Matt Giordano, Executive Director of the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board (AZPOST) and a former Phoenix Police Commander with 20 years on the force, has been named as Phoenix’s next Chief of Police by City Manager Jeff Barton.
Giordano was selected through a lengthy process that produced three top contenders who met at a public forum in June. He was selected over Chief Malik Aziz of the Prince George’s County Police Department in Maryland, and Mirtha Ramos, the former chief of the DeKalb County Police Department in Georgia. Giordano will be the first permanent police chief in Phoenix since 2022.
Following a comprehensive national search, the City has named Matt Giordano as the next @PhoenixPolice Chief. Thank you to the neighborhood leaders, community members, and labor groups who provided input and participated in the process. READ MORE: https://t.co/hhw5NHxjgWpic.twitter.com/hBZUveQ6Qh
— City of Phoenix, AZ (@CityofPhoenixAZ) July 8, 2025
Giordano’s selection may give pause to residents who support the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts however, given that he stated the Phoenix Police wouldn’t play a role in enforcing immigration law under them, aligning with the city’s Democratic leaders.
“We have no role in immigration in a local law enforcement perspective,” Giordano told the forum. He cited a recent Phoenix Police press briefing saying, “Phoenix just put out there… they put out a press briefing last week just reminding the community, that we don’t do immigration enforcement. We will not ask about anyone’s legal status.”
In his comments, Giordano blasted SB 1070, the “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act” of 2010, a defining illegal immigration enforcement bill from the AZ GOP at the time. He said that he “saw the fear and distrust it created in the neighborhood, and it was it was upsetting.”
Giordano complained, “We have spent so many years now after SB 1070 trying to build back those relationships. We’re not there yet. There’s still a lot of work to be done. There’s still a lot of distrust in the community, but I think we’re going in the right direction.”
But then, seeming to refer to the mass deportations undertaken by the Trump administration, he added, “Now it almost seems like we’re going backwards, and it saddens me. And I don’t want to go down that road.”
He continued, “In my current role I have cultivated a relationship with every police chief pretty much every chief or sheriff in the state. We have these discussions and we’re all on the same page now: We talk to our federal partners; we get an idea of sometimes what they’re doing. But they understand that we will not cross that line and engage in immigration enforcement with them because it’s not in anyone’s best interest. It’s not outside of our purview. So that’s what my belief is: for the Phoenix Police Department moving forward to not be involved in any matter.”
Barton said in a statement that the selection of Giordano “reflects what we heard from residents, officers, and community stakeholders. Matt Giordano is a respected leader with deep knowledge of policing in Phoenix, and he has earned a reputation for integrity, accountability, and building trust.”
Phoenix’s Democrat Mayor Kate Gallego also expressed her pleasure at the Chief’s selection in a press release, “I am pleased to welcome back Matthew Giordano to the Phoenix Police Department as our new Police Chief. Chief Giordano has a deep understanding of law enforcement and Phoenix as well as the skills and experience to lead our great department. I look forward to working with him to keep our city safe and continue the reforms instituted by the City Council. I also want to thank Acting Police Chief Dennis Orender, who did an excellent job over the last few months, for his continued service to our city and the department.”
In an interview with Outspoken KTAR hosts Bruce St. James and Larry Gaydos, Republican Phoenix City Councilman Kevin Robinson, a 36-year police veteran, said that Giordano brings a “wide range of experience” and is “exactly what the department needs” to move forward. Robinson went on to highlight Giordano’s insider knowledge combined with an outsider’s perspective as key strengths for rebuilding trust and tackling issues like officer morale within the department.
Phoenix Law Enforcement Association (PLEA) President Darrell Kriplean told KTAR host Mike Broomhead that Giordano was the right choice for several reasons. He explained, “Matt has the institutional knowledge of this department having served here for so long, but he’s been gone long enough that he can come in with a fresh perspective and look at all the factors that went into the DOJ report, the things that have been debunked, … our continuous improvement measures and how we are going to continue to improve as an agency,”
In a statement following his selection Giordano said, “I’m honored to return to the department where my career began. I look forward to working alongside the dedicated men and women of the Phoenix Police Department and deepening partnerships with the communities we serve. Together, we will build a safer, stronger, and more unified Phoenix.”
America’s carmakers face an uncertain future in the wake of President Donald Trump’s signing of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) into law on July 4.
The new law ends the $7,500 credit for new electric vehicles ($4,000 for used units) which was enacted as part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act as of September 30, seven years earlier than originally planned.
