by Staff Reporter | Apr 4, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
President Donald Trump will be coming to Phoenix later this month to attend an event by Turning Point USA (TPUSA).
Trump is scheduled to speak at the event, “Build The Red Wall,” to be hosted by Dream City Church.
TPUSA announced the president’s forthcoming appearance last week.
Also present to speak will be TPUSA CEO Erika Kirk, widow of the late former TPUSA founder and CEO Charlie Kirk, and Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05), a 2026 Republican candidate for Arizona governor. TPUSA noted that other speakers would be filling out the lineup “soon.”
“Build The Red Wall” appears to be a reference to ongoing rhetoric employed by Erika Kirk. In her speech last December at TPUSA’s annual AmericaFest, Kirk used the phrase in her endorsement of Vice President JD Vance for president in 2028.
“We are locked in, and mission-focused for both 2026 and 2028; we’re investing in states and not just in races. So what I mean by that is we are building the red wall, Arizona, Nevada, New Hampshire,” said Kirk. “We are going to get my husband’s friend JD Vance elected for 48 in the most resounding way possible.”
TPUSA rolled out its “Red Wall” plan during AmericaFest.
Brett Galazewski, National Enterprise Director of Turning Point Action, said the red wall represents a shift from the “blue wall,” or the key states historically guaranteed to deliver an election victory: Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
“2026 is going to be the make-or-break year to save our country,” said Galazewksi. “We believe our best path to the 270 electoral mark is a combination of Arizona, that’s always been important, Nevada, and then last, but certainly not least, New Hampshire.”
“Build The Red Wall” also appears to be affiliated to some degree with Turning Point Action’s Chase The Vote initiative.
The organization requires attendees to complete a check of their voter registration status in order to register for the event, using a form from Vote Online.
The Vote Online embedded form on TPUSA’s site asks individuals to submit their full name, email, phone number, date of birth, address, how they plan to vote, and whether it is their first time voting.
Vote Online is a nonprofit organization based in Phoenix, sharing an address with Turning Point Action.
Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) records reflect the organization filed an application for authority with the ACC on March 17 of this year. That application is still pending as of this report.
Vote Online’s website does not disclose an affiliation with TPUSA or Turning Point Action. The nonprofit does have a webpage dedicated to donations, but it is not functional yet.
Vote Online’s privacy policy indicated the information used to fill out the voter registration form on the event registration page will be used by TPUSA or Turning Point Action for marketing and outreach efforts.
The “Build The Red Wall” event is scheduled to begin Friday, April 17, at 12 pm. Remarks are scheduled to begin at 2 pm. The event is first come, first serve.
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by Staff Reporter | Mar 28, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Protests against President Donald Trump over his mass deportation policies are scheduled to take over the streets across dozens of Arizona cities this weekend.
The protests were coordinated through the national “No Kings” organization. “No Kings” refers to the belief that Trump has overreached in his powers, much like a monarchy, based on the drastic increase in federal immigration enforcement actions. The organization coordinated protests last spring, summer, and fall.
Over 7 million activists attended over 2,700 protests across the nation during the latest designated No Kings protest day last October.
Last year’s No Kings protests presented problems as some devolved into looting and rioting.
Some who hit the streets under the pretense of protest committed crimes that targeted law enforcement and local businesses.
Activists on the lookout for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have targeted local law enforcement under suspicion of their affiliation with the federal agency. Officers conducting operations and arrests for crimes other than immigration have faced off against violent rioters attempting to disrupt what they believe to be deportation proceedings.
Such was the case in one incident last summer when anti-ICE activists assaulted a Peoria police officer participating in a narcotics raid.
Saturday’s No Kings protests are scheduled to occur in Ajo, Anthem, Apache Junction, Arivaca, Bisbee, Bullhead City, Casas Adobes, Casa Grande, Chandler, Cottonwood, Douglas, Flagstaff, Florence, Fountain Hills, Gilbert, Glendale, Globe, Goodyear, Green Valley, Kingman, Lake Havasu City, Marana, Maricopa, Mesa, Nogales, Oro Valley, Patagonia, Payson, Phoenix, Prescott, Quartzsite, Queen Creek, Safford, Sahuarita, Scottsdale, Sedona, Show Low, Sierra Vista, Sun City, Sun City West, Superior, Surprise, Tempe, Tubac, Tucson, Tucson Estates, Vail, Willcox, Winslow, and Yuma.
The No Kings coalition has over 200 partners backing it, including: Accountable.Us, American Federation of Teachers, American Federation of Government Employees, ACLU, Bernie Sanders campaign, College Democrats of America, Freedom From Religion Foundation, Greenpeace, Human Rights Campaign, Indivisible, NextGen America, Planned Parenthood, and Sierra Club.
