Soros spends big in California's DA races in bid to reshape criminal justice system

New York billionaire George Soros is leading a campaign to reshape the nation’s criminal justice system -- and targeting with cash four of the 56 district attorney positions in California up for grabs June 5.
In fact, he and other wealthy liberal donors are pouring millions of dollars and liberal groups are offering support to would-be prosecutors who favor lower incarceration rates, crackdowns on police misconduct and changes in a bail system that they argue discriminates against the poor, the Los Angeles Times reported.
"These people who want to create their own social policy are not worthy of the office," former Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley told the newspaper. "If they win in San Diego or Sacramento, L.A. is next."
In San Diego County, a deputy public defender is being financially backed after fighting to keep the accused out of jail. In Sacramento and Alameda counties, candidates are challenging the incumbents. In Contra Costa County, a district attorney earned the support of the consortium of wealthy donors and liberal groups.
Five more candidates in Marin, Riverside, San Bernardino, Stanislaus and Yolo counties are also getting donations, albeit much smaller ones, from some liberal donors.
Noah Phillips, who’s running in Sacramento County, attacked his opponent, who happens to be his boss as well, for failing to ever charge a police officer who shot a civilian. He admitted Soros’ team scripted and paid for his ad on television, while his fundraising efforts were improved following the help from Cari Tuna, senior adviser to Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign.
Soros reportedly spent over $1.5 million on a political action committee to prop up the San Diego County candidacy of Geneviéve Jones-Wright, who attacked policies “criminalizing poverty” and pledged to form a police misconduct unity.
In total, Soros’ spending reached nearly $3 million this week on races for district attorney positions. Such large cash infusions and support for liberal groups are crucial for contenders as most elections are limited by the $800 individual contribution limit, leaving most campaigns scrambling for cash and relying on unpaid volunteers.
The flows of money remain unclear as federal laws allow nonprofit advocacy groups hide the source of their funding and are required to provide only a summary of their spending.
Jones-Wright's opponent, career prosecutor Summer Stephan, has yet to match the money donors spent against her campaign. Her $1.1 million support came mostly from police unions and other prosecutors, the Times reported.
Stephan slammed Soros’ backing for her opponent, declaring it a public safety threat. But Jones-Wright dismissed the alarmist tone, saying the funding merely gives voice to minorities and poor people who are left behind in prosecutor races.
"I love it!" she said at a recent fundraiser, according to the Times. "If he didn't take an interest in this campaign, it would be an even more uneven playing field."
Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley, who’s up for re-election, was surprised to see on Soros’ target list to oust her as she’s a registered Democrat and earned endorsements from U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and other organized labor and Democratic groups.
Yet, she’s being attacked from the left, with Soros PAC accusing her of implementing “racist” stop-and-frisk policies. Her opponent, civil rights lawyer Pamela Price, promises to end such policies and blasted O’Malley for being supported by law enforcement groups.
The wealthy liberal donors are also getting behind Diana Becton in Contra Costa County. She was appointed district attorney of the county after her predecessor was forced to resign amid a political corruption scandal.
Her challenger, a veteran prosecutor, slammed the support from the wealthy, saying “billionaires who apparently think Contra Costa's public safety is for sale.”

