in New York City. Mamdani joined Sanders at his New York town hall after marching with union members in Manhattan’s Labor Day parade. Sanders, an early backer of Mamdani’s primary bid, has staged 34 rallies in 20 states since launching his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this year, aimed at challenging the power of billionaires and corporations in U.S. politics. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)</media:title>
  3463. </media:content>
  3464. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2193191415-e1762284870477.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  3465. <media:title type="html">BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - JANUARY 13: Chief Spokesperson European Commission, Paula Pinho speaks during the daily press meeting in Brussels, Belgium on January 13, 2025. Pinho stated the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen continues her treatment in Hannover. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
  3466. </media:content>
  3467. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/GettyImages-675627954-crop-2.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
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  3471.        
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  3473.                <title><![CDATA[They Tried to Smear Zohran Mamdani as an Antisemite. Voters Saw Right Through It.]]></title>
  3474.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/zohran-mamdani-antisemitism-islamophobic-israel/</link>
  3475.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/zohran-mamdani-antisemitism-islamophobic-israel/#respond</comments>
  3476.                <pubDate>Wed, 05 Nov 2025 04:48:39 +0000</pubDate>
  3477.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Natasha Lennard]]></dc:creator>
  3478.                                 <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
  3479. <category><![CDATA[Voices]]></category>
  3480.  
  3481.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
  3482.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>Mamdani’s victory means so much — including the repudiation of Islamophobic attacks and weaponization of antisemitism.</p>
  3483. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/zohran-mamdani-antisemitism-islamophobic-israel/">They Tried to Smear Zohran Mamdani as an Antisemite. Voters Saw Right Through It.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  3484. ]]></description>
  3485.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
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  3487.    <img decoding="async"
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  3489.    srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243051340.jpg?w=8192 8192w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243051340.jpg?w=300 300w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243051340.jpg?w=768 768w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243051340.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243051340.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243051340.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243051340.jpg?w=540 540w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243051340.jpg?w=1000 1000w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243051340.jpg?w=2400 2400w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243051340.jpg?w=3600 3600w"
  3490.    sizes="auto, (min-width: 1300px) 650px, (min-width: 800px) 64vw, (min-width: 500px) calc(100vw - 5rem), calc(100vw - 3rem)"
  3491.    alt="NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 24: Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic front-runner in the New York City mayoral race, prepares to speak outside a Bronx Mosque and cultural center on October 24, 2025 in the Bronx borough of New York City. Mamdani used the afternoon news conference to respond to Andrew Cuomo, his main rival, after Cuomo suggested Thursday that Mamdani would cheer if the 9/11 attacks happened again. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)"
  3492.    width="8192"
  3493.    height="5464"
  3494.    loading="lazy"
  3495.  />
  3496.      <figcaption class="photo__figcaption">
  3497.      <span class="photo__caption">Weeks before his New York City mayoral victory, Zohran Mamdani prepares to speak outside a Bronx mosque on Oct. 24, 2025, in the Bronx borough of New York. </span>&nbsp;<span class="photo__credit">Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images</span>    </figcaption>
  3498.    </figure>
  3499.  
  3500.  
  3501.  
  3502. <p><span class="has-underline">On Friday night,</span> early votes had already been cast in their many thousands for Mayor-elect of New York City Zohran Mamdani. Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, who leads the prominent Central Synagogue in Manhattan, took the occasion to <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/2025-11-02/ty-article/.premium/leading-nyc-reform-rabbi-slams-mamdani-past-remarks-as-antisemitic-demonizing-israelis/0000019a-436e-d43e-abbb-dbef70ce0000">slander</a> the democratic socialist candidate, purportedly in the name of Jewish New Yorkers.</p>
  3503.  
  3504.  
  3505.  
  3506. <p>“Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has contributed to a mainstreaming of some of the most abhorrent antisemitism,” Buchdahl said.</p>
  3507.  
  3508.  
  3509.  
  3510. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>Buchdahl didn’t cite any actual antisemitism. Her problem with Mamdani was his criticism of Israel.</p></blockquote></figure>
  3511.  
  3512.  
  3513.  
  3514. <p>Mamdani’s alleged antisemitism? <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/30/politics/zohran-mamdani-nypd-idf-video">Pointing out</a>, in 2023, the <a href="https://www.amnestyusa.org/blog/with-whom-are-many-u-s-police-departments-training-with-a-chronic-human-rights-violator-israel/">established</a> <a href="https://www.amnestyusa.org/blog/with-whom-are-many-u-s-police-departments-training-with-a-chronic-human-rights-violator-israel/">fact</a> that the Israeli military has trained hundreds of members of the New York Police Department, and that the NYPD and Israeli forces have <a href="https://deadlyexchange.org/participant-profiles/?st_source=ai_mode#:~:text=The%20surveillance%2C%20use%20of%20informants,facilitated%20by%20non%2Dgovernmental%20organizations.">intelligence</a> sharing agreements. The rabbi also decried Mamdani’s “false claims of genocide” in Gaza — claims shared by leading genocide <a href="https://genocidescholars.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/IAGS-Resolution-on-Gaza-FINAL.pdf?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email">scholars</a>, and every <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/17/top-aid-groups-call-on-world-leaders-to-stop-israels-genocide-in-gaza">major</a> international <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/12/04/amnesty-international-israel-genocide-gaza/">human</a> rights <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/07/28/nx-s1-5482881/israel-gaza-genocide-rights-groups-btselem-physicians">organization</a>.</p>
  3515.  
  3516.  
  3517.  
  3518. <p>That is, Buchdahl didn’t — and couldn’t — cite any actual antisemitism on the newly elected mayor’s part. Her problem, as was the case for the array of establishment Jewish voices who spoke out against Mamdani, was his criticism of Israel.</p>
  3519.  
  3520.  
  3521.  
  3522.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  3523.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  3524.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/nyc-mayor-election-results-zohran-mamdani-cuomo/"
  3525.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
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  3528.          >
  3529.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2244556121-e1762311374802.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  3530.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  3531.        Related      </h2>
  3532.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Zohran Mamdani Beats Andrew Cuomo in Victory for the Left in NYC Mayoral Race</h3>
  3533.    </span>
  3534.    </a>
  3535.  </div>
  3536.  
  3537.  
  3538.  
  3539. <p>Mamdani’s election as mayor of New York City is a victory — or at least offers promise — for so many of the city’s working-class constituents. For our immigrant neighbors, trans siblings, and every New Yorker struggling to pay rent, eat, and access care in this punishingly expensive, brutally unequal place.</p>
  3540.  
  3541.  
  3542.  
  3543. <p>It is a particular bright relief that base Islamophobia — entrenched since the September 11 attacks, supercharged during the Gaza genocide, and drenching every campaign against Mamdani — did not prevail.</p>
  3544.  
  3545.  
  3546.  
  3547.  
  3548.  
  3549.  
  3550.  
  3551. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-antisemitism-smears"><strong>Antisemitism</strong> Smears</h2>
  3552.  
  3553.  
  3554.  
  3555. <p>Mamdani’s win marks a rejection of the consistently Islamophobic <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/03/28/safety-college-columbia-stanford-antisemitism-israel-palestine/">weaponization</a> of antisemitism. I hope it is a turning point, from which other New York institutions learn. Diehard support for the Zionist project is, finally, not a sine qua non of New York City leadership.</p>
  3556.  
  3557.  
  3558.  
  3559. <p>If Mamdani’s victory was a victory over Islamophobia and false antisemitism allegations, it was not quite a total one. The significant support for the attacks against the mayor-elect, and the purchase they found with converts to disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, was jarring.</p>
  3560.  
  3561.  
  3562.  
  3563. <p>It was depressing for this Jewish writer to see significant numbers of particularly older Jewish voters back the slanders against Mamdani. The explanation, however, is simple enough: The very same Jewish figures and groups have been organizing their political lives around support for a genocidal ethnostate.</p>
  3564.  
  3565.  
  3566.  
  3567. <p>With the genocide in Gaza raging, weaponized claims of <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/06/17/israel-columbia-antisemitism-task-force-zionism/">antisemitism</a>, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/02/15/columbia-alumni-israel-whatsapp-deport-gaza-protesters/">launched</a> by pro-Israel <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/08/27/zionist-nyu-gaza-campus-protests/">forces</a> have <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2024/9/5/university_gaza_protests">won</a> the day in this city for over two years. <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/05/16/university-college-professors-israel-palestine-firing/">Students</a>, workers, and other protesters stood up to decry their institutions’ complicity in Israel’s onslaught.</p>
  3568.  
  3569.  
  3570.  
  3571. <p>At every turn, Democratic leaders bolstered and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/26/kathy-hochul-palestinian-studies-cuny-job">enforced</a> calls for expressions of Palestinian solidarity to be censured and punished. Mayor Eric Adams sent police to<a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/05/07/columbia-protest-gaza-nypd-overtime-cost/"> raid</a> Columbia University campus protests at the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/05/16/business-leaders-chat-group-eric-adams-columbia-protesters/">direct behest</a> of pro-Israel business leaders. Baseless accusations of antisemitism went wholly unchecked.</p>
  3572.  
  3573.  
  3574.  
  3575. <p>It was a lesson in cowardice and complicity, which has only <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/03/08/columbia-trump-funding-gaza-israel/">served</a> President Donald Trump’s <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/07/columbia-gaza-student-protests-expulsions-trump/">attacks on higher education</a> and anti-Arab, anti-Muslim immigration crackdowns.</p>
  3576.  
  3577.  
  3578.  
  3579.  
  3580.  
  3581.  
  3582.  
  3583. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-setting-an-example"><strong>Setting an Example</strong></h2>
  3584.  
  3585.  
  3586.  
  3587. <p>The fact that the majority of young Jewish New Yorkers expressed support for Mamdani, as did some of the most powerful Jewish politicians in the city and the country, should have long ago served to mute the attacks against him. Yet there will be no reasoning with a worldview that treats support for Palestinian freedom, and criticism of Israel, as a threat to Jewish life.</p>
  3588.  
  3589.  
  3590.  
  3591.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  3592.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  3593.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/07/10/mamdani-globalize-intifada-democrats/"
  3594.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
  3595.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: mamdani-globalize-intifada-democrats"
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  3597.          >
  3598.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/GettyImages-2224278364_26bb6e-e1752085551616.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  3599.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  3600.        Related      </h2>
  3601.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Zohran Mamdani Shows Democrats How Not to Take the Bait</h3>
  3602.    </span>
  3603.    </a>
  3604.  </div>
  3605.  
  3606.  
  3607.  
  3608. <p>Mamdani, however, did not have to sacrifice Palestinian solidarity to win this election. He did not have to pander to the endless false claims of antisemitism <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/zohran-mamdani-decries-racist-baseless-attacks-emotional-speech-islamo-rcna239632">directed</a> at him at every <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/16/zohran-mamdani-palestine-israel-nyc-mayor-debate/">debate </a>and most every mainstream press interview.</p>
  3609.  
  3610.  
  3611.  
  3612. <!-- BLOCK(pullquote)[2](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PULLQUOTE%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22pull%22%3A%22right%22%7D) --><blockquote class="stylized pull-right" data-shortcode-type="pullquote" data-pull="right"><!-- CONTENT(pullquote)[2] -->Mamdani did not have to sacrifice Palestinian solidarity to win this election.<!-- END-CONTENT(pullquote)[2] --></blockquote><!-- END-BLOCK(pullquote)[2] -->
  3613.  
  3614.  
  3615.  
  3616. <p>And, when he is the mayor, there is every reason to demand that he uphold commitments to Palestinian solidarity, including ending municipal partnerships with the state of Israel as it continues its campaign of mass slaughter, displacement, occupation, and apartheid.</p>
  3617.  
  3618.  
  3619.  
  3620. <p>I have no doubt that Mamdani will live up to his vows to support and protect New York’s Jewish communities; there were never any justified grounds to believe otherwise. His mayorship, among so many other things, should set an example of how supporting Jewish New Yorkers can be paired with a refusal to conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism.</p>
  3621.  
  3622.  
  3623.  
  3624. <p>“No more will New York be a city where you can traffic in Islamophobia and win an election,” said Mamdani Tuesday night, addressing his supporters in Brooklyn, after being declared the next mayor of New York City. </p>
  3625. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/zohran-mamdani-antisemitism-islamophobic-israel/">They Tried to Smear Zohran Mamdani as an Antisemite. Voters Saw Right Through It.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  3626. ]]></content:encoded>
  3627.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/zohran-mamdani-antisemitism-islamophobic-israel/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  3628.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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  3632. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 24: Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic front-runner in the New York City mayoral race, prepares to speak outside a Bronx Mosque and cultural center on October 24, 2025 in the Bronx borough of New York City. Mamdani used the afternoon news conference to respond to Andrew Cuomo, his main rival, after Cuomo suggested Thursday that Mamdani would cheer if the 9/11 attacks happened again. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)</media:title>
  3633. </media:content>
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  3635. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/YouTube-deletes-Pal-accounts-crop-e1762272608972.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  3636. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2234061775-e1762458214803.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  3637. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Fighting Oligarchy town hall at the Leonard &#38; Claire Tow Center for the Performing Artson September 06, 2025 in New York City. Mamdani joined Sanders at his New York town hall after marching with union members in Manhattan’s Labor Day parade. Sanders, an early backer of Mamdani’s primary bid, has staged 34 rallies in 20 states since launching his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this year, aimed at challenging the power of billionaires and corporations in U.S. politics. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)</media:title>
  3638. </media:content>
  3639. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2193191415-e1762284870477.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  3640. <media:title type="html">BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - JANUARY 13: Chief Spokesperson European Commission, Paula Pinho speaks during the daily press meeting in Brussels, Belgium on January 13, 2025. Pinho stated the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen continues her treatment in Hannover. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
  3641. </media:content>
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  3646.                <title><![CDATA[Zohran Mamdani Beats Andrew Cuomo in Victory for the Left in NYC Mayoral Race]]></title>
  3647.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/nyc-mayor-election-results-zohran-mamdani-cuomo/</link>
  3648.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/nyc-mayor-election-results-zohran-mamdani-cuomo/#respond</comments>
  3649.                <pubDate>Wed, 05 Nov 2025 02:05:11 +0000</pubDate>
  3650.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Noah Hurowitz]]></dc:creator>
  3651.                                 <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
  3652.  
  3653.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
  3654.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>The New York City mayoral race drew national attention as a test for the left as democratic socialist Mamdani faced former governor Cuomo.</p>
  3655. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/nyc-mayor-election-results-zohran-mamdani-cuomo/">Zohran Mamdani Beats Andrew Cuomo in Victory for the Left in NYC Mayoral Race</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  3656. ]]></description>
  3657.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  3658. <p><span class="has-underline">Zohran Mamdani Won</span> the New York City mayoral election on Tuesday night, becoming the first Muslim elected mayor in the city’s history in a race that garnered national attention as a test for the future of the Democratic Party.</p>
  3659.  
  3660.  
  3661.  
  3662. <p>Mamdani defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo by eight points, drawing 50 to his 42 percent of the vote with 98 percent of ballots reported. Guardian Angels founder and perennial gadfly Curtis Sliwa came in a distant third at seven percent.</p>
  3663.  
  3664.  
  3665.  
  3666. <p>“We won because New Yorkers allowed themselves to hope that the impossible could be made possible,” Mamdani told a crowded room at the Paramount Theater in Brooklyn on Tuesday. “And we won because politics is no longer something that is done to us — now it is something that we do.”</p>
  3667.  
  3668.  
  3669.  
  3670. <p>“Years from now,” he said, “let our only regret be that this day took so long to come.”</p>
  3671.  
  3672.  
  3673.  
  3674. <p>Campaigning on a core platform of affordability, Mamdani went from little-known assembly member to household name as he criss-crossed the city, popping in at churches and nightclubs, supported by an army of volunteer canvassers.&nbsp;</p>
  3675.  
  3676.  
  3677.  
  3678. <p>The race has been unlike any other in recent memory in New York. Minutes before polls closed, the New York City Board of Elections <a href="https://x.com/BOENYC/status/1985886200154997049">announced</a> that 2 million people had cast ballots — the highest number since 1969.</p>
  3679.  
  3680.  
  3681.  
  3682. <p>When the AP called the race for the democratic socialist, the Paramount exploded in cheers.</p>
  3683.  
  3684.  
  3685.  
  3686. <p>Mamdani press chief Andrew Epstein gave another man a bear hug, while New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who easily won his reelection race Tuesday night, jumped up and down. </p>
  3687.  
  3688.  
  3689.  
  3690. <p>“We shook up the world baby!” Williams yelled before wrapping New York Attorney General Letitia James in a hug.</p>
  3691.  
  3692.  
  3693.  
  3694. <p>“Unreal,” James said.</p>
  3695.  
  3696.  
  3697.  
  3698. <p>Cuomo, who lost the primary to Mamdani in a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/06/25/zohran-mamdani-andrew-cuomo-eric-adams-nyc-mayor/">stunning upset</a> in June, billed himself as the best man to stand up to Donald Trump — an argument that was complicated Monday when the president endorsed him, pledging to slash federal funding to the city if Mamdani were to win.</p>
  3699.  
  3700.  
  3701.  
  3702. <p>Trump’s endorsement was by then effectively a formality: The right had already coalesced around New York’s former Democratic governor, with the president and other members of his party pushing Sliwa, the Republican candidate, to drop out and let Cuomo face Mamdani head-on. On social media, Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115488077072288045">warned</a>: “A vote for Curtis Sliwa (who looks much better without the beret!) is a vote for Mamdani.”</p>
  3703.  
  3704.  
  3705.  
  3706.  
  3707.  
  3708.  
  3709.  
  3710. <p>New York City comptroller and former mayoral candidate Brad Lander, a key Mamdani ally since the primary, rebuked Trump at the Paramount for a recent social media post in which the president said that any Jew voting for Mamdani was “stupid.”</p>
  3711.  
  3712.  
  3713.  
  3714. <p>“When Andrew Cuomo earlier in the race tried to tell Jews how to vote I cursed at him in Yiddish, so I guess I’ll do the same,” Lander said. “Gay kaken ofn yam — Go shit in the ocean, Donald Trump!”</p>
  3715.  
  3716.  
  3717.  
  3718. <p>In addition to making history as an avowed socialist, Mamdani — who is of Indian descent and was born in Uganda — will be the city’s first Muslim American mayor. For many Muslims in New York who lived through the Islamophobia, racism, and <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/02/17/mike-bloomberg-new-york-muslim-surveillance/">pervasive NYPD surveillance</a> of the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/02/19/mike-bloomberg-ran-stasi-style-police-and-surveillance-operations-against-muslim-americans/">post-9/11 years</a>, Mamdani’s success on the campaign trail has been deeply personal, urban historian Asad Dandia told The Intercept.</p>
  3719.  
  3720.  
  3721.  
  3722. <p>“It means a great deal to me as a Muslim New Yorker, but also as a native New Yorker who doesn’t know how to live anywhere else,” said Dandia, who was involved in a lawsuit over the NYPD’s targeting of Muslim communities. “To see someone who looks like he could be my brother or my cousin, that’s a powerful testament to the possibility of New York and to people&#8217;s power.”</p>
  3723.  
  3724.  
  3725.  
  3726. <p>In the June primary, South Asian voter turnout surged by 40 percent from the 2021 primary, thanks in part to a surge in new voters, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/nyregion/mamdani-south-asian-voters.html">according to the New York Times</a>.</p>
  3727.  
  3728.  
  3729.  
  3730.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  3731.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  3732.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/07/10/mamdani-globalize-intifada-democrats/"
  3733.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
  3734.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: mamdani-globalize-intifada-democrats"
  3735.      data-ga-track-label="mamdani-globalize-intifada-democrats"
  3736.          >
  3737.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/GettyImages-2224278364_26bb6e-e1752085551616.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  3738.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  3739.        Related      </h2>
  3740.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Zohran Mamdani Shows Democrats How Not to Take the Bait</h3>
  3741.    </span>
  3742.    </a>
  3743.  </div>
  3744.  
  3745.  
  3746.  
