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Tag Archives: oust
Missouri AG claims liberal St. Louis prosecutor ignoring ‘rule of law’ as he seeks to oust her – Fox News
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- Soros-backed prosecutor pushed by Missouri AG to resign has history of scandals, alleged misconduct Fox News
- Editorial: Gardner’s press conference performance underscores why she needs to go St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- McDermott: Teen pays a tragic price for St. Louis’ hands-off approach to downtown traffic St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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Lawmakers will try to oust UK PM Truss this week, Daily Mail reports
Oct 16 (Reuters) – (This Oct. 16 story has been refiled to change the name to Brady in the fifth paragraph)
British lawmakers will try to oust Prime Minister Liz Truss this week despite Downing Street’s warning that it could trigger a general election, the Daily Mail reported.
More than 100 members of parliament (MPs) belonging to the governing Conservative Party are ready to submit letters of no confidence in Truss to Graham Brady, the head of the Conservative Party’s committee which organises the leadership contest, the tabloid reported, quoting unnamed sources.
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Britain, engulfed in a political crisis, has lost three prime ministers since it voted to leave the European Union in 2016.
The MPs will urge Brady to tell Truss that “her time is up” or to change the political party rules to allow an immediate vote of confidence in her leadership, the report said.
Brady is said to be resisting the move, arguing that the Truss, along with newly appointed Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, deserve a chance to set out economic strategy in a budget on Oct. 31, the report added.
Separately, The Times reported that some lawmakers have held secret discussions on replacing Truss with a new leader.
Truss, who won the Conservative Party leadership last month after promising to slash taxes, is fighting for her political survival after ditching key parts of the programme. read more
The chaos has fuelled discontent in the party, which is falling behind the opposition Labour Party in opinion polls. read more
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Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Editing by Deepa Babington and Will Dunham
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Meta wants to oust workers who ‘shouldn’t be here’
Facebook parent Meta wants to cut ties with workers who can’t meet newly raised performance expectations as the company prepares for an economic downturn, CEO Mark Zuckerberg bluntly revealed this week.
Zuckerberg’s frank admission came during a Q&A session with employees in which he warned that a recent slump in the markets “might be one of the worst downturns that we’ve seen in recent history.”
“Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn’t be here,” Zuckerberg said during the meeting, according to Reuters.
“Part of my hope by raising expectations and having more aggressive goals, and just kind of turning up the heat a little bit, is that I think some of you might decide that this place isn’t for you, and that self-selection is OK with me,” Zuckerberg added.
Zuckerberg indicated that Meta plans to slow its hiring plans for engineers by at least 30% this year – adding roughly 6,000 or 7,000 workers rather than the 10,000 it initially expected to hire. Some roles that are currently empty will stay unfilled as Meta dials up pressure on current employees.
The Post has reached out to Meta for further comment on Zuckerberg’s remarks.
The company was rocked last month by the stunning resignation of COO Sheryl Sandberg, Zuckerman’s longtime lieutenant and the mastermind behind Facebook’s booming growth from ad revenue.
Meta confirmed that it enacted a hiring freeze in May after the company grew just 7% to $27.9 billion in the first quarter. That marked its slowest rate of growth since Facebook went public. Company representatives said no layoffs were planned
Zuckerberg had earlier downplayed high employee turnover at Meta during the company’s earnings call in April.
“I don’t think that this sort of volatility that companies face is always that unhealthy for making sure that you have the right people at companies,” Zuckerberg said at the time.
Meta shares have declined more than 50% so far this year as Zuckerberg attempts to reinvent his social media giant as a metaverse company. As The Post previously reported, some Meta workers have grumbled that the company’s share slump is crushing the value of their stock options.
Meta’s struggles have coincided with a broader downturn in the tech sector. The Nasdaq has fallen into bear territory and posted its worst first-half performance on record.
Meta chief product officer Chris Cox emphasized the severity of the situation in a separate memo to workers ahead of Zuckerberg’s remarks, according to Reuters.
“I have to underscore that we are in serious times here and the headwinds are fierce. We need to execute flawlessly in an environment of slower growth, where teams should not expect vast influxes of new engineers and budgets,” Cox wrote.
