by Daniel Stefanski | Sep 17, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Another potential attempt on former President Donald J. Trump’s life was met with outrage from Arizona Republicans.
On Sunday, the world received shocking news when reports hit the airwaves that gunshots had been fired at one of President Trump’s golf courses in Florida. As more details emerged, it became clear that President Trump may have escaped another assassination attempt from an individual who appeared to be hiding in wait on the outskirts of the property for the former American Commander in Chief to come into his view. A Secret Service advance agent observed this gunman’s weapon, and shots were fired in the alleged attempted assassin’s direction. The individual escaped and was later apprehended by Florida law enforcement soon after the interaction on the golf course.
President Trump was unharmed. He later issued a statement with his thoughts on the second attempt on his life in the past few months, writing, “I would like to thank everyone for your concern and well wishes – it was certainly an interesting day! Most importantly, I want to thank the U.S. Secret Service, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and his Office of brave and dedicated Patriots, and, all of Law Enforcement, for the incredible job done today at Trump International in keeping me, as the 45th President of the United States, and the Republican Nominee in the upcoming Presidential Election, SAFE. THE JOB DONE WAS ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING. I AM VERY PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!”
Many Arizona Republicans expressed their feelings about the incident on their social media platforms.
Senate President Warren Petersen said, “2nd assassination attempt of Trump! Unbelievable. Thank heaven he is ok. Suspect in custody.”
The Republican Party of Arizona posted, “The AZGOP thanks God for the safety of President Trump and we are grateful that law enforcement spotted the assailant before anyone was hurt. We stand with President Trump and President Trump will never surrender this country and he will never abandon the American people.”
AZGOP Chair Gina Swoboda added, “We call for an IMMEDIATE increase in security to provide President Trump with the level of resources received by a sitting President. The chaos must be brought to an end, and we must ensure our leaders can serve without coming to harm.”
State Representative Leo Biasiucci stated, “This is getting Fing ridiculous. Give the man full protection, I don’t care if the GOP has to help pay for it. It’s obvious he is not being given adequate protection.”
Justin Heap, a first-term state legislator and current Republican nominee for Maricopa County Recorder, wrote, “May God bless and protect Donald Trump. He is safe after a second assassination attempt on his life. Some things transcend political parties. Attempted assassinations are clearly one of them. Let’s come together to loudly condemn this kind of political violence.”
Senator Janae Shamp said, “May God continue to keep the truest man of The People in His protective white light as he leads the fight to save the only Nation created in His name. Amen.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Sep 9, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Two Republicans from southern Arizona are key for their party’s continued control of the state legislature.
State Representatives Cory McGarr and Rachel Jones are running for re-election to Arizona Legislative District 17. Both Republicans entered office in January 2023, having won their elections in the November 2022 General Election. The two incumbents were challenged in the 2024 Republican primary by Anna Orth, who failed to finish in the top two positions of the contest. McGarr received 24,583 votes; Jones obtained 19,005 votes, and Orth had 16,073 votes.
McGarr serves as the Vice-Chairman of the House Regulatory Affairs Committee and as a member of both the Military Affairs & Public Safety Committee and the Natural Resources, Energy & Water Committee. Jones serves as the Vice-Chairman of the House Military Affairs & Public Safety Committee and of the Education, Government, and Municipal Oversight & Elections Committees.
On his website, McGarr appeals to potential voters to return him to the state House, writing, “I promised to be a conservative fighter for Arizona families and not special interests. In Phoenix, that’s what I’ve done and I’m running again to continue my promise to never back down when needed the most. My bottom line is this… We need representatives in the State House who will stand for our values. Someone who has and still will support Arizona families. A real fighter who will defend our children and never back down.”
He asserts his belief that “government’s number one purpose is to protect the rights and freedoms of the individual,” highlighting that he is 100% pro-family, religious liberty, and pro-life.
On her campaign website, Jones writes, “As your state Rep I have always fought for our God Given Rights: Back the Blue, Gun Rights, Election Integrity, [and] Medical Freedom. I’m fighting to RESTORE ARIZONA VALUES. And the first step in that fight starts in the home. By strengthening Arizona families, we can RESTORE OUR VALUES and build a stronger Arizona.”