The promise of that big credit lasting for a full decade did not just improve finances for Tesla and other pure-play EV companies: It also served as a major motivator for integrated carmakers like Ford, GM, and Stellantis to invest billions of dollars in capital into new, EV-specific plants, equipment, and supply chains, and expand their EV model offerings. But now, with the big subsidy about to expire, the question becomes whether the U.S. EV business can survive in an unsubsidized market? Carmakers across the EV spectrum are about to find out, and the outlook for most will not be rosy.
These carmakers will be entering into a brave new world in which the market for their cars had already turned somewhat sour even with the subsidies in place. Sales of EVs stalled during the fourth quarter of 2024 and then collapsed by more than 18% from December to January. Tesla, already negatively impacted by founder and CEO Elon Musk’s increased political activities in addition to the stagnant market, decided to slash prices in an attempt to maintain sales momentum, forcing its competitors to follow suit.
But the record number of EV-specific incentives now being offered by U.S. dealers has done little to halt the drop in sales, as the Wall Street Journal reports that the most recent data shows EV sales falling in each of the three months from April through June. Ford said its own sales had fallen by more than 30% across those three months, with Hyundai and Kia also reporting big drops. GM was the big winner in the second quarter, overtaking Ford and moving into 2nd place behind Tesla in total sales. But its ability to continue such growth absent the big subsidy edge over traditional ICE cars now falls into doubt.
The removal of the per-unit subsidies also calls into question whether the buildout of new public charging infrastructure, which has accelerated dramatically in the past three years, will continue as the market moves into a time of uncertainty. Recognizing that consumer concern, Ford, Hyundai, BMW and others included free home charging kits as part of their current suites of incentives. But of course, that only works if the buyer owns a home with a garage and is willing to pay the higher cost of insurance that now often comes with parking an EV inside.
Decisions, decisions.
As the year dawned, few really expected the narrow Republican congressional majorities would show the political will and unity to move so aggressively to cancel the big IRA EV subsidies. But, as awareness rose in Congress about the true magnitude of the budgetary cost of those provisions over the next 10 years, the benefit of getting rid of them ultimately subsumed concerns about the possible political cost of doing so.
So now, here we are, with an EV industry that seems largely unprepared to survive in a market with a levelized playing field. Even Tesla, which remains far and away the leader in total EV sales despite its recent struggles, seems caught more than a little off-guard despite Musk’s having been heavily involved in the early months of the second Trump presidency.
Musk’s response to his disapproval of the OBBBA was to announce the creation of a third political party he dubbed the American Party. It seems doubtful this new vanity project was the response to a looming challenge that members of Tesla’s board of directors would have preferred. But it does seem appropriately emblematic of an industry that is undeniably limping into uncharted territory with no clear plan for how to escape from existential danger.
David Blackmon is a contributor to The Daily Caller News Foundation, an energy writer, and consultant based in Texas. He spent 40 years in the oil and gas business, where he specialized in public policy and communications.
Joining KFYI’s Conservative Circus host James T. Harris on Monday, Arizona House Majority Leader Michael Carbone doubled down on comments he made to the Arizona Daily Independent (ADI) on Saturday. Carbone offered the outlet a sound condemnation of Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes for her lawsuit against the Trump administration’s efforts to end discriminatory marketing of affordable housing.
As reported by ADI, Mayes and a coalition of 21 Democrat attorneys general have launched their legal action after Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner announced that HUD is “examining ways to slash burdensome regulations that stifle the private sector’s ability to innovate and build much-needed housing supply.”
Among the reforms Mayes and her fellow leftist AG’s voiced opposition to is a proposed rule that would end fair housing regulations that required targeted marketing of affordable housing based on race.
“We’re never going to fix the affordable housing crisis by pushing radical left-wing identity politics,” Carbone told the Daily Independent. “Taxpayer-funded programs should serve all Americans fairly—not pick winners and losers based on race, ethnicity, or national origin. The Trump administration is right to stand up for equal treatment under the law. It’s shameful that Attorney General Mayes would rather play politics and protect discrimination than fight for real solutions that help everyone.”
Speaking with James T. Harris on Monday, Carbone explained, “It’s really a leftist idea what they’re doing. You know, when we create rules, they create behaviors. And all what Trump is trying to do is look at these bad rules. We should let the free market take place, do what it does fast, and then you know… then everything will work itself out, right? No other country in the world can show that, but the America can show that.”