Biden says US won’t try to oust Putin, months after saying he ‘cannot remain in power’
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President Biden says the U.S. will not push for the ouster of Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, despite saying in March that Putin “cannot remain in power.”
Biden made the statement in a Wednesday op-ed in the New York Times, where he laid out what his administration will and will not do in Ukraine. Biden has derided Putin as a war criminal and previously called for his removal as Russia’s head of state, but he has now changed his tune.
“We do not seek a war between NATO and Russia,” Biden wrote. “As much as I disagree with Mr. Putin, and find his actions an outrage, the United States will not try to bring about his ouster in Moscow.”
“So long as the United States or our allies are not attacked, we will not be directly engaged in this conflict, either by sending American troops to fight in Ukraine or by attacking Russian forces,” he added.
RUSSIA’S LAVROV DENIES PUTIN IS SERIOUSLY SICK
President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet in Geneva, Switzerland, June 16, 2021.
(AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File Pool)
WHITE HOUSE INSISTS US TROOPS NOT GOING TO UKRAINE AFTER BIDEN COMMENTS IN POLAND
White House officials previously had to walk back Biden’s call for Putin’s removal in March, with then-White House officials saying Biden’s point was that Putin “cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region,” adding that he was not pushing for “regime change.”
Putin’s removal is only the latest issue for which the White House has had to clean up Biden’s statements, a trend the president has noticed and is reportedly unhappy with.
“The so-called clean-up campaign, he has told advisers, undermines him and smothers the authenticity that fueled his rise. Worse, it feeds a Republican talking point that he’s not fully in command,” NBC News reported Tuesday.
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In recent months, White House officials have walked back the president’s comments on Putin’s regime, his claim that U.S. troops would be deploying to Ukraine, and his assertion that the U.S. military would intervene if China invaded Taiwan. The latter has had to be clarified three separate times.
Virginia House Democrats oust former speaker Eileen Filler-Corn as party leader
But Democrats rebuffed Scott’s call to immediately hold elections to replace her, Del. Mark D. Sickles (D-Fairfax) said after the meeting, adding that they wanted to give other people who might be interested in running time to prepare.
Filler-Corn issued a statement minutes after the meeting broke up.
“I thank the people of Virginia and my colleagues in the House of Delegates for allowing me to serve as the first woman and first person of Jewish faith to serve as Speaker in the 403-year history of our Commonwealth — truly the honor of my life,” she said. “I was proud of all that we accomplished after taking the majority in 2019 and was willing to step up as Minority Leader once more to regain that majority. Our caucus is made up of 48 talented and diverse individuals and I look forward to working with them to retake the majority.”
Caucus Chairwoman Charniele L. Herring (Alexandria) survived a vote on whether she should be ousted, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the proceedings who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
House Democrats said the decision to hold off picking a new leader came with some debate.
“The argument for doing it right away is that it’s silly to walk around headless, right? Well, the argument for taking longer is to give everybody who really wants to the opportunity to consider it,” Del. Marcus B. Simon (D-Fairfax) said.
Herring seemed to act as the voice of the caucus during floor debate.
With the Assembly in an ongoing special session as it waits for a budget to vote on, Democrats will have plenty of opportunities to meet again and vote on a new leader, Simon said — maybe at a budget session, he added, or even over a weekend.
Though there were some raised voices in the closed caucus meeting, Simon said the overall tone was positive.
“We are a great big happy family, and like all kinds of families, sometimes dinner table conversations can get loud,” he said.
The vast majority of that conversation was respectful and done really well,” added Del. Alfonso H. Lopez (D-Arlington).
Scott declined to comment as he walked along the back of the House chamber during a lull in the session. Filler-Corn also demurred, apart from the statement she released shortly after the vote.
The leadership drama came on a day when the General Assembly was gathering for its annual veto session, to consider the vetoes and amendments that Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) made to bills passed this year by the divided General Assembly. Youngkin’s victory last fall in a seemingly solidly blue state led to some finger-pointing among Democrats, who also saw their two-year majority in the House slip away.
Pakistan court rules blocking vote to oust PM Imran Khan illegal | Imran Khan News
Prime Minister Khan’s opponents had the votes needed to remove him in parliament after members of his own party and a key coalition partner defected.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court says Prime Minister Imran Khan’s move to dissolve parliament was illegal and ordered the house be restored.