  3747. <p>But Mamdani’s identity as a Muslim and his committed <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/16/zohran-mamdani-palestine-israel-nyc-mayor-debate/">support for Palestine </a>came into play in an ugly fashion too.&nbsp;Cuomo’s allies repeatedly attacked Mamdani with claims that he did not sufficiently denounce the Palestinian liberation protest cry “<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/07/10/mamdani-globalize-intifada-democrats/">globalize the intifada</a>,” which Cuomo translated, inaccurately, as “kill all Jews.” As the general election drew closer, Mamdani’s opponents engaged in naked Islamophobia by calling him a “jihadist” and a “terrorist sympathizer,” while congressional Republicans mused about having his citizenship revoked.</p>
  3748.  
  3749.  
  3750.  
  3751. <p>Despite efforts to tar him as an extremist outsider, Mamdani proved immensely popular, both in polls and on the street, where videos show him routinely being stopped by enthusiastic passersby.</p>
  3752.  
  3753.  
  3754.  
  3755.  
  3756.  
  3757.  
  3758.  
  3759. <p>Mamdani’s success was not limited to Muslim or South Asian communities, or to the so-called “Commie Corridor” of progressive, college-educated voters in north Brooklyn and Queens who have made up the primary basis of support for candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America.</p>
  3760.  
  3761.  
  3762.  
  3763. <p>In the primary and in the months that followed, his campaign worked aggressively to build a coalition of support that cut across ethnic and class lines. According to a recent poll published by the <a href="https://www.hispanicfederation.org/our-work/civicengagement/2025nycpoll/">Hispanic Federation</a>, 48 percent of Latino voters favored Mamdani — 36 percent indicating “strong support” — with just 24 percent of Latinos supporting Cuomo and 14 percent picking Sliwa.</p>
  3764.  
  3765.  
  3766.  
  3767. <p>Cuomo’s hopes laid with the traditional Democratic base of Black voters in the city, but Mamdani had been making headway on that front as well, with weekly visits to Black churches and a <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/01/mamdani-targets-cuomos-black-base-in-final-days-of-campaign-00632731">recent appearance</a> with Al Sharpton.</p>
  3768.  
  3769.  
  3770.  
  3771.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  3772.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  3773.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/24/briefing-podcast-nyc-mayor-zohran-cuomo/"
  3774.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
  3775.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: briefing-podcast-nyc-mayor-zohran-cuomo"
  3776.      data-ga-track-label="briefing-podcast-nyc-mayor-zohran-cuomo"
  3777.          >
  3778.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2025-NYC-Mayoral-Campaign2.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  3779.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  3780.        Related      </h2>
  3781.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">The Struggle for the Future of the New York Democratic Party</h3>
  3782.    </span>
  3783.    </a>
  3784.  </div>
  3785.  
  3786.  
  3787.  
  3788. <p>Ultimately, Dandia said, it was Mamdani’s core message of affordability that broadened his support far beyond committed leftists and South Asian and Muslim voters.</p>
  3789.  
  3790.  
  3791.  
  3792. <p>“He wasn’t running on his identity — he was running on a platform that appealed across so many communities,” Dandia said. “His success has shown the value of embodying what it means to be a humanistic person, justice-oriented person, and that’s equally as important if not more so than his identity.”</p>
  3793.  
  3794.  
  3795.  
  3796. <p>Those who worked on the Mamdani campaign weren&#8217;t surprised that voters came out in historic numbers to back their candidate. “For those of us who have been on ground, it’s amazing but it’s not really shocking when you’ve been out there knocking on doors, hearing how people are feeling,” said Annaliese Estes, a campaign field lead since April.</p>
  3797.  
  3798.  
  3799.  
  3800. <p>Celebrating Mamdani’s win, an attendee at his party asked Rep. Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y.: “Can you believe it?”</p>
  3801.  
  3802.  
  3803.  
  3804. <p>“I believed it a year ago,” she said.</p>
  3805.  
  3806.  
  3807.  
  3808. <p><em>This story has been updated with additional information.</em></p>
  3809. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/nyc-mayor-election-results-zohran-mamdani-cuomo/">Zohran Mamdani Beats Andrew Cuomo in Victory for the Left in NYC Mayoral Race</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  3810. ]]></content:encoded>
  3811.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/nyc-mayor-election-results-zohran-mamdani-cuomo/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  3812.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  3813.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2244556121-e1762311374802.jpg?fit=4304%2C2152' width='4304' height='2152' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">502363</post-id>
  3814. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/YouTube-deletes-Pal-accounts-crop-e1762272608972.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" />
  3815. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/YouTube-deletes-Pal-accounts-crop-e1762272608972.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  3816. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2234061775-e1762458214803.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  3817. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Fighting Oligarchy town hall at the Leonard &#38; Claire Tow Center for the Performing Artson September 06, 2025 in New York City. Mamdani joined Sanders at his New York town hall after marching with union members in Manhattan’s Labor Day parade. Sanders, an early backer of Mamdani’s primary bid, has staged 34 rallies in 20 states since launching his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this year, aimed at challenging the power of billionaires and corporations in U.S. politics. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)</media:title>
  3818. </media:content>
  3819. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2193191415-e1762284870477.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  3820. <media:title type="html">BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - JANUARY 13: Chief Spokesperson European Commission, Paula Pinho speaks during the daily press meeting in Brussels, Belgium on January 13, 2025. Pinho stated the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen continues her treatment in Hannover. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
  3821. </media:content>
  3822. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/GettyImages-2224278364_26bb6e-e1752085551616.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  3823. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2025-NYC-Mayoral-Campaign2.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  3824.            </item>
  3825.        
  3826.            <item>
  3827.                <title><![CDATA[A Journalist Asked Why Israel Isn’t Paying to Rebuild Gaza. It Cost Him His Job.]]></title>
  3828.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/journalist-israel-gaza-nova-gabriele-nunziati/</link>
  3829.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/journalist-israel-gaza-nova-gabriele-nunziati/#respond</comments>
  3830.                <pubDate>Tue, 04 Nov 2025 23:07:28 +0000</pubDate>
  3831.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Arthur Neslen]]></dc:creator>
  3832.                                 <category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
  3833.  
  3834.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
  3835.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>Italy’s Nova news agency confirmed it let reporter Gabriele Nunziati go for asking a European official about Israel at a press conference.</p>
  3836. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/journalist-israel-gaza-nova-gabriele-nunziati/">A Journalist Asked Why Israel Isn’t Paying to Rebuild Gaza. It Cost Him His Job.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  3837. ]]></description>
  3838.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  3839. <p><span class="has-underline">An Italian journalist</span> who asked a European Commission official why Israel shouldn’t pay for the reconstruction of Gaza was let go by his news agency.</p>
  3840.  
  3841.  
  3842.  
  3843. <p>Gabriele Nunziati, a Brussels-based reporter who covered the EU for Rome’s Nova news agency, told The Intercept he received a notice that he would lose his job barely a month after he became a correspondent.</p>
  3844.  
  3845.  
  3846.  
  3847. <!-- BLOCK(pullquote)[0](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PULLQUOTE%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22pull%22%3A%22right%22%7D) --><blockquote class="stylized pull-right" data-shortcode-type="pullquote" data-pull="right"><!-- CONTENT(pullquote)[0] -->“I received an email from my news agency telling me that they intended to stop our collaboration.”<!-- END-CONTENT(pullquote)[0] --></blockquote><!-- END-BLOCK(pullquote)[0] -->
  3848.  
  3849.  
  3850.  
  3851. <p>The move, which was <a href="https://www.fanpage.it/politica/perche-i-soldi-per-ricostruire-gaza-non-li-mette-israele-giornalista-italiano-cacciato-dopo-questa-domanda/">first reported</a> by the Italian news website Fanpage, came after he <a href="https://youmedia.fanpage.it/video/al/aQn1YuSwcWfKwkg7">asked</a> Paula Pinho, the European Commission’s chief spokesperson, about Gaza’s reconstruction on October 13.</p>
  3852.  
  3853.  
  3854.  
  3855. <p>“You’ve been repeating several times that Russia should pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine,” Nunziati, who is a contractor with Nova, said at a press conference. “Do you believe that Israel should pay for the reconstruction of Gaza since they have destroyed almost all its civilian infrastructure?”</p>
  3856.  
  3857.  
  3858.  
  3859.  
  3860.  
  3861.  
  3862.  
  3863. <p>Pinho replied that it was “definitely an interesting question, on which I would not have any comment.”</p>
  3864.  
  3865.  
  3866.  
  3867. <p>A clip of the exchange went viral — not a frequent occurrence for European Commission press conferences — and Nunziati found himself in demand.</p>
  3868.  
  3869.  
  3870.  
  3871. <p>“It was republished by several media outlets, and it got really huge,” he said. “I was even contacted by several people saying, ‘I saw you on Insta!’ Two weeks later — on October 27 — I received an email from my news agency telling me that they intended to stop our collaboration.”</p>
  3872.  
  3873.  
  3874.  
  3875. <p>The agency often uses &#8220;collaboration&#8221; contracts with limited protections that include nondisclosure agreements, according to staff sources.</p>
  3876.  
  3877.  
  3878. <!-- BLOCK(promote-post)[2](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PROMOTE_POST%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22slug%22%3A%22chilling-dissent%22%2C%22crop%22%3A%22promo%22%7D) -->  <aside class="promote-banner">
  3879.    <a class="promote-banner__link" href="https://theintercept.com/collections/chilling-dissent/">
  3880.              <span class="promote-banner__image">
  3881.          <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="150" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?fit=300%2C150" class="attachment-medium size-medium" alt="" srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1536 1536w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=300 300w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=768 768w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1024 1024w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=540 540w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1000 1000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />        </span>
  3882.            <div class="promote-banner__text">
  3883.                  <p class="promote-banner__eyebrow">
  3884.            Read our complete coverage          </p>
  3885.        
  3886.        <h2 class="promote-banner__title">Chilling Dissent</h2>
  3887.      </div>
  3888.    </a>
  3889.  </aside>
  3890. <!-- END-BLOCK(promote-post)[2] -->
  3891.  
  3892.  
  3893.  
  3894. <p>Nunziati said that he received two “tense” phone calls from his superiors at Nova in the two weeks between his question and the notice that his contract would end, but declined to comment further.</p>
  3895.  
  3896.  
  3897.  
  3898. <p>Francesco Civita, a spokesperson for Nova, confirmed that the news agency had ended its relationship with Nunziati over his Gaza question. Civita said that Nunziati had been let go for asking a question that was “technically incorrect” because Russia had invaded a sovereign country unprovoked, whereas Israel was responding to an attack.</p>
  3899.  
  3900.  
  3901.  
  3902. <p>The difference between Russia&#8217;s and Israel&#8217;s positions had been “repeatedly explained” to Nunziati, Civita said, “but he had “completely failed to grasp the substantial and formal difference in the situations.”</p>
  3903.  
  3904.  
  3905.  
  3906. <p>“Indeed, he insisted that the question was correct, thus demonstrating his ignorance of the fundamental principles of international law,” Civita said. “Worse still, the video related to his question was picked up and reposted by Russian nationalist Telegram channels and media outlets linked to political Islam with an anti-European agenda, causing embarrassment to the agency.”</p>
  3907.  
  3908.  
  3909.  
  3910.  
  3911.  
  3912.  
  3913.  
  3914. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-uncomfortable-question"><strong>“Uncomfortable Question”</strong></h2>
  3915.  
  3916.  
  3917.  
  3918. <p>Speaking to an Italian newspaper, Anna Laura Orrico, a member of Italian Parliament from the Five Star Movement, <a href="https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2025/11/04/giornalista-licenziato-gaza-israele-notizie/8184913/">denounced</a> the decision to let Nunziati go.</p>
  3919.  
  3920.  
  3921.  
  3922. <p>&#8220;If the story corresponds to the facts, it would be simply shameful for a media outlet to make such a decision,” she said.</p>
  3923.  
  3924.  
  3925.  
  3926. <p>Another Nova journalist, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect their livelihood, told The Intercept that Nunziati’s case was “the tip of the iceberg of Italian censorship to which journalists are subjected” on Israel. </p>
  3927.  
  3928.  
  3929.  
  3930. <p>“Gabriele was fired because he asked an uncomfortable question to the European Commission,” the journalist said. “In the days that followed, the atmosphere was very tense.”</p>
  3931.  
  3932.  
  3933.  
  3934. <p>The Nova agency journalist said that, after Nunziati’s dismissal, “all the journalists in the editorial office became silent.”</p>
  3935.  
  3936.  
  3937.  
  3938. <p>Several Western <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/10/30/media/ex-cbs-reporter-debora-patta-fired-in-wake-of-controversial-gaza-reporting-may-sue-network-source/">journalists</a> have lost their jobs after <a href="https://www.thenational.scot/news/25196716.sangita-myska-speaks-lbc-james-obrien-amid-israel-row/">asking tough questions</a> or making <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly6dlpd332o">critical comments</a> about Israel’s war in Gaza. According to the <a href="https://cpj.org/issue/israel-gaza-war/">Committee to Protect Journalists</a>, more than 240 journalists have been killed in Gaza, with scores injured and nearly 100 imprisoned by Israel.</p>
  3939. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/journalist-israel-gaza-nova-gabriele-nunziati/">A Journalist Asked Why Israel Isn’t Paying to Rebuild Gaza. It Cost Him His Job.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  3940. ]]></content:encoded>
  3941.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/journalist-israel-gaza-nova-gabriele-nunziati/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  3942.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  3943.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2193191415-e1762284870477.jpg?fit=5188%2C2600' width='5188' height='2600' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">502480</post-id>
  3944. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/YouTube-deletes-Pal-accounts-crop-e1762272608972.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" />
  3945. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/YouTube-deletes-Pal-accounts-crop-e1762272608972.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  3946. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2234061775-e1762458214803.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  3947. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Fighting Oligarchy town hall at the Leonard &#38; Claire Tow Center for the Performing Artson September 06, 2025 in New York City. Mamdani joined Sanders at his New York town hall after marching with union members in Manhattan’s Labor Day parade. Sanders, an early backer of Mamdani’s primary bid, has staged 34 rallies in 20 states since launching his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this year, aimed at challenging the power of billionaires and corporations in U.S. politics. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)</media:title>
  3948. </media:content>
  3949. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243051340_9b22dd-e1762316099565.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  3950. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 24: Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic front-runner in the New York City mayoral race, prepares to speak outside a Bronx Mosque and cultural center on October 24, 2025 in the Bronx borough of New York City. Mamdani used the afternoon news conference to respond to Andrew Cuomo, his main rival, after Cuomo suggested Thursday that Mamdani would cheer if the 9/11 attacks happened again. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)</media:title>
  3951. </media:content>
  3952. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?fit=300%2C150" medium="image" />
  3953.            </item>
  3954.        
  3955.            <item>
  3956.                <title><![CDATA[YouTube Quietly Erased More Than 700 Videos Documenting Israeli Human Rights Violations]]></title>
  3957.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/youtube-google-israel-palestine-human-rights-censorship/</link>
  3958.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/youtube-google-israel-palestine-human-rights-censorship/#respond</comments>
  3959.                <pubDate>Tue, 04 Nov 2025 21:41:23 +0000</pubDate>
  3960.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Nikita Mazurov]]></dc:creator>
  3961.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Jonah Valdez]]></dc:creator>
  3962.                                 <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
  3963. <category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
  3964.  
  3965.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
  3966.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>The tech giant deleted the accounts of three prominent Palestinian human rights groups — a capitulation to Trump sanctions.</p>
  3967. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/youtube-google-israel-palestine-human-rights-censorship/">YouTube Quietly Erased More Than 700 Videos Documenting Israeli Human Rights Violations</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  3968. ]]></description>
  3969.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  3970. <p><span class="has-underline">A documentary featuring</span> mothers surviving Israel’s genocide in Gaza. A video investigation uncovering Israel’s role in the killing of a Palestinian American journalist. Another video revealing Israel’s destruction of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank.</p>
  3971.  
  3972.  
  3973.  
  3974. <p>YouTube surreptitiously deleted all these videos in early October by wiping the accounts that posted them from its website, along with their channels’ archives. The accounts belonged to three prominent Palestinian human rights groups: Al-Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.</p>
  3975.  
  3976.  
  3977.  
  3978. <p>The move came in response to a U.S. government campaign to stifle accountability for alleged Israeli war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.</p>
  3979.  
  3980.  
  3981.  
  3982. <p>The Palestinian groups’ YouTube channels hosted hours of footage documenting and highlighting alleged Israeli government violations of international law in both Gaza and the West Bank, including the killing of Palestinian civilians.</p>
  3983.  
  3984.  
  3985.  
  3986.  
  3987.  
  3988.  
  3989.  
  3990. <p>“I&#8217;m pretty shocked that YouTube is showing such a little backbone,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now. “It’s really hard to imagine any serious argument that sharing information from these Palestinian human rights organizations would somehow violate sanctions. Succumbing to this arbitrary designation of these Palestinian organizations, to now censor them, is disappointing and pretty surprising.”</p>
  3991.  
  3992.  
  3993.  
  3994. <p>After the International Criminal Court <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/11/21/icc-netanyahu-arrest-us-war-crimes/">issued arrest warrants</a> and charged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Secretary Yoav Gallant with war crimes in Gaza, the Trump administration escalated its defense of Israel’s actions by sanctioning ICC officials and targeting people and organizations that work with the court.</p>
  3995.  
  3996.  
  3997.  
  3998. <!-- BLOCK(pullquote)[1](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PULLQUOTE%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22pull%22%3A%22right%22%7D) --><blockquote class="stylized pull-right" data-shortcode-type="pullquote" data-pull="right"><!-- CONTENT(pullquote)[1] -->“YouTube is furthering the Trump administration’s agenda to remove evidence of human rights violations and war crimes.”<!-- END-CONTENT(pullquote)[1] --></blockquote><!-- END-BLOCK(pullquote)[1] -->
  3999.  
  4000.  
  4001.  
  4002. <p>“It is outrageous that YouTube is furthering the Trump administration’s agenda to remove evidence of human rights violations and war crimes from public view,” said Katherine Gallagher, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “Congress did not intend to allow the president to cut off the flow of information to the American public and the world — instead, information, including documents and videos, are specifically exempted under the statute that the president cited as his authority for issuing the ICC sanctions.”</p>
  4003.  
  4004.  
  4005.  
  4006. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-alarming-setback"><strong>“Alarming Setback</strong>”</h2>
  4007.  
  4008.  
  4009.  
  4010. <p>YouTube, which is owned by Google, confirmed to The Intercept that it deleted the groups’ accounts as a direct result of State Department <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/16/trump-sanctions-palestine-human-rights-israel/">sanctions</a> against the group after a review. The Trump administration leveled the sanctions against the organizations in September over their work with the International Criminal Court in cases charging Israeli officials of war crimes.</p>
  4011.  
  4012.  
  4013.  
  4014. <p>“Google is committed to compliance with applicable sanctions and trade compliance laws,” YouTube spokesperson Boot Bullwinkle said in a statement.</p>
  4015.  
  4016.  
  4017.  
  4018. <p>According to Google’s <a href="https://support.google.com/publisherpolicies/answer/11128499?hl=en">Sanctions Compliance</a> publisher policy, “Google publisher products are not eligible for any entities or individuals that are restricted under applicable trade sanctions and export compliance laws.”</p>
  4019.  
  4020.  
  4021.  
  4022. <p>Al Mezan, a human rights organization in Gaza, told The Intercept that its YouTube channel was abruptly terminated this year on October 7 without prior notification.</p>
  4023.  
  4024.  
  4025.  
  4026. <p>“Terminating the channel deprives us from reaching what we aspire to convey our message to, and fulfill our mission,” a spokesperson for the group said, “and prevents us from achieving our goals and limits our ability to reach the audience we aspire to share our message with.&#8221;</p>
  4027.  
  4028.  
  4029.  
  4030. <p>The West Bank-based Al-Haq&#8217;s channel was deleted on October 3, a spokesperson for the group said, with a message from YouTube that its “content violates our guidelines.”</p>
  4031.  
  4032.  
  4033.  
