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Citing His 'Alarming Disregard' for the Law, House Committee Launches Contempt Proceedings Against Pompeo
"You don't get to repeatedly defy congressional subpoenas and undermine the Constitution with no consequences," said Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Aug 28, 2020
The Democrat-controlled House Foreign Affairs Committee announced Friday that it is launching contempt proceedings against Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over his "alarming disregard" for the law and ongoing defiance of subpoenas for documents in two separate investigations.
Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement that Pompeo "seems to think the office he holds, the department he runs, the personnel he oversees, and the taxpayer dollars that pay for all of it are there for his personal and political benefit."
"From Mr. Pompeo's refusal to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry to his willingness to bolster a Senate Republican-led smear against the president's political rivals to his speech to the [Republican National Convention] which defied his own guidance and possibly the law, he has demonstrated alarming disregard for the laws and rules governing his own conduct and for the tools the Constitution provides to prevent government corruption," said Engel, who was defeated by progressive educator Jamaal Bowman in New York's June primary.
Engel said his panel had "no further option but to begin drafting a resolution finding Secretary Pompeo in contempt of Congress" after the nation's top diplomat refused to hand over records related to the impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.
The New York Democrat also pointed to Pompeo's withholding of documents purportedly related to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden--records that the secretary of state has already given to two Republican-led Senate committees. In a statement announcing a subpoena for the documents last month, Engel accused Pompeo of turning the State Department "into an arm of the Trump campaign."
"After trying to stonewall virtually every oversight effort by the Foreign Affairs Committee in the last two years," said Engel, "Mr. Pompeo is more than happy to help Senate Republicans advance their conspiracy theories about the Bidens."
Acting Assistant Secretary of State Ryan Kaldahl informed Engel in a letter (pdf) Thursday that Pompeo does not intend to comply with the subpoena.
Following Engel's announcement of the contempt proceedings, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, tweeted Friday that "you don't get to repeatedly defy congressional subpoenas and undermine the Constitution with no consequences."
The contempt proceedings come as Pompeo is also under investigation by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas)--vice chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee--for addressing the Republican National Convention this week while on a taxpayer-funded trip to Jerusalem.
"The Trump administration and Secretary Pompeo have shown a gross disregard not only of basic ethics, but also a blatant willingness to violate federal law for political gain," Castro said in a statement Tuesday. "Congress has a responsibility to stand up for the rule of law and hold them accountable for this corrupt behavior."
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The Democrat's Hawkish, Dead-End Foreign Policy Is Also Very Bad Politics
Is the party finally willing to recognize the failures—both morally and politically—of its pro-war stance?
Jul 03, 2020
For three years, my organization, Win Without War, and others helped pro-diplomacy activists make their voices heard in Congress in support of President Obama's diplomatic efforts with Iran. Hundreds of thousands of them had done just that -- signing petitions, writing emails, making phone calls, and meeting face-to-face with their representatives and senators in Washington and their hometowns. At every step of the way, congressional offices told us that pro-diplomacy voices had outweighed those opposed by ten-to-one. But then something strange happened. Suddenly, the calls for and against the Iran nuclear deal were coming in at an equal rate.
It was unlikely that the success of having achieved a historic diplomatic nuclear agreement with Iran, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action as its formally known, had suddenly made the U.S. public swing against diplomacy. Yet as paid TV ads attacking the JCPOA started popping up and the anti-diplomacy phone calls came pouring in, a dangerous mindset started to spread throughout the halls of Congress: It was going to be bad politics for Democrats to stand with the president and against a small cohort of powerful, deep pocketed special interests.
This was going to be a fight. Determined to defend diplomacy, progressives went all in, but so did anti-diplomacy forces. We now know, for example, that one organization alone, an AIPAC front group called Citizens United for a Nuclear Free Iran, spent $8.3 million on paid phone calls, most likely the very calls causing Congress to suddenly think the public's opinion was mixed. Millions more were spent on television ads offering a dire preview of what would await any member of Congress who voted to support diplomacy.
And in the heat of the long, hot summer, Rep. Elliot Engel, then the highest ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, announced he was breaking with President Obama, and would oppose the JCPOA. At the time, Congressman Engel no doubt thought he was making a safe political choice. His allies flooding the airwaves and phone lines against the deal would surely be there if he ever needed them in an election. Yet this past week, five years later, it's likely that that decision -- and what it said about Engel's preference for conflict over diplomacy -- cost him re-election.