The decision on Thursday came after four days of hearings by the top court. Khan will now face a no-confidence vote by lawmakers that he had tried to sidestep. The assembly will likely convene to vote on Saturday.
A major political crisis was triggered when Khan and his allies thwarted the motion by opposition lawmakers that seemed certain to unseat him.
The move “is declared to be contrary to the constitution and of no legal effect and is set aside”, the court ruled.
Khan dissolved parliament on Sunday and set the stage for early elections after accusing the opposition of being part of a “foreign conspiracy” to remove him from power.
His opponents had garnered the 172 votes needed to oust him in the 342-seat house after several members of his own party and a key coalition partner defected. But the deputy speaker of parliament, a member of Khan’s party, threw out the no-confidence motion.
The opposition claimed Khan violated the constitution and took its case to the country’s top court.
‘Victory for the nation’
Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial read out the decision and said the steps taken for the formation of a caretaker government ahead of elections were also unconstitutional.
“It is declared that all actions initiated … for purposes of holding a general election to elect a new assembly – including but not limited to the appointment of a caretaker prime minister and cabinet – are of no legal effect and are hereby quashed,” the court decision said.
Opposition leaders came out of the court showing victory signs as supporters shouted vociferously.
“I congratulate the entire nation,” said Maulana Fazalur Rehman, chief of the opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM). “This is the victory of the constitution and the entire nation.”
Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif told reporters it was a landmark day for the country.
“The Supreme Court has given a verdict which has not only safeguarded the constitution but Pakistan,” said Sharif.
‘We are very confident’
Lawyer for the opposition Haider Zaman Qureshi predicted a change of government was coming soon.
“When the [no-confidence] motion is carried forward … we are very confident that we have the numbers and we will succeed,” Qureshi told Al Jazeera.
“We will have a coalition government of the opposition forces and we will build bridges, and we will take Pakistan out of this economic meltdown that this outgoing government brought us.”
Earlier on Thursday, the fourth day of hearings, Khan’s lawyers defended the controversial move and said the Supreme Court did not have jurisdiction to intervene in parliamentary affairs.
Khan said the opposition had gone too far by colluding with the United States for “regime change”. He said Washington wants him gone because of what he describes as his independent foreign policy, which often favours China and Russia.
The US Department of State has denied any involvement in Pakistan’s internal politics.
The standoff threw the country of 220 million people into a full-blown constitutional crisis, and sent its currency to all-time lows against the dollar on Thursday.
“As [the] dollar continues to soar, a massive economic meltdown is staring the country in the face,” Sharif, who is among the favourites to replace Khan as prime minister, said in a tweet.
Pakistan’s top court or its powerful military have consistently stepped in whenever turmoil engulfs a democratically elected government in the South Asian nation. The army has seized power and ruled for more than half of Pakistan’s 75-year history.
Q Zaman contributed to this report from Islamabad
Tories could oust Boris Johnson over “Partygate”
After a week of new revelations about his government’s conduct during the pandemic, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson appears on the verge of losing the support of his party amid dismal poll numbers and public anger.
The latest revelations — that Johnson attended a garden party with some 30 guests at 10 Downing Street in May 2020, and that members of his staff gathered for “wine-time Fridays” regularly during the pandemic — are just the most recent in a series of alleged violations of Covid-19 lockdown protocols by Johnson and members of his government.
Johnson apologized this week to members of Parliament (MPs) for flouting lockdown rules, and his administration is already facing an inquiry by a top civil servant into several other instances in which Johnson or members of his staff gathered socially, potentially breaking the law.
The latest revelations — including the May 2020 party, which Johnson claimed he thought was a “work event” in the garden of the prime minister’s residence and offices at 10 Downing Street — could prove to be too much for a nation exhausted by nearly two years of lockdowns, especially after those rules prevented many Britons from seeing their loved ones dying of Covid-19, or grieving those losses with family and friends.
Previous reporting about a December 2020 Christmas party at 10 Downing Street put Johnson in the hot seat last month, and additional alleged violations of the UK’s Covid-19 protocols have only deepened his political jeopardy.
A recent YouGov poll shows that 40 percent of people who voted Conservative to elect Johnson in 2019 now believe he should resign; of the general population, 63 percent believe he should.
