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For Immediate Release
February, 28 2017, 10:45am EDT
Contact:
Email:,info(at)fwwatch(dot)org,Seth Gladstone -,sgladstone@fwwatch.org
Advocates to Hold Major 'Resistance Address' Rally Outside White House Before Trump's First Address to Congress
Rosie O’Donnell to Appear with Advocates Resisting Trump Agenda
WASHINGTON
In advance of President Trump's first address to Congress on Tuesday, February 28, major national advocacy groups and individuals resisting his harmful agenda are joining together to hold 'A Resistance Address: Defending American Values in a Time of Moral Crisis' -- an address and rally outside the White House before Trump gives his address to a joint session of Congress. Organizations and individuals involved include Rosie O'Donnell, Food & Water Watch, ACLU, MoveOn.org Civic Action, National Nurses United, Hip Hop Caucus, DailyKos, Our Revolution, and many others.
Thousands are expected to participate in the rally, both in front of the White House and via livestream. The rally will feature speakers from diverse organizations and groups of people who have been impacted and harmed by the Trump Administration's policies, including women, people of color, and members of LGBTQ community, as well as environmental and immigrants' rights groups. They will send a clear message outside of Trump's front door that his agenda does not represent the values of the American people. Following the first disastrous month of his Administration, Trump is expected to articulate a discriminatory agenda that continues to put people in harm's way, undermines equality and our shared values, and damages our environment.
"The Trump administration does not represent the values of most Americans," said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. "We're here to remind him that not only are his policies unpopular, they are also destructive to the fabric of this nation and our planet. That's why the state of the resistance is stronger than ever -- and will continue to grow."
"The Trump administration has gone to great lengths of dividing and not uniting citizens, creating an 'us' versus 'them' environment when speaking to all Americans, it is shameful, and dangerous. Only when the American values of justice and equality are upheld will we escape the moral crisis that this discriminatory agenda represents for our nation," said Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., President and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus.
"We rally not only to resist but to build a movement of millions working for social, environmental and economic justice," said Larry Cohen of Our Revolution.
WHAT: 'A Resistance Address: Defending American Values in a Time of Moral Crisis' Rally ahead of Trump's Address to a joint session of Congress. On Social Media, #ResistanceAddress.
WHO (in order of address):
Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Hip Hop Caucus
Jordan Marie Daniel, Rising Hearts
Larry Cohen, Our Revolution
Dr. Maha Hilal, DC Justice for Muslims Coalition
Rabbi Jason Kimelman-Block, Bend the Arc
Faiz Shakir, ACLU
Sandra Falwell, National Nurses United
Will Fischer, VoteVets
Kaylie Hanson Long, NARAL
Julieta Garibay, United We Dream
Wenonah Hauter, Food & Water Watch
Rosie O'Donnell
WHEN: Tuesday, February 28, 6pm-7:30pm ET; media availability with organizers from 5:30-6:00pm ET
WHERE: Lafayette Park, Washington, D.C. (In front of the White House); in case of severe weather, contact Robyn Shapiro for alternative details
LIVESTREAM: www.foodandwaterwatch.org/resistanceaddress
RSVP: To RSVP for the media availability, contact Robyn Shapiro, robyn.shapiro@berlinrosen.com, 201.819.2526
Note: Organizers noted that the address and rally will feature various parts of the resistance but certainly not all of the resistance, which takes many forms and is far larger than can fit into one event.
For News Crews:
There are no tripods allowed by the park service. All cameras must be carried (hand or shoulder)
Equipment cannot be stored under the stage
Equipment cannot be left unattended
Cables must be covered with matting in a cable trough
Everything that has to be carried in has to go on stage if it's not moving around with a person, there are no places for storage
Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people's health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.
(202) 683-2500LATEST NEWS
Trump Chief of Staff Wiles Subpoenaed in Foreign Lobbying Criminal Case
“This kind of entanglement shows exactly why a person with Wiles’ lengthy record of controversial corporate and foreign lobbying clients is too conflicted to be running the White House," said one advocate.
Feb 06, 2026
A court filing in a federal criminal lobbying case against a former Republican congressman confirmed what the government watchdog Public Citizen warned against as soon as President Donald Trump appointed Susie Wiles to be his chief of staff: that her "lobbying client list is both extensive and littered with controversial clients who stand to benefit from having their former lobbyist running the White House."
The court filing was submitted Thursday by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and sought to "quash" a subpoena that was served to Wiles in December.
Wiles was called to testify as a witness in the case against former Rep. David Rivera (R-Fla.) and his political associate, Esther Nuhfer. They are accused of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) by lobbying on behalf of the sanctioned Venezuelan businessman Raul Gorrín.