Fake Media Cartoons

Media say Paul Ryan's job in jeopardy as Republican warfare rages

No wonder Paul Ryan decided to bail.
Here he is in his final stretch as House speaker, hoping to go out in a spirit of unity, and the press is filled with stories about whether his party will dump him prematurely.
Managing the Republican caucus increasingly looks like Mission Impossible. It was the constant in-fighting between warring factions that prompted John Boehner to quit in 2015, and Ryan was drafted despite the fact that he didn't really want the job. Two and a half years later, he announced that he'd had enough.
And the Wisconsin congressman is still getting grief.
The Washington Post says Ryan "is losing his grip on the feuding House Republican conference just months before pivotal midterm elections, caught between dueling factions vying for power inside the party and facing scattered calls for his departure ahead of a planned year-end retirement."
The New York Times says that "with Republicans in revolt on both his right and his left, Mr. Ryan is increasingly facing questions about whether he can manage to stumble across the finish line."
And Politico says Ryan is embattled "as his Republican Conference spirals into an all-out war that could put his speakership on the line."
Doesn't sound like a whole lotta fun.
The first flashing neon light came when House Republicans couldn't even pass a farm bill, which ought to be a piece of cake. The legislation was derailed by a battle over immigration.
And immigration reared its head when a group of Republican moderates signed a discharge petition to force a floor vote on DACA and related border matters. They don't have the votes yet, but are acting in open defiance of the speaker, who once favored an immigration compromise but has no interest in a bloody battle in a midterm election year. House conservatives want Ryan to pressure the moderates into backing down.
Ryan's backing seemed to be eroding when the Weekly Standard reported that White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney said he'd privately talked to Kevin McCarthy about orchestrating a leadership vote to force Democrats in dicey districts to support Nancy Pelosi. Mulvaney quickly backed away from the idea. McCarthy, as House majority leader, is Ryan's presumed successor but has made no move to try to take over this year.
There was grumbling after Ryan's retirement announcement in April that the GOP couldn't go eight months with a lame-duck speaker and with Democrats a credible threat to take over the House.
Ryan, who's had his difficulties with President Trump, has had a frustrating tenure, with the big tax cut bill his only major accomplishment. He and the Republicans fell short on immigration and repealing ObamaCare, among other things. And the cupboard is pretty bare, as everyone knows Congress doesn't get much done in the second half of an election year.
As the Post says from talking to Hill sources, "there is not a viable alternative to Ryan who can win enough support within the GOP for a clean transition before November — and there is little stomach at the moment for the messy battle that would ensue when Ryan departs."
So for all the negative stories, the great likelihood is that Ryan, who says he's not going anywhere, probably can't be forced out. But given the heartburn level right now, he probably can't wait to get back to his home town of Janesville.
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m.). He is the author "Media Madness: Donald Trump, The Press and the War Over the Truth." Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz.

'Mexican Mafia' crackdown results in charges against 83, authorities say

More than 80 members of the "cold-blooded" Mexican Mafia have been charged with running a drug operation inside Los Angeles County jails and in the Pomona, Calif., area, authorities said Wednesday.
Their crimes included ordering acts of violence, authorities added.
In an operation that the FBI dubbed "Operation Dirty Thirds," a total of 83 defendants were charged by a federal grand jury under two federal racketeering indictments that were unsealed Wednesday, U.S. Attorney Nicola Hanna's office announced.
More than 500 law enforcement officers conducted a "major operation" Wednesday morning that resulted in 32 arrests. Thirty-five others were previously in custody and another 16 people remained fugitives who were believed to be "armed and dangerous."
Hanna, the U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, said at a news conference Wednesday that the operation "dealt a major blow to a violent and notorious prison gang in our country."

U.S. Attorney Nicola T. Hanna, Central District of California

Leaders of the "gang of gangs," from behind bars, controlled drug dealing and violence both inside jail and on the streets, an indictment claimed. A lawyer and several women referred to as secretaries also reportedly helped facilitate activities outside of jails.
"These Mexican Mafia members and associates, working together to control criminal activity within (LA County jails), have become their own entity or enterprise and effectively function as an illegal government," an indictment said.
The gang is an organization of "vicious" imprisoned street-level leaders who control drug trafficking operations and order retaliatory violence both inside and outside California prisons and jails.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signals support for two gun control measures after Houston-area school shooting

Following last week's deadly shooting at a high school near Houston that left 10 people dead, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday that he could support some gun control measures.
The move is something of a change of heart for Abbott, a Republican who has worked to expand gun rights in Texas.
Earlier this year, Abbott had backed President Donald Trump's proposal to arm more teachers in lieu of sweeping gun control measures, saying that almost 20 percent of Texas schools already have trained and armed educators.
“When a shooting takes place, people want to rush to simple solutions,” Abbott said in February, after a mass shooting at a Florida high school that killed 17. “It’s time to tackle the tough solutions, and that’s mental health.”
On Wednesday, Abbott said he could back stronger regulations for gun storage and quicker reporting to law enforcement when a court has determined someone is mentally ill -- in order to keep that person from having weapons.
The Texas governor said those were top considerations to emerge after meeting representatives of a gun control group and gun owners as well as mental health and education experts in discussions on school safety.

"This conversation is a long time in coming."

"We have one goal ... making sure we're going to keep to our students, our schools, our communities safer," without limiting the right to bear arms, Abbott said.
Abbott called for the meetings as he weighs ideas for possible legislative action or executive orders. Tuesday focused on mental health issues.
Thursday's meeting will include students and families from the shooting at Santa Fe High School and the November 2017 attack on a rural church in Sutherland Springs, as well as Stephen Willeford, the armed "good Samaritan" who shot back at the church shooter.
The governor has said he wants to keep guns away from people "who would try to murder our children." But critics have said Texas isn't serious about changing its gun-loving culture.
A group of student activists wrote the governor a letter Wednesday, criticizing his support of the National Rifle Association and calling for expanded background checks on gun purchases and other gun-control measures.
"We are dying on your watch. What will you do about it?" said the letter signed by students who identified themselves as organizers of Texas student gun-control marches held after the February shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla.

