Eric Swalwell launches anti-Trump gubernatorial campaign amid criminal referral to DOJ



As more candidates throw their hats in the ring ahead of the 2026 midterms, yet another Democrat has joined the fray to succeed one of the most infamous governors in America.

Anti-Trump Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell announced on Thursday that he will be running for governor of California in 2026.

'I love California. It's the greatest country in the world.'

Swalwell, who spearheaded Trump's second impeachment, made the announcement on a segment of "Jimmy Kimmel Live," a show for which President Trump has repeatedly expressed his distaste.

Earlier this month, Trump's director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Bill Pulte, sent a criminal referral for Swalwell to the Department of Justice, alleging that Swalwell may have committed mortgage fraud. Swalwell responded by claiming to be a victim of politically motivated prosecution.

"I refuse to live in fear in what was once the freest country in the world," he said.

"I will not stop speaking out against the president and speaking up for Californians."

RELATED: Eric Swalwell finally answers Chinese spy allegations: 'I would hope that would be enough'

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images

Swalwell says California needs a "fighter and protector" on his X profile page.

"I'm ready to bring this fight home. So I came here tonight, Jimmy, to tell you and your audience that I'm running to be the next governor of California," Swalwell announced to Kimmel.

During his remarks, Swalwell also referred to California as a "country." "I love California," he said. "It's the greatest country in the world."

Even Kimmel appeared confused, repeating, "Country?!" followed by a laugh.

Kimmel joked that Swalwell will have to "figure out the beard," suggesting a full prospector look: "You're either going to have to go more beard or less beard, because you're in a beard nether region right now that we can't have."

Swalwell's campaign video starts by saying the governor of California will have two jobs: "One, keep the worst president in our history out of our homes, out of our streets, and out of our lives."

The second is to "bring us a new California," a variation of one of his campaign slogans.

Swalwell joins an already crowded gubernatorial race. Other Democrats include Rep. Katie Porter, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, and state Superintendent Tony Thurmond.

Blaze News reached out to the White House for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

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Nicki Minaj stuns Hollywood by praising Trump



While most rappers and Hollywood celebrities have spoken out against President Donald Trump, one of them is bravely standing for his actions. And who it is is shocking, to say the least.

“I would like to thank President Trump for prioritizing this issue and for his leadership on the global stage in calling for urgent action to defend Christians in Nigeria, to combat extremism, and to bring a stop to violence against those who simply want to exercise their natural right to freedom of religion or belief,” rapper Nicki Minaj said.

Minaj also called the violence against Nigerian Christians not only a “growing problem in Nigeria,” but in “many other countries across the world” that “demands urgent action.”


“I want to be clear: Protecting Christians in Nigeria is not about taking sides or dividing people. It is about uniting humanity. Nigeria is a beautiful nation with deep faith traditions. … When one’s church, mosque, or place of worship is destroyed, everyone’s heart should break just a little bit,” she continued.

“And the foundation of the United Nations, with its core mandate to ensure peace and security, should shake,” she added.

“Has Nicki Minaj always been a Trump supporter?” BlazeTV host Pat Gray asks on “Pat Gray Unleashed.”

“God bless her,” executive producer Keith Malinak adds.

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Epstein files backfire as Democrats get pulled into their own trap



Democrats appeared thrilled when they thought the Epstein files were finally going to take President Donald Trump out, but BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales points out that instead, it appears that the president has “been playing 4D chess all along.”

“They didn’t realize they were just going to fall into a trap of implicating themselves,” Gonzales says, before playing a clip of Democratic House Delegate Stacey Plaskett — who is from the Virgin Islands, where Epstein Island was — doing just that.

When the last batch of Epstein documents came out, the Washington Post even noticed that Plaskett and Epstein would text quite often.

“In fact, they were texting in the middle of congressional hearings, and he ended up coaching her on how to get dirt on President Trump during a hearing of Michael Cohen’s testimony,” Gonzales explains.


“The irony is not lost on me that they kept trying to get Trump with Jeffrey Epstein. I mean, it turns out, Jeffrey Epstein at every direction hates his f**king guts. Like, he hates Donald Trump. So, the idea that they were best buds ... he clearly hates Donald Trump,” she continues.