Much has already been written about Engel's stunning primary loss to first time candidate Jamaal Bowman, a former middle school principal in the Bronx. Pundits argue that Bowman's high profile endorsements from Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocascio-Cortez, Engel's absence from his New York district at the height of the spring's pandemic, and Engel's embarrassing hot mic moment (which helped send Bowman's fundraising into overdrive) propelled Bowman's victory over Engel. And there's no doubt these factors played significant roles in the historic upset. But had it not been for Engel's deep discord with his own party on foreign policy, there may never have been a primary challenge to capitalize on those moments and endorsements in the first place.
It says something about House Democrats that they would let their most senior foreign policy position be filled by someone who, like Engel, was so at odds with the Democratic caucus on numerous foreign policy issues. But that is fundamentally what happened when Engel took over the gavel of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
He was one of only two dozen House Democrats out of 188 who ultimately voted against the Iran deal. Just one year later he would join with an even smaller group of Democrats to give the Republicans a narrow majority and defeat an effort to stop selling Saudi Arabia cluster bombs, bombs they were then dropping on civilians in Yemen. And of course this all followed his enthusiastic support for the Iraq War. Bowman made all of these issues central to his campaign and attacked Engel directly on this record.
Others have laid out the full history of Engel's awful record, so there's no need to recount it all here. But what stands out is that on these issues, the biggest foreign policy questions of the day, the chosen Democratic foreign policy leader was, in some cases quite dramatically, at odds with the majority of his party. For years, the conventional wisdom was that such heresy simply didn't matter if it was confined to foreign policy. The Democratic primary voters of New York's 16th Congressional District just helpfully reminded everyone just how wrong that particular conventional wisdom was.
The truth is that this is hardly the first, and likely won't be the last time that voters send a Democratic member of Congress home for being hawkish. For instance, members of Congress who voted for the Iraq war were, over time, more likely to have been given the boot by their voters than those who opposed it. Meanwhile, despite the fever dreams of many political prognosticators in the summer of 2015 as attack ads about the Iran deal hit the air, no incumbent Democrats lost an election because of their support for the JCPOA. It turns out that being on the same page as the overwhelming number of Democratic voters is actually good politics.
And now that the voters have spoken, House Democrats will face their own decision. Shortly following the November elections, the incoming Democratic caucus of the 117th Congress will gather in Washington to select its new leadership. Of course, like with all elections, the jockeying and campaigning doesn't wait until the final vote and indeed is already well under way. Though the question before Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and others is clear, will they once again allow their highest ranking foreign policy position to be filled by someone at odds with their own caucus and their voters, or will they heed the calls of change?
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What Jamaal Bowman's Historic Win Represents for the Palestinian People
For decades, the pro-Israel lobby was able to carry the day in Congress because Members feared the repercussions of criticizing Israel. That tide is turning.
Jun 29, 2020
On Tuesday, June 23, 2020, Jamaal Bowman made history by winning the Democratic Party primary in New York State's 16th Congressional District. Here's why his victory is so significant.
Bowman beat Eliot Engel, a 16-term incumbent Congressman who served as Chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and had the backing of nearly the entire Democratic Party establishment, including former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. He is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and ran on an unabashedly progressive platform that included support for Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. He was outspent by a margin of two to one. And because Bowman had taken positions calling for justice for Palestinians, "dark money" pro-Israel super-PAC's spent an additional $2,000,000 in independent expenditures in an effort to tear down his character and defeat him. Despite all of these challenges, Jamaal Bowman won, sending the message that change is on the way.
Bowman's victory against an entrenched incumbent came on the heels of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's 2018 unseating of 10 term Congressman Joseph Crowley in the nearby 14th District of New York. There were similarities between the two races and some important differences.
Both Ocasio-Cortez and Bowman are young people of color who defeated older white men whose constituents in their congressional districts are majority minority voters. And because both of the young winners were community activists who had developed strong grass roots networks and the incumbent Members of Congress they were challenging had grown lazy and entitled, assuming their victories were assured, Bowman and Ocasio-Cortez represented both generational change and the importance of maintaining direct contact with the voters one seeks to represent.
Both of these upstart candidates were members of the DSA, running on a progressive agenda that promoted universal health care, a quality education, a decent job, a clean environment, and affordable housing as fundamental human rights. Both were endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders (Bowman was also endorsed by Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Elizabeth Warren), while Crowley and Engel had the support of the Democratic leadership in the Senate and House of Representatives. As such, they represent the insurgent left's victories over the party's centrist establishment.