When asked why Mayes is campaigning to keep the affordable housing marketing mandates in place, the Majority Leader answered that Mayes is “flaky to her base #1″ and “these leftists always want to create rules to change the behaviors. And they actually go backwards. They take us backwards.”
He added, “And I said, you go anywhere in the world. When you see the free market here in America, it works the best. We have the best results to show that compared to any country in the world…There’s a reason why President Trump won by a landslide victory, right? He won every class, every race, every group…he killed it. Because people, I think, are getting wind and are tired of the same old crap that the Democrats are playing.”
Carbone, a Chicago-native went on to elaborate on his statement that AG Mayes would “rather protect discrimination” by HUD, explaining, “Look, I grew up in Chicago. I grew up in a three flat with my mom, a single mom with me, my two brothers. And, and you know, we weren’t… we didn’t have a lot of money.
“But I’ll tell you right now where I looked, I was one of the fewest white people around. And you know, when you look at projects, that was a… that was created by the government, by local and federal government projects. And you have to ask the question. I mean, go back, why do you have to create these things? Why do we have to get $30,000, Governor Hobbs’ $30,000 down payment assistance to people?
“And when you fill out that application, it asks you, not who you are, what do you do and who are you? Ethnicity, what group or background you have? Why is that important? And I think people realize we all want to be treated equally. We do. When you do this, you go into a pivot of focusing on certain classifications. And this is what the democratic mantra has been for the last 40 years. They’ve been very good at it. And I think the American people are now woken up and are tired of it.”
Harris replied, saying of Mayes, “It’s like she’s weaponizing taxpayers, wag(ing) a political war against the Trump administration. I mean, is this becoming a pattern with her?”
To which Carbone answered, “OK, this is not only a pattern with her, JT, it’s a pattern with the Democratic machine. Let’s go back to Obama. Obama did this. If people remember, Obama tried doing this, this pilot program where if you had wealthy neighborhoods and you had rent that was probably five times higher than the average rent down the street, which might have been a lower class of income, that those people should have a right to live in those and our tax dollars should pay for that. I’m going back about 15 years. I don’t know if you remember that, but that was a pilot program. I don’t know if it still exists. But the thing is: that’s not how, that’s not how the world works. That’s socialism. That’s a different class of government, different types of economics.”
Arizona State Representative and U.S. Army Command Sergeant Major (ret.) John Gillette (R-LD30) offered a public rebuke of Attorney General Kris Mayes in a July 2nd post to X. Gillette offered a stern correction to Mayes after the Democrat AG announced a lawsuit against the federal government and accused the Trump administration of “violating privacy protections with its decision to share Medicaid data with DHS, which houses ICE.” Mayes claimed the administrative data sharing is an “illegal transfer of Arizonans’ private, personally identifiable health data.”
In a statement announcing the lawsuit, Mayes’ office wrote, “Arizonans accessing Medicaid services do so with the assurance that their data would be confidential. While administering AHCCCS and other healthcare programs, Arizona has relied on the federal government’s assurances that it will follow the law and protect confidentiality. It appears the federal government has broken their promise.”
Administrative data sharing with DHS, DOJ, HHS is lawful. The state agreed to the terms when they took the matching funds. 42CFR 431 privacy act, every service member knows this is only protected from non govt use. https://t.co/wKVfxalKCi
— Rep. John Gillette AZ House LD30 (@AzRepGillette) July 2, 2025
In his post to X Gillette wrote, “Administrative data sharing with DHS, DOJ, HHS is lawful. The state agreed to the terms when they took the matching funds. 42 CFR 431 privacy act, every service member knows this is only protected from non govt use.” According to 42 CFR §431.300 the law “requires agencies to exchange information to verify the income and eligibility of applicants and beneficiaries.” It further defines under § 431.302 that “Purposes directly related to plan administration include—
(a) Establishing eligibility;
(b) Determining the amount of medical assistance;
(c) Providing services for beneficiaries; and
(d) Conducting or assisting an investigation, prosecution, or civil or criminal proceeding related to the administration of the plan.”
Under these terms, the sharing of information between the State of Arizona and the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, and Health and Human Services aren’t merely lawful, but are mandatory. Any extrajudicial attempts to disrupt this information sharing by Arizona would likely be grounds for the Federal government to similarly take legal action against Arizona at the taxpayers’ expense.