  4034.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  4035.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  4036.            href="https://theintercept.com/2021/10/22/palestinian-rights-groups-document-israeli-abuses-labeled-terrorists-israel/"
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  4042.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  4043.        Related      </h2>
  4044.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Palestinian Rights Groups That Document Israeli Abuses Labeled &#8220;Terrorists&#8221; by Israel</h3>
  4045.    </span>
  4046.    </a>
  4047.  </div>
  4048.  
  4049.  
  4050.  
  4051. <p>“YouTube’s removal of a human rights organisation’s platform, carried out without prior warning, represents a serious failure of principle and an alarming setback for human rights and freedom of expression,” the Al-Haq spokesperson said in a statement. “The U.S. Sanctions are being used to cripple accountability work on Palestine and silence Palestinian voices and victims, and this has a ripple effect on such platforms also acting under such measures to further silence Palestinian voices.”</p>
  4052.  
  4053.  
  4054.  
  4055. <p>The Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which the U.N. <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/09/attacks-against-human-rights-defenders-and-obliteration-civic-space-gaza">describes</a> as the oldest human rights organization in Gaza, said in a statement that YouTube’s move “protects perpetrators from accountability.”</p>
  4056.  
  4057.  
  4058.  
  4059. <p>“YouTube’s decision to close PCHR’s account is basically one of many consequences that we as an organisation have faced since the decision of the US government to sanction our organisations for our legitimate work,” said Basel al-Sourani, an international advocacy officer and legal advisor for the group. “YouTube said that we were not following their policy on Community Guidelines, when all our work was basically presenting factual and evidence-based reporting on the crimes committed against the Palestinian people especially since the start of the ongoing genocide on 7 October.”</p>
  4060.  
  4061.  
  4062.  
  4063. <p>“By doing this, YouTube is being complicit in silencing the voices of Palestinian victims,” al-Sourani added.</p>
  4064.  
  4065.  
  4066.  
  4067. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-looking-outside-the-u-s">Looking Outside the U.S.</h2>
  4068.  
  4069.  
  4070.  
  4071. <p>The three human rights groups’ account terminations cumulatively amount to the erasure of more than 700 videos, according to an Intercept tally.</p>
  4072.  
  4073.  
  4074.  
  4075. <p>The deleted videos range in scope from investigations, such as an <a href="https://web.archive.org/whttps:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXjVDKILC3s">analysis</a> of the Israeli killing of American journalist <a href="https://theintercept.com/2022/09/20/shireen-abu-akleh-killing-israel/">Shireen Abu Akleh</a>, to <a href="https://pchrgaza.org/shattered-futures-testimonies-of-torture-and-genocide-in-gaza/">testimonies</a> of Palestinians tortured by Israeli forces and documentaries like “<a href="https://mezan.org/en/post/42336/-the-beach-----%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%B7%D8%A6">The Beach</a>,” about children playing on a beach who were killed by an Israeli strike.</p>
  4076.  
  4077.  
  4078.  
  4079. <p>Some videos are still available through copies saved on the Internet Archive&#8217;s <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20250108193449/http:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXjVDKILC3s">Wayback Machine</a> or on alternate platforms, such as <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2564706803864135">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://vimeo.com/faiu">Vimeo</a>. The wiping only affected the group’s official channels; videos which were produced by the nonprofits but hosted on alternate YouTube channels remain <a href="https://www.mezan.org/en/post/33676/Death-Permit----%D8%AA%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AD-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%88%D8%AA">active</a>. No cumulative index of videos deleted by YouTube is available, however, and many appear to not be available elsewhere online.</p>
  4080.  
  4081.  
  4082. <!-- BLOCK(promote-post)[2](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PROMOTE_POST%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22slug%22%3A%22chilling-dissent%22%2C%22crop%22%3A%22promo%22%7D) -->  <aside class="promote-banner">
  4083.    <a class="promote-banner__link" href="https://theintercept.com/collections/chilling-dissent/">
  4084.              <span class="promote-banner__image">
  4085.          <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="150" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?fit=300%2C150" class="attachment-medium size-medium" alt="" srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1536 1536w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=300 300w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=768 768w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1024 1024w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=540 540w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1000 1000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />        </span>
  4086.            <div class="promote-banner__text">
  4087.                  <p class="promote-banner__eyebrow">
  4088.            Read our complete coverage          </p>
  4089.        
  4090.        <h2 class="promote-banner__title">Chilling Dissent</h2>
  4091.      </div>
  4092.    </a>
  4093.  </aside>
  4094. <!-- END-BLOCK(promote-post)[2] -->
  4095.  
  4096.  
  4097.  
  4098. <p>Videos posted elsewhere online, the groups fear, could soon be targeted for deletion because many of the platforms hosting them are also U.S.-based services. The ICC itself began <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-could-hit-entire-international-criminal-court-with-sanctions-soon-2025-09-22/">exploring</a> <a href="https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/31/international_criminal_court_ditches_office/">using</a> service providers outside the U.S.</p>
  4099.  
  4100.  
  4101.  
  4102. <p>Al-Haq said it would also be looking for alternatives outside of U.S. companies to host their work.</p>
  4103.  
  4104.  
  4105.  
  4106. <p>YouTube isn’t the only U.S. tech company blocking Palestinian rights groups from using its services. The Al-Haq spokesperson said Mailchimp, the mailing list service, also deleted the group’s account in September. (Mailchimp and its parent company, Intuit, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)</p>
  4107.  
  4108.  
  4109.  
  4110. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-caving-to-trump-s-demand"><strong>Caving to Trump’s Demand</strong></h2>
  4111.  
  4112.  
  4113.  
  4114. <p>Both the U.S. and Israeli governments have long <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/11/21/icc-netanyahu-arrest-us-war-crimes/">shielded</a> themselves from the ICC and accountability for their alleged war crimes. <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/08/23/samantha-power-icc-sudan/">Neither country</a> is party to the Rome Statute, the international treaty that established the court.</p>
  4115.  
  4116.  
  4117.  
  4118. <p>In November 2024, the ICC prosecutors<a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/11/21/icc-netanyahu-arrest-us-war-crimes/"> issued arrest warrants</a> for Netanyahu and Gallant, charging the leaders with intentionally starving civilians by blocking aid from entering into Gaza. Both the Biden and Trump administrations rejected the legitimacy of the warrants.</p>
  4119.  
  4120.  
  4121.  
  4122.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  4123.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  4124.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/16/trump-sanctions-palestine-human-rights-israel/"
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  4128.          >
  4129.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2223423623_f3b0ab-e1757969892748.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  4130.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  4131.        Related      </h2>
  4132.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Trump Sanctions Palestinian Human Rights Groups for Doing Their Job. Anybody Could Be Next.</h3>
  4133.    </span>
  4134.    </a>
  4135.  </div>
  4136.  
  4137.  
  4138.  
  4139. <p>Since his reelection, Trump has taken a more aggressive posture against accountability for Israel. In the early days of his second term, Trump renewed sanctions against the ICC and issued new, more severe measures against court officials and anyone accused of aiding their efforts. In September, in a new order, he specifically <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/16/trump-sanctions-palestine-human-rights-israel/">sanctioned the three Palestinian groups</a>.</p>
  4140.  
  4141.  
  4142.  
  4143. <p>The U.S. moves followed Israel’s own designation of Al-Haq as a “<a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/04/israelpalestine-un-experts-call-governments-resume-funding-six-palestinian">terrorist organization</a>” in 2021 and an online <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/09/attacks-against-human-rights-defenders-and-obliteration-civic-space-gaza">smear campaign</a> by pro-Israeli activists attempting to link Palestinian Centre for Human Rights with militant groups.</p>
  4144.  
  4145.  
  4146.  
  4147. <p>The sanctions freeze the organizations’ assets in the U.S. and bar sanctioned individuals from traveling to the country. Federal judges have already&nbsp;issued preliminary injunctions in&nbsp;<a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/new-york/nysdce/1:2025cv03114/640571/70/">two cases&nbsp;</a>in favor of plaintiffs who argued the sanctions had violated their First Amendment rights.</p>
  4148.  
  4149.  
  4150.  
  4151. <p>“The Trump administration is focused on contributing to the censorship of information about Israeli atrocities in Palestine and the sanctions against these organizations is very deliberately designed to make association with these organizations frightening to Americans who will be concerned about material support laws,” said Whitson, of DAWN, which <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/10/17/joint-statement-us-sanctions-on-palestinian-human-rights-organizations-erodes">joined a coalition</a> of groups in September to demand the Trump administration drop its sanctions.</p>
  4152.  
  4153.  
  4154.  
  4155.  
  4156.  
  4157.  
  4158.  
  4159. <p>Like many tech firms, YouTube has shown a ready willingness to comply with demands from both the Trump administration and Israel. YouTube coordinated with a campaign organized by Israeli tech workers to remove social media content<a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/01/10/israel-disinformation-social-media-iron-truth/"> deemed critical of Israel</a>. At home, Google, YouTube’s parent company, secretly <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/16/google-facebook-subpoena-ice-students-gaza/">handed over</a> personal Gmail account information to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in an effort to detain a pro-Palestinian student organizer.</p>
  4160.  
  4161.  
  4162.  
  4163. <p>Even before Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza, YouTube had been <a href="https://al-shabaka.org/briefs/youtubes-violation-of-palestinian-digital-rights-what-needs-to-be-done/">accused</a> of unevenly applying its community guidelines to censor Palestinian voices while withholding similar scrutiny from <a href="https://al-shabaka.org/policy-memos/the-rise-in-hate-speech-targeting-palestinians-in-israeli-social-media/">pro-Israeli content</a>. Such trends continued during the war, according to a Wired <a href="https://archive.ph/4U1iU">report</a>.</p>
  4164.  
  4165.  
  4166.  
  4167. <p>Earlier this year, YouTube shut down the official <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/addameer21">account</a> of the <a href="https://addameer.ps/">Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association</a>. The move came after pressure from <a href="https://www.uklfi.com/addameers-youtube-channel-shut-down">UK Lawyers for Israel</a>, which wrote to YouTube to point out that the organization had been <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0162">sanctioned</a> by the State Department.</p>
  4168.  
  4169.  
  4170.  
  4171. <p>Whitson warned that YouTube’s capitulation could set a precedent, pushing other tech companies to bend to censorship.</p>
  4172.  
  4173.  
  4174.  
  4175. <p>“They are basically allowing the Trump administration to dictate what information they share with the global audience,” she said. “It’s not going to end with Palestine.”</p>
  4176. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/youtube-google-israel-palestine-human-rights-censorship/">YouTube Quietly Erased More Than 700 Videos Documenting Israeli Human Rights Violations</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  4177. ]]></content:encoded>
  4178.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/youtube-google-israel-palestine-human-rights-censorship/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  4179.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  4180.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/YouTube-deletes-Pal-accounts.jpg?fit=2000%2C1000' width='2000' height='1000' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">502439</post-id>
  4181. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2234061775-e1762458214803.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" />
  4182. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2234061775-e1762458214803.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  4183. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Fighting Oligarchy town hall at the Leonard &#38; Claire Tow Center for the Performing Artson September 06, 2025 in New York City. Mamdani joined Sanders at his New York town hall after marching with union members in Manhattan’s Labor Day parade. Sanders, an early backer of Mamdani’s primary bid, has staged 34 rallies in 20 states since launching his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this year, aimed at challenging the power of billionaires and corporations in U.S. politics. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)</media:title>
  4184. </media:content>
  4185. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2193191415-e1762284870477.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  4186. <media:title type="html">BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - JANUARY 13: Chief Spokesperson European Commission, Paula Pinho speaks during the daily press meeting in Brussels, Belgium on January 13, 2025. Pinho stated the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen continues her treatment in Hannover. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
  4187. </media:content>
  4188. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243051340_9b22dd-e1762316099565.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  4189. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 24: Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic front-runner in the New York City mayoral race, prepares to speak outside a Bronx Mosque and cultural center on October 24, 2025 in the Bronx borough of New York City. Mamdani used the afternoon news conference to respond to Andrew Cuomo, his main rival, after Cuomo suggested Thursday that Mamdani would cheer if the 9/11 attacks happened again. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)</media:title>
  4190. </media:content>
  4191. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/102221_palestine.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  4192. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?fit=300%2C150" medium="image" />
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  4194.            </item>
  4195.        
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  4197.                <title><![CDATA[Dick Cheney Doesn’t Deserve Your Heartfelt Eulogies]]></title>
  4198.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/dick-cheney-death-iraq-war/</link>
  4199.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/dick-cheney-death-iraq-war/#respond</comments>
  4200.                <pubDate>Tue, 04 Nov 2025 18:14:59 +0000</pubDate>
  4201.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Eoin Higgins]]></dc:creator>
  4202.                                 <category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
  4203. <category><![CDATA[Voices]]></category>
  4204.  
  4205.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
  4206.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>The former vice president died Monday night. Now is not the time to whitewash his bloody legacy of war and destruction.</p>
  4207. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/dick-cheney-death-iraq-war/">Dick Cheney Doesn’t Deserve Your Heartfelt Eulogies</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  4208. ]]></description>
  4209.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  4210. <figure class="wp-block-ft-photo is-style-default">
  4211.    <img decoding="async"
  4212.    src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-108986758-voices.jpg?fit=3000%2C2061"
  4213.    srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-108986758-voices.jpg?w=3000 3000w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-108986758-voices.jpg?w=300 300w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-108986758-voices.jpg?w=768 768w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-108986758-voices.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-108986758-voices.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-108986758-voices.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-108986758-voices.jpg?w=540 540w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-108986758-voices.jpg?w=1000 1000w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-108986758-voices.jpg?w=2400 2400w"
  4214.    sizes="auto, (min-width: 1300px) 650px, (min-width: 800px) 64vw, (min-width: 500px) calc(100vw - 5rem), calc(100vw - 3rem)"
  4215.    alt=""
  4216.    width="3000"
  4217.    height="2061"
  4218.    loading="lazy"
  4219.  />
  4220.      <figcaption class="photo__figcaption">
  4221.      <span class="photo__caption">Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney attends the Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb. 10, 2011, in Washington, D.C.</span>&nbsp;<span class="photo__credit">Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images</span>    </figcaption>
  4222.    </figure>
  4223.  
  4224.  
  4225.  
  4226. <p><span class="has-underline">Former Vice President</span> Dick Cheney’s death on Monday could be the perfect opportunity for media institutions in the U.S. to take a sober look at the George W. Bush era — but it’s more likely they’ll <a href="https://fair.org/home/george-w-bush-now-on-right-side-of-press-corpss-nostalgia-machine/">fire up the nostalgia machine</a> than confront reality.&nbsp;</p>
  4227.  
  4228.  
  4229.  
  4230. <p>Liberal network MSNBC’s flagship a.m. program “Morning Joe” somberly announced the news on Tuesday and quickly worked to portray Cheney as a strong leader who fought for the country at all costs. Host Joe Scarborough said the former vice president was <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/breaking-former-vice-president-dick-cheney-has-passed-away-251271237581">defined by his determination</a> not to see another 9/11. <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/-a-remarkable-american-figure-jon-meacham-on-dick-cheney-s-life-and-legacy-251274309506">Later in the show</a>, author and historian Jon Meacham called Cheney “a remarkable American figure.”</p>
  4231.  
  4232.  
  4233.  
  4234. <p>“We don’t make them like this anymore,” Meacham said, implying this is a bad thing.&nbsp;</p>
  4235.  
  4236.  
  4237.  
  4238. <p>Scarborough celebrated Cheney as a “defender of democracy” for his opposition to Donald Trump, a common theme in his final act. The former vice president and Republican hard-liner was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/january-6-cheney/2022/01/06/72665baa-6f1e-11ec-974b-d1c6de8b26b0_story.html">greeted warmly</a> in recent years by powerful Democrats like Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, and Adam Schiff for the pivot.</p>
  4239.  
  4240.  
  4241.  
  4242. <p>It’s a pattern we’re likely to see continued in the wake of his death — and a sign that Democrats have still not learned hard lessons about their role in sending the country into the abyss.</p>
  4243.  
  4244.  
  4245.  
  4246. <p>In fact, Cheney had more of a role in giving us Trump than his later opposition might suggest, pioneering a cruel brand of post-truth politics that Trump would perfect.&nbsp;</p>
  4247.  
  4248.  
  4249.  
  4250. <p>Cheney said whatever he needed to in order to push his agenda. He cast aside clear legal constraints, wantonly starting illegal wars and ignoring nettlesome obstacles like the legal prohibition on torture. He ruthlessly attacked his perceived political enemies, decrying anyone who disagreed with him as “terrorist” sympathizers. Sound familiar?</p>
  4251.  
  4252.  
  4253.  
  4254.  
  4255.  
  4256.  
  4257.  
  4258. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-legacy-of-bloodshed">Legacy of Bloodshed</h2>
  4259.  
  4260.  
  4261.  
  4262. <p>The former vice president’s legacy is one that came with gallons of Iraqi blood and billions in profit for his friends and allies in the private sector — something that has been overlooked and papered over.</p>
  4263.  
  4264.  
  4265.  
  4266. <p>Cheney was part of three Republican presidential administrations: Gerald Ford’s, George H.W. Bush’s, and George W. Bush’s. In the latter two, Cheney helped prosecute wars on Iraq: first, the Gulf War in the early 1990s, which set the stage for the second disastrous Iraq War that defined the younger Bush’s presidency and wrought destruction across the Middle East.</p>
  4267.  
  4268.  
  4269.  
  4270. <p>A masterful manipulator of the national media, Cheney was a point man for selling the 2003 Iraq War. He appeared on “Meet the Press” multiple times during the 2000s, plying obsequious host Tim Russert with lies and misleading statements comparing Saddam Hussein to Adolf Hitler and implying that the Iraqi dictator was involved in the 9/11 attacks.&nbsp;</p>
  4271.  
  4272.  
  4273.  
  4274. <p>After Iraq devolved into chaos due to the U.S. invasion, Cheney returned to Russert in 2006 to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2006/09/11/wars-critics-abetting-terrorists-cheney-says-span-classbankheadhe-cites-allies-doubts-about-us-willspan/9bf45f56-45a5-4309-9dd2-fa6fe5a30fb1/">imply that critics</a> of the war were aiding and abetting the enemy by raising doubts among allies about U.S. commitment to the mission.</p>
  4275.  
  4276.  
  4277.  
  4278. <p>“Those doubts are encouraged, obviously, when they see the kind of debate that we&#8217;ve had in the United States,” Cheney said. &#8220;Suggestions, for example, that we should withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq simply feed into that whole notion, validates the strategy of the terrorists.&#8221;</p>
  4279.  
  4280.  
  4281.  
  4282.  
  4283.  
  4284.  
  4285.  
  4286. <p>Maintaining a presence in Iraq had its own consequences. The “surge” of U.S. troops to pacify the country led to the deaths of thousands more and continued to destabilize the region, and led to the rise of a number of fundamentalist groups, culminating in the ISIS militant takeover of Mosul and the resulting brutality visited upon the Iraqi people.&nbsp;</p>
  4287.  
  4288.  
  4289.  
  4290. <p>You can’t even spin doubling down on the war as an international win for the U.S. The <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/03/17/iraq-war-iran-cables/">biggest benefactor of the conflict was geopolitical rival Iran</a>, which saw its power and influence grow in the wake of the disaster.</p>
  4291.  
  4292.  
  4293.  
  4294.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  4295.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  4296.            href="https://theintercept.com/2023/03/15/iraq-war-where-are-they-now/"
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  4301.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/GettyImages-77451116-Iraq-Bush-Rumsfeld-ft.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  4302.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  4303.        Related      </h2>
  4304.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">The Architects of the Iraq War: Where Are They Now?</h3>
  4305.    </span>
  4306.    </a>
  4307.  </div>
  4308.  
  4309.  
  4310.  
  4311. <p>At home, the ramifications of the Iraq War damaged and discredited U.S. institutions. The <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/03/30/new-york-times-iraq-war-error/">media’s role </a>in <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/03/29/iraq-war-atlantic-david-frum/">promoting the war </a>was shameful and the source of much of the mistrust and discontent that the American people still have for the Fourth Estate. </p>
  4312.  
  4313.  
  4314.  
  4315. <p>Rather than take on the lessons of that time and hold the architects of war policy accountable, corporate U.S. newsrooms have, by and large, worked overtime to launder the reputations of the leaders of the Bush administration in the intervening years.&nbsp;</p>
  4316.  