This week’s scandals could push Johnson’s government over the edge
Apologies this week to Parliament and the queen by Johnson and 10 Downing Street respectively have so far done little to alleviate public anger after nearly two years in a pandemic and the Johnson government’s often confused handling of Covid-19. A recent effort by Johnson’s government to stop the spread of the omicron variant — requiring proof of vaccination to enter social gathering spaces like nightclubs — also caused many Conservative lawmakers to distance themselves from him, even before the scandal–driven pile-on of recent days, potentially depriving Johnson of the support he’ll need to avoid a vote of no confidence.
The UK has dealt with whiplash-inducing restrictions, lockdowns, systems, plans, and tiers as the government has tried to confront the Covid-19 crisis. Much like former president Donald Trump, Johnson has been criticized for waiting too long to introduce lockdown measures and overpromising on the nation’s ability to contain the virus. The four UK countries — England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales — all have different rules, and England has recently adopted stricter measures due to the increased transmissibility of the omicron variant and the projected strain on the National Health Service.
Even very public scandals and very public dissatisfaction with Covid-19 fallout might not be enough to topple Johnson, who has survived a series of missteps even before the Covid-19 crisis — including allegations of corruption for exchanging political promises to a donor in exchange for money to redecorate his flat and lies about money saved from Brexit funding the NHS.
However, Conservatives and Johnson himself, are tanking in public opinion polls. A recent YouGov poll found 72 percent of Britons have an unfavorable opinion of Johnson — a far cry from his overwhelming 2019 victory.
A recent poll by British pollster Savanta ComRes also showed Labour up 10 points against the Conservative Party, giving Labour its largest projected vote share since 2013. That’s in addition to other ominous signs for Johnson’s Conservative Party: In December elections in North Shropshire, England, the Tories lost a seat they had held for a century to a Liberal Democrat politician, Helen Morgan. Her victory was widely seen as a blow to Johnson’s government, particularly after the previous MP, Owen Paterson, resigned in November for ethics violations despite Johnson’s attempts to keep him in office.
What comes next for Johnson’s government?
While 10 Downing Street has urged Tory lawmakers to wait for the results of Gray’s investigation before deciding on a vote of no confidence, those results not expected until next week at the earliest. Johnson, however, is already facing calls for his removal, which could come sooner rather than later.
Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has been at the forefront of calls for Johnson to step down, saying he had a “difficult conversation” with Johnson on Wednesday after the questioning period and Johnson’s apology, according to the BBC. Ross indicated that he would formally request a vote of no confidence in Johnson.
Other Conservative MPs have also called on Johnson to resign, but a vote of no confidence requires at least 54 members of the party to formally request the vote by sending official letters to a parliamentary group called the 1922 Committee.
That threshold hasn’t been breached thus far, but as MPs meet with their constituencies this weekend, more could make the request. As the BBC’s Lauren Kuenssberg reported Friday, members of Parliament have already received outraged phone calls and emails from people in their districts, calling for Johnson to resign. Given the vocal discontent, “it could all be over on Monday,” one unnamed senior MP told Kuenssberg.
Labour leader Keir Starmer, Johnson’s chief opponent, has also put pressure on Johnson to resign.
“Is [the PM] going to do the decent thing and resign?”
Labour leader Keir Starmer says Boris Johnson is a “pathetic spectacle of a man who ran out of road”
The PM says “I have apologised” for attending No 10 party, “I thought it was a work event”#PMQs https://t.co/cXM9HUgeXn pic.twitter.com/Z3x8cXNGIi
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) January 12, 2022
Should the Tories get the opportunity to hold a vote of no confidence, that doesn’t mean that Johnson is automatically out. In addition to securing 54 letters requesting a vote of no confidence, a majority of the Conservative MPs — there are 360 — would need to vote to find another leader, according to the New York Times. However, the number of letters requesting a no confidence vote are kept secret until the 54-request threshold is reached.
If Johnson is forced out over his handling of the pandemic, he won’t be the first; Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s former chief adviser, was fired in November 2020 after disagreeing with Johnson over his handling of the pandemic. Allegra Stratton, the former press secretary, resigned in December after video showed her joking about one of the Christmas parties held under lockdown, and former Health Secretary Matt Hancock resigned after video showing him breaking social distancing rules while engaging in an extramarital affair with a colleague surfaced in July.