Strict limitations are also placed on the federal agencies requiring that they safeguard the information shared regarding program participants, provide “conditions for release and use of information about applicants and beneficiaries,” and restrict access to the information “to persons or agency representatives who are subject to standards of confidentiality that are comparable to those of the agency.”
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump’s Senior Advisor for the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), Kari Lake, presented devastating testimony to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Committee. Lake highlighted a multitude of institutional flaws in the USAGM which she described as being “largely incompetent, corrupt, biased, and a threat to America’s national security and standing in the world.”
Lake’s opening statement was a direct, abrupt, and merciless account of what she called “the downfall of this agency.”
She told the Committee, “The USAGM has a critical mission: to inform, engage, and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy. Yet for years, this agency has failed to live up to that mission. Instead of promoting American values, it has too often strayed into dysfunction, mismanagement, and even actions that undermine the very principles it claims to uphold.”
🔥WATCH NOW: @KariLake EXPOSES the ‘CRIME SCENE’ at US taxpayer-funded @VOANews.
— House Foreign Affairs Committee Majority (@HouseForeignGOP) June 25, 2025
Lake then testified before both Republicans and Democrats, with the latter choosing to launch various ad hominem attacks against the well-known Arizona Republican, that the agency she was tasked with advising and its Voice of America (VOA) division are “rotten to the core.”
“This place is rotten. It’s rotten to the core,” Lake told the committee. “President Trump has asked me to go in and help clean it up, and he’s also issued an executive order to reduce this agency down to its mandate, to what is mandated, statutorily required. That’s exactly what I’m doing. I don’t care if they attack me.”
The Senior Advisor identified several egregious examples of severe dysfunction and potentially deliberate malfeasance, stating that several individuals working as journalists and technicians, many of them foreign nationals, were granted high-level (Tier 3 and Tier 5) access to secure government facilities and information technology (IT) systems, via inadequate and/or entirely fictional suitability determinations.
Lake reported to the committee that extensive corrective action was taken by Trump administration officials while they were in charge at USAGM from June 2020 and January 2021. But their work was an exercise in futility thanks to the Biden administration.
She explained, “Over the decade from 2010 to 2020, Office of Personnel Management and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence repeatedly flagged severe security failures, but USAGM leadership ignored them. They continued to grant journalists, and technicians many from foreign nations, high level security access based on falsified documents and incomplete background checks, phony names, phony social security numbers, even after corrective actions were taken in the final months of the Trump administration.” She added with audible frustration, “These safeguards were reversed by the incoming Biden administration.”
Rep. Abe Hamadeh’s office noted, “Under the Biden administration, USAGM relapsed into past practices, including, but not limited to: records, including SSNs, being falsified or replaced with notional placeholders; fingerprints and fingerprint forms not being submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for basic background investigations; and incomplete or falsified SF-86s and other suitability determination documents used under delegated OPM authority to grant access to Tier 3 and Tier 5 level national security sensitive positions.”
Questioned by Hamadeh, Lake expanded on the significant influence the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) holds over the agency, telling the Congressman that the Chinese government “have more say—this is sad—over editorially what VOA puts out than someone like me, who’s been charged with helping to oversee this agency, because of an editorial firewall.”
She continued, “Key lead management and leadership at U.S. Agency for Global Media cannot have focus in or tell the folks what they should be covering at Voice of America. Unfortunately, the CCP can, and I read this a little bit earlier, but I don’t know if I should read it again, but they—they literally were attending meetings at the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C. And this is a report that I find rather shocking, and I mentioned it: starting in the first decade of 2000, the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., and the leadership of VOA’s Mandarin Service began an annual meeting to allow embassy officials to voice their opinions about VOA’s content.
“They even convinced the former leadership during Biden’s administration to cut short an interview—they wanted the whole thing canceled. They convinced VOA leadership to cut short an interview with a whistleblower who was critical of the CCP, and this just continues.
“This is an article that came out, I believe it was in March. VOA senior executives frequently traveled to China, attending state-sponsored events and meeting with Chinese embassy officials. These meetings weren’t casual diplomatic exchanges; they involved soliciting feedback on VOA’s programming. Congressman Hamadeh, if VOA decided to run a hit piece on you, and it was full of lies, and they called you and told you they were going to run that, and you wanted to say, ‘Hey, let’s clear this up because that’s not true, this isn’t true, and I suggest you don’t run the story,’ they could sue you for a firewall violation. But yet a CCP official can tell them how to run the news.”