While both of the defeated Members of Congress relied largely on large donations from big donors or political action committees to fund their campaigns, Bowman and Ocasio-Cortez raised their campaign funds from individual small donors - replicating the approach taken by Sanders in his 2016 and 2020 presidential runs. Their wins were victories for campaign finance reform.
These similarities aside, there were two fundamental differences between the Ocasio-Cortez and Bowman victories that contribute to making the Bowman win historic. Ocasio-Cortez's victory was a shock that caught both Crowley and the Democratic establishment by surprise. Determined that it wouldn't happen again, New York State's Governor, its two Senators, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Clinton (in her only endorsement of the 2020 election) all lined up behind Engel. By winning against this formidable line-up, Bowman demonstrated that the progressive wave isn't a fluke.
"Just as the police force is an intimidating force in so many black communities, I can connect to what it feels like for Palestinians to feel the presence of the military in their daily lives in the West Bank. I can also understand the crushing poverty and deprivation in the Gaza strip."
And then there's the role played by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While Ocasio-Cortez's position on justice for Palestinians matches those of Bowman, it never became much of a factor in 2018, largely because Crowley hadn't made it an issue and because Ocasio-Cortez's race was run largely under the radar. She didn't come under attack from pro-Israel groups until she was in Congress and came to the defense of her sister freshmen members, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar.
Because Bowman was running against the very pro-Israel Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the party's establishment and the pro-Israel lobby didn't want a replay of the Ocasio-Cortez win, they invested heavily in the effort to defeat Bowman.
Engel had long been an AIPAC point person in Congress. In 2018, as he was poised to become the HCFA Chair, speaking at an AIPAC conference he pledged to use his position "to make sure that Israel continues to receive support... I want tell you that I sit down with AIPAC on every piece of legislation that comes out."
Protecting Engel was important. One AIPAC-allied group, Democratic Majority for Israel (DMI), spent more than $1.5 million in the Engel/Bowman race. And not unlike the $1.4 million they spent earlier this year to attack Bernie Sanders, their ads were largely personal attacks on Bowman's character. The DMI was smart enough to know that there were no votes to be won by supporting Israel - since Democratic voters were so alienated by Netanyahu's policies nothing was to be gained by selling spoiled goods.
Despite the money spent against him, Bowman never wavered. A week before the election, he was challenged by a rabbi from Riverdale, an affluent neighborhood in his district. In an "open letter" published in the Riverdale Press, the rabbi expressed his concern that Bowman was espousing anti-Israel views and made a number of rhetorically inflammatory charges - with Palestinian terrorism mentioned in seven consecutive paragraphs.
Bowman refused to accept the bait and instead responded in a deeply respectful "open letter" of his own in which he made clear his views on foreign policy, including the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, "are rooted in the values of human dignity" and his life experiences. In one moving passage, he noted:
"The uprising across the country against police violence also makes me empathize with the everyday experience and fear that comes with living under occupation. Just as the police force is an intimidating force in so many black communities, I can connect to what it feels like for Palestinians to feel the presence of the military in their daily lives in the West Bank. I can also understand the crushing poverty and deprivation in the Gaza strip. I believe Palestinians have the same rights to freedom and dignity as my Jewish brothers and sisters. I will fight for their liberation just as hard as I will fight for yours."
In the end, not only did Jamaal Bowman win, he won by a decisive margin carrying all areas of his district and all major demographic groups. Interestingly, from vote tallies I've seen, he also beat Engel in precincts that were heavily Jewish.
This is yet another reason why Jamaal Bowman's victory was historic.
For decades, the pro-Israel lobby was able to carry the day in Congress because Members feared the repercussions of criticizing Israel. That tide is turning. Polls show that a majority of Democrats now support greater balance in US policy, oppose Netanyahu's behavior, and believe that aid to Israel should be cut because of violations of Palestinian human rights. That's why AIPAC was forced to "allow" Members of Congress to condemn Israel's plans to annex West Bank lands. And now their efforts to hurt Jamaal Bowman and save Eliot Engel failed.
This isn't the first time that AIPAC has lost in their effort to defeat an "enemy" or save a "friend." And it may be too much to hope that Bowman's win will finally shatter the myth of AIPAC's invincibility. The most extreme elements of the pro-Israel lobby will not give up easily, so we must remain vigilant. But as Jamaal Bowman's win demonstrates, change is coming and that is what makes his victory so historic.
