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After Zohran Mamdani\u2019s victory in the New York City mayoral election\u2014making him the city\u2019s first Muslim and first South Asian mayor-elect\u2014Republican leaders in Washington, D.C., signaled plans to try to block him from taking office.President Donald Trump has accused the 34-year-old Ugandan-born politician of being a communist, after previously warning that he would withhold federal funding from New York City if Mamdani won. Mamdani secured his win last week with a decisive margin, defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo by nearly 10 percentage points, though Mamdani barely won a majority of votes overall.<\/p>\n
But some Republican lawmakers have vowed to block him from taking office. Some Republican lawmakers have demanded investigations into Mamdani\u2019s naturalisation process, calling for him to be stripped of his US citizenship and deported. They have accused him of involvement in communist and \u201cterrorist\u201d activities and figures linked to terrorism.<\/p>\n
But some Republican lawmakers have vowed to block him from taking office. Some Republican lawmakers have demanded investigations into Mamdani\u2019s naturalisation process, calling for him to be stripped of his US citizenship and deported. They have accused him of involvement in communist and \u201cterrorist\u201d activities and figures linked to terrorism.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Mamdani lied on his naturalisation documents, he doesn\u2019t get to be a citizen, and he certainly doesn\u2019t get to run for mayor of New York City. A great American city is on the precipice of being run by a communist who has publicly embraced a terroristic ideology,\u201d Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) said in an October 29 news release, after asking US Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate the mayor-elect, the Economic Times reported.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe American naturalization system REQUIRES any alignments with communism or terrorist activities to be disclosed. I\u2019m doubtful he disclosed them. If the information is confirmed, put him on the first flight back to Uganda,\u201d Ogles added.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a campaign finance watchdog has filed two criminal referrals against Mamdani, accusing the leftist socialist of taking illicit donations from overseas contributors.<\/p>\n
The Coolidge Reagan Foundation sent the recommendations to the Department of Justice\u2019s Criminal Division and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg\u2019s office last week. They say that Mamdani may have broken the Federal Election Campaign Act and the New York Election Code.<\/p>\n
The recommendations were made after the New York Post reported earlier this month that Mamdani\u2019s campaign got about $13,000 in donations from at least 170 people who live outside the US, including one from his mother-in-law in Dubai.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a sustained pattern of foreign money flowing into a New York City mayoral race which is a clear violation of both federal law and New York City campaign finance rules,\u201d Backer added. \u201cMamdani\u2019s campaign was on notice for months that it was accepting illegal foreign contributions, and yet it did nothing meaningful to stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Coolidge Reagan Foundation has previously filed complaints against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Hillary Clinton\u2019s presidential campaign, and the Democratic National Committee.<\/p>\n
The watchdog told Bragg and the DOJ to look into and arrest Mamdani for the campaign cash that may have come from Australia, Turkey, France, Canada, Germany, and other countries.<\/p>\n
The group said that Mamdani\u2019s campaign had shown a \u201csystematic failure to comply\u201d with the rules about campaign money.<\/p>\n
The Federal Election Campaign Act says that it is against the law to \u201caccept or receive\u201d donations from people who are not US citizens in any federal, state, or local election.<\/p>\n
People who knowingly accept donations from other countries could face big fines and jail time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe law is crystal clear that foreign nationals may not participate in American elections, and that includes making contributions,\u201d Backer continued. \u201cYet Mamdani\u2019s campaign repeatedly accepted donations from individuals abroad, some even tied to regions and individuals openly sympathetic to hostile actors.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether through negligence or intent, this conduct undermines the integrity of the democratic process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mamdani\u2019s campaign for mayor of New York City sent back about $9,000 in donations from people outside the U.S., the Post reported.<\/p>\n