 Two children look at a memorial for the Santa Fe High School shooting victims outside the school Wednesday, May 23, 2018, in Santa Fe, Texas.  (AP)

Wednesday's three-hour discussion included representatives of Texas Gun Sense, which has pressed for tougher background checks for gun sales and "red flag" laws that keep guns away from people deemed a danger to themselves or others.
Ed Scruggs, vice chairman of Texas Gun Sense, said he was glad to get a seat at the table.
"This conversation is a long time in coming. We needed it and it kind of releases the tension a little bit," said Ed Scruggs, vice chairman of Texas Gun Sense. "You get a sense everyone does care."
Police have said the 17-year-old suspect in the Santa Fe shooting used his father's shotgun and .38-caliber handgun. Abbott said he and lawmakers need to look at how to address gun storage laws that might have prevented the shooter from getting the weapons.
Texas allows authorities to deny handgun licenses based on a person's mental health history and to seize weapons from people determined to be in a mental crisis in some circumstances. But mental health history information is up to the applicant to provide and is not related to the purchase of a gun.
Texas courts are supposed to tell law enforcement if a person taken in for a mental health evaluation has been ordered into a mental hospital. Weapons seized could be returned to that person's family. Abbott said that reporting could take up to 30 days and he'd like to see that window closed to within 48 hours or less.
"That is incomprehensible, especially given technology today," Abbott said.
Federal law prohibits an individual "adjudicated as a mental defective" or involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility from owning or purchasing a firearm.

DOJ, FBI to brief 'Gang of 8' lawmakers on Russia probe after meeting with Nunes, Gowdy

FBI and Justice Department officials on Thursday will brief the bipartisan group of lawmakers known as the "Gang of 8" on classified documents related to the special counsel's Russia investigation -- after they meet with two key House Republican lawmakers, Fox News has learned.
The first meeting at Justice Department headquarters is scheduled to take place at noon and will include White House Chief of Staff John Kelly; Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein; FBI Director Christopher Wray; Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats; House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif.; and House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C.
The second meeting, scheduled for 2 p.m., will include Kelly, Rosenstein, Wray, Coats, Gowdy, Republican and Democratic leaders from both the House and Senate, and the top lawmakers from their intelligence panels.
Both House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., told Fox News they plan to attend the second meeting. Warner is vice chairman of the Senate intelligence panel.
The announcement of a second meeting came after criticism from Democrats who said the briefing should have been given to the "Gang of 8" as opposed to just Nunes and Gowdy.
Nunes, an ardent Trump supporter, has been demanding information on an FBI source in the Russia investigation. The president himself took up the cause over the weekend, demanding on Twitter that the Justice Department investigate whether the FBI infiltrated his presidential campaign. Late Sunday, asking its watchdog to investigate whether there was inappropriate surveillance.
"If anyone did infiltrate or surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action," Rosenstein said in a statement announcing the move.
In initially announcing the Nunes-Gowdy meeting Tuesday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said no Democrats had been invited because they had not requested the information.
White House spokesman Raj Shah initially told Fox News that a separate meeting between the "Gang of 8" and Justice Department, law enforcement and intelligence officials would take place after Congress returns from its Memorial Day recess.
However, Shah said in an updated statement late Wednesday that the White House was "working" to schedule a "Gang of 8" briefing before the recess.
In another twist, three Republican Senators -- Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee; Lindsey Graham of South Carolina; and John Cornyn of Texas -- sent a letter to Rosenstein and Kelly Tuesday expressing interest in attending the meeting.
"I want to find out what's going on," Graham said Wednesday. " ... I don't think we've ever had a circumstance like this where during the campaign the FBI felt like they had to apparently, I don't know whether it’s true or not, have a confidential informant engage in a campaign so somebody needs to figure out if you do this again, how you do it or if you do it all."
For his part, Gowdy told Fox News Wednesday that "I don't care who comes" to the meeting.
"The only thing I'd ask, if you show up, show up with an open mind and closed lips," Gowdy told Fox News' "The Daily Briefing." "In other words don't leak like a sieve when we get through with the meeting ... But it's not my meeting and I don't publish the invite list."