Plaskett has since tried to defend herself, and it didn’t help her case.

“I got a text from Jeffrey Epstein, who at the time was my constituent, who was not public knowledge at that time that he was under federal investigation, and who was sharing information with me,” she said on the House floor.

However, in 2008, Epstein was serving a sentence for a prostitution case.

“We all knew in 2019 that Jeffrey Epstein was a bad guy,” Gonzales says, pointing out that Plaskett even admitted this to CNN, appearing unable to keep her story straight.

“I believed that Jeffrey Epstein had information, and I was going to get information to get at the truth. If individuals are not involved in illegal activity, extending his criminal enterprise or his financial enterprise or all of those things, I think that we need to look at what people are doing moving forward,” Plaskett said.

“Wait, let me just better understand that. What is that point? Because at the time, he was a known sex offender, and it had been detailed all the sexual abuse,” the CNN anchor replied.

“There are a lot of people who have done a lot of crimes, and as a prosecutor, you get information from people where you can,” Plaskett replied.

And House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) made sure to defend Plaskett when he was being grilled on her admission on CNN — but Gonzales points out it’s likely just because he also was “in bed” with Epstein.

One email reveals that Democrat fundraisers invited Epstein to an event to meet privately with Hakeem Jeffries, which meant his campaign was soliciting money from Epstein.

“Dear Jeffrey, we are thrilled to announce that we are working with Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, one of the rising stars in the New York Congressional delegation. Sometimes referred to as ‘Brooklyn’s Barack,’” the email read.

Another section of the email asked Epstein to reach out if he “would like to get an opportunity to get to know Hakeem better.”

“The fact that he was groveling for support, financial support, from a convicted child predator,” Gonzales scoffs. “Like, these are bad people.”

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'SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR': Trump demands arrest of 'traitor' Democrat congressmen for 'dangerous' video



In a video shared earlier in the week, six Democrat veterans in Congress urged members of the military and the intelligence community to "refuse illegal orders" from the Trump administration, though without specifying which orders were deemed illegal.

On Thursday morning, President Donald Trump posted a string of responses to the viral video.

'SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!'

In a Truth Social post, Trump said, "It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL. Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL. Their words cannot be allowed to stand — We won’t have a Country anymore!!!"

RELATED: 'Rebellion'? Democrat lawmakers urge federal agents to resist Trump agenda in cringe video

Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.)Photographer: Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images

"An example MUST BE SET," he added in the same post.

In a second post, Trump reiterated his call for accountability: "This is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country. Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???"

Senator Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Senator Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.), Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.), Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.), and Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) delivered the incendiary message.

In the video, the Democrats urged military and intelligence members to resist the Trump administration, telling them "we have your back": "Americans trust their military. But that trust is at risk. This administration is pitting our uniformed military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens."

"You MUST refuse illegal orders," the video warned.

"SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!" Trump said in another Truth Social post later on Thursday morning.

"It is insurrection — plainly, directly, without question. ... It’s a general call for rebellion from the CIA and the armed services of the United States by Democrat lawmakers. ... It shows what a dangerous moment we're in," White House deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser Stephen Miller said on Wednesday.

The video posted by Senator Elissa Slotkin reached 12 million views by Thursday morning.

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Yuge win! New jobs report exceeds expectations, reversing Biden-era trends



After more than a month's delay due to the government shutdown, the government has released a new jobs report from September. The report defied expectations and proved President Trump is getting the economy back on track.

On Thursday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the long-awaited jobs report. The numbers blew many estimates out of the water.

'This strong report is more proof that President Trump’s pro-growth, America First agenda is already making great progress, and it will continue to deliver positive results for American families and businesses.'

According to data obtained from the BLS, the U.S. added 119,000 jobs in September, marking an increase compared to previous months. The estimate, according to Fox News, was 50,000 new jobs.

RELATED: Trump orders Labor Statistics chief to be fired over revisions in weak jobs report

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

"The economy is booming under President Trump! His commitment to bringing jobs back to the United States and putting America First has turned this country around and set us on the right track!" Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters said on X.