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Progressives Must Fight With--and In--the Democratic Party
In the electoral arena, the goal is not only about winning elections. It’s also about replacing the top-down weight of entrenched politicians with the bottom-up power of grassroots activism.
Jun 25, 2020
After defying the odds and defeating corporate opponents on Tuesday, the strong progressives Jamaal Bowman and Mondaire Jones are headed to Congress from New York--and there's no way it would be happening if they hadn't been willing and able to put up a fight in Democratic primaries. The same was true in 2018 with the election of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley as they beat the party establishment.
After three decades of contributing mightily to the blight of congressional militarism, Rep. Eliot Engel couldn't be rescued by the high-profile endorsements of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Nor could Engel be saved by the eleventh-hour support of Hillary Clinton.
Other Democratic incumbents are being challenged by progressives in difficult and inspiring campaigns: intent on doing what, according to conventional political wisdom, can't be done.
While the Republican Party has given "faith" a bad name, Barack Obama did the same for "audacity" and "hope." Being an ally of the military-industrial complex and corporate power isn't audacious or particularly hopeful. But progressives need plenty of audacious hope and insistence that political organizing must include insurgent election campaigns.
The obstacles are enormous. That's usually true of social change worth fighting for.
In the electoral arena, the goal is not only about winning elections. It's also about replacing the top-down weight of entrenched politicians with the bottom-up power of grassroots activism. A current example is the effort by progressive activists in California to make Congressman Ro Khanna the chair of the state's delegation for the Democratic National Convention, instead of Gov. Gavin Newsom.
That would be appropriate. Khanna was a national co-chair for the 2020 campaign of Bernie Sanders, who won the state's presidential primary by a margin of 8 percent over Joe Biden.
If Newsom allows a democratic process, Khanna could win. From all indications, Newsom doesn't want to take the chance.
If raw political power is the metric, Newsom has a clear advantage in the lead-up to a decisive statewide "virtual meeting" of national-convention delegates set for Sunday. But in recent days, 130 Sanders delegates (including me) from congressional districts across the state -- 90 percent of all such Sanders delegates -- have signed a statement calling for Khanna to be the delegation chair.
The statement pointed out that "Ro Khanna has been a national champion on issues supported by California Democrats -- health care for all, national budget priorities based on human needs and opposing Trump on huge increases in military spending and endless wars, criminal justice reform, and a path to citizenship for immigrants."
If Newsom allows a democratic process, Khanna could win. From all indications, Newsom doesn't want to take the chance.
California Democratic Party rules are vague, saying only that "the Delegation Chair will be selected by the National Convention Delegates" on June 28. There's plenty of room for top party officials to short-circuit actual democracy by refusing to allow a proper election process. The anticipated plan is to offer the delegates one big omnibus package that includes designating Newsom as chair.
Suspicion of the Democratic Party's power structure has run deep among Bernie supporters. If the Democratic governor of the largest state is perceived as blocking a democratic process in order to strong-arm his way into becoming delegation chair, the ripple effects could extend throughout the country -- including the dozen swing states, where a robust turnout from progressive voters will be vital this fall.
At the moment, national polls are rosy for Biden. We've been here before, with media depicting Trump on the ropes. Few political pundits saw the demagogue's prospects as anything but dim against Hillary Clinton in 2016. Four years later, razor-thin margins in swing states could tip the balance, notwithstanding the nationwide popular vote.
Politicians are not known for humility, and few are inclined to bypass a beckoning limelight. California's delegation chair is apt to draw appreciable media attention in mid-August when Democrats convene a virtual convention. Newsom could do his party and his country a greater service by yielding that particular spotlight rather than basking in it.
Especially after events of 2016, when facts emerged showing that the Democratic National Committee put anti-Sanders thumbs on the scales, many progressives have become acutely sensitive to shortages of fairness in party proceedings. The last thing we need are fresh examples of powerful politicians opting for self-serving actions over democratic principles.
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Vowing to Take on Corrupt System 'That's Literally Killing Us,' Jamaal Bowman Jumps Out to 25-Point Lead Over Rep. Eliot Engel
"Everything that keeps the majority of us oppressed is what we designed this campaign to fight against."
Jun 24, 2020
Facing down millions of dollars in corporate dark money and an opponent backed by some of the biggest names in the Democratic establishment, progressive educator and former middle school principal Jamaal Bowman jumped out to a formidable lead Tuesday over hawkish 16-term incumbent Rep. Eliot Engel in the closely watched Democratic primary race in New York's 16th Congressional District.
