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For Immediate Release
March, 11 2026, 08:47am EDT
Contact:
Kevin Martin, Peace Action president, kmartin@peaceaction.org
Jeff Cohen, RootsAction cofounder, jeff@rootsaction.org
Coalition of Antiwar Groups Launches National Campaign Calling for Jeffries and Schumer to Step Aside from Leadership
A coalition of antiwar groups launched a national campaign Wednesday for constituents to urge Democrats in Congress to remove Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Chuck Schumer from their posts as minority leaders.
The coalition includes RootsAction and Peace Action, the nation’s largest grassroots peace network, as well as World Beyond War and the Progressive Democrats of America – Greater Middle East Alliance.
“Schumer and Jeffries have failed their party and country through wobbly leadership when firmness and clarity are needed in opposing a reckless and costly war,” said Jeff Cohen, cofounder of RootsAction. “The Democratic base sees a weak and confused party leadership as Trump demands billions more to attack Iran. While the party needs strong leaders in Congress, both Schumer and Jeffries have shown that they’re not up to the job.”
The president of Peace Action, Kevin Martin, said in a statement: “I doubt at this point whether many people look to Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries for ‘leadership’ in Congress, but we would settle for them getting with the program and representing their base, and the majority of Americans, who want them to stand strongly against Trump’s illegal wars and domestic terror campaigns against the American people. They did organize Democratic leadership in both Houses of Congress to support the recent Iran War Powers Resolutions, albeit somewhat belatedly. They need to speak out loudly and clearly, and get their caucuses in line, to oppose the upcoming $50 billion or more for Trump’s illegal war of aggression on Iran, and to cut off U.S. weapons to Israel. Failing to do so will only increase calls for them to step down or be replaced by colleagues who understand where the American people are on these and other critical issues.”
RootsAction told supporters Wednesday: “The Democratic leadership in Congress has failed to provide real leadership against a war-crazed Trump administration…. It’s time for congressional Democrats to replace Schumer and Jeffries with leaders who are willing and able to challenge the runaway militarism that has dragged our country into launching yet another insanely destructive war.”
RootsAction is dedicated to galvanizing people who are committed to economic fairness, equal rights for all, civil liberties, environmental protection -- and defunding endless wars. We mobilize on these issues no matter whether Democrats or Republicans control Washington D.C.
LATEST NEWS
Rights Groups Warn Countries to End Complicity in Trump’s High Seas Murder Spree
As the death toll rises, governments "cannot plausibly claim ignorance of the risks" of supporting the US military in the Caribbean and Pacific, said a coalition.
Apr 24, 2026
With the death toll in the Trump administration's bombings of boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean hitting at least 180, a global coalition of rights and policy organizations is warning governments that they "cannot plausibly claim ignorance of the risks" of continuing to support the United States' deadly policy in the region, and demanding that countries "stop facilitating extrajudicial killings" carried out by the US military.
The Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) spearheaded the statement now co-signed by at least 125 human rights groups, drug policy organizations, and veterans' groups, warning that just as US military officials and personnel have risked potential criminal liability by taking part in at least 52 boat bombings since September, third countries that are aiding the US in the attacks may be taking similar risks.
"Third states can incur legal responsibility for aiding or assisting another state in their commission of internationally wrongful acts, including extrajudicial killings and crimes against humanity," reads the statement, whose signatories include Amnesty International, Oxfam America, and the Friends Committee on National Legislation. "Forms of cooperation such as intelligence sharing, access to military bases, and the provision of logistical support may meet the threshold for aiding and assisting where they facilitate the identification, tracking, and targeting of vessels."
As El País reported Thursday, a number of countries have confirmed they are cooperating with President Donald Trump's targeting of boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, which the administration has claimed is aimed at stopping drug trafficking in the region.
The US military has not publicly released evidence that the people it's killed were actually "narco-terrorists" as it's repeatedly claimed; the family members of some of the victims have filed legal complaints, saying their loved ones were not involved in the drug trade.
A small number of victims were identified last year by The Associated Press, which found some were struggling fishermen or other workers who took low-level jobs helping drug traffickers to navigate the Caribbean. Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America has compared the killings, if they have targeted the drug trade at all, to "straight-up massacring 16-year-old drug dealers on US street corners.”
Despite the lack of evidence to back up the administration's claims about the operation, the Dominican Republic has allowed the US to refuel military planes and transport equipment at one of its air bases and its Las Américas International Airport, and the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago expressed support for the boat bombings when they began in September. The island nation has reportedly allowed the transit of military aircraft and the installation of a US radar system for surveillance.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said in November that his government would no longer share intelligence on drug trafficking with the US, but he later walked back the threat, saying intelligence would be shared provided it "will be used for seizures without undermining human rights."
Trump also convened a "Shield of the Americas" summit last month to announce the creation of a coalition of 17 countries in the region, including Argentina, Costa Rica, and Paraguay, which will focus on "bilateral and multilateral operations against cartels and terrorist organizations.”
Legal experts have warned that although Trump informed the US Congress last October that the administration views the US as being in an "armed conflict" with Latin American drug cartels, the military has clearly violated international law by targeting defenseless survivors of its boat bombings.
"The United States is not in an armed conflict with anyone in Latin America. That means the people on these boats are civilians. Civilians, including those suspected of smuggling drugs, are not lawful targets," said the ACLU last month.
Experts have said the bombings meet the definition of extrajudicial killings—or simply murder—and one top US military lawyer warned before the operation began that US service members could face legal repercussions for carrying out the attacks at the direction of Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Despite the alarm raised by legal experts, "we are witnessing a continuation and a truly worrying normalization of these attacks against vessels," Annie Shiel, US director of CIVIC, told El País on Thursday. “The United States is committing extrajudicial killings or murders, plain and simple.”