Wages are also up 0.2% to $36.67 in September, BLS said. According to the data, hourly earnings have increased 3.8% over the last 12 months.

In a statement obtained by Blaze News, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, "The September jobs report more than doubled market expectations — adding 119,000 new jobs to the American economy. In stark contrast to the disastrous Biden economy, almost all of these new jobs were in the private sector and went to American-born workers instead of illegal aliens. Wages for workers are continuing to rise, a reversal of the Biden years where private sector wages declined by about $3,000 because of the Democrats’ inflation crisis."

"This strong report is more proof that President Trump’s pro-growth, America First agenda is already making great progress, and it will continue to deliver positive results for American families and businesses,” Leavitt added.

Citing the government shutdown, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has said that it will not release full data for October. Instead, it will release partial data with the November jobs report, according to ABC News.

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Democrats twist what’s left of Epstein evidence to target Trump



Jeffrey Epstein is back in the news, and this time it’s because the Democrats are yet again trying to pin Epstein’s evil on President Trump.

Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck believes it’s all part of a “plan.”

“The way this thing has been played out, Democrats are completely against bringing anything out about Epstein. They don’t want to do anything about it,” Glenn explains, noting that it was largely ignored by the Democrats under former President Biden.

“And you know, what’s funny is it is just so full of stuff about Donald Trump. Then why wouldn’t they release just that? Why wouldn’t have the Democrats released anything in the Epstein files?” Glenn asks.

“They don’t have anything.”


As for the Democrats, Glenn explains that there’s nothing to release about them because the Epstein files were already in their hands.

“The most powerful people with powerful connections to government, they knew their names were, you know, there on little guest books at the island or whatever. You don’t think they called in some favors and said, ‘Hey, I need that — can you remove that?’” he says.

“You don’t think that there were people that were like, ‘Hey, you know what? We’ll remove that. We need $100 million from you to help out on this campaign.’ I mean, whatever it is, those names are gone too. They’re gone,” he continues.

“How do I know this? Because the government is completely dishonest,” he adds.

And what the Democrats have pulled on Trump appears to be grasping at straws, releasing an email from Epstein that read, “The only dog that hasn’t barked is Trump.”

“I think Epstein is referring to the fact that he believed that Donald Trump talked to Michael Ryder, who was the Palm Beach police chief in 2004 and began the first investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. So in other words, he was the whistleblower,” Glenn says.

“If you think things are going to be released that are going to get Trump, why would you release that where after two days of it being out, the guy who was part of that email who hates Donald Trump is like, ‘Yeah, that’s not what it means. It means he was the whistleblower,’” he continues.

In the same email, the Democrats made sure to redact Virginia Giuffre's name — but it wasn’t to protect her.

“She has said that he was nothing but respectful and never was with any of the girls at all, in not only her book, but also in testimony under oath,” BlazeTV host Stu Burguiere tells Glenn.

“I mean, this does not hurt Donald Trump,” Glenn adds. “It helps Donald Trump.”

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Trump defends H-1B; undercuts his own immigration narrative



Whether it’s building the wall or mass deportations, President Trump’s most memorable position for the past decade has been immigration.

But in a recent interview on Fox News, the president made it clear that his view on H-1B visas doesn’t align with his illegal immigration policy.

“Does that mean the H-1B visa thing will not be a big priority for your administration? Because if you want to raise wages for American workers, you can’t flood the country with tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of workers,” host Laura Ingraham said to the president.

“You also do have to bring in talent,” Trump responded.

“Well, we have plenty of talented people,” Ingram fired back, to which Trump responded, “No, you don’t.”


“You can’t take people off … an unemployment line and say, ‘I’m going to put you into a factory; we’re going to make missiles.’ … It doesn’t work that way,” Trump continued.

“I mean, the truth is, like, Trump has always been a little squishy on this issue,” BlazeTV co-host Lomez says on “Rufo & Lomez,” pointing to an episode of the “All-In Podcast” where during an interview, the president spoke about preserving student visas.

“Let me just tell you that it’s so sad when we lose people from Harvard, MIT, from the greatest schools and lesser schools that are phenomenal schools also. … What I want to do and what I will do is you graduate from a college, I think you should get, automatically as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country,” Trump said.

