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The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
Republican's town hall descends into chaos as angry voters rage over Epstein files and Trump agenda
A California lawmaker has become the latest Trump-era Republican to face the ire of his constituents at a town hall that devolved into chaos Monday morning. Doug LaMalfa, a fourth-generation rice farmer who has represented his northern California district since 2013, was booed, jeered and cursed out by angry voters at the local Elks Lodge in Chico over the president's economic policies and the administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. Over 90 minutes, attendees called LaMalfa a 'liar,' an 'a**hole,' and accused him of 'bull****.' At one point, when the moderator called on one person to ask a question, someone yelled: 'F*** you!' LaMalfa's is the latest GOP town hall to attract irate voters after similar scenes earlier this year in states including Wisconsin, Georgia, and North Carolina. It led National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson to reportedly advise his party's lawmakers to avoid in-person events in March. While Republican leaders previously suggested these hecklers were paid protesters, they have not provided evidence for these claims. The crowd of around 650 people in Chico, a college town 90 miles north of Sacramento, were especially angry over the administration's handling of the Epstein investigation. Last month, the Justice Department and FBI released a joint memo indicating there would be no further disclosures related to the Epstein sex trafficking investigation. The apparent lack of transparency over the late sex offender's case was condemned by Republicans and Democrats alike. 'You all left, the Speaker of the House released you guys so you didn't have to deal with releasing the files,' one attendee shouted, referring to House Speaker Mike Johnson's decision to send lawmakers on August recess before they could vote on a resolution calling on the Trump administration to release more information about Epstein. 'It's interesting the Epstein situation was not an issue during the Biden administration,' LaMalfa noted earlier in the town hall. The crowd booed and jeered in response. LaMalfa also called for 'very clear transparency' on the Epstein investigation, and said he hoped more information will be available when Congress returns next month. 'I think it's a bad look to have this information continue to be suppressed, but there's also people involved in the way those files at some level need to be redacted,' he added. One attendee expressed frustration that Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend who is serving 20 years for her role in his sex trafficking scheme, was recently moved to a minimum-security prison in Texas after being interviewed by the Justice Department. 'She needs to still get her time and be held accountable,' the same attendee, who had asked about the Epstein Files, shouted, as LaMalfa nodded along. Another audience member then asked: 'Do you believe that elected officials who knowingly protect and enable criminal behavior, including insurrection, fraud, and sexual abuse, should be removed from office?' LaMalfa looked down during the question, prompting the audience member to shout: 'I'm talking to you, look!' 'If yes, why have you not publicly condemned members of your own party accused of these actions?' the audience member added. 'Everybody should be held accountable whether you're elected or not if you've done an illegal activity,' LaMalfa responded. 'And there you get, you know, the lady was talking about due process, right? Due process for Ghislaine Maxwell, due process for the people on January 6.' 'You should be ashamed of yourself!' an attendee cried out in response. 'That wasn't a good answer?' LaMalfa asked. Several attendees cried out: 'No!' One audience member also asked LaMalfa about the cuts to Medicaid and Medicare under Trump's 'One Big, Beautiful Bill,' a sweeping tax and spending bill he signed into law last month. The legislation is estimated to cut spending on Medicaid, Medicare and Obamacare by $1.1 trillion over the next decade, and 11.8 million people are expected to lose coverage by 2034. LaMalfa claimed there are 'no cuts to the people themselves.' In response, an attendee shouted: 'You're lying!' Another attendee blasted Trump's tariffs, citing the impact on farmers. Under these tariffs, the costs of fertilizers, machinery and other supplies will go up, The New York Times reports. 'If you're not here to either announce your resignation, why aren't you here to apologize to the farmers of the North State because of your support for the Trump tariffs?' the attendee asked. The audience cheered in response to the question.
Leader Live
5 hours ago
- Leader Live
Trump's Washington takeover begins as National Guard troops arrive
It comes after the White House ordered federal forces to take over the city's police department and reduce crime in what the president called — without substantiation — a lawless city. The influx came the morning after Mr Trump announced he would be activating the guard members and taking over the department. He cited a crime emergency — but referred to the same crime that city officials stress is already falling noticeably. The president holds the legal right to make such moves for at least a month. Mayor Muriel Bowser pledged to work alongside the federal officials Mr Trump has tasked with overseeing the city's law enforcement, while insisting the police chief remained in charge of the department and its officers. 'How we got here or what we think about the circumstances — right now we have more police, and we want to make sure we use them,' she told reporters. The tone was a shift from the day before, when Ms Bowser said Mr Trump's plan to take over the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and call in the National Guard was not a productive step and argued his perceived state of emergency simply did not match the declining crime numbers. Still, the law gives the federal government more sway over the capital city than in US states, and Ms Bowser said her administration's ability to push back was limited. Meanwhile, attorney general Pam Bondi called the Tuesday morning meeting productive in a social media post and said the justice department would 'work closely with the DC city government' to 'make Washington, DC, safe again.' While Mr Trump invokes his plan by saying that 'we're going to take our capital back', Ms Bowser and the MPD maintain that violent crime overall in Washington has decreased to a 30-year low after a sharp rise in 2023. Carjackings, for example, dropped about 50% in 2024 and are down again this year. Ms Bowser, a Democrat, spent much of Mr Trump's first term in office openly sparring with the Republican president. She fended off his initial plans for a military parade through the streets and stood in public opposition when he called in a multi-agency