The primary coordinators behind the initial formation of No Kings were the organizations Indivisible and 50501.
The 50501 movement has a chapter in Arizona, which has a private Facebook group containing over 6,500 members. This chapter’s online administrators include Tucson resident Scott Jackson; Erica Connell, a Phoenix drag performer who goes by the name “Weird Violet”; and Gilbert resident Kristin Clement.
Activists aligned with the 50501 movement attempted to breach the Arizona Capitol last February.
Other local activist organizations have played a role in organizing No Kings protests as well. Among these are the Party for Socialism and Liberation in Phoenix, East Valley Unite AZ, Gilbert Good Trouble, Mesa Valley Indivisible, Rural Arizona Action, Instituto Power, Progress Arizona, LUCHA Arizona, AZ Resistance Front, and United Campus Workers of Arizona.
Earlier this month, anti-ICE activists disrupted proceedings in the Arizona legislature to protest deportations.
In addition to educating illegal aliens on avoiding immigration enforcement, these organizations have encouraged the use of hotlines to report and track the whereabouts of federal agents. One hotline, “Migra Watch,” has dedicated caller hotlines for Phoenix, Flagstaff, Tucson, and rural areas, and a text hotline as well.
Financial data revealed tens of millions of federal dollars flowing into the organizations throwing their support behind No Kings protests.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Mar 27, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
The transgender Muslim Antifa activist whom Attorney General Kris Mayes declined to prosecute for a 2024 murder has once again threatened gun violence ahead of scheduled anti-Trump protests.
Sumayyah Dawud posted the threat on Facebook last week. Dawud fatally shot Paul Franco, 51, on July 4, 2024.
By Franco’s girlfriend’s account, Franco was shot while defending Renteria from Dawud and other pro-Palestine protesters that had followed them home. By the protesters’ account, Franco instigated the confrontation, and was shot after he attacked a protester who assaulted Renteria.
In his most recent post, Dawud included a quote from Malcom X which warns that freedom doesn’t come peacefully.
“Armed resistance is the answer to oppression and violence,” said Dawud. “Not love, hugs, and peace with our enemies.”
Dawud identifies as a woman. His former aliases were Britney Erica Austin and Eric Austin.
Following Franco’s slaying, Dawud had his counsel through the People’s Law Firm submit a letter to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO) defending the shooting as self-defense, as reported by ABC15.
After some investigating, Phoenix Police Department (PPD) executed a search warrant on Dawud’s home. At the beginning of last year, PPD stated probable cause existed to charge Dawud with murder. Specifically, PPD recommended filing charges for second-degree murder and discharging a firearm within city limits.
Attorney General Mayes received this recommendation sometime around January 2025. The MCAO also referred the case to Mayes. Their agency recused itself because Dawud was involved in an ongoing lawsuit against them and PPD over his arrest during a Black Lives Matter riot in 2020.
Mayes’ office has not acted on those referrals. Without any charges pending, Dawud is free to attend another protest that could turn violent, based on the previous No Kings protests across the Valley last year.
Dawud issued his most recent comment advocating for gun violence just days before another series of scheduled No Kings protests are to occur.
Renteria recalled how Dawud approached Franco and shot him.
“I just remember a black shadow just walking up to Paul and then shooting him,” said Renteria.
In another post from last month, Dawud expressed a desire to burn down the planned ICE facility in Surprise.
“I am glad that ICE facility being built in Surprise was vandalized,” said Dawud. “Too bad it wasn’t burned to the f*****g ground.”
Per his social media posts, Dawud has been a constant presence at protests outside of ICE facilities.
In a recent post discussing white colonialism, Dawud made the argument that white people needed to martyr themselves for black and brown people, especially during protests. Franco, who Dawud shot, was a man of color and a father.
“White people have the most privilege. White people are occupying stolen land. And for the most part, white people don’t do s**t,” said Dawud. “There’s nothing a White person experiences here on Turtle Island that a person of color doesn’t experience ten times worse.”
Turtle Island refers to a Native American name for North America.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Mar 22, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
A federal judge ordered Kari Lake to undo her work to dismantle the federally funded international broadcast network, Voice of America (VOA).
President Donald Trump initially announced Lake’s appointment to serve as director of VOA shortly after his election in 2024. Lake was instead installed as special advisor to U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the parent agency which oversees VOA.
Trump later expanded Lake’s authority and control over USAGM and VOA by appointing her to serve as acting CEO of the USAGM last summer.
At the time of Lake’s takeover, VOA provided news and cultural programming in nearly 50 languages online, over airwaves, and through broadcasting.