“And that includes junior colleges, too. Anybody graduates from a college, you go in there for two years or four years. If you graduate or you get a doctorate degree from a college, you should be able to stay in this country,” he continued.

Lomez tells co-host Christopher Rufo that he believes Trump is compromising with Big Tech, noting that the industry says “they’re dependent on these H-1Bs to sort of continue the business model that they currently have.”

While this is “actually probably true,” he’s not pleased with Trump helping this industry in this way.

“It is not therefore incumbent on the United States people and on President Trump to allow them to continue these abusive practices with regards to H-1B. So while that might be their business model, it ought not to be their business model, and we may have to take some coercive action so that they change their business model,” Lomez says.

However, he also believes that what President Trump has said regarding H1-Bs is being taken "way out of proportion.”

“It is a statement on a news show that is not necessarily reflected in what is actually happening from a policy point of view,” Lomez says.

“By this point, it sort of surprises me that people don’t understand the way he speaks publicly is not always indicative of his policy prescriptions,” he adds.

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The CHILLING online trail of Trump's would-be assassin



Donald Trump’s would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks’ digital footprint has been exposed — but not by the FBI. Rather, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has revealed disturbing comments Crooks allegedly made on social media leading up to his decision to fire at President Trump.

This online history dates back years and includes him engaging in conversations in YouTube comment sections where he explains that the “only way to fight the gov is with terrorism style attacks.”

Crooks' Google searches also reveal a mentally unwell young man, with searches as far back as 2019 centering around mass shootings, how to build a bomb, and “firing an AR15 as fast as possible.”

Prior to 2020, Crooks' comments appeared to be pro-Trump and against the left. But all that switched, seemingly overnight.


While the FBI has countered Carlson’s claims, BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales isn’t buying it.

“This is a guy who is not well. And I’m just wondering, with so many people on the FBI radar, and the fact that the FBI radar can be so vast at times — I mean, they can track down anyone for anything. Unless you’re the pipe bomber and unless you try to assassinate the president, then running for office,” Gonzales says.

“And all of a sudden, we can’t find anything. … I’m telling you guys, this man was on their radar,” she says. “They won’t tell you that. This is my opinion.”

Gonzales believes that the YouTube comments — where Crooks was replying to an anonymous account discussing violent attacks — point to the possibility that he was "programmed to want to kill Trump.”

Gonzales also points out that while Crooks was engaging in violent rhetoric in the YouTube comment sections, she herself was getting censored for far less.

“I know for a fact YouTube is all over their stuff because I’ve been demonetized for two years of my life, two-plus years of my life, for saying something far more benign than calling for assassination. I misgendered someone, and I almost lost my entire YouTube account,” she explains.

“We deserve answers. … We deserve more answers than, ‘Trust us, bro, we’re the FBI,’” she adds.

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Did Trump take down Epstein? This email changes EVERYTHING



Democrats thought they had the smoking gun to incriminate Donald Trump, but the email release might have vindicated Trump and confirmed what Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) once let slip — that Trump was an FBI informant sent to lock up Jeffrey Epstein.

In one of the Epstein emails, he writes, “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump. Virginia spent hours at my house with him. He has never once been mentioned. Police chief, etc. I’m 75% there.”

“This continues to point toward the fact that President Trump may have been an FBI informant who actually turned Epstein in, because ... a few months ago when we were talking about all of the Epstein files, Mike Johnson seemed to accidentally slip,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales explains.

“He said it so casually, and he very clearly said, ‘He was an FBI informant,’ and then had to walk it back,” she continues. “But you can’t put the genie back in the bottle. This was a very big revelation from Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.”

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“He’s not saying what Epstein did is a hoax. It’s a terrible, unspeakable evil. He believes that himself, when he first heard the rumor, he kicked him out of Mar-a-Lago. He was an FBI informant to try to take this stuff,” Johnson said in an interview, stumbling through that last sentence as if he made a mistake.