In her bio, Jones, reveals that she “spent her career as a business executive at the 3rd largest UPS facility in the country. Her time in business formed a strong, calculated, and passionate leader, who now hopes to continue utilizing her experience to identify problems, execute solutions, and deliver results in the State House in Phoenix. Having children refined Rachel’s beliefs on the importance of the family in communities.”
Jones adds that she “decided to put her business life aside, and focus on her family, and the families of all Arizonans. This led her to become a teacher, fostering the next generation of Americans. But her business background could not be hidden, so she eventually became the Director of the preschool.”
Reflecting back on her first term in office, Jones said, “During session I fought for states’ rights regarding law enforcement (no DOJ overstep) and vaccine mandates. I believe in funding state and local law enforcement, so that they’re able to help our Border Patrol Agents secure the border. I also believe in protecting children in the foster care system, especially since my three adopted children were adopted out of foster care. I believe in lower taxes and regulation. I also believe that the school counselors and social workers should not be indoctrinating our children in public schools.”
Both McGarr and Jones are strong border hawks, supporting legislation and policies that would help strengthen Arizona’s border with Mexico and empower law enforcement to better protect the innocent men, women, and children in their communities. Earlier this year, both lawmakers voted for HB 2748, which would have “establishe[d] penalties and enforcement against illegal border crossings.”
After the vote, Jones released a statement on her “X” account, saying, “Arizonans will come out in droves to vote for elected officials who are listening to them on the #1 issue of concern, THE BORDER CRISIS. To my colleagues on the left, the people don’t believe your gaslighting and rhetoric anymore. Americans want to feel safe in their own country.”
The two southern Arizona Republicans were also instrumental in turning the tables against President Biden, when his left-wing allies attempted to remove former President Donald J. Trump from the ballot in the State of Colorado. After the Colorado State Supreme Court decided to remove Trump from the state’s ballot in 2024, McGarr announced an effort in conjunction with other states “to remove [Biden] from the ballot.”
A joint statement from the national coalition of legislators, including McGarr, stated, “Democrats’ insane justification to remove Trump can just as easily be applied to Joe Biden for his ‘insurrection’ at the southern border and his alleged corrupt family business dealings with China. Colorado radicals just changed the game and we are not going to sit quietly while they destroy our Republic.”
Jones cheered on the announcement from her colleague.
More recently, McGarr and Jones supported a legislative effort to refer a border security measure to the ballot in this November’s General Election – HCR 2060, voting for the bill when it was considered by their chamber. The proposal, if passed by voters in the fall, would empower local law enforcement to better secure their communities from the increasing calamities from the border crisis. A recent poll from Noble Predictive Insights showed that sixty-three percent of Arizona respondents support the measure, giving it a pretty good chance to pass in the fall.
According to the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, Legislative District 17 has an 8.34% vote spread between Republicans and Democrats in the last nine state elections. In those nine elections, Republicans have won all nine contests.
McGarr and Jones will face off in the November General Election against Democrat Kevin Volk.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Aug 24, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
A man wanted for multiple offenses was arrested Thursday over threatening to assassinate Donald Trump during his visit.
Ronald Lee Syvrud, 66, had multiple active warrants: failing to register as a sex offender, a DUI and failure to appear, and a hit and run. Syvrud was added to Wisconsin’s sex offender registry over 20 years ago for sexual assault of a child. Adding to those crimes, Syvrud has been arrested for issuing several threats against Trump.
Under the name “Rudy Lee,” Syvrud posted on Facebook that he planned to shoot Trump with a revolver while the presidential candidate traveled through Cochise County as part of his two-day visit.
The Post Millennial discovered the one post and Syvrud’s several aliased social media accounts, but the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office said in its press release that there was another post containing a threat. Syvrud’s Facebook profile has since been deleted.
“Trump is going through here tomorrow and going to Naco, AZ to the port of entry to Mexico. There’s a bar right there called the Gay 90s. Noooo. It’s not a gay bar. Dawn and I will be there early. I bought a scope for my 44 revolver. Unlike that dweeb that missed. I won’t. Maybe I’m joking. Or am I. Wink, wink.”
In earlier posts, Syvrud said he’d wished Trump’s would-be assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, hadn’t missed. Syvrud would later claim the assassination was faked.