But Johnson isn’t likely to give up easily, the BBC’s Kuenssberg writes, and this is far from the first scandal he has faced. While public outcry is significant, Johnson’s party isn’t yet aligned about what should come next — and no matter the outcome of Gray’s report, getting rid of Johnson may be an uphill battle without a determined effort on the part of his government, one cabinet minister told the BBC, especially since he appears intent on staying put.
“It is very hard to get rid of a leader who doesn’t want to go,” they said.
Trump Republicans Vow to Oust GOP Members Who Voted for Infrastructure
Republicans closely aligned with former President Donald Trump have threatened to oust the GOP House members who broke with their party to help Democrats pass President Joe Biden’s sweeping $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill late Friday.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had discouraged defectors, urging his caucus before the vote not to assist Biden in delivering on elements of his domestic agenda.
Still, 13 House Republicans crossed party lines to vote in favor of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which passed 228-206. With six progressives in revolt, the legislation would not have succeeded if it were not for their support.
Eight of the Republican defectors—Don Bacon of Nebraska, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Andrew Garbarino of New York, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, John Katko of New York, Tom Reed of New York, Christopher H. Smith of New Jersey, and Fred Upton of Michigan—are part of the Problem Solvers Caucus, a group of bipartisan lawmakers who helped to negotiate the bill.
Another five House Republicans—Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Don Young of Alaska, Nicole Malliotakis of New York, David B. McKinley of West Virginia, and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey—bucked their party to follow the party’s traditionalist route of backing infrastructure funding.
Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images
They faced swift backlash from their hard-right GOP colleagues, with some calling on the defectors to be removed from the party.
“Every Republican who voted for the infrastructure bill must be eliminated from the party,” tweeted Florida Rep. Anthony Sabatini.
Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert tweeted: “RINOS [Republicans in name only] just passed this wasteful $1.2 trillion dollar ‘infrastructure’ bill. Pelosi did not have the votes in her party to pass this garbage. Time to name names and hold these fake republicans accountable.”
“Vote for this infrastructure bill and I will primary the hell out of you,” said North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn.
Josh Barnett, a self-described “American First” Arizona House candidate, said: “13 Republicans just voted to turn America into a communist country. They should be pushed back on so hard til 2022 that their lives are absolutely miserable til we have them removed.”
“Republicans who hand over their voting card to Nancy Pelosi to pass Biden’s Communist takeover of America will feel the anger of the GOP voter,” tweeted Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz added: “I can’t believe Republicans just gave the Democrats their socialism bill.”
Despite the backlash, Fitzpatrick, the Republican co-chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus, stood by his decision to back the bill, calling a “victory for not only the people of Pennsylvania, but for the entire country.”
“With the House passage of the historic Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, we are one step closer to fixing our nation’s crumbling physical infrastructure,” he said in a statement. “America’s infrastructure has reached a breaking point, and this is a challenge we can no longer ignore.”
Among the major investments, the “hard” infrastructure bill allocates funding for roads and highways, bridges, broadband development, water support, and airport projects.
It is the biggest transportation spending legislation in U.S. history.
Newsweek reached out to Fitzpatrick’s office for further comment.
Two SF Prosecutors Quit & Join Effort to Oust Former Boss, District Attorney Chesa Boudin – NBC Bay Area
Prosecutors Brooke Jenkins and Don Du Bain tell the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit they have quit their jobs at the San Francisco District Attorney’s office and joined the effort to recall their former boss, District Attorney Chesa Boudin.
They are among at least 51 lawyers at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office who have either left or been fired since Boudin took office in January 2020, according to documents obtained by the Investigative Unit – that’s about a third of the department’s attorneys now gone.
“Chesa has a radical approach that involves not charging crime in the first place and simply releasing individuals with no rehabilitation and putting them in positions where they are simply more likely to re-offend,” Jenkins said.
“Being an African-American and Latino woman, I would wholeheartedly agree that the criminal justice system needs a lot of work, but when you are a district attorney, your job is to have balance.”
Brooke Jenkins, a top prosecutor in the District Attorney’s office, resigned her position saying the DA’s leniency on criminals is making San Francisco more dangerous.
