Embattled Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon blamed a bid to recall him on Trump supporters and Fox News in a three-paragraph rebuttal statement filed with the Los Angeles County Clerk’s Office.
“California DOES NOT NEED another political recall attempt sponsored by Donald Trump backers and frequent Fox News guests,” Gascon wrote. “This is not about keeping Angelenos safe, it’s about a political power grab by well-funded political operatives who have fought reforms — on juvenile detention, mental health treatment, police accountability in fatal police shootings, and the death penalty — for decades.”
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Recall organizers launched a campaign Dec. 6 to oust the controversial district attorney, who was elected a year ago on a platform that focused more on rehabilitation and less on incarceration. Under his watch, misdemeanors are not prosecuted, and charges for violent crimes are downgraded. Critics say the results have been disastrous.
“George Gascon gets a gold medal for cliches with his rebuttal to the recall petition,” former LA District Attorney Steve Cooley told the Washington Examiner. “Anyone who reads his rebuttal will realize what a fool Los Angeles County has for its district attorney. Gascon personifies the most serious threat to public safety that has come along in the county’s recent memory.”
The recall has been organized by a large bipartisan grassroots team that includes the families of crime victims, prosecutors from the DA’s Office, Cooley, and Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, a Democrat. The group needs 800,000 signatures to have a safe cushion but fell short earlier in the year with just 580,000.
It now has amassed a war chest of $2.5 million to collect enough signatures within 160 days, boosted by 31 Democratic LA County cities that have given Gascon a vote of no confidence, said campaign spokesman Tim Lineberger.
In his statement, Gascon boasted that he was elected after receiving 250,000 more votes than his opponent “defeating many of the special interests behind this latest [recall attempt].”
Steve CooleyCooley took issue with this claim.
“If he wants to talk about special interests, why doesn’t he disavow the millions and millions he got from two or three people like George Soros?” Cooley asked.
The primary recall organizer is Desiree Andrade, the mother of a 20-year-old man who was tortured to death in 2018 by five suspects. She has frequently appeared on Fox News to discuss how Gascon dismissed additional charges of kidnapping, robbery, and using a deadly weapon that would have locked up the killers for life if convicted. Instead, they can be paroled in less than 20 years.
She says she is a Democrat who did not vote for Trump.
“I almost threw up in my mouth as I read George Gascon’s defense of criminals and anti-police safety policies,” Andrade said in a statement. “Gascon’s attempt to politicize rising crime and the murder of my son, and so many other innocent victims, is truly despicable… I don’t care about politics. I care about justice and public safety, and so does every other LA County resident, regardless of race, political party, income, or anything else.”
Meanwhile, Villanueva has tried to keep up the morale of his deputies, who have watched their suspects walk free from jail. He is also trying novel approaches to circumvent Gascon, such as assigning detectives to attend the parole hearings of people convicted of murder after the reversal of a long-standing DA policy to advocate for keeping prisoners deemed dangerous behind bars.
“We’ve been burning the midnight oil trying to find ways to overcome a glaring gap in public safety — having a reliable prosecutorial effort,” Villanueva said. “Deputies refuse to quit in the face of Gascon’s refusal to hold crooks accountable to the rule of law.”
Gascon said California’s “recall system” is troubled, highlighting the failed attempt to oust Gov. Gavin Newsom at the expense of $270 million in taxpayer funds. He alluded that this effort is also doomed for failure based on the last attempt. However, Gascon may be more worried than he lets on. He did not file a rebuttal statement in the first recall attempt.
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“Do not fall for this right-wing attempt,” Gascon said. “Do not sign this petition. Los Angeles needs to move forward as a safer and less divided community where we focus on preventing crime to keep people safe — not react with political fearmongering or cable news ratings grabs.”