With 92% of precincts reporting as of early Wednesday morning, Bowman leads Engel--chairman of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee--60.9% to 35.6%. It is unclear when the final results will be reported, particularly given the massive influx of absentee ballots as a record number of New Yorkers voted by mail amid the coronavirus pandemic. Absentee ballots aren't fully counted in New York until a week after the election.
"Tonight as we celebrate, we don't just celebrate me as an individual; we celebrate this movement. A movement designed to push back against a system that's literally killing us."
-- Jamaal Bowman
But Bowman, running on a platform of Medicare for All and a Green New Deal with the backing of grassroots progressives, appeared well-positioned to unseat Engel in the entrenched Democratic congressman's first competitive primary in two decades.
In a speech to supporters Tuesday, Bowman condemned a "fractured, and corrupt, and rotten" political and economic system that has left millions behind while creating enormous wealth for a very few.
" Poverty, and the impact of poverty on our children, and dealing with issues of institutional racism, and sexism, and classism, and xenophobia, and everything that keeps the majority of us oppressed is what we designed this campaign to fight against," said Bowman.
"So tonight as we celebrate, we don't just celebrate me as an individual. We celebrate this movement," Bowman continued. "A movement designed to push back against a system that's literally killing us. It's killing black and brown bodies disproportionately, but it's killing all of us."
Bowman's 25-point lead over Engel, as The Intercept's Aida Chavez reported, comes "despite a last-ditch effort to save the hawkish Democrat, including an endorsement by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton."
"Pro-Israel groups also scrambled to save the 16-term incumbent," Chavez noted, "spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on his re-election."
As the results of the race trickled in late Tuesday, progressives said a Bowman victory would strike a major blow to the Democratic establishment and demonstrate once again that it is possible for candidates running unabashedly left-wing campaigns to oust seemingly untouchable incumbents.
"If Jamaal Bowman defeats Eliot Engel, it will be a shattering loss for the Democratic Party establishment," tweeted progressive organizer Max Berger. "They threw everything at him: $5 million in dark money smear ads, endorsements from Hillary Clinton, Andrew Cuomo, and Chuck Schumer. And he still won."
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Corporate Interests Nervous as Progressive Democrats Surge Ahead of NY and Kentucky Primaries
"They were always going to have more money on their side. But we have the better candidate, with better ideas, and a better campaign."
Jun 22, 2020
Three progressive Democrats are poised for big, establishment shaking wins in Tuesday's primary elections in New York and Kentucky, leading corporate interests and big money donors to pour millions into stopping a new wave of left-wing lawmakers from taking office.
Jamaal Bowman and Mondaire Jones in New York and Charles Booker in Kentucky are each given good chances to win their primaries according to recent polling, potential victories that seemed out of the realm of possibility just months ago.
"If you see all three of them win, it'll be like lightning struck a house on fire in the middle of an earthquake," Neil Sroka, communications director for progressive political action committee Democracy for America, told The Hill.
Bowman, a former middle school principal, is is now favored by some analysts to unseat longtime incumbent Rep. Eliot Engel in New York's 16th District. But while Bowman has raised $2 million during his race--mostly from small donors and with $1 million of that total coming in June alone--Engel and outside groups like the Democratic Majority for Israel have invested $5 million into protecting the seat and keeping the centrist hawk in power.
"They were always going to have more money on their side," Bowman campaign manager Luke Hayes said in a statement Friday. "But we have the better candidate, with better ideas, and a better campaign."
To the north, Mondaire Jones is facing seven opponents in the open primary for the 17th District seat left open by retiring incumbent Democrat Rep. Nita Lowey. While he's raised the third highest amount of money, Jones' war chest is dwarfed by that of former federal prosecutor Adam Schleifer, whose father is a founder of biotechnology giant Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.
Schleifer has spent $4.1 million to date. As Jones told Lohud, that number is an example of the factors which make it hard for working-class progressives to compete against the party's more corporate-friendly or wealthy candidates.
"It has been really unfair to candidates like myself who don't come from money to have to compete with the son of a billionaire who's pumping millions of dollars of Big Pharma in this race," said Jones. "There is a real risk if you don't raise the kind of money I'm raising in this race that your message will be drowned out by a candidate who has been spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on television alone."
In Kentucky, state representative Charles Booker is surging as establishment darling and former Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath increasingly flounders despite having vast resources.
As the New York Times reported, Booker's rise coincides with the rising civil rights movement for black lives and against police violence that holds added weight in Kentucky, where Louisville police officers killed Breonna Taylor during a no-knock warrantless raid in early March.