Being an African-American and Latino woman, I would wholeheartedly agree that the criminal justice system needs a lot of work, but when you are a district attorney, your job is to have balance.
Brooke Jenkins, a former San Francisco prosecutor who just quit, says District Attorney Chesa Boudin focuses more on defendants than victims of violent crime
Both attorneys accuse Boudin of making San Francisco more dangerous by regularly handing down lenient sentences, releasing criminals early, and, in some cases, not filing charges at all, despite sufficient evidence proving those individuals committed violent crimes.
“He basically disregards the laws that he doesn’t like, and he disregards the court decisions that he doesn’t like to impose his own version of what he believes is just -and that’s not the job of the district attorney,” du Bain said.
“The office was headed in such the wrong direction that the best thing I could do was to join the effort to recall Chesa Boudin as district attorney.”
Jenkins and du Bain point to specific cases:
In one case, a man charged with robbery, who had eight prior felony convictions, was released early by the district attorney. He was then arrested four more times for other crimes, but the district attorney’s office never charged him. Then, nine months after he was set free, he hit and killed two women while driving a stolen car, drunk.
The fact that killers may go free, just doesn’t sit very well with me.
Brooke Jenkins, who recently quit her job as a San Francisco prosecutor, tells the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit she has joined the effort to recall District Attorney Chesa Boudin
“The fact that killers may go free, just doesn’t sit very well with me,” said Jenkins, who spent seven years prosecuting cases in the district attorney’s office, most recently serving in the department’s homicide unit, taking on the city’s most violent criminals.
In another case, prosecutor Don du Bain said Boudin ordered him to request a more lenient sentence for a man who was convicted of shooting his girlfriend in the stomach. The request, du Bain argues, would have been a violation of state statutes, which govern criminal sentences. As a result, du Bain said he withdrew from the case.
“I’ve done 136 jury trials in my career – never, never withdrawn from a case before,” he said. “I’ve seen decisions made in this office in the last year plus, since Chesa took over, that shocked my conscience – and I’ve been a prosecutor for 30 years.”
Don du Bain, a prosecutor of 30 years, recently quit his job with the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office to join the effort to oust his former boss, District Attorney Chesa Boudin, saying decisions he’s made over the past year have “shocked my conscience.”
Du Bain knows what it’s like to face tough criticism as a county’s top law enforcement official. In 2014, when he was district attorney in Solano County, a judge accused his office of withholding evidence in a case. The judge later recanted his criticism, stating he was “materially misled” about the situation. The California State Bar investigated the claims and ultimately cleared du Bain of any wrongdoing. Du Bain, however, believes the controversy lost him his reelection bid in Solano County. As a result, he knows firsthand what’s at stake when damaging accusations are hurled at powerful public officials. That said, du Bain argues Boudin needs to be held accountable for what he describes as major mismanagement in the district attorney’s office.
“I take no pleasure in saying this, he said. “I didn’t want to be in this position. I consider Chesa a friend.”
In yet another case, Jenkins said a man convicted of brutally killing his mother was able to avoid jail time after the district attorney agreed to let him plead insanity without requiring he provide evidence of his mental state in court.
“Almost all of the victim’s family strongly supported a finding of insanity,” wrote Sara Yousuf, a district attorney’s office spokesperson, who provided a statement to the Investigative Unit in response to the latest allegations made by Boudin’s former attorneys. “We are disappointed to see reporting of wrong and obviously politically motivated accusations.”
When pressed for more specifics as to what the district attorney’s office views as inaccurate or false allegations, Yousuf did not respond.
We are disappointed to see reporting of wrong and obviously politically motivated accusations.
Sara Yousuf, spokesperson for District Attorney Chesa Boudin, responds to allegations made by Boudin’s former staff
“Public safety is not his focus. That is not his goal,” said Jenkins, adding, “Chesa has a radical approach that involves not charging crime in the first place and simply releasing individuals with no rehabilitation and putting them in positions where they are simply more likely to re-offend.”
In September, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Bruce Chan took the unusual steps of criticizing Boudin’s office from the bench for “constant turnover” and neglecting “the fundamentals of competent, professional prosecution.”
“I cannot express in any more certain terms my disapproval of the manner in which the office of the district attorney is being managed,” the judge said. “We simply cannot have the current levels of inadvertence, disorganization, and expect there to be any public confidence in what we do here collectively.”