  4317.  
  4318.  
  4319. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-trump-era-turncoat">Trump Era Turncoat</h2>
  4320.  
  4321.  
  4322.  
  4323. <p>Cheney lived to see his image fully rehabilitated, as have many of the neocon figures in and around the Bush administration, including Bush himself. Cheney was part of a cottage industry of wayward Republicans who raised their profiles, earned liberal plaudits, and made millions by rejecting Trump.</p>
  4324.  
  4325.  
  4326.  
  4327.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  4328.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  4329.            href="https://theintercept.com/2023/03/19/george-bush-iraq-lies-trump/"
  4330.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
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  4335.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  4336.        Related      </h2>
  4337.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Bush&#8217;s Iraq War Lies Created a Blueprint for Donald Trump</h3>
  4338.    </span>
  4339.    </a>
  4340.  </div>
  4341.  
  4342.  
  4343.  
  4344. <p>Desperate to differentiate between the mythical “good Republican” and the vulgar, far-right MAGA movement, liberal media institutions spent much of the president’s first term from 2017 to 2021 rehabbing the images of Bush White House officials as a de facto “resistance” that broke with Trump as just a step too far.</p>
  4345.  
  4346.  
  4347.  
  4348. <p>The turncoats’ motives, however, may not have been so pure as “defending democracy.” Both Cheney and his daughter Liz, who <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/05/12/liz-cheney-republican-house-trump/">followed in her father’s footsteps</a> as a GOP representative from Wyoming, embraced the opportunity to reject Trump, not least by repudiating his America First foreign policy doctrine. Their problem? Not enough war-making; Trump eschewed the kind of wholesale invasions and occupations the Cheneys embraced.</p>
  4349.  
  4350.  
  4351.  
  4352. <p>It was the riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, that finally forced a clean break for the Cheneys, whose adherence to the unitary executive was total.</p>
  4353.  
  4354.  
  4355.  
  4356. <p>It’s possible that Cheney, a polarizing figure — he <a href="https://theintercept.com/2024/09/14/dick-cheney-kamala-harris-neocons/">voted for Kamala Harris</a> in 2024 — will prompt a more subdued response from liberals in the halls of power and among the media, despite his late-in-life conversion on democracy. </p>
  4357.  
  4358.  
  4359.  
  4360. <p>His legacy of blood, destruction, and death, however, is one that must be accounted for, rather than made a footnote in the career of a so-called public servant.</p>
  4361. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/dick-cheney-death-iraq-war/">Dick Cheney Doesn’t Deserve Your Heartfelt Eulogies</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  4362. ]]></content:encoded>
  4363.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/dick-cheney-death-iraq-war/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  4364.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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  4369. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2234061775-e1762458214803.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  4370. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Fighting Oligarchy town hall at the Leonard &#38; Claire Tow Center for the Performing Artson September 06, 2025 in New York City. Mamdani joined Sanders at his New York town hall after marching with union members in Manhattan’s Labor Day parade. Sanders, an early backer of Mamdani’s primary bid, has staged 34 rallies in 20 states since launching his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this year, aimed at challenging the power of billionaires and corporations in U.S. politics. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)</media:title>
  4371. </media:content>
  4372. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2193191415-e1762284870477.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  4373. <media:title type="html">BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - JANUARY 13: Chief Spokesperson European Commission, Paula Pinho speaks during the daily press meeting in Brussels, Belgium on January 13, 2025. Pinho stated the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen continues her treatment in Hannover. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
  4374. </media:content>
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  4378.        
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  4380.                <title><![CDATA[Are You on Trump’s List of Domestic Terrorists? There’s No Way to Know.]]></title>
  4381.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/trump-terrorist-list-nspm7-enemies/</link>
  4382.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/trump-terrorist-list-nspm7-enemies/#respond</comments>
  4383.                <pubDate>Tue, 04 Nov 2025 15:39:18 +0000</pubDate>
  4384.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Nick Turse]]></dc:creator>
  4385.                                 <category><![CDATA[National Security]]></category>
  4386.  
  4387.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
  4388.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>The Trump administration is using NSPM-7 to compile the names of alleged domestic terror groups. It won’t tell us who’s on the list.</p>
  4389. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/trump-terrorist-list-nspm7-enemies/">Are You on Trump’s List of Domestic Terrorists? There’s No Way to Know.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  4390. ]]></description>
  4391.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  4392. <p><span class="has-underline">The U.S. government</span> has long maintained <a href="https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF10613">lists</a> of terrorist organizations. Groups classified as “<a href="https://ofac.treasury.gov/faqs/928">Specially Designated Global Terrorists</a>” or “<a href="https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations">Foreign Terrorist Organizations</a>” have been hit with financial penalties, immigration restrictions, or other sanctions. Groups on the FTO list, such as Al Qaeda and ISIS, have been targeted with lethal strikes.</p>
  4393.  
  4394.  
  4395.  
  4396. <p>But these designations aren’t enough for President Donald Trump. The U.S. government has instead begun drawing up new lists of terrorist organizations without disclosing the identities of the groups <a href="https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/3252126ed82584170c54f2cf206d2a586b5239bf2bc61a12afe210217b30a9ee.10.07.25-rm-trump-dto-and-doj-legal-opinion-letter.pdf">to Congress</a> or the American people.</p>
  4397.  
  4398.  
  4399.  
  4400.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  4401.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  4402.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/31/trump-venezuela-boat-strikes-unprivileged-belligerants/"
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  4408.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  4409.        Related      </h2>
  4410.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Trump Administration Admits It Doesn’t Know Who Exactly It’s Killing in Boat Strikes</h3>
  4411.    </span>
  4412.    </a>
  4413.  </div>
  4414.  
  4415.  
  4416.  
  4417. <p>One of these lists is tied to Trump’s undeclared war in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean, where the U.S. military is summarily executing alleged drug traffickers. There are reportedly <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/31/trump-venezuela-boat-strikes-unprivileged-belligerants/">dozens of groups</a> on the list, but only two organizations — the Venezuelan gang <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115136798909755892">Tren de Aragua</a> and the Colombian guerrilla group <a href="https://x.com/SecWar/status/1979930208472912048">Ejército de Liberación Nacional</a> — are publicly known.</p>
  4418.  
  4419.  
  4420.  
  4421. <p>Trump has also ordered his administration to compile a domestic terrorist list made up of his political foes, despite the fact there is no legal mechanism for labeling exclusively domestic organizations as terrorist groups. Under Trump’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/countering-domestic-terrorism-and-organized-political-violence/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">National Security Presidential Memorandum 7</a>, or NSPM-7, he instructed his administration to target U.S. progressive groups and their donors as well as political activists who profess undefined anti-American, anti-fascist, or anti-Christian sentiments.</p>
  4422.  
  4423.  
  4424.  
  4425. <p>Unlike with prior lists, such as the State Department’s register of FTOs, it’s currently impossible to know if you are a member of a domestic terrorist group and what the penalties might include.</p>
  4426.  
  4427.  
  4428.  
  4429. <p>“By claiming this authority and by defining a wide range of political views—from anti-Christianity to anti-Americanism—as markers of domestic terrorism, the president has essentially created an enemies list and directed federal agencies to go after them. It is a classic authoritarian move, designed to sow fear and silence opposition to the administration’s policies,” Faiza Patel, the senior director of the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program told The Intercept.</p>
  4430.  
  4431.  
  4432.  
  4433. <p>“Existing laws allow the president to create a list of designated foreign terrorist organizations. Statutes specify the results of being on this list, such as being liable for material support and financial sanctions,” Patel said. “But neither this authority, and none of these laws, authorizes the president to designate domestic groups as terrorist organizations.”</p>
  4434.  
  4435.  
  4436.  
  4437. <p>Lawmakers see Trump’s push to build secret terrorist lists as an <a href="https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/3252126ed82584170c54f2cf206d2a586b5239bf2bc61a12afe210217b30a9ee.10.07.25-rm-trump-dto-and-doj-legal-opinion-letter.pdf">authoritarian overreach</a> that could result in government violence — or even deadly force — against American citizens exercising their constitutional rights in the United States.</p>
  4438.  
  4439.  
  4440.  
  4441. <p>“You can easily see a world where the president of the United States labels protest groups ‘terrorists,’ doesn’t tell anyone, and creates an excuse to unilaterally use the military inside our cities, similar to the way he’s used them in the Caribbean,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ki6UulBYM0">Senate floor speech </a>last month. “This time, instead of stopping drug traffickers, it will be stopping Americans, potentially from exercising their right to free speech.”</p>
  4442.  
  4443.  
  4444.  
  4445. <p>“I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s an irrational fear to have,” Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said of the possibility of Trump expanding his war on supposed terrorists in the Caribbean and the Pacific to the United States. “I represent a border community. I have a lot of fears about what this will mean for my community and what they&#8217;ll try to use these so-called authorities to do domestically.”</p>
  4446.  
  4447.  
  4448.  
  4449. <p>The Department of War, Department of Justice, and the White House all failed to provide lists of the groups being targeted to The Intercept. The White House did not respond to repeated requests to clarify whether those on the administration’s domestic enemies list are subject to summary execution.</p>
  4450.  
  4451.  
  4452.  
  4453.  
  4454.  
  4455.  
  4456.  
  4457. <p><span class="has-underline">Antifa, short for</span> anti-fascist, is a <a href="https://archive.is/51i4x">decentralized</a>, leftist ideology; a collection of related ideas and political concepts much like <a href="https://archive.is/dxg8m#selection-553.171-553.264">feminism</a> or environmentalism. Over the last decade, however, Republicans have <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/06/29/antifa-trump-domestic-terrorism/">blamed</a> antifa for violence and used it as an omnibus term for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/14/us/who-were-the-counterprotesters-in-charlottesville.html">left-wing activists</a> — as<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/18/trump-antifa-domestic-terrorism/"> if it were an organization with members</a> and a command structure.</p>
  4458.  
  4459.  
  4460.  
  4461. <p>In 2019, during his first term, Trump floated the idea of declaring antifa “<a href="https://x.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1155205025121132545">a major Organization of Terror</a>,” likening the group MS-13, an international criminal gang that originated in the U.S. that the Trump administration added to the FTO list earlier this year. “The United States of America will be designating ANTIFA as a Terrorist Organization,” Trump <a href="https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1267129644228247552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1267129644228247552&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nbcnews.com%2Fpolitics%2Fpolitics-news%2Ftrump-says-he-will-designate-antifa-terrorist-organization-gop-points-n1220321">tweeted</a> in 2020, during protests after the police killing of George Floyd. But then-FBI Director Christopher Wray said antifa was “not a group or an organization” but a “movement or an ideology.”&nbsp;Trump <a href="https://x.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1306746265724530688?lang=bn">lashed out</a>, calling antifa “well funded ANARCHISTS &amp; THUGS who are protected because the … FBI is simply unable, or unwilling, to find their funding source.”&nbsp;After Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, in order to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, Trump blamed “antifa people” for inciting violence.&nbsp;</p>
  4462.  
  4463.  
  4464.  
  4465.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  4466.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  4467.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/18/trump-antifa-domestic-terrorism/"
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  4471.          >
  4472.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/crop-GettyImages-2229762279-e1758232046679.webp?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  4473.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  4474.        Related      </h2>
  4475.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Trump Wants to Label Antifa a Terror Group. His Real Target Might Be a Lot Bigger.</h3>
  4476.    </span>
  4477.    </a>
  4478.  </div>
  4479.  
  4480.  
  4481.  
  4482. <p>In September,&nbsp;Trump signed an executive order&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/18/trump-antifa-domestic-terrorism/">designating antifa</a> as a “domestic terror organization.” He followed it by issuing&nbsp;NSPM-7, which&nbsp;directs&nbsp;the Justice Department and elements of the Intelligence Community and national security establishment to target “anti-fascism … movements” and “domestic terrorist organizations.”</p>
  4483.  
  4484.  
  4485.  
  4486. <p>Under U.S. law, the government can designate “foreign terrorist organizations,” a process that typically entails a formal declaration by the secretary of state at the direction of the president, allowing the Treasury Department to impose financial penalties and the Justice Department to prosecute people for providing “material support” to the group. Congress has not passed any law creating a domestic terrorism designation, nor is there a standalone crime of “domestic terrorism.”&nbsp;</p>
  4487.  
  4488.  
  4489.  
  4490. <p>Under NSPM-7, vaguely defined enemies are not only typified by “support for the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-1/advocacy-of-illegal-conduct-overview">overthrow of the United States Government</a>,” according to the Trump administration, but also advocacy of opinions clearly protected by the First Amendment including “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity” as well as “hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.”</p>
  4491.  
  4492.  
  4493.  
  4494. <p>Trump’s memorandum calls on Attorney General Pam Bondi to compile a list “of any such groups or entities” to be designated as “domestic terrorist organization[s].” NSPM-7 also directs government agencies to target “all participants in these criminal and terroristic conspiracies—including the organized structures, networks, entities, organizations, funding sources, and predicate actions behind them.”&nbsp;</p>
  4495.  
  4496.  
  4497.  
  4498. <p>In response to a request for further information, including the names of the groups on Bondi’s NSPM-7 domestic terror list, senior Justice Department spokesperson Natalie Baldassarre replied: “No comment.” When asked why the United States has a secret list of domestic terror groups and why the information was being withheld from the American people, Baldassarre responded: “And again, no comment.”</p>
  4499.  
  4500.  
  4501.  
  4502. <p>“While we don’t yet know exactly how NSPM-7 will be implemented, we do know the dangers of the government targeting groups and individuals based on their First Amendment-protected ideology and beliefs,” Hina Shamsi, the director of the ACLU National Security Project, told The Intercept.</p>
  4503.  
  4504.  
  4505.  
  4506.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  4507.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  4508.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/19/briefing-podcast-charlie-kirk-trump-right/"
  4509.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
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  4512.          >
  4513.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Assault-on-Speech.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  4514.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  4515.        Related      </h2>
  4516.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Trump’s Cult of Power Cancels Free Speech</h3>
  4517.    </span>
  4518.    </a>
  4519.  </div>
  4520.  
  4521.  
  4522.  
  4523. <p>The Trump administration ramped up its efforts to target domestic enemies in the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/charlie-kirk-killing-trump-left-political-violence/">wake of the killing </a>of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, making <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/19/trump-charlie-kirk-george-soros-antifa/">wild claims </a>about a vast leftist network that funds and incites violence and investigating whether a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/us/politics/fbi-files-charlie-kirk-case.html">foreign government</a> or domestic groups were involved in his murder.</p>
  4524.  
  4525.  
  4526.  
  4527. <p>Last week, during a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee <a href="https://www.schmitt.senate.gov/media/press-releases/senator-schmitt-leads-judiciary-subcommittee-hearing-on-politically-motivated-violence/">hearing on politically motivated violence</a>, which also repeatedly referenced Kirk, Chair Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., blamed the left for “organized, coordinated political terror.”</p>
  4528.  
  4529.  
  4530.  
  4531. <p>White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller is&nbsp;now <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/trumps-war-left-inside-plan-investigate-liberal-groups-2025-10-09/">heading a sweeping effort</a>&nbsp;to deploy the weight of the federal government — the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, IRS, Justice Department, and Treasury Department — against liberal and left-wing groups. “With God as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security, and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle, and destroy these networks,” Miller <a href="https://archive.is/o/G0nrk/https:/rollcall.com/factbase/trump/transcript/donald-trump-remarks-jd-vance-charlie-kirk-podcast-guest-host-september-15-2025/">told </a>Vice President JD Vance on Kirk’s podcast on September 15, days after the influencer’s death.</p>
  4532.  
  4533.  
  4534.  
  4535. <p>“I will also be strongly recommending that those funding ANTIFA be thoroughly investigated in accordance with the highest legal standards and practices,” Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115222459539841970">posted </a>on Truth Social in September, announcing that he was designating the decentralized movement as a “MAJOR TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.” Fox News <a href="https://x.com/kenklippenstein/status/1983023144609734793">announced</a> the arrest of a “Portland Antifa lieutenant&#8221; last week, mimicking the language of the early- to mid-global war on terror when the United States routinely announced the killing of an <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/world/middle-east/factbox-major-al-qaeda-leaders-killed-or-captured-idUSL01675883/">endless&nbsp;number</a> of supposed <a href="https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/130779/coalition-forces-kill-abu-musab-al-zarqawi/">top Al Qaeda</a> and <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2743987/Top-ISIS-lieutenant-killed-US-air-strike-Obama-hits-militants-note-Kerry-handed-president-NATO-summit-cameras-ushered-out.html">ISIS</a> “<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2006/9/26/al-qaeda-lieutenant-killed-in-iraq">lieutenants</a>.”&nbsp;</p>
  4536.  
  4537.  
  4538.  
  4539. <p>Thirty-one members of Congress <a href="https://pocan.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/pocan.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/letter-on-nspm-7-to-president-trump.pdf">sent a letter to Trump</a> last month, expressing “serious concerns” about the anti-antifa executive order and NSPM-7, warning that “these directives pose serious constitutional, statutory, and civil liberties risks, especially if used to target political dissent, protest, or ideological speech.”</p>
  4540.  
  4541.  
  4542.  
  4543. <p>“Regardless of whether the President agrees with someone’s political views, the Constitution guarantees their right to speak and assemble peacefully. Officials must not label individuals as ‘supporting Antifa’ or ‘coordinating with Antifa’ based solely on their protected speech,” wrote the lawmakers. “In fact, neither the memo nor the executive order clearly defines ‘Antifa’ as a specific entity. Instead, the executive order conflates nonviolent protest and activism with doxing and violent behavior. Without clear definitions and limits, this vague framing could subject lawful political expression and assembly to the same treatment as terrorism.”</p>
  4544.  
  4545.  
  4546.  
  4547. <p>Trump’s targeting of domestic enemies comes at the same time he has deployed troops to&nbsp;occupy <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/06/16/la-ice-protests-military-cost/">Los Angeles</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/09/republican-governors-national-guard-trump/">Memphis</a>, New Orleans,&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/03/trump-military-occupy-dc-la-chicago/">Chicago</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/29/trump-portland-troops-antifa/">Portland</a>, Oregon. A federal judge&nbsp;<a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.450934/gov.uscourts.cand.450934.176.0_1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ruled&nbsp;</a>in September that the&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/06/09/la-ice-protests-national-guard-marines-trump/">first </a>of those deployments, which is ongoing, is illegal.</p>
  4548.  
  4549.  
  4550.  
  4551. <p>Meanwhile, Trump has been threatening to invoke the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/07/trump-insurrection-act/">Insurrection Act </a>of 1807 — one of the executive branch’s most potent, oldest, and rarely used emergency powers — and taken aim at other cities he claims “are run by the radical left Democrats,” including San Francisco, Chicago, and New York. “We’re going to straighten them out one by one. And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room,” he said in a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/30/trump-hegseth-generals-admirals-military-meeting/">rambling address</a> to hundreds of generals and admirals in late September. “That’s a war too. It’s a war from within.”<br><br><!-- BLOCK(promote-post)[1](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PROMOTE_POST%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22slug%22%3A%22chilling-dissent%22%2C%22crop%22%3A%22promo%22%7D) -->  <aside class="promote-banner">
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  4554.          <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="150" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?fit=300%2C150" class="attachment-medium size-medium" alt="" srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1536 1536w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=300 300w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=768 768w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1024 1024w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=540 540w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/collection_21_AP25080472815958.jpg.webp?w=1000 1000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />        </span>
  4555.            <div class="promote-banner__text">
  4556.                  <p class="promote-banner__eyebrow">
  4557.            Read our complete coverage          </p>
  4558.        
  4559.        <h2 class="promote-banner__title">Chilling Dissent</h2>
  4560.      </div>
  4561.    </a>
  4562.  </aside>
  4563. <!-- END-BLOCK(promote-post)[1] --></p>
  4564.  
  4565.  
  4566.  