“So when you start piecing that together with what we have today, which is Michael Wolff, who was in some of these emails ... he’s the journalist who hates President Trump. He has written many books about how much he hates President Trump, and he was in constant communication with Jeffrey Epstein trying to figure out how to blackmail Donald Trump. Not a very good guy,” Gonzales comments.

And in an interview on the “PBD Podcast” with Patrick Bet-David, Wolff admitted that “Epstein believed that it was Trump who first informed the police about what was going on at Epstein’s house.”

“And from that point on, they were ... nothing but bitter enemies,” Wolff added.

“So you have Michael Wolff, who hates President Trump, who loves the sex trafficker, good friends. He’s besties with the sex trafficker. And he says that the sex trafficker really, really thought that President Trump was the one who went to law enforcement about him. In fact, it turned them into enemies,” Gonzales says.

“And then you have Mike Johnson, oopsies, accidentally saying that President Trump was an FBI informant. And then you have Jeffrey Epstein’s emails that say that he’s 75% there. He thinks that Trump had done something. ‘The dog that hasn’t barked is Trump,’” she continues.

“I don’t think the Democrats thought this thing through when they decided to just release all of this, but I mean, I guess they’d have to have brains to be able to think it through,” she adds.

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Sorry, liberals — the Epstein emails don’t nail Trump



Just one day after their shutdown fiasco, Democrats have released new Epstein emails in an attempt to incriminate President Trump — but their plan has backfired miserably.

“They magically discovered and released some new emails from Jeffrey Epstein. And you’ll never believe: They finally got him. They got him. House Democrats release Epstein emails that mention Donald Trump,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales jokes.

One email, Gonzales says, “looks pretty bad” and reveals Epstein saying the “dog that hasn’t barked is Trump,” before saying that a redacted victim “spent hours” at Epstein’s house with the now-president though he had “never once been mentioned.”

The victim’s name turned out to be Virginia Giuffre, who has “gone on record multiple times and said that President Trump did nothing wrong.”


“There is so much sworn testimony that she has provided about it. … She is on the record saying Trump couldn’t have been friendlier and that he never had sex with her or any of those underage girls,” Gonzales explains.

“The Democrats didn’t redact it because they care about protecting victims. They redacted it because they didn’t want you to be able to go, ‘I think there’s more to that. I don’t know that I buy that,’” she continues.

In another email thread between Epstein and journalist Michael Wolff discussing CNN preparing to ask Trump about his relationship with Epstein, Epstein asks Wolff what his answer would be for Trump if he could “craft an answer for him.”

“I think you should let him hang himself. If he says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency. You can hang him in a way that potentially generates a positive benefit for you, or, if it really looks like he could win, you could save him, generating a debt,” Wolff replied.

“Of course, it is possible that, when asked, he’ll say Jeffrey is a great guy and has gotten a raw deal and is a victim of political correctness, which is to be outlawed in a Trump regime,” he added.

Gonzales, again, is not fazed by the left’s new “evidence.”

“Right off the bat, you know, Michael Wolff is not only very aware of what Jeffrey Epstein is doing because he mentions the island … and yet, instead of calling the police, dialing up the FBI, giving some sort of law enforcement or federal official or, I don’t know, literally anyone who could help these young girls who are being trafficked, this guy, instead of doing any of that, he’s just like, ‘I’m going to give PR advice to Jeffrey Epstein,’” Gonzales says.

Not only that, but Wolff’s career as a journalist has been spent writing negative books on Donald Trump.

“A Trump-hater that stands to profit off of a scandal for President Trump. Got it. Not a guy I’m willing to trust,” Gonzales says.

The last email cherry-picked by the Democrats is an email from Epstein to Michael Wolff, where he writes a redacted victim's name and the word Mar-a-Lago and says, “Trump said he asked me to resign. Never a member ever. Of course he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop.”

“So that doesn’t track with Donald Trump participating in anything, as he asked him to stop. We already know that Donald Trump said, ‘You cannot be a member of Mar-a-Lago any more. You cannot set foot on my property any more.’ We already know that to be true,” Gonzales comments.

Gonzales also notes that not too long ago, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) revealed that Trump was an FBI informant ordered to help take Epstein down.

“It would make a whole lot of sense,” she says.

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