“I give the shooter an A- for effort. Would have gotten an A+ if he succeeded,” said Syvrud. “By the way, the kid was a registered Republican. Got to love it.”
The only reason Trump didn’t die from Crooks’ shot at last month’s rally was because he turned his head for an instant to look up at a screen by the crowd. One of the rally attendees died from a gunshot wound, and two others besides Trump were injured.
It remains unclear why the rooftop on which Crooks lied with a perfect line of sight to Trump wasn’t secured during the rally.
Earlier this week, Trump hosted his first outdoor rally since the attempt on his life. The presidential candidate spoke behind bulletproof glass.
Syvrud’s other political posts focused on his dislike for the Republican Party as a whole.
The Cochise County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) apprehended Syvrud within hours of notifying the public that they were looking for him.
CCSO had issued a statement on Tuesday that Syvrud was apprehended without incident.
“As part of the operations plan in place for the visit of candidate Donald Trump on today’s date, locating this subject was a priority. Intelligence developed led to a possible location in the St. David area and multiple units deployed to the location,” stated CCSO. “At approximately 2:16 pm, units on the scene observed the suspect traveling outside of the identified location, and a felony stop was conducted. Syvrud was taken into custody without further incident at approximately 2:30 pm.”
Trump’s Thursday visit consisted of a press conference at the border in Cochise County. Trump told reporters that he wasn’t made aware of the assassination threat prior to his heading to Arizona, let alone his Thursday outing along the border.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Matthew Holloway | Aug 15, 2024 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Former Governor of Arizona Doug Ducey announced Tuesday that he has officially endorsed both President Donald Trump and Republican Senate nominee Kari Lake. Ducey, also a Republican, had previously placed himself at odds with Trump and Lake supporters after his certification of the state’s Electoral College slate in 2020 and has been relatively quiet on the political stage since leaving office in 2023 due to term limits.
Ducey wrote in a post to X, “Much is on the line this election year & I’m encouraging all eligible Arizonans to vote & prioritize the issues that most affect our state & nation. I will be voting for Republicans up & down the ballot in November — and both Donald Trump and Kari Lake have my endorsement.”
In a thread following the initial post, the former Governor gave several reasons for his endorsement. He wrote, “The border must be secured,” sharing reporting from Fox’s Bill Melugin that new DHS data showed 99 illegal aliens on the FBI terror watchlist were released into the US.
He added, “Inflation must be tamed,” and shared an RNC Research post showing Biden Press Secretary Karinne Jean-Pierre claiming that Biden “inherited” an “economy that was on the downturn.”
Turning to foreign affairs, Ducey wrote, “America must be respected around the globe and World War III must be avoided,” and presented a Republican Jewish Coalition report stating, “Kamala Harris is open to an ARMS EMBARGO against Israel as the Jewish state fights a war for its very survival against Iran and its terrorist proxies.”
Pointing to Democrats’ proposals to modify the Supreme Court to meet its political needs Ducey said, “The Supreme Court should not be restructured by Chuck Schumer.”
Moving back to more domestic affairs such as the economy and education, he added that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a landmark piece of GOP legislation which Sen. Pat Toomey called “the most successful tax reform in at least 30 years,” “must be extended and made permanent.” And sharing a Trump campaign video from a Columbia, SC, rally in which Trump vowed, “I will fight for universal SCHOOL CHOICE,” he added, “School choice must be supported.”
Finally, Ducey concluded, “Differences aside, there is too much on the line and only a Republican in the White House and a majority in the House and US Senate can ensure it.”
The group Republicans Against Trump, who may have hoped that Ducey would either sit out the 2024 campaign or oppose Trump, replied to the former Governor with scorn writing, “Have you no shame?”
Trump and Ducey have long been at odds after the then-Governor infamously ignored a phone call from the President during his televised certification of Arizona’s Electoral College slate. Trump blasted the decision in a tweet saying, “Why is he rushing to put a Democrat in office, especially when so many horrible things concerning voter fraud are being revealed at the hearing going on right now. @OANN What is going on with @dougducey? Republicans will long remember!”
As of this report, Trump has not made a public statement regarding Ducey’s endorsement.