According to a grand jury indictment from December 2024, Rivera sought to lobby top US government officials to remove Gorrín from the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List. He allegedly worked to conceal and promote Gorrín's criminal activities by creating fraudulent shell companies using names associated with a law firm and with a government official.
Rivera received over $5.5 million for his lobbying activities and did not register under FARA as required by law, according to the DOJ.
The Miami Herald reported late last month that Rivera and Nuhfer are "also accused of trying to 'normalize' relations between the [Venezuelan President Nicolás] Maduro regime and the United States while Rivera’s consulting firm landed a head-turning $50 million lobbying contract with the US subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company."
Attorneys for Rivera subpoenaed Wiles at the White House, seeking to compel her to testify about her lobbying work for Ballard Partners on behalf of Globovision, a Caracas-based TV station owned by Gorrín.
As the Herald reported, Wiles worked at Ballard shortly after running Trump's presidential campaign in Florida. Due to her presidential ties she "brought an instant cachet" to the firm, where Gorrín was "hoping to gain access to the new Trump administration, which was threatening economic sanctions against the Maduro regime and Venezuela’s oil industry."
Gorrín was working with Ballard in an attempt to expand Globovision to the US as a Spanish-language affiliate—an aim that presented challenges due to the government sanctions and the Federal Communications Commission's limits on foreign ownership of US TV stations.
Rivera and Nuhfer's lawyers are seeking Wiles' testimony to show that her lobbying firm was trying to influence Trump, "on behalf of Gorrín, to bring about a regime change in Venezuela."
The subpoena document said the defendants' lawyers want to question Wiles on her "extensive communications" regarding Ballard's work with Gorrín and efforts to help the businessman gain access to Trump.
They are also seeking similar testimony from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who as a senator met privately with Rivera, Nuhfer, and Gorrín at a hotel in Washington in 2017, according to the Herald.
In the court filing, the DOJ said Wiles had "no apparent connection to any of the allegations in the superseding indictment concerning defendants’ activities as unregistered agents of the government of Venezuela."
Public Citizen noted Wiles' work with Ballard in November 2024 when it published the report Meet Susie Wiles’ Controversial Corporate Lobbying Clients, which revealed 42 lobbying clients the chief of staff had between 2017-24.
The client list was "extensive and littered with controversial clients who stand to benefit from having their former lobbyist running the White House," said Public Citizen on Friday.
In addition to Gorrín's TV station, Wiles' represented a waste management company that resisted removing nuclear waste from a landfill, a tobacco firm that sought to block federal restrictions on its candy-flavored cigars, and a foreign mining private equity firm seeking approval to develop a gold mine on federal public lands.
Jon Golinger, Public Citizen's democracy advocate, said Friday that the subpoena in the Rivera case raises even more questions about Wiles' potential conflicts of interest.
“This kind of entanglement," he said, "shows exactly why a person with Wiles’ lengthy record of controversial corporate and foreign lobbying clients is too conflicted to be running the White House."
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New Reporting on Campaign Giving in Illinois Exposes Increasingly 'Sophisticated Methods' of AIPAC
The "impressively coordinated" AIPAC operation features individual donations given "on the same day, by the same donors, for the same amounts" for pro-Israel candidates, according to Drop Site News.
Feb 06, 2026
The largest pro-Israel lobbying organization in the US has become increasingly toxic among Democratic voters, and a Friday report from Drop Site News revealed how the organization has gone to great lengths to conceal its support for candidates in the party's primaries.
Drop Site examined campaign donations in competitive Democratic primaries in Illinois and found that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) "is resorting to ever more sophisticated methods to support its preferred candidates while cloaking its own involvement."
According to Drop Site, AIPAC appears to have pioneered its concealment tactics during a 2024 Democratic primary in Oregon, when it funded super political action committees (PACs) that dumped money into the race to benefit Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), who was challenging Susheela Jayapal, the sister of Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.).
"The main super PAC in question (named 314 Action) explicitly denied that any funding came from AIPAC—a claim revealed as a flagrant lie once disclosure records finally became public," the report noted. "But by then, Dexter had triumphed and was on her way to Congress."
The same tactics are being used in Illinois, Drop Site continued, where AIPAC has been quietly spending to benefit the campaigns of Democratic candidates Laura Fine, Donna Miller, and Melissa Bean, who are all facing off against progressive challengers who have been critical of Israel.
What is notable about the Illinois operation is that many past donors to AIPAC and its major affiliated super PAC United Democracy Project (UDP) have been lining up to give individual contributions to the Fine, Miller, and Bean campaigns.
"A whopping 237 former AIPAC/UDP donors have given to both Miller and Bean, contributing $396,288.01 to Bean and $429,083.00 to Miller," the report found. "Forty-four of these donors have given to all three candidates, sending a total of $208,753.33 to them. Several of the donations were given to the candidates on the same day, by the same donors, for the same amounts."