Crying Democrat Cartoons

Paul Ryan facing internal pressure to step aside early as speaker

A look at some of the likely contenders who would replace Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) when he retires in January and relinquishes the speakership.
Paul Ryan is facing renewed Republican pressure to promptly step down as House speaker after last week's failure to pass a massive farm bill amid disagreements on immigration.
The Wisconsin Republican announced in April he wouldn’t seek re-election in the fall but intended to remain as speaker through his current term. He was immediately beset by speculation that he would become a lame-duck leader and face a behind-the-scenes power struggle to replace him.
Assurances from his top two lieutenants -- Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Whip Steve Scalise -- that they full support Ryan largely quieted that chatter at the time. But after Ryan was unable to muscle the GOP-sponsored farm bill through the House last Friday and faced an uprising in ranks over immigration, pressure has mounted anew for him to surrender his speakership before the midterm congressional races are in full swing.
White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney acknowledged this past weekend that he talked with McCarthy about Ryan's situation, bringing the internal debate into public view.
"I've talked with Kevin about this privately but not as much publicly,” Mulvaney said at a weekend event hosted by The Weekly Standard.
Mulvaney suggested an early speakership vote would also force Democrats to vote for or against their leader, Nancy Pelosi, as an added benefit.
“Wouldn't it be great to force a Democrat running in a tight race to have to put up or shut up about voting for Nancy Pelosi eight weeks before an election?” Mulvaney said at the event. “That's a really, really good vote for us to force if we can figure out how to do it."
Republicans have been vilifying and running against Pelosi, D-Calif., ever since 2008.
They’ve made her leadership and speakership a central issue in numerous congressional campaigns, arguing she represents the ideals of coastal, elitist liberals while eschewing the economic needs of Middle America voters.
Republicans successfully used that strategy last year in a special House race for a GOP-held seat in suburban Atlanta. Roughly nine months later, Democrat Conor Lamb won a Republican-held seat in suburban Pittsburgh on a platform that included his non-support for Pelosi remaining as the top House Democrat.
Despite the potential side benefit of pressuring Democrats over Pelosi, Ryan -- a powerful fundraiser -- insists he’s staying. So far, there isn’t a formal move to push him out early. And right now, nobody appears to clearly have enough votes to replace him.
He tried again Tuesday to end talk about a leadership change, suggesting such a move would only be disruptive.
“We all agree the best thing for us is to complete our agenda,” Ryan said at his weekly press conference.
He also saw some support Tuesday from rank-and-file GOP House members including Mike Simpson, R-Idaho.
“Ryan does not need to step down,” he told Fox News. “He is doing a fine job. … We’re in the majority, and we need to start acting like we’re in the majority, not the minority.”
“There are no barnacles on the speaker’s boat. He will be speaker until November,” House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C., told Fox News.
Any speakership race would likely feature McCarthy and Scalise, but some conservatives have also urged Freedom Caucus member Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to run.
McCarthy’s office has insisted there is no speaker’s race, though the California Republican and Trump supporter appears to have positioned himself for another run at the post -- it's just a matter of when.
McCarthy dropped his 2015 bid to replace former House Speaker John Boehner because he clearly didn’t have the votes. Whether he has them now -- including from the conservative House Freedom Caucus -- remains uncertain.
McCarthy said Tuesday that reports the White House wants him to promptly replace Ryan are “untrue.”
The congressman, notably, attended a private dinner with Trump over spring recess, was among the first guests to arrive at the president’s state dinner last month and was recently spotted walking along the Georgetown waterfront with top White House adviser Stephen Miller.
Trump -- who recently referred to McCarthy as “my Kevin” -- is at least publicly keeping out of the leadership race talk. Whether his influence would matter is also unclear. Fox News is told that the president’s decision wouldn’t be enough to tilt the race.
Democrats, meanwhile, are looking to net roughly two-dozen seats to take control of the House in the midterm elections.
But if Republicans hold the House, their members will vote again in January to elect a new speaker. So if an “interim” speaker were to be tarnished by immigration and government spending issues, there’s a possibility an outside candidate could arise in January.
“This strategy gives us two bites at the apple,” said one source, suggesting a vote over the summer and then another one in January.
The prospect of forcing Democrats into an uncomfortable vote regarding Pelosi also could remain appealing for Republicans. A vote for House speaker this summer would almost certainly bring the Pelosi issue onto the campaign trail, putting moderate Democrats running in critical Midwestern and Southern districts in a tough spot.
The 78-year-old Pelosi just days ago said that she intends to compete again for a leadership post, regardless of whether Democrats retake control.
Pelosi lost 63 votes in her own leadership election after Democrats failed to win the House in 2016.
Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, a former rival, told Fox News months ago he won’t challenge Pelosi a second time for her post. But a poor showing by her in a potential speaker vote in the middle of the session could give energy to moderates and others who think she’s stuck around too long.