According to the Times:
Polls indicate Mr. Booker is closing the gap against Ms. McGrath, even though she had raised nearly $41 million to his $788,000 as of the start of the month. In just a few weeks since then, though, he has raised almost $3 million.
"I'm traveling Kentucky talking about structural racism and I'm seeing folks, even 99% white, putting their fists in the air because they know that we can't let this moment pass," Mr. Booker, clad in a "No More No Knocks" T-shirt, recounted to a multiracial audience on Saturday in Lexington.
Win or lose, the candidates show the promise of the new progressive movement in the party, progressive strategist Jonathan Tasini told The Hill. Tasini singled out Booker and Bowman as examples of a new, more serious stripe of lefty politician in the Democratic Party with the ability to make waves.
"Booker and Bowman are--forget about where they are on the spectrum--they're good candidates," said Tasini. "I think too often, the progressive movement is willing to wrap their arms around people who channel their anger at the establishment without understanding whether those people can actually run good races and are good candidates."
New York state senator Alessandra Biaggi, who rescinded her endorsement of Engel and backed Bowman earlier this month, said at the time it would "be remiss not to have leadership of the future to represent this district."
"When the world changes," said Biaggi, "you have to be able to update your thinking."
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'Fight Like We're Down 10 Points,' Say Supporters as Poll Shows Bowman Up Double-Digits Over Engel in NY
"Jamaal is up!" wrote attorney Zephyr Teachout. "You know what to do. Work harder. Six days until voting ends."
Jun 17, 2020
New polling from New York's 16th congressional district shows progressuve primary challenger Jamaal Bowman 10 points ahead of 16-term incumbent Rep. Eliot Engel, a centrist Democrat, as the former middle school principal's insurgent campaign urged supporters to keep the pressure on to achieve victory in next week's primary.
The progressive think tank Data for Progress conducted the survey between June 11 and 15, polling 525 likely Democratic voters in the 16th district, which lies in the Northern Bronx and lower Westchester County.
Forty-one percent of voters reported they were planning to support Bowman, while 31% said they would support Engel. Just over a quarter of respondents said they were still undecided about the election, in which the last day to vote is June 23.
Bowman celebrated the poll results while urging supporters to continue fundraising and get-out-the-vote efforts to counter the $600,000 Engel is spending on attack ads against his progressive challenger. Critics of Engel have recently highlighted $100,000 in funding that a Republican super PAC funneled to a group backing him.
Organizer Nikhil Goyal urged supporters to "fight like we're down ten points."
The poll showed Bowman--who supports Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, and a Reconstruction Agenda to shift funding for police departments and prisons to social services--with significant support from black voters in the 16th district, with 56% saying they would support him versus just 10% who backed Engel. A majority of undecided black voters also said they were leaning towards supporting Bowman.
The poll was conducted a week after Engel was heard on a hot mic at a Black Lives Matter event telling organizers that he wanted to speak to the crowd, but that if he "didn't have a primary, [he] wouldn't care."
Thirty-seven percent of Latino voters also supported Bowman, versus 27% who backed Engel, and Bowman leads among voters both under and over the age of 45.
The poll results come amid a number of high-profile endorsements for Bowman from Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.)--who announced her endorsement Wednesday--and the New York Times editorial board, which wrote last week, "In a district that needs new energy, Mr. Bowman will bring it."
Meanwhile, after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) declined to offer his support to Engel last week, contradicting the congressman's claim on his website that he had the Democratic leader's endorsement, a number of establishment figures rushed to Engel's aid in recent days.
Hillary Clinton gave her first endorsement of the House primary season to Engel on Tuesday, joining House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), and caucus chair Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
"Feels like the Democratic Party establishment is working harder to defeat Jamaal Bowman than deliver police reform and economic relief for Americans still suffering from the pandemic," Waleed Shahid of Justice Democrats tweeted on Wednesday.
The support for Engel among other powerful Democrats, most of whom reject the bold progressive initiatives pushed by Bowman and other progressives, is a sign of "desperation" among the establishment, Ryan Cooper wrote at The Week on Wednesday:
The Democratic establishment views its primary task as managing and controlling its voters rather than trying to do what they want. They have convinced themselves that the country is unshakably conservative, and therefore the best they can do is hang on to power and occasionally pass milquetoast reforms... That's how you get incumbents like Engel who can barely be bothered even to pretend they cater to the needs of their districts.