Gun Violence, Car Break-ins, Burglaries Spiking
So far this year, the number of fatal gun violence victims has risen 47 percent compared to the same time period last year, according to the latest data available from the San Francisco Police Department. Non-fatal gun violence incidents have roughly doubled and burglaries are at the highest levels in recent history. Citywide, car break-ins have increased 27 percent compared to last year, but they’ve spiked more than 150 percent in parts of the city.
For more than 100 days, the Investigative Unit submitted repeated interview requests to sit down with the district attorney to discuss his policies and the challenges facing his department. Boudin’s office, however, never made the district attorney available for questions and continually ignored requests to interview him.
During a panel discussion Boudin recently hosted about his efforts to protect survivors of domestic violence, he refused to take questions from the Investigative Unit.
District Attorney’s Office Responds to Allegations
“District Attorney Boudin has made it his priority to promote public safety for the people of San Francisco,” Yousuf wrote in a statement.
Yousuf underscored Boudin’s efforts to protect San Franciscans “by expanding services and support for crime victims, pursuing meaningful accountability to address harms; and by addressing the root causes of crime, including by fighting for public health solutions to prevent crime from occurring. Yousuf also said Boudin’s prosecution rates are similar – if not higher – than both his predecessor as well as other district attorneys in surrounding counties.”
District Attorney Boudin has made it his priority to promote public safety for the people of San Francisco.
Sara Yousuf, San Francisco District Attorney’s Office spokesperson
83,000+ Signatures Submitted to Force Boudin into Recall Election
As the Investigative Unit first reported two days ago, organizers hoping to oust San Francisco’s district attorney submitted more than 83,000 signatures to election officials on Friday in order to force Boudin into a recall election during next year’s June Primary.
While the San Francisco Department of Elections must first certify the signatures within the next month, organizers hoping to oust Boudin submitted 32,162 more signatures than the 51,325 required to put the recall issue on the ballot.
NBC Bay Area Organizers hoping to oust District Attorney Chesa Boudin submitted more than 83,000 signatures to the San Francisco Department of Elections on Thursday, which is about 32,000 more signatures than what is required to put the recall question on the ballot next June.
This has nothing to do with the facts or the real challenges our communities are facing. This has everything to do with disrespecting the will of the people.
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, speaking to his supporters about the recall election he is likely to face next June
Just one day prior, Boudin and his supporters seemed to acknowledge a recall election was inevitable as they hosted an anti-recall rally.
“This has nothing to do with the facts or the real challenges our communities are facing,” Boudin told his supporters in reference to the recall effort. “This has everything to do with disrespecting the will of the people.”
Boudin described the recall campaign as one being pushed by “dark money” and the Republican party. Boudin’s opponents, however, point to the fact that more than 83,000 San Franciscans signed the recall petition. There are only 33,788 registered Republicans in San Francisco, according to the city’s department of elections.
Dr. Keally McBride, a political science professor at the University of San Francisco, says District Attorney Chesa Boudin still has a tremendous amount of support, but says he’ll need buy-in from weary constituents who may be frustrated by increasing crime rates. “It’s going to be really incumbent upon Boudin’s office to start messaging very, very clearly why they’re making the decisions they are,” she said. “He’s going to have to be really clear about linking his practice with San Francisco’s progressive values, but also making the case that in the long run, we’re all going to be better off through the changes he’s just beginning to institute.”
Boudin ‘Planting the Flag’ for Reform, Says Political Science Professor
“I think of what [Boudin]’s doing is kind of planting the flag for the rest of us out in front and saying, ‘this is where we need to go,’” said Dr. Keally McBride, a political science professor at the University of San Francisco, who has been studying crime and punishment in the United States for the past 30 years.
McBride says Boudin is part of a group of reformer district attorneys attempting to end mass incarceration across the country.
“We built up all of these systems of jails and prisons and parole and electronic monitoring systems and and we have let go of a lot of different social services: publicly paid mental health counseling, drug counseling, etc.” she said.
“It’s going to take, I would estimate, at least a decade for all of the different structures in place to be developed and to create a really robust alternative to the criminal justice system that we’ve had for the last 50 years.”
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