  4567. <p><span class="has-underline">Trump has consistently</span> peddled misinformation to justify federal crackdowns and urban military occupations. Along with claims that American cities are “<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/nickturse.bsky.social/post/3m3v734juuc2o">burning to the ground</a>” beset by “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/09/president-trump-deploys-federal-resources-to-crush-violent-radical-left-terrorism-in-portland/">Antifa-led&nbsp;hellfire</a>” and “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/09/president-trump-deploys-federal-resources-to-crush-violent-radical-left-terrorism-in-portland/">Violent Radical Left Terrorism</a>,” the president even fabricated a story of <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/15/trump-lie-national-guard-dc-tren-de-aragua/">hand-to-hand combat</a> between troops and child gangsters from the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua&nbsp;on the streets of Washington, D.C.</p>
  4568.  
  4569.  
  4570.  
  4571.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  4572.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  4573.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/03/27/trump-deport-venezuela-gang-tren-de-aragua/"
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  4578.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/GettyImages-2204392259-e1743080260220.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  4579.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  4580.        Related      </h2>
  4581.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">How a Landlord and a Florida PR Firm Helped Trump Kick Off the Tren de Aragua Gang Panic</h3>
  4582.    </span>
  4583.    </a>
  4584.  </div>
  4585.  
  4586.  
  4587.  
  4588. <p>Regularly casting the gang as a bogeyman has served to justify illegal, authoritarian efforts by the administration. In an attempt to use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to fast-track deportation of people it says belong to the gang, the Trump administration, for example, claimed&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/2/18/tren-de-aragua-americas-new-bogeyman" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tren de Aragua</a>&nbsp;had&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/20/fact-check-is-tren-de-aragua-invading-the-us-as-trump-says" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">invaded</a>&nbsp;the United States.&nbsp;In September, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the government from using the war-time law. “We conclude that the findings do not support that an invasion or a predatory incursion has occurred,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/9/3/us-appeals-court-blocks-trump-use-of-alien-enemies-act-in-deportation-drive" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wrote</a>&nbsp;Judge Leslie Southwick.</p>
  4589.  
  4590.  
  4591.  
  4592. <p>Since September, Trump has repeatedly killed civilians that he claims are <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115136798909755892">members of Tren de Aragua</a> as part of a campaign of attacks on supposed drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean. That group is one of an unknown number of “designated terrorist organizations,” or DTOs, that Trump has unilaterally decreed to be in a state of “<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/02/venezuela-boat-strike-justification/">non-international armed conflict</a>” with the United States. A defense official who <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/01/trump-venezuela-boat-strike-designated-terror-organization/">spoke </a>to The Intercept on the condition of anonymity called the DTO label “meaningless.”</p>
  4593.  
  4594.  
  4595.  
  4596. <p>The Office of the Secretary of War acknowledged a series of detailed questions by The Intercept about DTOs but would not even say if it knew which DTOs the U.S. is targeting with lethal attacks, much less provide a list of the groups.</p>
  4597.  
  4598.  
  4599.  
  4600. <p>Jacobs, despite her role on the Intelligence and Special Operations subcommittee, has <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/31/trump-venezuela-boat-strikes-unprivileged-belligerants/">yet to see a DTO list</a>. Both she and Slotkin&nbsp;believe that there are now <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/31/trump-venezuela-boat-strikes-unprivileged-belligerants/">dozens</a> of designated terrorist organizations.</p>
  4601.  
  4602.  
  4603.  
  4604. <p>Slotkin noted that when Republican and Democratic members of the Senate Armed Services Committee asked a Senate-confirmed official whether the Pentagon could produce a list of the organizations that are now considered terrorists by the United States, the official declined. “I think we should have as a basic principle that you can’t have a secret list of terrorist organizations that the American public and certainly the U.S. Congress don’t even get to know the names of,” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ki6UulBYM0">said </a>Slotkin. Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/02/venezuela-boat-strike-justification/">told The Intercept</a>, “Every American should be alarmed that their President has decided he can wage secret wars against anyone he calls an enemy.”</p>
  4605.  
  4606.  
  4607.  
  4608. <p>The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel has produced a classified legal opinion that justifies the lethal strikes on suspected drug smugglers, according to <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/16/trump-venezuela-boat-strikes/">three government officials</a> who spoke to The Intercept. The opinion argues that the president can authorize summary executions of members of designated cartels because they pose an imminent threat to Americans.&nbsp;The Justice Department failed to reply to The Intercept’s requests for further information.</p>
  4609.  
  4610.  
  4611.  
  4612.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  4613.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
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  4619.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Collateral-Damage-boat-strike.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  4620.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  4621.        Related      </h2>
  4622.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">License to Kill: Trump’s Extrajudicial Executions</h3>
  4623.    </span>
  4624.    </a>
  4625.  </div>
  4626.  
  4627.  
  4628.  
  4629. <p>Experts on the laws of war say that the OLC opinion provides the president with legal cover to designate drug traffickers as enemy combatants and kill them without due process. This is a major deviation from standard practice in the long-running U.S. war on drugs, in which the Coast Guard interdicted drug-trafficking vessels and&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/26/trump-venezuela-boat-strike-drugs/">arrested smugglers</a>, as opposed to&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/10/briefing-podcast-trump-venezuela-boat-strikes/">summarily executing them</a>.</p>
  4630.  
  4631.  
  4632.  
  4633. <p>Sarah Harrison, who advised military leaders on extrajudicial killings in her former role as associate general counsel at the Pentagon, spoke of the dangers of concealing the legal analysis surrounding the administration’s undeclared war on DTOs. “My biggest concern with keeping this secret, including the list of groups the administration says it is at war with, is that it indicates the likelihood of little or no limitation on the use of military force,” she told The Intercept. “What do they have to hide? It seems most likely that they’re wanting to obscure the fact that they think the executive can do things we have traditionally viewed for decades as illegal.”</p>
  4634.  
  4635.  
  4636.  
  4637.  
  4638.  
  4639.  
  4640.  
  4641. <p><span class="has-underline">In 1947, President</span> Harry S. Truman issued an executive order for the government to create a list of organizations engaged in <a href="https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/attorney-generals-list-of-subversive-organizations/">subversive activity</a> against the United States. By the early 1970s, the list had grown to <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=GQ3V5B8MvxwC&amp;pg=PA39&amp;dq=HUAC+list+total+number+communist+party+groups&amp;hl=en&amp;newbks=1&amp;newbks_redir=0&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjZv4qig8qQAxV1k4kEHYqYCnYQ6AF6BAgHEAM#v=onepage&amp;q=HUAC%20list%20total%20number%20communist%20party%20groups&amp;f=false">283 groups</a>. The&nbsp;<a href="https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/house-un-american-activities-committee/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">House Un-American Activities Committee</a> also investigated alleged Communist activity in Hollywood and various New Deal government agencies, compiling an initial list of 90 organizations, many of which it claimed were affiliated with the Communist Party. U.S. attorneys general maintained and updated the list, which grew to 621 groups and publications. The list was abolished in 1974 during the&nbsp;Nixon administration.</p>
  4642.  
  4643.  
  4644.  
  4645. <p>Nixon, for his part, maintained a private enemies list, targets for whom the president could — in the words of White House counsel John Dean — “use the available federal machinery to&nbsp;screw our political enemies.” Dean said that the government could wield “grant availability, federal contracts, litigation, prosecution, etc.” There were initially&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/08/the-new-enemies-list/567874/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">20 names</a>&nbsp;on the list: a mix of politicians, business, and union leaders,<a href="https://archive.is/PpGX"> journalists</a>, and celebrities. As part of his war on whistleblowers, Nixon had FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/05/23/kissinger-phone-call-transcripts/">tap the phone</a> of another person on the list, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/05/23/kissinger-cambodia-media-journalists/">Morton Halperin</a>, who served on <a href="https://theintercept.com/series/henry-kissinger-killing-fields/">Henry Kissinger’s </a>National Security Council staff.</p>
  4646.  
  4647.  
  4648.  
  4649. <p>Hoover’s FBI also launched a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/about/news/fbi">top-secret</a>&nbsp;program “to expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize” a sprawling list of persons and groups opposed to the Vietnam War, as well as Black leaders, civil rights groups, Native American, and other social justice groups and activists. The FBI’s Counter Intelligence Program — better known as COINTELPRO — was eventually exposed and led to a&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/05/09/cia-frank-church-richard-welch-book/">landmark congressional investigation</a>, the 1975 Church Committee, that resulted in an <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/05/10/intecepted-podcast-church-committee-cia-book/">overhaul of national security and intelligence agencies</a>.</p>
  4650.  
  4651.  
  4652.  
  4653.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  4654.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  4655.            href="https://theintercept.com/2019/03/23/ecoterrorism-fbi-animal-rights/"
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  4661.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  4662.        Related      </h2>
  4663.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">How a Movement That Never Killed Anyone Became the FBI’s No. 1 Domestic Terrorism Threat</h3>
  4664.    </span>
  4665.    </a>
  4666.  </div>
  4667.  
  4668.  
  4669.  
  4670. <p>Post-9/11, however, many of the 1970s reforms were rolled back, leading to renewed abuses of Black, brown, and <a href="https://theintercept.com/2014/07/09/under-surveillance/">Muslim communities</a>, and racial, social, environmental, animal rights, and other social justice activists and groups. The Patriot Act, signed into law in the aftermath of the attacks, defined&nbsp;<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2331">domestic terrorism</a>&nbsp;as acts of intimidation that are “dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States” but did not define it as a crime in and of itself. Instead, the Act was frequently used to <a href="https://theintercept.com/2014/11/19/irrelevance-u-s-congress-stopping-nsas-mass-surveillance/">surveil people</a> without a legal basis, including those engaged in First Amendment-protected protest and other activities.</p>
  4671.  
  4672.  
  4673.  
  4674. <p>The current FBI director, Kash Patel, <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/kash-patels-enemies-list-face-investigations-criminal-charges-rcna233875">published </a>his own <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25450362/patel-list.pdf">enemies list</a>, and since taking office, many on it have come under federal investigation or been indicted on criminal charges, including former President&nbsp;Joe Biden, former White House national security adviser&nbsp;John Bolton, former CIA Director&nbsp;<a href="https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/doj-says-comey-brennan-perceived-trump-foes-are-criminal-investigation-rcna217731">John Brennan</a>, and former FBI Director&nbsp;James Comey. Trump has also called for political opponents like Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/national-guard-poised-enter-chicago-trump-calls-jailing-democratic-leaders-2025-10-08/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">to be jailed</a> for opposing his deployment of the National Guard to Chicago.&nbsp;The administration has also used the power of the federal government to crack down on <a href="https://theintercept.com/collections/the-war-on-immigrants/">immigrants</a>, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/29/kat-abughazaleh-ice-protest-indictment/">anti-ICE protesters</a>, and <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/16/google-facebook-subpoena-ice-students-gaza/">pro-Palestinian activists</a>, among others.</p>
  4675.  
  4676.  
  4677.  
  4678. <p>Slotkin, a former CIA analyst who served three tours in Iraq and worked in national security roles at the Pentagon and White House, sees Trump’s new lists as a gateway to further abuses. “They said that they were going to, again, make secret lists of terrorist groups inside the United States and send the full force of the U.S. government against those terrorist organizations. They are not telling anyone about this but asking that law enforcement come up with that list,” she<a href="https://awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu/2025/10/16/nobody-gets-to-rewrite-the-constitution-oct-8-2025/"> warned </a>in the Senate floor speech last month. “If this administration is not telling us who’s on their secret designated terrorist list for groups in the Caribbean, they’re definitely not going to tell us who’s on their list of domestic terrorist organizations.”</p>
  4679.  
  4680.  
  4681.  
  4682. <p>Faiza Patel, of the Brennan Center, also drew attention to the overlapping dangers of the Trump administration’s attacks on suspected drug smugglers in the Caribbean and the Pacific and the president’s domestic use of troops. “Designating drug cartels as terrorist organizations&nbsp;for purposes of criminal or financial sanctions laws&nbsp;does not change the lack of legal authority&nbsp;for military force,” she told The Intercept. “Using methods of war against drug traffickers also blurs the line between law enforcement operations and war, a particularly alarming development given the administration’s deployment of National Guard and active-duty soldiers to cities to assist in general crime control and immigration enforcement.”</p>
  4683.  
  4684.  
  4685.  
  4686. <p>Trump has teased using urban occupations to hone the skills of the armed forces. “We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military,” he told his generals and admirals. Last Wednesday, Trump <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQaAWvgjVLI/">said</a> he could “send the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines — I could send anybody I wanted” into America’s cities.</p>
  4687.  
  4688.  
  4689.  
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  4691.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  4692.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/07/trump-insurrection-act/"
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  4698.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  4699.        Related      </h2>
  4700.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">The Sinister Reason Trump Is Itching to Invoke the Insurrection Act</h3>
  4701.    </span>
  4702.    </a>
  4703.  </div>
  4704.  
  4705.  
  4706.  
  4707. <p>Slotkin drew specific attention to Trump’s threats to invoke the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/07/trump-insurrection-act/">Insurrection Act</a>, &nbsp;which allows the president to circumvent the Posse Comitatus Act, a bedrock 19th-century law banning the use of federal troops to execute domestic law enforcement that is seen as fundamental to the democratic tradition in the United States. “The president is looking for an excuse to send in the U.S. military into our streets — to deploy the U.S. military against his own people — to prompt confrontation, and to hope that that confrontation justifies even more military force and military control,” she<a href="https://awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu/2025/10/16/nobody-gets-to-rewrite-the-constitution-oct-8-2025/"> warned</a>, noting that the Insurrection Act gives the U.S. military the power to “raid, arrest, and detain.”</p>
  4708.  
  4709.  
  4710.  
  4711. <p>“I&#8217;ve only seen this kind of thing in other countries,” Slotkin <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3ped1GDGE8">said on MSNBC last Thursday</a>, calling Trump’s use of the “military inside the United States completely and fundamentally un-American in my mind.”</p>
  4712.  
  4713.  
  4714.  
  4715. <p>Amid urban occupations and crackdowns on immigrants, activists, and other foes, the Trump administration’s undisclosed enemies’ lists represent a new and dangerous front in their war on disparate but as yet unnamed enemies.</p>
  4716.  
  4717.  
  4718.  
  4719. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“He is going after those who disagree with him or fight back against his corruption and authoritarianism and trying to classify opposition to his views as ‘domestic terrorism.’”</p></blockquote></figure>
  4720.  
  4721.  
  4722.  
  4723. <p>“Trump’s secret designations of DTOs are a naked attempt to use all levers of law enforcement&nbsp;to attack his political enemies rather than protect the people. He is going after those who disagree with him or fight back against his corruption and authoritarianism and trying to classify opposition to his views as ‘domestic terrorism,’” Rep. Pramila&nbsp;Jayapal, D-Wash., told The Intercept. “The attempt to broadly classify domestic terrorism as ‘anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity’ is dangerous for everyone, and keeping the American people in the dark about who he is going after and why is all part of the authoritarian’s playbook.”</p>
  4724.  
  4725.  
  4726.  
  4727. <p>But Shamsi, of the ACLU, said that public should not be cowed by the administration’s latest despotic efforts. “We can’t let ourselves be intimidated in our pursuit of human rights and the civil liberties guaranteed by the Constitution,” she told The Intercept. “Congressional and state and local officials must also speak up and help make sure the administration does not act in secrecy and without accountability.”</p>
  4728.  
  4729.  
  4730.  
  4731. <p><strong>Update: November 4, 2025, 1:39 p.m.</strong> <strong>ET</strong><br><em>This story was updated with a new quote from Faiza Patel, the senior director of the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program.</em></p>
  4732.  
  4733.  
  4734.  
  4735. <p></p>
  4736. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/04/trump-terrorist-list-nspm7-enemies/">Are You on Trump’s List of Domestic Terrorists? There’s No Way to Know.</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
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  4745. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Fighting Oligarchy town hall at the Leonard &#38; Claire Tow Center for the Performing Artson September 06, 2025 in New York City. Mamdani joined Sanders at his New York town hall after marching with union members in Manhattan’s Labor Day parade. Sanders, an early backer of Mamdani’s primary bid, has staged 34 rallies in 20 states since launching his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this year, aimed at challenging the power of billionaires and corporations in U.S. politics. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)</media:title>
  4746. </media:content>
  4747. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2193191415-e1762284870477.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  4748. <media:title type="html">BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - JANUARY 13: Chief Spokesperson European Commission, Paula Pinho speaks during the daily press meeting in Brussels, Belgium on January 13, 2025. Pinho stated the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen continues her treatment in Hannover. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
  4749. </media:content>
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  4760.                <title><![CDATA[From Gaza to Sudan: “Their Pain Is Ours”]]></title>
  4761.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/03/sudan-gaza-war-displacement-solidarity/</link>
  4762.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/03/sudan-gaza-war-displacement-solidarity/#respond</comments>
  4763.                <pubDate>Mon, 03 Nov 2025 19:27:49 +0000</pubDate>
  4764.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Lina Ghassan Abu Zayed]]></dc:creator>
  4765.                                 <category><![CDATA[Voices]]></category>
  4766.  
  4767.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
  4768.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>The unfolding tragedy in Sudan reminds us in Gaza that wars, hunger, and destruction are not isolated events.</p>
  4769. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/03/sudan-gaza-war-displacement-solidarity/">From Gaza to Sudan: “Their Pain Is Ours”</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  4770. ]]></description>
  4771.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  4772. <figure class="wp-block-ft-photo is-style-default">
  4773.    <img decoding="async"
  4774.    src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2016310248_658d00.jpg?fit=5000%2C3335"
  4775.    srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2016310248_658d00.jpg?w=5000 5000w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2016310248_658d00.jpg?w=300 300w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2016310248_658d00.jpg?w=768 768w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2016310248_658d00.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2016310248_658d00.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2016310248_658d00.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2016310248_658d00.jpg?w=540 540w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2016310248_658d00.jpg?w=1000 1000w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2016310248_658d00.jpg?w=2400 2400w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2016310248_658d00.jpg?w=3600 3600w"
  4776.    sizes="auto, (min-width: 1300px) 650px, (min-width: 800px) 64vw, (min-width: 500px) calc(100vw - 5rem), calc(100vw - 3rem)"
  4777.    alt="TOPSHOT - Sudanese refugees who have fled from the war in Sudan get off a truck loaded with families arriving at a Transit Centre for refugees in Renk, on February 13, 2024.More than 550,000 people have now fled from the war in Sudan to South Sudan since the conflict exploded in April 2023, according to the United Nations. South Sudan, that has itself recently come out of decades of war, was facing a dire humanitarian situation before the war in Sudan erupted and it is feared to not have the resources to host displaced people. The war-torn country of Sudan is currently ravaged by internal fighting between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). (Photo by LUIS TATO / AFP) (Photo by LUIS TATO/AFP via Getty Images)"
  4778.    width="5000"
  4779.    height="3335"
  4780.    loading="lazy"
  4781.  />
  4782.      <figcaption class="photo__figcaption">
  4783.      <span class="photo__caption">Sudanese refugees who have fled from the war in Sudan get off a truck loaded with families arriving at a Transit Centre for refugees in Renk on February 13, 2024.</span>&nbsp;<span class="photo__credit">Photo by Luis Tato/AFP via Getty Images</span>    </figcaption>
  4784.    </figure>
  4785.  
  4786.  
  4787.  
  4788. <p><span class="has-underline">In Gaza,</span> we are used to waking up to the sounds of explosions, counting the days between meals, and cycling constantly between fear and hope. We thought our pain was unlike any other in the world until we saw Sudan burning under the same silence. There, as here, people die from hunger and under rubble, cameras and lenses absent, as if pain in the Global South is not meant to be heard in the North.</p>
  4789.  
  4790.  
  4791.  
  4792. <p>In Sudan and Gaza, children are snatched from their mothers’ arms before they even know what safety feels like. Last Tuesday alone, some 460 people were <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sudan-hospital-rsf-darfur-fasher-who-3ac305299da5ee388429f3352ca5c6fa">reportedly killed</a> by paramilitary forces in the city of El-Fasher. Estimates put the rate of displacement in <a href="https://www.npr.org/2025/10/07/g-s1-92367/october-7-two-years-gaza-war-israel-hamas-palestinians">Gaza at 90%</a>; in Sudan, more than 14 million people <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sudan-hospital-rsf-darfur-fasher-who-3ac305299da5ee388429f3352ca5c6fa">have been displaced</a>. Homes are destroyed, access to clean water is severely limited, food remains <a href="https://www.wfp.org/emergencies/sudan">deeply scarce</a>, and the wounded lie scattered on the ground without medical care, just as we witnessed in our small city on the Mediterranean coast. </p>
  4793.  