Far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez broke House ethics rules by accepting more than $3,700 in gifts for her appearance at the 2021 Met Gala \u2014 including the now-infamous \u201cTax The Rich\u201d dress \u2014 but paid less than $1,000 for the items.<\/p>\n
The House Ethics Committee found that the New York Democrat failed to follow House rules on gifts and improperly gave her boyfriend, Riley Roberts, a free ticket to the exclusive $35,000-per-head event, The New York Post reported.<\/p>\n
But the panel stopped short of issuing any formal sanctions.<\/p>\n
According to the committee, the fair-market value of the rented Brother Vellies dress, shoes, jewelry, handbag, and hairpiece totaled $3,724.04.<\/p>\n
Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s campaign delayed payments for months and eventually paid just $990.76 \u2014 most of it from her own pocket.<\/p>\n
Her staff also disputed some of the invoices and tried to reduce costs by comparing the couture gown to cheaper rentals online.<\/p>\n
\u201cRepresentative Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s attempt to apply a retail rental cost to a handmade couture gown was unrealistic,\u201d the committee\u2019s report said.<\/p>\n
The report noted that most vendors weren\u2019t paid until after they made repeated attempts to collect \u2014 some even threatened legal action.<\/p>\n
That led to subpoenas from the committee and a more than three-year investigation.<\/p>\n
While the panel said it found no evidence Ocasio-Cortez \u201cintentionally\u201d underpaid for the goods, it did place blame on her former staffers, including ex-campaign manager Rebecca Rodriguez.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez was caught trying to negotiate down the cost of the dress \u2014 from $1,300 to $300 \u2014 and left a $477 hairstylist bill unpaid for nearly six months.<\/p>\n
The hairstylist eventually threatened to report the congresswoman\u2019s campaign to the New York Department of Labor.<\/p>\n
The Ethics Committee said no punishment would be necessary \u2014 as long as Ocasio-Cortez donates $250 to cover her boyfriend\u2019s dinner at the event and pays an additional $2,733.28 to the designer.<\/p>\n
AOC\u2019s chief of staff, Mike Casca, said in a statement, \u201cThe Congresswoman appreciates the Committee finding that she made efforts to ensure her compliance with House Rules and sought to act consistently with her ethical requirements as a Member of the House.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe accepts the ruling and will remedy the remaining amounts, as she\u2019s done at each step in this process,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Under House rules, members of Congress are barred from accepting gifts \u2014 with a few exceptions, including tickets to charity events if invited by the organization hosting it.<\/p>\n
In this case, Vogue editor Anna Wintour invited Ocasio-Cortez and her boyfriend personally, as guests of\u00a0Vogue<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 not the museum that officially hosts the gala.<\/p>\n Wintour also instructed the Brother Vellies designer to custom-make the dress \u2014 something the designer called \u201cinsane,\u201d since she normally only makes shoes and handbags.<\/p>\n Despite being told to keep expenses low, AOC\u2019s team was met several times with responses like, \u201cMet Gala attendees don\u2019t normally pay for this,\u201d according to her lawyer.<\/p>\n The rented shoes had a retail value of $635 but were rented for $160. The Brother Vellies handbag was worth $995 and rented for $157. Jewelry was rented for $78, and a paper hibiscus flower for her hair cost $35.<\/p>\n A year later, in May 2022, AOC\u2019s team received another $5,579 bill for car service, hotel rooms, and accessories like Roberts\u2019 bowtie and cummerbund.<\/p>\n The report noted that the committee never got a clear answer about why the designer didn\u2019t ask for payment up front.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one appeared to be thinking about the cost of anything, despite the fact that they were told to keep the costs down by the Congresswoman\u2019s staff because the Congresswoman had and has limited financial means,\u201d her lawyer said.<\/p>\n The committee concluded that Ocasio-Cortez\u2019s conduct violated House rules, laws, and standards of conduct \u2014 both in accepting the gifts and in delaying repayment.<\/p>\n Once she repays the remaining value, the committee says the matter will be considered closed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After Zohran Mamdani\u2019s victory in the New York City mayoral election\u2014making him the city\u2019s first Muslim and first South Asian mayor-elect\u2014Republican leaders in Washington, D.C., signaled plans to try to block him…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t