A Republican running for governor suffered a brutal on-stage embarrassment as the moderator tore apart a wild claim about Venezuelan gangs.Scott Bottoms, a GOPA Republican running for governor suffered a brutal on-stage embarrassment as the moderator tore apart a wild claim about Venezuelan gangs.Scott Bottoms, a GOP
GOP candidate embarrassed on stage as his 'odd' Venezuelan gang claim crumbles
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A Republican running for governor suffered a brutal on-stage embarrassment as the moderator tore apart a wild claim about Venezuelan gangs.
Scott Bottoms, a GOP primary candidate for Colorado governor, walked back his claim that upwards of 50,000 Venezuelan gang members are in the state, in a video posted by local journalist Kyle Clark.
"You have claimed without offering evidence that there are 45,000 to 50,000 Tren de Aragua gang members in Colorado," Clark told Bottoms. During the 2024 presidential election, MAGA politicians and influencers insisted that members of the gang Tren de Aragua were taking over parts of Colorado.
"That's 10 to 20 times the worldwide membership of the gang," Clark told Bottoms, calling the claim "odd."
A stuttering and shaky Bottoms explained that he was confused when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents earlier told him that upwards of 50,000 Venezuelans arrived in the Denver metro area seeking asylum.
"I misunderstood what the ICE agent was saying," Bottoms said.
He admitted, "I got that wrong," and realized it after returning to check with ICE agents.
Clark accused Bottoms of being "confused about what you saw on the news," and also found that he had lied about sheriffs agreeing to be deputized to combat Venezuelan gangs.
FBI records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit reveal that a Butler County Sheriff's deputy exchanged two emails with Thomas Matthew Crooks — the gunman who shot and wounded President Donald Trump at his Butler, Pennsylvania rally on July 13, 2024 — prior to the attack. The content of those emails remains unknown. The records are heavily redacted.
Judicial Watch announced it had forced the release of 48 pages of FBI records through a federal lawsuit. An FBI interview summary from July 17, 2024 shows a deputy telling investigators she had checked her records and found two email communications from Crooks — both "in regard to [redacted]." She told investigators she did not personally interact with Crooks and did not recognize him when news of the shooting broke, only learning of the connection when a New York Times reporter emailed her Sunday night asking questions.
The records also reveal that a Beaver County Emergency Services Unit medic who responded to the AGR building roof — where Crooks had positioned himself — told the FBI she observed a Washington County SWAT officer remove "a gray remote device with numerical push buttons and an antenna and a cell phone" from Crooks' right pocket after he was killed. Explosive ordnance disposal personnel subsequently arrived on the roof to examine the device. A police canine also "hit" on the building beneath the roof while the medic was present, prompting an evacuation — though Crooks' body remained on the roof.
The medic pronounced Crooks dead at 6:25 p.m. She later handed a body bag to someone from either the FBI or Secret Service but could not recall which agency, the report states.
"Our federal lawsuit continues to force the release of new information from the assassination attempt at the Butler rally," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "The American people deserve full transparency about Thomas Crooks, his contacts, and why key details about this case remain hidden nearly two years later."
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A California Republican operative went viral this week for doing something unusual in her party: publicly fact-checking a right-wing election conspiracy theory — and refusing to back down when Rasmussen Reports pushed back.
Elizabeth Barcohana, who works with the Los Angeles GOP, stepped in after Rasmussen posted a claim that a single ballot drop in the LA mayor's race had contained zero votes for Republican candidate Spencer Pratt — the reality TV personality from The Hills running for LA mayor — while every other candidate gained thousands. "Virtually every candidate received votes except for Spencer Pratt," Rasmussen wrote. "Impossible."
Barcohana called it false. "No, it did not happen," she posted, sharing a batch composition chart showing Pratt's orange bar appearing consistently across every single ballot drop. "This is fake news." She further noted that Rasmussen was recycling an NBC screenshot taken before the network's graphics team had corrected an error — meaning the "evidence" of fraud was a screenshot of a mistake that had already been fixed.
Rasmussen didn't fold. Instead, the polling firm told Barcohana to "wake up," name-dropped someone it claimed was a federal investigator, and accused her of not understanding "what is going on in national election integrity."
Barcohana's response to an anonymous user cut to the heart of the problem: "THIS is why you don't see Republicans fighting back against all of this. No one believes us no matter what we say when we push back on things that aren't true which demoralize our voters, so they would rather just keep quiet and not hit a hornet's nest of angry voters."
The exchange drew notice across the aisle. "How does one deal with a company that exists to poll elections but then casts doubt on the actual results with loony conspiracy theories?" asked Garrett Archer, a data journalist at ABC15 in Arizona. Damin Toell, a conservative activist, was more pointed, calling Rasmussen "the zombie husk of Rasmussen Reports, which just grifts off garbage conspiracy theories without any concern for how it suppresses Republicans from voting."
Drew Savicki, a political analyst, called it "fascinating watching a California Republican struggling to push back against the online conspiracy theories being promoted by so many in her party."
Republican strategist Mike Madrid kept it simple: "Wait...is this a Republican standing up for math, facts and evidence? What kind of sorcery is this?"
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The wife of a Republican candidate for governor issued an emotional apology for donating to Biden's campaign.
Oklahoma gubernatorial candidate Gentner Drummond has been the target of 'heartbreaking' attacks, his wife, Wendy, said in her apology. She recorded her apology and posted it on social media via her husband's accounts.
"I can't stand by silently any longer," a choked-up Wendy Drummond said in the opening of her video, which was scored with dramatic music. "I've been wanting to say this for a long time. It's just heartbreaking for me to watch the man I love be attacked for something that was my fault."
She explained that she tried to send a $1,000 donation to the 2020 Biden campaign through her Apple Pay account. She didn't realize that the account was linked to a joint credit card she shared with her husband, however.
"In 2020, I heard something that made me so emotional that I made a mistake," Wendy Drummond said. "I attempted to make a political contribution. I never discussed it with Gentner."
In the video, Wendy asserted that the donation was canceled, and "not one penny ever went to Joe Biden."
According to reporting by Newsweek, the $1,000 donation showed up in public records and campaign finance data and has been used as fodder in the "crowded field" running for Oklahoma governor.
"Now political opponents are using my mistake over and over to attack Gentner," Wendy said in her apology. "And it hurts."
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