  4794.  
  4795.  
  4796.  
  4797.  
  4798.  
  4799.  
  4800. <p>Yet what hurts more than bombing or hunger is silence. The silence of the world, the silence of those who raise human rights slogans in closed halls while people die in the streets. Despite the distance between them, Gaza and Sudan share this silence that doubles our pain and makes us ask: Is humanity truly universal, or is it only reserved for those whose suffering is in front of the cameras?</p>
  4801.  
  4802.  
  4803.  
  4804. <p>In Gaza, I have seen how hunger can become a constant dagger in the stomach, how it makes us cling to each other more than anything else. In Sudan, I see familiar faces in the photos of naked children fleeing death, in women burying their loved ones under the ruins of their homes, as if history is doomed to keep mercilessly repeating itself.</p>
  4805.  
  4806.  
  4807.  
  4808. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>Gaza and Sudan, separated by sea and desert, share the same suffering.</p></blockquote></figure>
  4809.  
  4810.  
  4811.  
  4812. <p>The blood spilled in Darfur is no different from the blood spilled here. The destruction of schools and hospitals in Khartoum and El-Fasher mirrors exactly what we have seen in our neighborhoods <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/28/ceasefire-gaza-israel-netanyahu-bombing/">after the latest bombing</a>. The difference is that the world sometimes looks, and sometimes closes its eyes completely.</p>
  4813.  
  4814.  
  4815.  
  4816. <p>In Sudan, especially in Darfur and El-Fasher, civilians are suffering under a suffocating siege that has cut off food, water, and medicine, while essential services like hospitals and schools collapse. Thousands of children, women, and men live under the constant threat of famine and disease, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/sudan-darfur-who-cholera-cases-deaths-ce14451c091be9825847d9ddacf9fa19">including cholera</a>, spread due to lack of sanitation and clean water. Civilians are being killed or forcibly displaced, and hundreds of thousands have fled inside the country or across borders, under an almost complete global silence. The ongoing conflict between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese army has made civilians hostages of destruction, as they are kidnapped, targeted, and deprived of their most basic human rights—just as we experienced in Gaza.</p>
  4817.  
  4818.  
  4819.  
  4820. <figure class="wp-block-ft-photo is-style-full-bleed">
  4821.    <img decoding="async"
  4822.    src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243845362.jpg?fit=5760%2C3840"
  4823.    srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243845362.jpg?w=5760 5760w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243845362.jpg?w=300 300w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243845362.jpg?w=768 768w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243845362.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243845362.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243845362.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243845362.jpg?w=540 540w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243845362.jpg?w=1000 1000w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243845362.jpg?w=2400 2400w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243845362.jpg?w=3600 3600w"
  4824.    sizes="auto, 100vw"
  4825.    alt="DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA - OCTOBER 31: Palestinians struggling to maintain their daily lives under difficult conditions amid the rubble left behind following the Israeli army&#039;s withdrawal from Nuseirat Refugee Camp in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on October 31, 2025. (Photo by Hassan Jedi/Anadolu via Getty Images)"
  4826.    width="5760"
  4827.    height="3840"
  4828.    loading="lazy"
  4829.  />
  4830.      <figcaption class="photo__figcaption">
  4831.      <span class="photo__caption">Palestinians struggling to maintain their daily lives under difficult conditions amid the rubble left behind following the Israeli army&#039;s withdrawal from Nuseirat Refugee Camp in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on October 31, 2025.</span>&nbsp;<span class="photo__credit">Photo by Hassan Jedi/Anadolu via Getty Images</span>    </figcaption>
  4832.    </figure>
  4833.  
  4834.  
  4835.  
  4836. <p>Shared pain connects us more than any geography or language. Gaza and Sudan, separated by sea and desert, share the same suffering. Every time I read about the deaths in El-Fasher or Geneina, I feel that their pain is ours.</p>
  4837.  
  4838.  
  4839.  
  4840. <p>The unfolding tragedy in Sudan reminds us in Gaza that we are not alone, and that wars, hunger, and destruction are not isolated events—they are linked chapters of the same human suffering. And it is painful to realize that the world so often chooses to close the door on our cries, leaving the pain confined to those who live through it.</p>
  4841.  
  4842.  
  4843.  
  4844.  
  4845.  
  4846.  
  4847.  
  4848. <p>Talking about Gaza is not enough, and talking about Sudan alone is not enough. We must connect the pain, to see that human suffering knows no borders, and that those who live war, hunger, and death deserve to have their voices heard, no matter their nationality or land.</p>
  4849.  
  4850.  
  4851.  
  4852. <p>From Gaza, I raise my voice to the world: Speak about Sudan, share their cries, and do not let this pain go unanswered. Sudan knows the same destruction, the same hunger, the same fear binding us inextricably together. We who have lived bombing, death, and hunger know what betrayal feels like, and we know how the world can remain silent while innocents die.</p>
  4853.  
  4854.  
  4855.  
  4856. <p>I feel the importance, I feel the pain, and I know that every word written, every story told, can ease some of the suffering. Do not leave Sudan alone as Gaza was left alone. Speak, write, share, so that the world hears their cries and understands that humanity is not optional, but a duty we all must share.</p>
  4857.  
  4858.  
  4859.  
  4860. <p></p>
  4861. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/03/sudan-gaza-war-displacement-solidarity/">From Gaza to Sudan: “Their Pain Is Ours”</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  4862. ]]></content:encoded>
  4863.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/03/sudan-gaza-war-displacement-solidarity/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  4864.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  4865.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2016310248-e1762195674409.jpg?fit=5000%2C2500' width='5000' height='2500' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">502375</post-id>
  4866. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2016310248_658d00.jpg?fit=5000%2C3335" />
  4867. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2016310248_658d00.jpg?fit=5000%2C3335" medium="image">
  4868. <media:title type="html">TOPSHOT - Sudanese refugees who have fled from the war in Sudan get off a truck loaded with families arriving at a Transit Centre for refugees in Renk, on February 13, 2024.More than 550,000 people have now fled from the war in Sudan to South Sudan since the conflict exploded in April 2023, according to the United Nations. South Sudan, that has itself recently come out of decades of war, was facing a dire humanitarian situation before the war in Sudan erupted and it is feared to not have the resources to host displaced people. The war-torn country of Sudan is currently ravaged by internal fighting between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). (Photo by LUIS TATO / AFP) (Photo by LUIS TATO/AFP via Getty Images)</media:title>
  4869. </media:content>
  4870. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/YouTube-deletes-Pal-accounts-crop-e1762272608972.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  4871. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2234061775-e1762458214803.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  4872. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Fighting Oligarchy town hall at the Leonard &#38; Claire Tow Center for the Performing Artson September 06, 2025 in New York City. Mamdani joined Sanders at his New York town hall after marching with union members in Manhattan’s Labor Day parade. Sanders, an early backer of Mamdani’s primary bid, has staged 34 rallies in 20 states since launching his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this year, aimed at challenging the power of billionaires and corporations in U.S. politics. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)</media:title>
  4873. </media:content>
  4874. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2193191415-e1762284870477.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  4875. <media:title type="html">BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - JANUARY 13: Chief Spokesperson European Commission, Paula Pinho speaks during the daily press meeting in Brussels, Belgium on January 13, 2025. Pinho stated the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen continues her treatment in Hannover. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
  4876. </media:content>
  4877. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2243845362.jpg?fit=5760%2C3840" medium="image">
  4878. <media:title type="html">DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA - OCTOBER 31: Palestinians struggling to maintain their daily lives under difficult conditions amid the rubble left behind following the Israeli army&#039;s withdrawal from Nuseirat Refugee Camp in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on October 31, 2025. (Photo by Hassan Jedi/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
  4879. </media:content>
  4880.            </item>
  4881.        
  4882.            <item>
  4883.                <title><![CDATA[Local Cops Aren't Allowed to Help ICE. Did the Feds Dupe Them Into Raids That Rounded Up Immigrants?]]></title>
  4884.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/03/ice-oregon-sanctuary-cannabis-farm-dea/</link>
  4885.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/03/ice-oregon-sanctuary-cannabis-farm-dea/#respond</comments>
  4886.                <pubDate>Mon, 03 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  4887.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[Theo Whitcomb]]></dc:creator>
  4888.                                 <category><![CDATA[Justice]]></category>
  4889.  
  4890.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
  4891.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>Local police participated in a drug raid. The feds had coordinated beforehand to have ICE to take cannabis farm workers into custody.</p>
  4892. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/03/ice-oregon-sanctuary-cannabis-farm-dea/">Local Cops Aren&#8217;t Allowed to Help ICE. Did the Feds Dupe Them Into Raids That Rounded Up Immigrants?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  4893. ]]></description>
  4894.                                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[
  4895. <p><span class="has-underline">For the first</span> half of the summer, the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement field office in Medford, Oregon, remained relatively quiet. It was out of the way, tucked up against the regional airport and next to a preschool and an undeveloped lot. </p>
  4896.  
  4897.  
  4898.  
  4899. <p>A group of local volunteers monitoring ICE activity noticed something new on July 30. Vehicles from the Federal Protective Service, a law enforcement agency that secures federal facilities, were parked outside. Behind the barbed-wire fence, a long, white bus with tinted windows idled behind the gates with the words “GEO Transport Inc.” emblazoned on its side.</p>
  4900.  
  4901.  
  4902.  
  4903. <p>Grace Warner, a volunteer who just arrived that morning to spot at the ICE facility, was immediately concerned.</p>
  4904.  
  4905.  
  4906.  
  4907. <p>“We’d never seen a bus like that there before,” she said. If GEO Group, a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/05/08/ice-private-prison-profits-corecivic-geo-group/">major private prison</a> and<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/07/10/corecivic-trump-big-beautiful-bill/"> ICE contractor </a>was there, then immigration agents must be too.</p>
  4908.  
  4909.  
  4910.  
  4911. <p>Five miles away, she soon learned, federal, state, and local law enforcement, led by the Drug Enforcement Administration, were raiding cannabis farms. She drove to one of the farms, owned by a company called HempNova Lifetech Corp.</p>
  4912.  
  4913.  
  4914.  
  4915. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“This is not an ICE raid. This is just a drug bust.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  4916.  
  4917.  
  4918.  
  4919. <p>Outside, Warner was immediately approached by a spokesperson from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, which is barred from participating in most federal immigration enforcement by Oregon sanctuary laws.</p>
  4920.  
  4921.  
  4922.  
  4923. <p>“This is not an ICE raid,” Warner recalled the officer saying. “This is just a drug bust.”</p>
  4924.  
  4925.  
  4926.  
  4927. <p>That explanation would be echoed by spokespeople for other law enforcement agencies.</p>
  4928.  
  4929.  
  4930.  
  4931. <p>By the end of the operation, however, activists monitoring the facility saw federal agents loading people onto the GEO bus. Seventeen workers from the raids were detained and, as night fell, hurtled north toward the Northwest ICE Processing Center, in Tacoma, Washington, an ICE detention center owned by GEO Group. (GEO Group referred a request for comment to ICE, which did not respond.)</p>
  4932.  
  4933.  
  4934.  
  4935. <p>According to emails obtained by local researchers at Information for Public Use and shared with The Intercept, local and state police were involved the raids at many levels: According to an internal sheriff&#8217;s office email ahead of the operation, seven of the locations raided had Jackson County sheriff’s deputies listed as the “primary” officials; a local police official was the “primary” at another site; a state trooper on a ninth site; and an official from the DEA on the 10th.</p>
  4936.  
  4937.  
  4938.  
  4939. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>“While there were individuals taken into custody by ICE, we had no part in those activities.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  4940.  
  4941.  
  4942.  
  4943. <p>When asked by The Intercept, however, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office denied knowing of any ICE activity that day.</p>
  4944.  
  4945.  
  4946.  
  4947. <p>“The DEA was the lead agency for this investigation,” Sheriff Nathan Sickler said. “The focus of this case was not immigration violations. While there were individuals taken into custody by ICE, we had no part in those activities.”</p>
  4948.  
  4949.  
  4950.  
  4951. <p>“We did not detain anybody for immigration purposes.”</p>
  4952.  
  4953.  
  4954.  
  4955. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-who-knew-what-when">Who Knew What When?</h2>
  4956.  
  4957.  
  4958.  
  4959. <p>Oregon’s sanctuary laws, which prevent local coordination on federal immigration enforcement without a signed judicial warrant, are a point of pride.</p>
  4960.  
  4961.  
  4962.  
  4963. <p>Though local agencies denied any direct cooperation with ICE&nbsp;— and, in case of the sheriff&#8217;s office, denied knowing about ICE&#8217;s involvement — federal authorities appeared to have pre-planned immigration enforcement as part of the raids in the Medford area. Under Donald Trump&#8217;s administration, situations like this are raising concerns about how Oregon&#8217;s sanctuary laws are being upheld.</p>
  4964.  
  4965.  
  4966.  
  4967. <p>&#8220;When collaborating with federal agencies, it is not good enough to trust things to be business as usual without verifying,&#8221; said Kelly Simon, the legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon. &#8220;We know the agenda, and it’s on our local leaders to take no part in it.&#8221;</p>
  4968.  
  4969.  
  4970.  
  4971. <p>Asked if local law enforcement detained workers during raids, Jackson County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Aaron Lewis said it was “not outside the realm of possibility.” </p>
  4972.  
  4973.  
  4974.  
  4975. <p>The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office was assisting with a large, ongoing <a href="https://www.wral.com/story/operation-vapor-trail-task-force-raids-businesses-in-crackdown-on-illegal-vape-stores-in-cumberland-robeson/21631088/">federal drug investigation</a> through a regional “Illegal Marijuana Enforcement Team,” said Sickler, the sheriff.</p>
  4976.  
  4977.  
  4978.  
  4979. <p>“We follow the Oregon laws,&#8221; Sickler said. “We don’t communicate with ICE for those purposes.“</p>
  4980.  
  4981.  
  4982.  
  4983. <p>Capt. Kyle Kennedy, a spokesperson for the Oregon State Police, didn’t comment on whether the agency had any knowledge of ICE involvement or planning before the raid but said State Police had seized one of the raided properties and arrested people there, then handed over control to the DEA.</p>
  4984.  
  4985.  
  4986.  
  4987. <p>“OSP did not have a role at the off-site location where the presumed transfer of DEA custodies to ICE may have occurred,” Kennedy said. (The DEA declined to comment.)</p>
  4988.  
  4989.  
  4990.  
  4991. <p>In the Medford area raids, however, federal agents had anticipated ICE&#8217;s involvement ahead of time. Not only was the GEO bus staged in Medford before the raid, the Federal Protective Service had also been called in beforehand to provide extra security.</p>
  4992.  
  4993.  
  4994.  
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  5009.  
  5010.  
  5011.  
  5012. <p>A Federal Protective Service official wrote in an incident report obtained by The Intercept that the support was necessary because of the potential for &#8220;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/04/04/tom-homan-ice-immigrant-raid-new-york/">collateral</a>&#8221; detainees — the term used for undocumented immigrants who are not the targets of criminal enforcement, but are swept up in raids. The federal security was there, according to the official writing the report, to ensure ICE could carry out its activities in the event of demonstrations. (The Federal Protective Service declined to comment.)</p>
  5013.  
  5014.  
  5015.  
  5016. <p>The DEA has been ramping up its role in immigration enforcement. In January, Benjamine Huffman, then-acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, wrote a <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dhs-authorizes-federal-law-enforcement-to-implement-trump-immigration-policies/">memo</a> authorizing the DEA to carry out the &#8220;functions&#8221; of an immigration officer. Since then, collaboration has <a href="https://coloradonewsline.com/2025/01/27/arrested-immigration-raid-denver/">been close</a>. A raid at a rural Kentucky restaurant in May, led by the DEA, was also shrouded in the language of “active investigation” and led to <a href="https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-51/politics/ice-in-harlan-county/">immigration detentions with no explanation</a> of how it happened.</p>
  5017.  
  5018.  
  5019.  
  5020. <p>For three months, no further information was released about the July 30 raids and the ICE detentions, including the role played by local police.</p>
  5021.  
  5022.  
  5023.  
  5024. <p>Regional media has yet to cover the raids and detentions, and communication from government officials has remained opaque, leaving community members without answers.</p>
  5025.  
  5026.  
  5027.  
  5028. <p>“Oregon has one of the longest standing and strongest sanctuary laws in the country,” said Simon from the ACLU of Oregon. &#8220;It is imperative that our local law enforcement agencies are taking great care to protect local resources from being commandeered and used for this administration’s cruel deportation machine.&#8221;</p>
  5029.  
  5030.  
  5031. <!-- BLOCK(promote-post)[0](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PROMOTE_POST%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22slug%22%3A%22immigrants%22%2C%22crop%22%3A%22promo%22%7D) -->  <aside class="promote-banner">
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  5035.            <div class="promote-banner__text">
  5036.                  <p class="promote-banner__eyebrow">
  5037.            Read Our Complete Coverage          </p>
  5038.        
  5039.        <h2 class="promote-banner__title">The War on Immigrants</h2>
  5040.      </div>
  5041.    </a>
  5042.  </aside>
  5043. <!-- END-BLOCK(promote-post)[0] -->
  5044.  
  5045.  
  5046.  
  5047. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-ice-detentions"><strong>ICE Detentions</strong></h2>
  5048.  
  5049.  
  5050.  
  5051. <p>The raids near Medford were part of a DEA-led federal drug investigation into psychoactive products sold at smoke shops around the country. Local, state, and federal agencies were serving a warrant targeting a licensed cannabis company called HempNova Lifetech Corp., according to a copy of the <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26209724-federal-search-warrant-and-seized-item-list-in-oregon-cannabis-raid/">warrant</a> shared with The Intercept. </p>
  5052.  
  5053.  
  5054.  
  5055. <p>Sickler, the Jackson County sheriff, said the raids were part of an investigation into, among other things, illegal trade of cannabis vape cartridges. (HempNova did not respond to a request for comment.)</p>
  5056.  
  5057.  
  5058.  
  5059.  
  5060.  
  5061.  
  5062.  
  5063. <p>According to a list of seized items from one raid, the DEA found cannabis products packaged for brands that sell gummies and vape cartridges online and across the country.</p>
  5064.  
  5065.  
  5066.  
  5067. <p>The <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26209723-jackson-county-sheriff-office-list-of-primary-officals-for-cannabis-raid-sites/">list of “primary” officials</a> for each of the raids came in an email from Jackson County Sheriff’s Deputy Jesus Murillo-Garcia ahead of the operation. Out of 10 raid locations connected to the investigation, Jackson County Sheriff’s deputies are listed as the “primary” officials on seven. Central Point Police Department, from a nearby city, had an officer in charge of one, and the Oregon State Police brought in their SWAT team to lead operations on one location. (Central Point Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.)</p>
  5068.  
  5069.  
  5070.  
  5071. <p>Sickler described his office’s involvement as &#8220;area liaisons” to help “out of area” agents.</p>
  5072.  
  5073.  
  5074.  
  5075. <p>The authorities seized videotapes, tested and destroyed plants, and broke into safe boxes. Three people connected to the HempNova farms were booked at the Jackson County jail and later extradited on undisclosed federal charges to North Carolina, which has been a focus of the nationwide DEA investigation.</p>
  5076.  
  5077.  
  5078.  
  5079. <p>Seventeen other workers were loaded into unmarked vans, according to activist observers on site, and eventually transferred to ICE.</p>
  5080.  
  5081.  
  5082.  