The prospect of the slumbering Democratic base being awakened by candidates like Bowman, and demanding the party fight for progressive policies just as hard as Republicans fight for conservative ones, would blow up this comfortable arrangement. That strikes fear into the establishment. If Engel goes down, a whole slew of elderly Democratic bigwigs, previously comfortable in their deep-blue seats telling their voters what they can't have, might be next... That is why all these party grandees are trying to save his skin.
With powerful Democrats as well as GOP interests lining up to push Engel over the finish line, attorney and former New York gubernatorial candidate Zephyr Teachout urged voters to see the latest poll results not as a reason to assume Bowman's victory is secure, but as motivation to continue working to elect the progressive challenger.
"Jamaal is up!" she wrote. "You know what to do. Work harder."
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Ocasio-Cortez Endorses Jamaal Bowman's Progressive Primary Challenge Against Longtime Rep. Eliot Engel
"This moment requires renewed and revitalized leadership across the country AND at the ballot box."
Jun 04, 2020
Praising Jamaal Bowman as a "profound community leader," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed the former middle school principal's progressive challenge to longtime Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel on Wednesday evening, saying Bowman would help usher in a new era of people-focused leadership in Washington.
"This moment requires renewed and revitalized leadership across the country AND at the ballot box," said Ocasio-Cortez as tens of thousands of Americans marched for racial justice in cities across the country--facing militarized police forces at many protests.
The congresswoman shared a campaign video from Bowman in which he talked about the coronavirus pandemic's disproportionate effects on his community in New York's 16th congressional district, which encompasses the northern Bronx and lower Westchester County including the largely black and Latino city of Mt. Vernon.
"The virus hit our cities the hardest," Bowman said in the video. "Thousands die every day, most of them black and Latino. People are losing their jobs and can't pay rent while Congress bails out corporations. We need leaders who understand what we're going through."
"Jamaal has dedicated the last decade of his life serving his community as a school principal and community servant," Ocasio-Cortez wrote. "Not only is Jamaal a profound community leader, but I believe he'd make a fantastic colleague in the United States House of Representatives."
Bowman is running on a platform similar to Ocasio-Cortez's when she won the primary for New York's 14th district against longtime Rep. Joe Crowley. Bowman's key campaign issues include fighting for Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, and a New Housing Deal which would invest in fair housing standards and in ending homelessness.
Like Crowley was before 2018, Engel is one of the most powerful Democrats in Congress and counts pro-business interests among his top contributors. Engel is also a favored candidate of anti-Palestinian rights groups, while Bowman has called for "progressive foreign policy" and "honest conversations about our government's role in enabling the continued occupation of the Palestinian people."
Bowman has criticized Engel in recent months for not returning to his home district during the coronavirus pandemic, saying in one ad that constituents he speaks to describe the incumbent as "absent."
"Jamaal has dedicated the last decade of his life serving his community as a school principal and community servant. Not only is Jamaal a profound community leader, but I believe he'd make a fantastic colleague in the United States House of Representatives."
--Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)
"This is the worst crisis since the Great Depression, and people don't know where their congressman is?" Bowman asked.
As Common Dreams reported, Engel drew ire this week when he appeared in the district and asked organizers of a Black Lives Matter event to allow him to speak, saying, "If I didn't have a primary I wouldn't care."
Engel has "taken us for granted," Bowman said last week. "After 31 years of the same, it's time for a change."
Ocasio-Cortez's endorsement came ahead of a slate of endorsements she's planning to unveil on Thursday. In recent weeks, Bowman has also earned endorsements from the Working Families Party, Justice Democrats, Food and Water Action, and a number of other progressive groups.
"I am so grateful for this endorsement," said Bowman after Ocasio-Cortez's announcement. "We're building an amazing coalition to deliver change in NY-16."
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Clamoring for Mic at Black Lives Matter Event, Rep. Eliot Engel Admits "If I Didn't Have a Primary I Wouldn't Care"
"Frankly," said a representative for Engel's progressive challenger Jamaal Bowman, "we couldn't have made the case more clearly ourselves that after 31 years, it's time for change."
Jun 02, 2020
Progressives called on Rep. Eliot Engel to end his re-election bid after a viral video Tuesday afternoon showed the 16-term congressman saying he only wanted to speak to his constituents about the racial justice protests happening all over the country because he has a primary challenger this year.
"It's clear that we need new leadership."
