LOS ANGELES (KABC) — “Only you can stop fascist liars,” said Nithya Raman and content creator Ed Choi, who is supporting Raman for mayor.
The comment was made in a video produced by Choi and it implies the fascist liars include the Los Angeles Police Department, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell and Mayor Karen Bass.
In the video, Choi asks: “What is your plan to de-fascisize this city?”
Raman responds: “I actually think there’s a lot we can do make sure our LAPD is actually protecting people instead of protecting ice on our streets as we saw happen. I think that starts with a culture shift from the very top and new leadership within the department. I don’t believe chief McDonnell has met this moment.”
This isn’t the first time Raman has called for the removal of Chief McDonnell if elected. And although her campaign didn’t make the video, they were listed as a collaborator before quickly taking the video down.
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In a statement, the Raman campaign said in part: “Nithya was interviewed by several social media creators on Sunday. In one interview, the creator asked her to repeat his phrase, ‘only you can stop fascist liars,’ which she said in reference to ice and the trump administration’s violent kidnappings that continue in our city today. The video was then edited by the creator to put Mayor Bass on screen during that moment, but Nithya never used that phrase to describe Mayor Bass, Chief McDonnell, or LAPD officers, which is why we removed ourselves from the post and asked the creator to take it down immediately.”
In an interview with Marc Brown of Eyewitness News, Mayor Karen Bass responded to the video which shows a photo of her and the text below reads “Only you can stop fascist liars.”
“For somebody who wants to be mayor, to call her chief, our department fascists or to even consider firing the chief within a year and a half of the Olympic games to me just shows she is completely unprepared for primetime,” said Bass.
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