  5083. <figure class="wp-block-ft-photo is-style-default">
  5084.    <img decoding="async"
  5085.    src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/20250730_141451-rotated-e1762021694100.jpg?fit=3000%2C1800"
  5086.    srcset="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/20250730_141451-rotated-e1762021694100.jpg?w=3000 3000w, https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/20250730_141451-rotated-e1762021694100.jpg?w=2400 2400w"
  5087.    sizes="auto, (min-width: 1300px) 650px, (min-width: 800px) 64vw, (min-width: 500px) calc(100vw - 5rem), calc(100vw - 3rem)"
  5088.    alt=""
  5089.    width="3000"
  5090.    height="1800"
  5091.    loading="lazy"
  5092.  />
  5093.      <figcaption class="photo__figcaption">
  5094.      <span class="photo__caption">A tinted transport van enters the ICE field office in Medford, Ore., after local law enforcement and federal agents carried out nearby raids on July 30, 2025.</span>&nbsp;<span class="photo__credit">Courtesy: Rogue Valley Migra Watch</span>    </figcaption>
  5095.    </figure>
  5096.  
  5097.  
  5098.  
  5099. <p>Detainees’ families scrambled to locate their loved ones. At one raid led by the Jackson County sheriff, an immigrant worker sent a video to his family that showed him being zip-tied. The family went to the sheriff’s office to locate the worker and got no answers: The officials at the office said they couldn’t discuss the case.</p>
  5100.  
  5101.  
  5102.  
  5103. <p>The family then called 911 to file a missing person report. Dispatch records obtained by local researchers reveal confusion at his whereabouts.</p>
  5104.  
  5105.  
  5106.  
  5107. <p>“That doesn&#8217;t make sense,” the dispatcher says at one point when confronted about the disappeared family member. “I am not seeing anything here.”</p>
  5108.  
  5109.  
  5110.  
  5111. <p>The emergency dispatcher called the Jackson County jail with the family on the line, but the administrator there was perplexed. Neither was certain where the workers went.</p>
  5112.  
  5113.  
  5114.  
  5115. <p>“He never came to the jail,” the jail administrator said in a recording of the call shared with The Intercept. “I think they took a group up to Washington — I don’t know.”</p>
  5116.  
  5117.  
  5118.  
  5119. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“I think they took a group up to Washington — I don’t know.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  5120.  
  5121.  
  5122.  
  5123. <p>According to activists, who monitored the raids and the federal facility in Medford, the agents loaded two groups of people from the vans onto the idle bus at the federal facility, which set out for Washington shortly thereafter.</p>
  5124.  
  5125.  
  5126.  
  5127. <p>One protester was arrested at the Medford facility for laying down in front of the bus.</p>
  5128.  
  5129.  
  5130.  
  5131. <p>For weeks, it was unclear how many — let alone who — was detained by ICE and sent to Washington. Eventually, Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition, which runs a statewide hotline, confirmed that a detainee arrested during the July 30 raids arrived at the Washington ICE facility.</p>
  5132.  
  5133.  
  5134.  
  5135. <p>Only two months later was The Intercept able to confirm the number of the people bused across state lines to ICE’s detention facility.</p>
  5136.  
  5137.  
  5138.  
  5139.  
  5140.  
  5141.  
  5142.  
  5143. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-blurring-the-mission"><strong>Blurring the Mission</strong><strong></strong></h2>
  5144.  
  5145.  
  5146.  
  5147. <p>In the past, federal law enforcement officials working on issues surrounding Oregon’s cannabis industry <a href="https://www.ijpr.org/show/the-jefferson-exchange/2023-01-31/wed-9-40-homeland-security-works-to-get-human-trafficking-out-of-illegal-weed-business">said their focus</a> was on “human trafficking.”</p>
  5148.  
  5149.  
  5150.  
  5151. <p>Since the Huffman memo expanded the purview of DEA operations, however, the line between drug and immigration enforcement is blurring.</p>
  5152.  
  5153.  
  5154.  
  5155. <p>“I think it&#8217;s fair to say that ICE is doing whatever it can to raise its arrest numbers,” said David Hausman, co-director of the <a href="http://deportationdata.org/">Deportation Data Project</a> and a law professor at University of California, Berkeley. “Overall, that is sweeping in more people who would never have been priorities for enforcement in the past.”</p>
  5156.  
  5157.  
  5158.  
  5159.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  5160.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  5161.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/29/collateral-damage-episode-four-medical-marijuana/"
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  5164.      data-ga-track-label="collateral-damage-episode-four-medical-marijuana"
  5165.          >
  5166.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/04_PeterMcWilliams_Article2-crop-e1761596242980.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  5167.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  5168.        Related      </h2>
  5169.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Episode Four: Criminalizing Care</h3>
  5170.    </span>
  5171.    </a>
  5172.  </div>
  5173.  
  5174.  
  5175.  
  5176. <p>In Oregon, cannabis farms often operate outside established legal markets. Oversupply and cratering prices left farmers to turn to more profitable gray and black markets. Inconsistent regulation across the country created loopholes for businesses to sell psychoactive products — marketed as hemp-derived — across state lines.</p>
  5177.  
  5178.  
  5179.  
  5180. <p>In a <a href="https://www.oregon.gov/olcc/Docs/news/news_releases/2025/nr031925-MJ-Technical-Report.pdf">recent statewide report</a> in Oregon, all “hemp“ flowers bought and tested by the Oregon and Cannabis Commission were in excess of legal limits on THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis that is banned in some state, complicating interstate trade.</p>
  5181.  
  5182.  
  5183.  
  5184. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“What we have seen from this administration is the emphasis on crime as a pretext to make immigration arrests.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  5185.  
  5186.  
  5187.  
  5188. <p>Why the DEA picked the raid at HempNova is unclear. Federal enforcement in southern Oregon’s cannabis industry is rare, and raids and investigations are handled largely by local law enforcement agencies.</p>
  5189.  
  5190.  
  5191.  
  5192. <p>Simon, of the ACLU of Oregon, warned of the consequences of the blurring missions of local and federal law enforcement agencies.</p>
  5193.  
  5194.  
  5195.  
  5196. <p>&#8220;What we have seen from this administration is the emphasis on crime as a pretext to make immigration arrests,” she said. &#8220;It would be twisting the intent of Oregon sanctuary law to rely on the pretext of some other purpose being present to justify participating in immigration enforcement.&#8221;</p>
  5197.  
  5198.  
  5199.  
  5200. <p><strong>Correction: November 3, 2025, 1:34 p.m. ET</strong><br><em>This story has been corrected to remove an errant reference to a business adjacent to the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement field office in Medford, Oregon.</em></p>
  5201. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/03/ice-oregon-sanctuary-cannabis-farm-dea/">Local Cops Aren&#8217;t Allowed to Help ICE. Did the Feds Dupe Them Into Raids That Rounded Up Immigrants?</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  5202. ]]></content:encoded>
  5203.                                <wfw:commentRss>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/03/ice-oregon-sanctuary-cannabis-farm-dea/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
  5204.                <slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
  5205.                <media:content url='https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Screenshot_20250730_173841_Studio-e1762019547893.jpg?fit=1078%2C540' width='1078' height='540' /><post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">502199</post-id>
  5206. <media:thumbnail url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/crop_AP25084499123522-e1743767264706.jpg-e1743778233122.webp?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" />
  5207. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/crop_AP25084499123522-e1743767264706.jpg-e1743778233122.webp?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  5208. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/guatemalan-immigrant-cpb-feat-1530033149.jpg?fit=300%2C150" medium="image">
  5209. <media:title type="html">MCALLEN, TX - JUNE 23: A Guatemalan father and his daughter arrives with dozens of other women, men and their children at a bus station following release from Customs and Border Protection on June 23, 2018 in McAllen, Texas. Once families and individuals are released and given a court hearing date they are brought to the Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center to rest, clean up, enjoy a meal and to get guidance to their next destination. Before President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that halts the practice of separating families who are seeking asylum, over 2,300 immigrant children had been separated from their parents in the zero-tolerance policy for border crossers (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)</media:title>
  5210. </media:content>
  5211. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/YouTube-deletes-Pal-accounts-crop-e1762272608972.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  5212. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2234061775-e1762458214803.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  5213. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Fighting Oligarchy town hall at the Leonard &#38; Claire Tow Center for the Performing Artson September 06, 2025 in New York City. Mamdani joined Sanders at his New York town hall after marching with union members in Manhattan’s Labor Day parade. Sanders, an early backer of Mamdani’s primary bid, has staged 34 rallies in 20 states since launching his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this year, aimed at challenging the power of billionaires and corporations in U.S. politics. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)</media:title>
  5214. </media:content>
  5215. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GettyImages-2193191415-e1762284870477.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image">
  5216. <media:title type="html">BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - JANUARY 13: Chief Spokesperson European Commission, Paula Pinho speaks during the daily press meeting in Brussels, Belgium on January 13, 2025. Pinho stated the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen continues her treatment in Hannover. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
  5217. </media:content>
  5218. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/20250730_141451-rotated-e1762021694100.jpg?fit=3000%2C1800" medium="image" />
  5219. <media:content url="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/04_PeterMcWilliams_Article2-crop-e1761596242980.jpg?w=440&#038;h=440&#038;crop=1" medium="image" />
  5220.            </item>
  5221.        
  5222.            <item>
  5223.                <title><![CDATA[Kat Abughazaleh on the Right to Protest]]></title>
  5224.                <link>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/01/briefing-podcast-kat-abughazaleh-indictment-protest/</link>
  5225.                <comments>https://theintercept.com/2025/11/01/briefing-podcast-kat-abughazaleh-indictment-protest/#respond</comments>
  5226.                <pubDate>Sun, 02 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
  5227.                                    <dc:creator><![CDATA[The Intercept Briefing]]></dc:creator>
  5228.                                 <category><![CDATA[The Intercept Briefing]]></category>
  5229.  
  5230.                <guid isPermaLink="false"></guid>
  5231.                                    <description><![CDATA[<p>The Illinois congressional candidate on why more Democrats aren’t taking direct action and how leaders should be responding to the right.</p>
  5232. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/01/briefing-podcast-kat-abughazaleh-indictment-protest/">Kat Abughazaleh on the Right to Protest</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  5233. ]]></description>
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  5240.  
  5241.  
  5242.  
  5243. <p><span class="has-underline">Illinois congressional candidate</span> Kat Abughazaleh was charged earlier this week with federal conspiracy charges for protesting outside of Broadview ICE Processing Center last month.</p>
  5244.  
  5245.  
  5246.  
  5247.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  5248.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  5249.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/29/kat-abughazaleh-ice-protest-broadview-trump-doj/"
  5250.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
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  5253.          >
  5254.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/crop_GettyImages-2235825840-e1761767395603.webp?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  5255.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  5256.        Related      </h2>
  5257.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Trump DOJ Charges House Candidate Kat Abughazaleh With Conspiracy for Protesting ICE</h3>
  5258.    </span>
  5259.    </a>
  5260.  </div>
  5261.  
  5262.  
  5263.  
  5264. <p>Along with five others, Abughazaleh was indicted on felony charges for assaulting and conspiring to injure law enforcement officers. The 11-page <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ilnd.488591/gov.uscourts.ilnd.488591.1.0.pdf">indictment</a> alleges the protesters “banged aggressively” on a federal agent&#8217;s car and “pushed against the vehicle to hinder and impede its movement.” They also allegedly scratched the word “pig” onto the vehicle.</p>
  5265.  
  5266.  
  5267.  
  5268. <p>Abughazaleh, a candidate in the Democratic primary for Illinois’s 9th Congressional District, spoke to The Intercept Briefing just days after the charges were unsealed. “This case against me, this indictment, is a clear attack on free speech, freedom of association, the right to protest,” she says. “This indictment is so breathtaking in just how obviously it is trying to criminalize the right to protest. And it&#8217;s ludicrous to me that any elected official that&#8217;s sworn to protect the Constitution wouldn&#8217;t look at it and think, where the hell are we right now?”</p>
  5269.  
  5270.  
  5271.  
  5272. <p>At an earlier protest at the same facility, the former journalist was filmed being slammed to the ground by ICE agents. That video went viral sparking outrage, and she’s urging other elected officials to fight back. “I feel like we as citizens are told to do so much — and then our leaders aren’t matching that. Part of it is they’re scared. This is a scary time. And there are threats from the administration, but also supporters. We&#8217;ve had a rise in political violence,” Abughazaleh challenges. “And this sounds callous, but you asked hundreds of thousands of people to vote for you. You asked to represent them. This is a job. You need to do your job even if you&#8217;re scared, because that&#8217;s what people deserve from their leaders.”</p>
  5273.  
  5274.  
  5275.  
  5276. <p>The protesters are set to appear in court for their arraignment on November 5. If convicted, they could face up to six years in prison.</p>
  5277.  
  5278.  
  5279.  
  5280. <p>Listen to the full conversation of The Intercept Briefing on<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-intercept-briefing/id1195206601"> Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2js8lwDRiK1TB4rUgiYb24?si=e3ce772344ee4170">Spotify</a>, or wherever you listen.</p>
  5281.  
  5282.  
  5283.  
  5284. <h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-transcript">Transcript</h2>
  5285.  
  5286.  
  5287.  
  5288. <p><strong>Jessica Washington:</strong> Welcome to The Intercept Briefing, I’m Jessica Washington.&nbsp;</p>
  5289.  
  5290.  
  5291.  
  5292. <p>On Wednesday, the Department of Justice unsealed an indictment, charging Illinois congressional candidate and activist Kat Abughazaleh with federal conspiracy charges along with five other demonstrators for protesting outside of Broadview ICE Processing Center.&nbsp;</p>
  5293.  
  5294.  
  5295.  
  5296. <p>She now faces up to six years in prison if convicted.</p>
  5297.  
  5298.  
  5299.  
  5300. <p>Abughazaleh and her supporters have denounced the indictment as “political prosecution” and an attempt to silence protesters&#8217; First Amendment rights in the wake of an unprecedented assault on civil liberties in Chicago and nationwide. But critics accuse her of playing into Trump’s narrative of lawlessness in majority Democratic cities.</p>
  5301.  
  5302.  
  5303.  
  5304.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  5305.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  5306.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/29/kat-abughazaleh-ice-protest-indictment/"
  5307.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
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  5309.      data-ga-track-label="kat-abughazaleh-ice-protest-indictment"
  5310.          >
  5311.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/GettyImages-2237600369_507d6d-e1761773955272.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  5312.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  5313.        Related      </h2>
  5314.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Feds Say Kat Abughazaleh “Impeded” ICE Agents. That Would Put Her on the Right Side of History.</h3>
  5315.    </span>
  5316.    </a>
  5317.  </div>
  5318.  
  5319.  
  5320.  
  5321. <p>At a time when voters are clamoring for elected officials to stand up to Donald Trump and his growing authoritarianism, Abughazeleh has set herself apart from other Democrats for her willingness to take to the streets and put her body and future on the line.&nbsp;</p>
  5322.  
  5323.  
  5324.  
  5325. <p>Joining me now to discuss what’s happening in Chicago and her vision for leadership is Kat Abughazeleh. Kat, welcome to the show.&nbsp;</p>
  5326.  
  5327.  
  5328.  
  5329. <p><strong>Kat Abughazaleh:</strong> Thank you so much for having me.</p>
  5330.  
  5331.  
  5332.  
  5333. <p><strong>JW:</strong> On Wednesday, the Department of Justice unsealed an indictment which charges you and five other protesters with federal conspiracy for protesting outside of the Broadview Ice Processing Center. While I know you can&#8217;t share specific details of the alleged incident, what can you share?</p>
  5334.  
  5335.  
  5336.  
  5337. <p><strong>KA:</strong> I can share the reason we were protesting. I can share ICE&#8217;s reaction to that on the ground. The reason we were protesting in the first place was because of the conditions in the Broadview Processing Center and ICE&#8217;s terror campaign in Chicago.&nbsp;</p>
  5338.  
  5339.  
  5340.  
  5341. <p>Months ago, we heard about people being held for days or weeks in a facility you&#8217;re only supposed to spend a max of 12 hours in without beds, without hot meals, without access to hygienic facilities — and now it&#8217;s gotten worse.</p>
  5342.  
  5343.  
  5344.  
  5345. <p>We have heard about people being carried out in stretchers, going into cardiac arrest, being denied water. At other facilities, people miscarrying. Of people being given fake translators so they&#8217;ll sign their own deportation notices. This is not OK. These are crimes against humanity, and it needs to stop. And ICE’s reaction has been to brutalize protesters, to terrorize Chicago. </p>
  5346.  
  5347.  
  5348.  
  5349. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“What are they willing to do behind boarded-up windows?”</p></blockquote></figure>
  5350.  
  5351.  
  5352.  
  5353. <p>What I stress to people — especially when they see videos of myself or people around me being tear-gassed or hit or thrown or dragged by ICE — is what we are going through on camera, that&#8217;s what they&#8217;re willing to do in front of others. What are they willing to do behind boarded-up windows?</p>
  5354.  
  5355.  
  5356.  
  5357. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>:</strong> Over the last few months, you&#8217;ve been noticeably involved in protests more than we typically see from people running for public office. What do you think opponents of Trump should be doing, specifically elected officials?&nbsp;</p>
  5358.  
  5359.  
  5360.  
  5361. <p><strong>KA:</strong> They need to be out here. They need to be standing with their constituents. The thing about fascism is it doesn&#8217;t come for the most powerful political figures, the elected officials first. It comes for 238 men who are <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/05/15/trump-ice-immigrants-deport-prisons-cecot-libya/">deported</a> to a concentration camp in another country <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/08/25/trump-kilmar-abrego-garcia-deport/">without due process</a>. And the longer this fascist slide goes, the harder it is to resist.</p>
  5362.  
  5363.  
  5364.  
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  5372.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/AP25129729604345_fc5587-e1747776715443.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  5373.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  5374.        Related      </h2>
  5375.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">Trump Is Prosecuting a Congressional Democrat for Doing Her Job. The Media’s Response: No Big Deal.</h3>
  5376.    </span>
  5377.    </a>
  5378.  </div>
  5379.  
  5380.  
  5381.  
  5382. <p>That&#8217;s why we have needed, and we still need, our leaders to be physically standing up for the people they represent — whether that is coming back week after week to <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/05/20/trump-prosecuting-democrat-mciver-ice-media/">inspect ICE facilities</a>, whether that is <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/06/21/los-angeles-ice-raids-immigrants-organizing/">doing patrols</a> in your neighborhood, or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ez_l9hOevH4">standing between</a> agents and your constituents. You need to be out there. It is not enough to just say things. You have to actually act on what you say as well.</p>
  5383.  
  5384.  
  5385.  
  5386. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>:</strong> You&#8217;ve just mentioned a number of civil liberties violations, but one you&#8217;ve also touched on before is freedom of speech. Do you believe that freedom of speech is under attack, and what does that mean to you?</p>
  5387.  
  5388.  
  5389.  
  5390. <p><strong>KA:</strong> Absolutely. This case against me, this indictment, is a clear attack on free speech, freedom of association, the right to protest. Free speech, to me, is about the government specifically. I&#8217;ve been covering the right for a long time, and there&#8217;s often this idea that, like, people can&#8217;t get mad at you for what you say — and that&#8217;s free speech. And that&#8217;s not the case.</p>
  5391.  
  5392.  
  5393.  
  5394. <p>Freedom of speech is knowing you can criticize the government without the government punishing you for criticizing it, for protesting. You know that you have the right to speak out. You know that there is something more than just this administration, that we have these inherent rights.</p>
  5395.  
  5396.  
  5397.  
  5398. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“Freedom of speech is knowing you can criticize the government without the government punishing you for criticizing it.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  5399.  
  5400.  
  5401.  
  5402. <p>Free speech is the foundation of this country. It&#8217;s number one on the Bill of Rights. This indictment is so breathtaking in just how obviously it is trying to criminalize the right to protest. And it&#8217;s ludicrous to me that any elected official that&#8217;s sworn to protect the Constitution wouldn&#8217;t look at it and think, “Where the hell are we right now?”</p>
  5403.  
  5404.  
  5405.  
  5406. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>:</strong> Do you think that your indictment was supposed to send a message to the other people who are protesting in the streets in Chicago and LA and other parts of the country?</p>
  5407.  
  5408.  
  5409.  