flood of federal law enforcement to confront anti-police brutality protesters in summer 2020. She later had the words 'Black Lives Matter' painted in giant yellow letters on the street about a block from the White House. In Mr Trump's second term, backed by Republican control of both houses of Congress, Ms Bowser has walked a public tightrope for months, emphasising common ground with the Trump administration on issues such as the successful effort to bring the NFL's Washington Commanders back to the District of Columbia. She watched with open concern for the city streets as Mr Trump finally got his military parade this summer. Her decision to dismantle Black Lives Matter Plaza earlier this year served as a neat metaphor for just how much the power dynamics between the two executives has evolved. Now that fraught relationship enters uncharted territory as Mr Trump has followed through on months of what many DC officials had quietly hoped were empty threats. The new standoff has cast Ms Bowser in a sympathetic light, even among her long-time critics. 'It's a power play and we're an easy target,' Clinique Chapman, chief executive of the DC Justice Lab, said. A frequent critic of Ms Bowser, whom she accuses of 'over policing our youth' with the recent expansions of Washington's youth curfew, Ms Chapman said Mr Trump's latest move 'is not about creating a safer DC. It's just about power'. Ms Bowser contends that all the power resides with Mr Trump and that her administration can do little other than comply and make the best of it. For Mr Trump, the effort to take over public safety in Washington reflects an escalation of his aggressive approach to law enforcement. The District of Columbia's status as a congressionally established federal district gives him a unique opportunity to push his tough-on-crime agenda, though he has not proposed solutions to the root causes of homelessness or crime. 'Let me be crystal clear,' attorney general Pam Bondi said during Mr Trump's announcement news conference. 'Crime in DC is ending and ending today.' Mr Trump's declaration of a state of emergency fits the general pattern of his second term in office: He has declared states of emergency on issues ranging from border protection to economic tariffs, enabling him to essentially rule via executive order. In many cases, he has moved forward while the courts sorted them out.
South Wales Guardian
5 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
Trump's Washington takeover begins as National Guard troops arrive
It comes after the White House ordered federal forces to take over the city's police department and reduce crime in what the president called — without substantiation — a lawless city. The influx came the morning after Mr Trump announced he would be activating the guard members and taking over the department. He cited a crime emergency — but referred to the same crime that city officials stress is already falling noticeably. The president holds the legal right to make such moves for at least a month. Mayor Muriel Bowser pledged to work alongside the federal officials Mr Trump has tasked with overseeing the city's law enforcement, while insisting the police chief remained in charge of the department and its officers. 'How we got here or what we think about the circumstances — right now we have more police, and we want to make sure we use them,' she told reporters. The tone was a shift from the day before, when Ms Bowser said Mr Trump's plan to take over the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and call in the National Guard was not a productive step and argued his perceived state of emergency simply did not match the declining crime numbers. Still, the law gives the federal government more sway over the capital city than in US states, and Ms Bowser said her administration's ability to push back was limited. Meanwhile, attorney general Pam Bondi called the Tuesday morning meeting productive in a social media post and said the justice department would 'work closely with the DC city government' to 'make Washington, DC, safe again.' While Mr Trump invokes his plan by saying that 'we're going to take our capital back', Ms Bowser and the MPD maintain that violent crime overall in Washington has decreased to a 30-year low after a sharp rise in 2023. Carjackings, for example, dropped about 50% in 2024 and are down again this year. Ms Bowser, a Democrat, spent much of Mr Trump's first term in office openly sparring with the Republican president. She fended off his initial plans for a military parade through the streets and stood in public opposition when he called in a multi-agency flood of federal law enforcement to confront anti-police brutality protesters in summer 2020. She later had the words 'Black Lives Matter' painted in giant yellow letters on the street about a block from the White House. In Mr Trump's second term, backed by Republican control of both houses of Congress, Ms Bowser has walked a public tightrope for months, emphasising common ground with the Trump administration on issues such as the successful effort to bring the NFL's Washington Commanders back to the District of Columbia. She watched with open concern for the city streets as Mr Trump finally got his military parade this summer. Her decision to dismantle Black Lives Matter Plaza earlier this year served as a neat metaphor for just how much the power dynamics between the two executives has evolved. Now that fraught relationship enters uncharted territory as Mr Trump has followed through on months of what many DC officials had quietly hoped were empty threats. The new standoff has cast Ms Bowser in a sympathetic light, even among her long-time critics. 'It's a power play and we're an easy target,' Clinique Chapman, chief executive of the DC Justice Lab, said. A frequent critic of Ms Bowser, whom she accuses of 'over policing our youth' with the recent expansions of Washington's youth curfew, Ms Chapman said Mr Trump's latest move 'is not about creating a safer DC. It's just about power'. Ms Bowser contends that all the power resides with Mr Trump and that her administration can do little other than comply and make the best of it. For Mr Trump, the effort to take over public safety in Washington reflects an escalation of his aggressive approach to law enforcement. The District of Columbia's status as a congressionally established federal district gives him a unique opportunity to push his tough-on-crime agenda, though he has not proposed solutions to the root causes of homelessness or crime. 'Let me be crystal clear,' attorney general Pam Bondi said during Mr Trump's announcement news conference. 'Crime in DC is ending and ending today.' Mr Trump's declaration of a state of emergency fits the general pattern of his second term in office: He has declared states of emergency on issues ranging from border protection to economic tariffs, enabling him to essentially rule via executive order. In many cases, he has moved forward while the courts sorted them out.
