Arizona Congressional Candidate Engel Silent On Antisemitism At Alma Maters 

Arizona Congressional Candidate Engel Silent On Antisemitism At Alma Maters 

By Elizabeth Troutman |

Congressional candidate and University of Arizona law school professor Kirsten Engel has refused to stand by Israel as her alma maters, Northwestern University and Brown University, blow up with antisemitic protests, a new report shows. 

“Kirsten Engel is not a fighter for Arizona, she is a scared politician who is too afraid of the extreme left to speak up against antisemitism,” National Republican Congressional Committee Spokesperson Ben Petersen said in a statement. 

Engel has “been silent in the face of protests taking place at their alma mater.”

Engel is running to represent Arizona’s sixth district. She is a former legislator, Charles E. Ares Professor of Law at the James E. Rogers College of Law, and an environmental lawyer. 

She received her undergraduate degree from Brown and her J.D. from Northwestern. 

Students at Northwestern set up an encampment on school grounds to demand the administration divest from Israel. Terrorist sympathizers even became violent with police officers.

At Brown, students also set up a pro-Palestine encampment, which they agreed to clear April 30. 

Students across the country are skipping classes and final exams to protest on behalf of Hamas-controlled Palestine. 

At Columbia University, students took over Hamilton Hall overnight, barricading themselves inside. At the University of Texas, more than 80 arrests have occurred.

Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.

Federal Court Finds Congressional Candidates’ Son Guilty Of January 6 Charges

Federal Court Finds Congressional Candidates’ Son Guilty Of January 6 Charges

By Corinne Murdock |

A federal jury has found GOP congressional candidate Jeff Zink’s son, Ryan Zink, guilty of all charges pertaining to his involvement in January 6.

The District Court of Columbia jury found Zink guilty of all three counts in under half an hour: obstruction of an official proceeding, U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2); entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds, U.S.C. § 1752(a)(1); disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, U.S.C. § 1752(a)(2).

The three offenses altogether carry up to 22 years’ imprisonment.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) dropped a fourth charge in his case, engaging in disorderly conduct in a capitol building U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(D), which would’ve warranted up to six additional months in prison.

Zink maintains that he didn’t go inside the Capitol building, and that he was present within the crowd as a media representative for his father’s campaign. 

“Not everyone went inside. It was a small group of about I would say 25-30 people and they were the only combative ones[.] I got super close and documented everything[.] I’m not some radical right wing nut job I literally took pictures of them and saw the tattoos[;] it’s not hard to identify,” wrote Zink. “If you were there you could have seen this[,] it was different in my life and in reporting I have seen what riots and violence looks like[;] this was planned strategic trained tactical[;] this was no ordinary rue [sic] it was a planned thing.”

In video evidence obtained by the DOJ, Zink recorded himself traveling within a crowd up to the Capitol building, in which he admitted to knocking down the gates and expressing an intent to breach the building.

“We knocked down the gates! We’re storming the Capitol!” said Zink. “You can’t stop us!”

It was an anonymous social media follower of Zink’s who reported him to the DOJ. According to the DOJ, that follower also reported two other unnamed individuals in attendance at the protest.

Zink says he plans to appeal.

Zink is crowdfunding for his legal fees. As of press time, Zink has raised nearly $8,000 of his $40,000 legal goal.

Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.

Democratic Congressional Candidate Denies Arizona Has Border Crisis

Democratic Congressional Candidate Denies Arizona Has Border Crisis

By Corinne Murdock |

Democratic congressional candidate and former state senator Kirsten Engel declared on Wednesday that there isn’t a border crisis. 

Arizona Horizon host Ted Simons asked Engel during an election debate whether she agreed that the current state of the border constituted a crisis. Engel said she didn’t, adding that additional borders security wasn’t the solution. 

“No. It does need help at the border. We do — Washington, I would say, has failed us. It’s not just this administration. It’s the past administration. We do need help at our border. We do need to secure our border. We have issues of drug trafficking and human smuggling that need to be addressed, but certainly not walls. I mean walls are a 13th century solution to a 21st century problem. 

Engel, who resigned from the state senate last September, insinuated that turning away illegal immigrants was the real crisis.

“I mean, let’s look at what’s going on here. We have people, migrants, coming who want to make a home in our country. You know, these people are like our ancestors coming here. That is — that’s the crisis. That’s a humanitarian crisis,” said Engel. “What we need from Washington is having an orderly asylum process. That’s national law, that’s international law. We need comprehensive immigration reform. We have to help our Dreamers.”

The debate also featured Engel’s Democratic opponent, State Representative Daniel Hernández Jr. (D-Tucson), who disagreed with Engel. He said that a wall wasn’t enough, pointing out the need for more security technology like drones.

“We are seeing that people don’t feel safe where they’re living, even though we are saying that this is an issue that has gone time after time,” said Hernández. “To say there is no crisis is wrong.”

Engel agreed that a federal presence was necessary at the border, as well as more technology, but emphasized her opposition to a border wall. 

“Walls are not going to do it, and neither are photo ops,” said Engel. “It’s not all drug smugglers. It’s families with little kids.”

Hernández said that his perspective on rescinding Title 42 reflected that of Democratic Senators Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema: the policy should be removed, but there should be a plan ready to fill the void left behind.

“These are people coming here trying to get a better life, so we should treat them humanely with dignity, but make sure we have a plan to actually address [them],” said Hernández.

Engel agreed, calling Title 42 a “stop-gap solution.” She pointed out that about half of the people returned to Mexico under Title 42 ended up reentering the country, citing that as a failure of the policy. Like Hernández, Engel said she wanted to see a plan first before rescinding the policy.

“There’s no adjudication of their claim,” said Engel. “Title 42 is not the answer.”

Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.