  5410. <p><strong>KA:</strong> Absolutely. This is supposed to scare people into silence, but this is actually, I think, the plan B. ICE has been terrorizing Chicago for months, and I think the Trump administration thought it would make people scared, that people would give up, that they would just stand back. And instead, Chicago has met it with consistent defiance. We wear whistles and do patrols through our neighborhoods. We stand up for each other. We have school watches. We know our rights. That&#8217;s one of the reasons Tom Homan doesn&#8217;t like this city. And so they went, “Wow. The physical terror campaign didn&#8217;t work. Let&#8217;s throw the federal legal system at someone and see if that will scare people into silence.” And it won&#8217;t for me. I hope it won&#8217;t for anyone else.</p>
  5411.  
  5412.  
  5413.  
  5414. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote><p>“We know our rights. That’s one of the reasons Tom Homan doesn’t like this city.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  5415.  
  5416.  
  5417.  
  5418. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>:</strong> I want to take some of what you&#8217;ve been doing on the streets in Chicago and put that into the context of what you want to do in Congress. How does what you&#8217;re trying to accomplish at these protests reflect in the policies that you want to implement in Congress?</p>
  5419.  
  5420.  
  5421.  
  5422. <p><strong>KA:</strong> One of the tenets, not just of my campaign but of who I am as a person, is words aren&#8217;t enough. You need to match them with actions. That&#8217;s why my campaign uses its resources to not just reach voters but materially improve their lives.</p>
  5423.  
  5424.  
  5425.  
  5426. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“I want to live in a country where everyone can afford housing, groceries, and health care, with money left over to save and spend.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  5427.  
  5428.  
  5429.  
  5430. <p>Our office doubles as a mutual aid hub. We have backpack drives, food drives, we had a coat drive for the winter. And we&#8217;re still, every day, trying to improve the community even before Election Day. And I think it&#8217;s also representative of the world I want to see, the policies I want to push. And I think that&#8217;s part of the reason people have felt so disillusioned with politics is they don&#8217;t believe anyone in office.</p>
  5431.  
  5432.  
  5433.  
  5434. <p>Because there&#8217;s this idea of, like, “I&#8217;m so helpless right now, but if you elect me, I can change things in November.” I don&#8217;t think we have to do that. I don&#8217;t think we have to wait. I want to live in a country where everyone can afford housing, groceries, and health care, with money left over to save and spend. As far as immigration, we need an easier immigration process. We need people, we need<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/09/29/trump-daca-dreamer-deport/"> Dreamers</a> to have a clear pathway to citizenship.</p>
  5435.  
  5436.  
  5437.  
  5438. <p>We need to ensure that ICE is abolished. Any agency that can turn into what this is, should not exist anymore, and we also need to make sure that <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/05/02/trump-police-executive-order/">these agents are held accountable</a>. We can&#8217;t just pretend this was a bad dream. We need trials. And it&#8217;s been unbelievable — the entire time I have been protesting at the Broadview facility, I&#8217;ve seen two badges of ICE agents or DHS — I don&#8217;t even know what agency they belong to because it didn&#8217;t say. But specifically when it comes to what we&#8217;re seeing on the ground: abolishing ICE, limiting CBP’s jurisdiction, and holding these people accountable.<br><br><!-- BLOCK(promote-post)[1](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PROMOTE_POST%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22slug%22%3A%22unmasking-ice%22%2C%22crop%22%3A%22promo%22%7D) --><!-- END-BLOCK(promote-post)[1] --></p>
  5439.  
  5440.  
  5441.  
  5442. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>:</strong> You&#8217;ve pointed out the kind of inaction of other politicians. Obviously many people are fed up with the Democratic Party for what they believe to be inaction. And I guess my question is, how do you see yourself within the broader context of the Democratic Party?</p>
  5443.  
  5444.  
  5445.  
  5446. <p><strong>KA:</strong> I see myself as — I&#8217;m just trying to do what I can to make things better. I&#8217;ve never been someone to sit on the sidelines or mince words, and so I&#8217;m willing to criticize what got us here, and part of that is huge missteps by Democratic leadership. But I also am running as a Democrat because this is the party of the New Deal and the Civil Rights Act.</p>
  5447.  
  5448.  
  5449.  
  5450. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>“ I’m trying to show and not tell what I think politics should be.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  5451.  
  5452.  
  5453.  
  5454. <p>I think we can be better. I think that we can be a true opposition to Trump and not just represent the status quo, but something that helps us all. What I&#8217;m trying to do with my campaign, because I have a large platform that I built myself with my reporting, but it&#8217;s still a privilege to start a campaign with, I&#8217;m trying to show and not tell what I think politics should be. And that&#8217;s honest communication, that&#8217;s transparency, that&#8217;s having fun, that&#8217;s helping people on the ground with the resources that you have, and that&#8217;s boldly going forward and not being worried about if who you are at your core is going to hurt you on Election Day. Because if it is, that&#8217;s democracy, and you shouldn&#8217;t be elected.</p>
  5455.  
  5456.  
  5457.  
  5458.  
  5459.  
  5460.  
  5461.  
  5462. <p><strong>[Break]</strong></p>
  5463.  
  5464.  
  5465.  
  5466. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>:</strong> Why do you think more Democrats aren&#8217;t taking direct action? What do you think is holding people back from doing the things that you&#8217;re doing?&nbsp;</p>
  5467.  
  5468.  
  5469.  
  5470. <p><strong>KA:</strong> I think it&#8217;s kind of threefold with an extra like little reason zero. Reason zero is, if you&#8217;re in D.C. a lot, that takes a lot of time and you can&#8217;t always be in the neighborhood you live back home patrolling streets. And I think that is a fair excuse for that. But I think there&#8217;s a lot more that all of us could be doing.</p>
  5471.  
  5472.  
  5473.  
  5474. <p>But particularly our leaders, I feel like we as citizens are told to do so much — and then our leaders aren&#8217;t matching that. Part of it is they&#8217;re scared. This is a scary time. And there are threats from the administration, but also supporters. We&#8217;ve had a rise in political violence. And this sounds callous, but you asked hundreds of thousands of people to vote for you. You asked to represent them. This is a job. You need to do your job even if you&#8217;re scared, because that&#8217;s what people deserve from their leaders.</p>
  5475.  
  5476.  
  5477.  
  5478. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“It’s not 2012 anymore, and this isn’t the Republican Party you grew up with.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  5479.  
  5480.  
  5481.  
  5482. <p>I think another reason is underestimating the moment we&#8217;re in — operating as if we are still in 2012. It&#8217;s not 2012 anymore, and this isn&#8217;t the Republican Party you grew up with. This is life or death, and it&#8217;s not just life or death just in Trump and ICE and all of these things that the administration&#8217;s actively pushing. It&#8217;s also about climate change. It&#8217;s also about the dissolution of our rights. It&#8217;s also about women<a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/07/21/texas-abortion-zurawski-lawsuit/"> bleeding out in hospitals</a> as they&#8217;ve been for two years now because they can&#8217;t get the medical care they need if they live in a red state. So I think that&#8217;s the second reason. </p>
  5483.  
  5484.  
  5485.  
  5486. <p>And third, it&#8217;s hard. It&#8217;s hard, and it&#8217;s rude.&nbsp;And if you&#8217;ve been in politics, especially if you&#8217;ve been in politics for a long time now, you want to break the mold a little bit. But breaking the mold all the way means being rude, means going out of your comfort zone and not immediately complying in advance with everything this administration says, because that&#8217;s the president. I think it&#8217;s just hard for people who have been in politics for a long time to do. And there&#8217;s still these ideas of decorum — but I&#8217;m sorry, when you&#8217;re rappelling into residential buildings from Black Hawk helicopters, I don&#8217;t give a fuck about decorum. That needs to stop.</p>
  5487.  
  5488.  
  5489.  
  5490. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>:</strong> Yeah, you&#8217;ve touched on the fear, and I want to pinpoint what you mean by that, because I think it&#8217;s interesting and people don&#8217;t necessarily know. Is the fear a fear of being harmed, or do you think the fear is more political?</p>
  5491.  
  5492.  
  5493.  
  5494. <p><strong>KA:</strong> Yes, I think both of those are true. There&#8217;s always the fear of not being reelected, which is why a lot of politicians spend so much time raising money instead of doing their jobs. And there&#8217;s this idea that<a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/07/jonathan-chait-centrist-democratic-party-harris-trump/"> we need to appeal to the center</a>. Guess what? The center also does not like ICE terrorizing entire cities. And I&#8217;ll say this, I don&#8217;t think that we are looking at the <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/02/26/democratic-party-centrism-aoc-sanders-warren/">proper center here</a>. The center should be everyone can afford what they need and have equal rights. The center is not well, like, “ICE can do a little bit of scary stuff. They can do some raids, but maybe not all of them. Maybe the apartment building was a bit much.” No, that&#8217;s not — We need to abolish ICE. So there&#8217;s the fear of not being reelected, but there&#8217;s also the very real fear of personal safety.</p>
  5495.  
  5496.  
  5497.  
  5498. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-left"><blockquote><p>“I joke that covering the right for years is like the best training you can have for running for Congress.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  5499.  
  5500.  
  5501.  
  5502. <p>I joke that covering the right for years is like the best training you can have for running for Congress because I have built like a thick skin. I&#8217;m very used to death threats. I&#8217;m very used to even worse threats. But a lot of our leaders aren&#8217;t, and so they&#8217;re seeing a rise in political violence. I&#8217;m sure their email inboxes are a mess, their notifications are a mess, and they&#8217;re scared of that. </p>
  5503.  
  5504.  
  5505.  
  5506. <p>I don&#8217;t mean to downplay it, that very real threat to their public safety, to their personal safety, and even their family’s safety. Once again, you asked people to vote for you. This is a job, and it&#8217;s a hard job, and if you are not prepared to do it — even if it means being brave, and being brave is not being unafraid, it&#8217;s doing something despite being afraid — someone else needs to take that job.</p>
  5507.  
  5508.  
  5509.  
  5510. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>:</strong> Can you just talk to me a little bit about the political violence that you&#8217;re potentially worried about facing? What has that been like for you to experience political violence at the hands of law enforcement?</p>
  5511.  
  5512.  
  5513.  
  5514. <p><strong>KA:</strong> I&#8217;ve been very used to death threats, rape threats, very descriptive angry messages in my inbox, in my notifications for years. But the thing about the right is a lot of these people are cowards. A lot of them don&#8217;t act on it. It&#8217;s to scare you. And so it&#8217;s gotten to the point where I kind of laugh it off, and I forget about the physical consequences if those things do happen.</p>
  5515.  
  5516.  
  5517.  
  5518. <p>And in the last two months, I&#8217;ve been hit, thrown, hit with a baton, tear-gassed, shot with pepper balls to the point of bruising, groped. It&#8217;s weird. It&#8217;s so out of place. It feels like a different life — and then going and like to go get lunch afterwards.</p>
  5519.  
  5520.  
  5521.  
  5522. <p>I know this sounds very disjointed, but it&#8217;s kind of hard to explain, especially because the difference of excessive force we&#8217;ve seen at protests in the past to what ICE is doing to protesters, it&#8217;s so much scarier, like it&#8217;s hard to articulate. I have played tug of war with a man&#8217;s body to keep him from being abducted into the facility, a protester, just not doing anything.&nbsp;</p>
  5523.  
  5524.  
  5525.  
  5526. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote><p>“The difference of excessive force we’ve seen at protests in the past to what ICE is doing to protesters, it’s so much scarier, like it’s hard to articulate.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  5527.  
  5528.  
  5529.  
  5530. <p>I have seen these men in full military gear that are just trying to find any excuse to brutalize people. And there&#8217;s no accountability. Like when you see excessive force of protests, you know that there&#8217;s usually at least a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/09/30/nypd-nyc-protests-police-report/">semblance of a system</a> to find that person, to bring them home. Like hopefully you&#8217;ll get <a href="https://theintercept.com/2023/07/20/nypd-protester-settlement-george-floyd/">accountability</a>, maybe you won&#8217;t. But with ICE, it&#8217;s like they can just <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/05/02/trump-police-executive-order/">do whatever they want</a>, and <a href="https://theintercept.com/collections/unmasking-ice/">you don&#8217;t know who they are</a>. And so that&#8217;s been really, really scary.</p>
  5531.  
  5532.  
  5533.  
  5534. <!-- BLOCK(promote-post)[3](%7B%22componentName%22%3A%22PROMOTE_POST%22%2C%22entityType%22%3A%22SHORTCODE%22%2C%22optional%22%3Atrue%7D)(%7B%22slug%22%3A%22chilling-dissent%22%2C%22crop%22%3A%22promo%22%7D) -->  <aside class="promote-banner">
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  5539.                  <p class="promote-banner__eyebrow">
  5540.            Read our complete coverage          </p>
  5541.        
  5542.        <h2 class="promote-banner__title">Chilling Dissent</h2>
  5543.      </div>
  5544.    </a>
  5545.  </aside>
  5546. <!-- END-BLOCK(promote-post)[3] -->
  5547.  
  5548.  
  5549.  
  5550. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>:</strong> You&#8217;ve spent years examining and critiquing right-wing media and messaging. How has that affected how you engage in protests and also the messaging that you engage in?</p>
  5551.  
  5552.  
  5553.  
  5554. <p><strong>KA:</strong> It makes me aware of how our leaders should be responding to the right — and that&#8217;s not by compromising, that&#8217;s not by folding. It&#8217;s by embracing and actually believing in something. Like we have Republicans that contact us and are like, “Hey, I don&#8217;t know if I agree with everything you say, but I think you genuinely believe it.”</p>
  5555.  
  5556.  
  5557.  
  5558.  <div class="promote-related-post">
  5559.    <a      class="promo-related-post__link"
  5560.            href="https://theintercept.com/2025/10/24/briefing-podcast-nyc-mayor-zohran-cuomo/"
  5561.      data-ga-track="in_article-body"
  5562.      data-ga-track-action="related post embed: briefing-podcast-nyc-mayor-zohran-cuomo"
  5563.      data-ga-track-label="briefing-podcast-nyc-mayor-zohran-cuomo"
  5564.          >
  5565.              <img decoding="async" width="440" height="440" src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2025-NYC-Mayoral-Campaign2.jpg?w=440&amp;h=440&amp;crop=1" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail" alt="" loading="lazy" />            <span class="promo-related-post__text">
  5566.      <h2 class="promote-related-post__eyebrow">
  5567.        Related      </h2>
  5568.      <h3 class="promote-related-post__title">The Struggle for the Future of the New York Democratic Party</h3>
  5569.    </span>
  5570.    </a>
  5571.  </div>
  5572.  
  5573.  
  5574.  
  5575. <p>And even after the video of me being thrown to the ground by ICE, we&#8217;ve had Republicans in the district also be like, “I don&#8217;t know how I feel about ICE,” because they&#8217;re actively being terrorized as well, it doesn&#8217;t just affect Democrats. “But I do think, like I love the fact that you stood up for something,” and that&#8217;s really what it comes down to.&nbsp;</p>
  5576.  
  5577.  
  5578.  
  5579. <p>Our system is built to try to make us feel like it&#8217;s me against you, and it&#8217;s really us against a few very powerful, very wealthy individuals, and we don&#8217;t deserve to have secret police busting into our homes. When I am protesting, I would be there no matter what I was doing, whether I&#8217;m running for office, whether I was still a journalist, whether I was a bartender at this point as I was years ago. God, I feel so old, I&#8217;m 26. But I just really think that you have to actually believe in something. If you believe in something strong enough, you&#8217;d be able to stand up for it.</p>
  5580.  
  5581.  
  5582.  
  5583.  
  5584.  
  5585.  
  5586.  
  5587. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>:</strong> What do you believe that your constituents want from a representative?</p>
  5588.  
  5589.  
  5590.  
  5591. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote has-text-align-right"><blockquote><p>“ I love asking people, what do you care about?”</p></blockquote></figure>
  5592.  
  5593.  
  5594.  
  5595. <p><strong>KA:</strong> Oh, I know what they want. What I have heard time and time again is they want a fighter. They want someone that&#8217;s willing to fight for them and listen. And that&#8217;s what I&#8217;m willing to do. And this is something we see nationwide. I love asking people, what do you care about? Because I used to get really, even before running for office — I’m nosy and like hearing this from people. And I used to get a lot of really varied responses. And now it&#8217;s just everything. Everyone says, I care about everything, and I&#8217;m scared of everything, and I want to fight back against everything.</p>
  5596.  
  5597.  
  5598.  
  5599. <p>They feel like a lot of our leaders — less so in Illinois but just nationwide, especially in D.C. where everyone&#8217;s actions affect all of us, it doesn&#8217;t just affect your state — they feel like people aren&#8217;t fighting back in such a Democratic district. They feel like the Democratic Party isn&#8217;t putting up any bit of a fight.</p>
  5600.  
  5601.  
  5602.  
  5603. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>:</strong> Do you plan on continuing to protest and continuing to use your voice?</p>
  5604.  
  5605.  
  5606.  
  5607. <p><strong>KA:</strong> Absolutely. A year and two days ago, I was being deposed by Elon Musk for working at Media Matters. Three days ago, I was indicted by the federal government. And in both of those I just keep thinking like, if this is supposed to be an intimidation tactic, you really picked the wrong girl. I&#8217;m going to keep speaking out. I&#8217;m going to stand up for immigrants, for all of our rights, and I hope everyone will do the same.</p>
  5608.  
  5609.  
  5610.  
  5611. <figure class="wp-block-pullquote"><blockquote><p>“If this is supposed to be an intimidation tactic, you really picked the wrong girl.”</p></blockquote></figure>
  5612.  
  5613.  
  5614.  
  5615. <p><strong><strong>JW</strong>:</strong> Well, we&#8217;re going to leave it there, but thank you for joining me on the Intercept Briefing.</p>
  5616.  
  5617.  
  5618.  
  5619. <p><strong>KA:</strong> Thank you so much.</p>
  5620.  
  5621.  
  5622.  
  5623. <p><strong>JW: </strong>Thank you for listening.&nbsp;</p>
  5624.  
  5625.  
  5626.  
  5627. <p>We want to hear from you. What do you want to see more coverage of? Are you taking political action? Are there organizing efforts in your community you want to shout out? Shoot us an email at podcasts@theintercept.com. Or leave us a voice mail at 530-POD-CAST. That’s 530-763-2278.</p>
  5628.  
  5629.  
  5630.  
  5631. <p>This episode was produced by Laura Flynn. Sumi Aggarwal is our executive producer. Ben Muessig is our editor-in-chief. Chelsey B. Coombs is our social and video producer. Fei Liu is our product and design manager. Nara Shin is our copy editor. Will Stanton mixed our show. Legal review by David Bralow.</p>
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  5635. <p>Slip Stream provided our theme music.</p>
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  5639. <p>If you want to support our work, you can go to <a href="https://join.theintercept.com/donate/Donate_Podcast?source=interceptedshoutout&amp;recurring_period=one-time">theintercept.com/join</a>. Your donation, no matter the amount, makes a real difference. If you haven’t already, please subscribe to The Intercept Briefing wherever you listen to podcasts. And leave us a rating or a review, it helps other listeners to find us.</p>
  5640.  
  5641.  
  5642.  
  5643. <p>Until next time, I’m Jessica Washington.</p>
  5644. <p>The post <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/11/01/briefing-podcast-kat-abughazaleh-indictment-protest/">Kat Abughazaleh on the Right to Protest</a> appeared first on <a href="https://theintercept.com">The Intercept</a>.</p>
  5645. ]]></content:encoded>
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  5655. <media:title type="html">NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 06: New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during the Fighting Oligarchy town hall at the Leonard &#38; Claire Tow Center for the Performing Artson September 06, 2025 in New York City. Mamdani joined Sanders at his New York town hall after marching with union members in Manhattan’s Labor Day parade. Sanders, an early backer of Mamdani’s primary bid, has staged 34 rallies in 20 states since launching his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this year, aimed at challenging the power of billionaires and corporations in U.S. politics. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)</media:title>
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  5658. <media:title type="html">BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - JANUARY 13: Chief Spokesperson European Commission, Paula Pinho speaks during the daily press meeting in Brussels, Belgium on January 13, 2025. Pinho stated the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen continues her treatment in Hannover. (Photo by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu via Getty Images)</media:title>
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