-- Jamaal Bowman
The congressman made the comments during a rare appearance in the Bronx at a press conference regarding the protest movement that has spread across the country in the past week. Engel has drawn criticism during the election for living full-time in Maryland while representing New York's 16th district, which includes the northern Bronx and southern Westchester County, and for not returning to the district during the coronavirus pandemic.
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, who led the event, told Engel there wouldn't be time for him to give an unplanned address to the crowd because of the number of elected officials who showed up.
"If I didn't have a primary I wouldn't care," Engel said.
New York Times reporter Shane Goldmacher called the video "a hot-mic moment for the ages."
With New York's primary election coming up on June 23, Engel's remaining challenger is educator Jamaal Bowman, a progressive who has won endorsements from Justice Democrats and the Working Families Party by pledging to fight for Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, and "jobs and education, not bombs and incarceration."
On Monday, a second challenger, Andom Ghebreghiorgis, suspended his campaign and threw his support behind Bowman. An early poll taken last fall by Data for Progress showed 29% of respondents backing Engel versus 10% who said they would support Bowman--"a relatively slim lead for such an entrenched incumbent," wrote Akela Lacy at The Intercept. The survey also showed half of registered Democrats in the 16th district "were not sure how to describe Engel's political viewpoint."
Bowman on Tuesday described Engel's acknowledgement that he wanted to engage with constituents on Tuesday only in light of his upcoming election as "so incredibly painful."
"We need to be taking care of our communities right now--whether it's election season or not," tweeted Bowman.
"I appreciate Congressman Engel's honesty," said Bowman's campaign manager, Luke Hayes, in a press statement. "Frankly, we couldn't have made the case more clearly ourselves that after 31 years, it's time for change."
Journalist Jeremy Scahill wrote on social media that the most effective way for Engel to show leadership would be to drop out of the race and endorse Bowman.
"He's scared of Jamaal Bowman and he should be," Scahill added.
Other progressive leaders said Engel's remark demonstrated why he is unfit to represent the 16th district.
Engel is scheduled to face Bowman in a debate Tuesday evening.
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"I Don't Think That You are Telling Us the Truth": House Democrats Grill Pompeo on Iran and Coronavirus
"You can't hide behind classification on this one because you can't classify something that doesn't exist."
Feb 27, 2020
Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee Friday assailed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for non-answers and evasions on issues related to the administration's policy on Iran and its plans to handle the spread of coronavirus, which threatens to explode into a global pandemic.
The two-hour hearing took place following two months of repeated requests by the committee that were resisted by Pompeo despite Congress' official role in oversight of the executive branch.
"Mr. Secretary, it shouldn't have been so difficult to get you here, and your appearance here today is far too short," said committee chair Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.). "While we had to wait for you, the world doesn't wait for anyone."
The "Evaluating the Trump Administration's Policies on Iran, Iraq and the Use of Force" hearing--which began with CodePink protesters denouncing Pompeo's role in the administration's aggressive policies and warmongering being removed from the room--was held to discuss President Donald Trump's Iran policy, stemming from the assassination of Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad on January 2.
Democrats on the committee said they were not convinced by Pompeo's repeated assertions that Soleimani's assassination was justified because of an immediate threat to American lives and interests.
"I have seen that classified information and after reviewing it, I don't think that you are telling us the truth," said Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas).
In a fiery exchange, Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.) asked Pompeo to show him on a map of the region which four embassies had been under threat from Soleimani.
"Point out for us, which of our embassies were under threat of such an imminent attack that you had to kill General Soleimani--regardless of what the consequences might be--on January 3, 2020," said Levin.
"I'm never willing to disclose classified information," Pompeo replied. "I assume you're not either."
After a lengthy back and forth in which Pompeo repeatedly claimed the locations were classified, an exasperated Levin fired back a sharp retort.
"You can't hide behind classification on this one because you can't classify something that doesn't exist," said Levin.
While the hearing focused on Iran, comments from administration officials downplaying the coronavirus outbreak--including those by acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland earlier Friday morning--were an early topic of discussion.
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) asked Pompeo if he agreed with Mulvaney that the coronavirus was a "hoax." Pompeo didn't answer, dismissing the question as a "gotcha."
The potential pandemic and the secretary's pattern of not appearing in front of the committee were at the center of an exchange between Pompeo and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.).
"It's taken you two-and-a-half months to come here before this committee to explain the actions of January 3," said Sherman. "Today, the world faces a worldwide pandemic--the coronavirus. Will you come next week and explain our international efforts to deal with the coronavirus, or will it take us two-and-a-half months to have you back here?"
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