Like in Oregon, the three campaigns have also been propped up by AIPAC-funded super PACs that have been taking out ads that do not mention Israel and instead focus on generic biographical information on the candidates.
Of course, these operations, which Drop Site describes as "impressively coordinated," do not guarantee victory.
AIPAC's UDP super PAC recently spent heavily in a New Jersey Democratic primary that concluded on Thursday to take down former Rep. Tom Malinowski, who earned the group's displeasure when he came out in support of putting conditions on US aid to Israel.
But as Forward reported Friday, the campaign proved ineffective against Malinowski, who at the moment is in a dead heat with Analilia Mejia, a progressive candidate who has been even more critical of Israel.
"Whether or not Malinowski ultimately wins, AIPAC will have failed to achieve its goal of electing a Democrat in the primary who it views as being more supportive of Israel," wrote Forward, "either Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill or former Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way. And if Mejia wins, AIPAC will have helped elect a progressive who is less supportive of Israel."
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Mamdani Signs Executive Order Requiring ICE Agents to Get Judicial Warrants in NYC
"ICE is more than a rogue agency—it is a manifestation of the abuse of power," the mayor said.
Feb 06, 2026
As the Trump administration claims federal agents have the authority to raid Americans' homes and carry out arrests without a warrant, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed an executive order on Friday barring Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies from entering properties without getting a warrant from a judge.
It was part of a suite of policies Mamdani announced at an interfaith breakfast to reaffirm New York's status as a sanctuary city amid President Donald Trump's surges of immigration agents to other US cities, which have resulted in extrajudicial killings and rampant civil rights violations by agents.
"Across this country, day after day, we bear witness to cruelty that staggers the conscience. Masked agents, paid by our own tax dollars, violate the Constitution and visit terror upon our neighbors," Mamdani said. "That is why this morning, I am signing an executive order that will strengthen our city's protection of our fellow New Yorkers from abusive immigration enforcement."
As part of what the mayor called "a sweeping reaffirmation of our commitment to our immigrant neighbors," federal agents will not be allowed to enter city property—including parking garages, parking lots, schools, shelters, hospitals, and other public spaces—without a judicial warrant.
The order comes after the publication last week of a leaked memo from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) telling agents they had the authority to indiscriminately round up people suspected of being undocumented immigrants without obtaining a warrant from a judge, instead using "administrative warrants" signed by agents themselves.
A previous memo issued in May to all ICE personnel by acting ICE Director Todd Lyons asserted that agents had the authority to forcibly enter private residences without a judicial warrant, a claim that legal experts roundly condemned as a violation of the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.
In Minneapolis, where more than 2,000 agents have been deployed as part of President Donald Trump's "Operation Metro Surge," reports abound of agents harassing, detaining, and brutalizing mostly nonwhite residents, many of them US citizens, often using explicit racial profiling.
Mamdani emphasized that "this cruelty is no faraway concept."
"ICE operates here in New York. In our courthouses. Our workplaces. They skulk at 26 Federal Plaza—the same building where I waited in fear as my father had his citizenship interview," he said. "ICE is more than a rogue agency—it is a manifestation of the abuse of power. And it is also new. It was founded only in 2002. Four mayors ago, it did not exist. Its wrongs need not be treated as inevitable or inherited. In fact, there is no reforming something so rotten and base."
During the speech, Mamdani asked faith leaders to pass out tens of thousands of "Know Your Rights" flyers and booklets written in 10 different languages, informing readers of their right to remain silent, to ask for a judicial warrant, to speak with an attorney, and to request an interpreter.
"I urge you to share these with your congregants—even those who are citizens, even those whom you think ICE may not target," he said. "These materials apply to us all: those who have been here for five generations, those who arrived last year. They apply to us all because the obligation is upon us all. To love thy neighbor, to look out for the stranger."
In addition to the warrant requirement, Mamdani's order requires city agencies to develop training for employees on how to interact with immigration authorities when they show up.
It also states that data collected by city agencies must not be shared with federal immigration officials, as the Trump administration has sought to weaponize data from programs like Medicaid and Social Security to target people.
It requires city agencies to complete an audit within the next two weeks to demonstrate compliance with the city's sanctuary policies.
Murad Awawdeh, the president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition, applauded the mayor "for taking decisive action to fight for our immigrant neighbors."
"New York is a city built and maintained by immigrants—from its culture to its skyscrapers—and today's executive order will bring us closer to a city where every New Yorker can live in safety and dignity," he said. "Mayor Mamdani's announcement recognizes his responsibility to defend all residents from abusive immigration enforcement, and our moral obligation to protect our immigrant neighbors from these attacks."
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