Ducey also opposed Lake at a critical juncture after the 2022 gubernatorial campaign when he refuted Lake’s allegations on the integrity of the election. He had supported Lake’s opponent Karrin Taylor Robson and told CNN’s “State of the Union,” “Kari Lake is misleading voters with no evidence. She’s been tagged by her opponents with a nickname, Fake Lake, which seems to be sticking and actually doing some damage,” per Politico.
Lake however, officially acknowledged Ducey’s endorsement and even praised his administration in a post to X writing, “For eight years, Governor @DougDucey transformed our economy and our education system. He made Arizona a destination again. But radical Democrats like Ruben Gallego want to take that away. Doug Ducey supports me because he knows it’s never been more important to unite all Arizonans and win big in November. Thank you, Governor!”
Lake’s gracious acceptance was met with some trepidation by her followers on the platform though, with some commenting, “Is that a good thing?” “That’s not an endorsement to be proud of,” and “I would shy away from that endorsement.”
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.
by Matthew Holloway | Jul 23, 2024 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Congressman and former Navy SEAL Sniper Eli Crane (R-AZ) visited the rooftop perch of attempted presidential assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks with his team on Monday and shared footage of his professional assessment. Crane’s perspective carries particular weight given his five combat deployments during his 13-year military career.
Crane wrote, “I’m on the roof of the building in Butler, PA, where shots were fired in an attempt to assassinate President Trump. As a former Navy SEAL sniper, it was clear to me that many security measures were dropped making Pres. Trump extremely vulnerable. Many questions still remain.”
According to Crane’s congressional website, the congressman was a post-9/11 enlistee in the U.S. Navy from Arizona, who worked his way up to the Naval Special Warfare Command, joining SEAL Team 3 based out of Naval Amphibious Base Coronado in California. Three of his wartime deployments were to Iraq. He was a SEAL for nine of his thirteen years in uniform.
The first video at just over a minute long presents Crane’s damning assessment of the tactical realities at the site of the attempted assassination, that directly conflicts with the narrative being presented by Director Kimberly Cheatle of the United States Secret Service.
He explained, “All right guys, I’m up here on the building where the supposed sniper took his shot. It’s not that steep at all. We just had a 70-year-old man back here climb up on the roof easily.”
Cheatle drew wide criticism when she justified the lack of Secret Service presence on the rooftop to ABC News saying, “That building in particular has a sloped roof at its highest point. And so, you know, there’s a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof.” She added, “And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside.”
Crane noted that, if snipers were posted on a nearby water tower overlooking the building and the entire venue, “This guy wouldn’t have made it 5 feet up this roof. He would’ve been taken out.”
The Congressman also noted second floor windows in an adjacent building where Secret Service were “supposedly in the second floor of this building behind.” He added that it, “makes you wonder why they weren’t able to quickly dispatch the individual.”
In a subsequent post to X, Crane presented the vantage point from the second-floor windows that the Secret Service had access to. He wrote, “This video was taken from one of the windows the Secret Service had access to, overlooking the entire roof. As you can see, they had complete coverage. Makes you wonder how on earth they allowed the shooter to access the roof, let alone crawl up it & fire several shots.”
Crane’s assessment seemed to concur with that of Gene Petrino, a former SWAT commander for Florida’s Plantation Police Department, who questioned in an interview with Fox News why snipers were not stationed at the water tower that “would have had a vantage point of all the roofs,” and called out “the audacity for her to say that there was an issue with the sloped roof when her men were already on a sloped roof.”
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is testifying in front of the House Oversight Committee Monday. During these proceedings Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) has accused Cheatle of perjuring herself and stonewalling members of the Committee, according to Fox News. Crane has a seat on the House Homeland Security Committee and the Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability.
“I will say this. It is very frustrating. And I’ve talked to my colleagues, and we’ve said it to your face that you have been up here basically stonewalling our ability to get the answers to the American people. And what I will also say is that every single member of Congress does not feel safe with you in charge. You have heard that. And I think that we are all sitting ducks with you and directing the Secret Service currently,” Luna said.
She then issued a formal request for Cheatle’s resignation: “But more importantly, it sends a message to our adversaries that we are not protected, and we are one of the strongest countries in the world. So, you have essentially made us a less safe country because of it. As a result of that, I’m asking you to formally step down.”
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.