Under an executive order from Trump to downsize and cut government waste with VOA and elsewhere, Lake embarked on a mission to size down the bureaucracy within USAGM and VOA.
Lake cut all but about 70 VOA employees. Over 1,000 of the 1,100 VOA employees were placed on administrative leave or fired; over 500 contractor roles at USAGM were eliminated.
District of Columbia District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ruled last week that Lake needed to bring those employees back by Monday, March 23, and to resume the scope of operations that were occurring prior to Lake’s takeover of the broadcasting network.
In response to the ruling, Lake reposted commentary by Andrew Kloster — general counsel for the Office of Personnel Management from January to December 2025 — which called Lamberth’s decision “wild overstepping” and “bad statutory analysis of federal employment law.”
The last social media activity from VOA occurred last March, when the cuts took place. Remaining VOA employees told media outlets that their work has been greatly limited under Lake’s administration, with some saying they’re left to do no work at all.
Tuesday’s ruling didn’t seem to deter the Trump administration from continuing their arrangements to bring VOA and USAGM to heel.
On Wednesday, USAGM named a new deputy director to the VOA: Newsmax news director Christopher Wallace, per an email obtained by The New York Times.
Lake led USAGM until last November amid a legal challenge of her eligibility to serve as director.
Last summer Lake testified to the House that USAGM had institutional flaws of incompetency, corruption, and bias which allegedly threatened America’s national security and standing in the world. Lake said VOA was also troubled with similar alleged problems.
Earlier this month Lamberth declared in a separate ruling that Lake was ineligible to take over USAGM leadership, and therefore her actions while in that position were illegitimate and voided.
Trump has nominated Sarah Rogers to take Lake’s place, pending Senate approval. Rogers is secretary of state for public diplomacy within the State Department.
A spokesperson for the White House, Anna Kelly, said the Trump administration would fight the ruling.
“President Trump was elected to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse across the administration, including at the Voice of America — and efforts to improve efficiency at USAGM have been a tremendous success. This will not be the final say on the matter,” said Kelly.
On Thursday the Trump administration asked the judge to push back its March 23 deadline to reinstate the fired VOA employees, citing their intention to appeal.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Matthew Holloway | Mar 16, 2026 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this month aimed at strengthening the federal government’s response to cybercrime, fraud, and other online schemes targeting Americans.
The order, titled “Combating Cybercrime, Fraud, and Predatory Schemes Against American Citizens,” directs multiple federal agencies to coordinate efforts to disrupt criminal organizations involved in cyber-enabled fraud schemes and online scams.
According to the White House, the policy establishes that the United States will protect Americans and strengthen financial and digital systems against cybercrime while responding to attacks through “law enforcement, diplomacy, and potential offensive actions.”
The order states its purpose as follows:
“Cybercrime, fraud, and predatory schemes are draining American families of their life savings, stealing the benefits of years of work, and destroying the lives of our youth. These activities — which include deploying ransomware and malware, phishing, financial fraud, ‘sextortion’ and other extortion schemes, impersonation, and more — are often coordinated campaigns carried out by Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) aimed at the most vulnerable among us.”
The order also states that foreign governments are connected to many of these schemes, writing, “In many cases, foreign regimes provide willing or tacit state support to cybercrime and predatory schemes, creating a shadow economy fueled by stolen identities, coercion, forced labor, and human trafficking.”
The executive order directs federal officials to conduct a comprehensive review of the operational, technical, diplomatic, and regulatory tools used to combat transnational criminal organizations engaged in cyber-enabled crimes and fraud schemes. The review is intended to identify ways to prevent, disrupt, investigate, and dismantle scam operations.
Under the order, the Attorney General is directed to prioritize prosecutions of cyber-enabled fraud and scam schemes and pursue serious, provable offenses. The Attorney General is also tasked with submitting recommendations on establishing a Victims Restoration Program to help return seized or forfeited funds to victims of fraud.
The Department of Homeland Security is instructed to work with the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center to provide training, technical assistance, and resilience-building support to state, local, tribal, and territorial partners.
The order also directs the Department of State to engage with foreign governments to encourage enforcement action against transnational criminal organizations operating within their borders. Countries that fail to cooperate could face consequences including sanctions, visa restrictions, limits on foreign assistance, or the expulsion of officials found to be complicit.
The executive order was issued alongside the administration’s broader Cyber Strategy for America, which outlined priorities for deterring cyber adversaries, strengthening critical infrastructure security, modernizing federal networks, and expanding the government’s cybersecurity workforce and capabilities to Congress.
Federal agencies are expected to develop implementation plans and recommendations in the coming months as part of the administration’s effort to disrupt cybercrime networks and strengthen protections for American citizens and businesses.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