The group and its fellow signatories warned states like the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago could also be held legally responsible if they provide aid or assistance to the US when it is committing acts that violate international law.
"All states must immediately cease or refrain from providing any assistance that could contribute to these unlawful killings," reads the statement. "Failure to do so facilitates the continuation of this lawless campaign, undermines the rule of law, and risks incurring legal responsibility under international law."
The groups emphasized that in addition to putting countries at risk for legal liability, governments that facilitate the boat killings are exacerbating harm to their own communities.
"Families awaiting the return of their loved ones may never know what happened to them and have no access to recourse," they said. "Coastal communities have witnessed human remains washing up on shore and fear for their lives when they trade and fish, sowing psychological trauma and undermining livelihoods."
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Dem Candidate for Philly House Seat Caught Hiding Over $500K in Secret AIPAC Funds
Ala Stanford, who's running for Pennsylvania's 3rd district, has repeatedly claimed that using the term genocide to describe Israel's actions in Gaza is "hurtful" to those accused, even tantamount to using the "N-word."
Apr 24, 2026
As the Israel lobby's influence grows overwhelmingly toxic among Democratic voters, the current frontrunner for one of America's bluest congressional districts has been caught trying to hide financial backing from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
The Philadelphia pediatric surgeon, Dr. Ala Stanford, who is running for the open seat in Pennsylvania's 3rd congressional district, has denied receiving any funds from AIPAC.
"That's not me... I did not accept money from AIPAC," Stanford said at an event in late March when confronted about previous reporting that the super political action committee (PAC) supporting her, the 314 Action Fund, had acted as a secret pass-through for AIPAC in previous elections.
But following a new report published by Drop Site News on Thursday, co-founder Ryan Grim said, "We now know this is a flat-out lie."
Using federal campaign filings, Grim and Capitol Hill correspondent Julian Andreone reported that AIPAC has been secretly directing money to back Stanford's campaign using the 314 Action Fund, which has spent more than $2.6 million supporting the candidate.
The PAC is billed as a fund to support “pro-science” candidates and recruits doctors to run for federal office. But its most recent monthly report revealed a $500,000 donation from the Kimbark Foundation, whose only other donation was another $500,000 to the EDW Action Fund, which has also been used as an AIPAC shell organization.
In 2024, AIPAC used EDW—which describes itself as an organization to elect pro-choice candidates—to secretly give money to a another pediatrician, Dr. Maxine Dexter, who is now a US representative for Oregon's 3rd district, helping her oust her rival, Susheela Jayapal, the older sister of Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who has a similar record for supporting Palestinian rights amid Israel's genocide in Gaza.
In the first quarter of 2026, Stanford also received more than $27,000 from major AIPAC donors via the group Democracy Engine, which The Guardian has described as "a donation platform that allows unpopular PACs to obscure their donations" and which has been used by AIPAC to fundraise against incumbents like former Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Jamal Bowman (D-NY).
That AIPAC would drop big money to back Stanford becomes less surprising given her opponent, Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb (D-200), who has called for an arms embargo against Israel and the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
According to a recent poll commissioned by the 314 Action Fund, Stanford leads the race with about 28% support compared with 23% for Rabb.
However, Rabb netted a major endorsement on Thursday from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), one of the nation's most prominent progressive politicians and a potential 2028 presidential contender. He has racked up others from Justice Democrats and the Democratic Socialists of America, and other Democratic lawmakers, including Reps. Jamie Raskin (Md.) and Ro Khanna (Calif.).
While Rabb has condemned politicians who refuse to refer to Israel's destruction of Gaza and killing of more than 75,000 Palestinians as a "genocide"—a position shared by the vast majority of Democratic voters—Stanford has suggested that belief is tantamount to hate speech.
“I know when you use the G-word how hurtful it is to a group of people,” she said in a March interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer. “It’s like someone saying the N-word around me. I don’t want to hear that. And every time you shout that from the rooftops, how many people are you hurting?”
After those comments were met with backlash, she has struggled to respond when asked to clarify her beliefs on the topic. When voters pressed her to use the word "genocide" during a candidate forum earlier this week, her answer appeared to leave many dissatisfied.
A voter asked if Israel's actions in Gaza constituted genocide. Stanford stood in silence for around 30 seconds before deflecting to an anecdote about her work during the Covid-19 pandemic. "I don't owe anybody anything," she said.
She then responded, "I can say genocide if you'd like me to say it," not naming Israel specifically. When the voter asked her if Israel's actions constituted one, he was told to "be quiet" by another attendee. When the voter responded, Stanford asked him, “Can you please be respectful for her?”
“I am someone who took an oath to do no harm, so when I made the statement, I made it because for those who have been a victim of genocide, whose families are still suffering, it’s hurtful to them,” Stanford said, seeming to mean victims other than those in Gaza. “For Israelis who have been accused of committing it, it’s hurtful for them,” she continued.
After the comments prompted angry reactions from the crowd, Stanford shouted, "Excuse me! Excuse me!" before saying, "All I have ever done is to give. It's selfless." She then said she apologized if she "hurt" the voters who confronted her.
Erik Polyak, the executive director of 314 Action, did not answer specific questions about its support from AIPAC when asked by Drop Site, instead generally emphasizing its general mission to "elect doctors and scientists."
Polyak noted that the group had opposed AIPAC's preferred candidate, Laura Fine, in last month's race for Illinois' 9th congressional district in Chicago, instead backing the somewhat more Israel-critical Daniel Biss, who narrowly defeated the Palestinian-American Kat Abughazaleh for the Democratic nomination.
In that race and others in Chicago, AIPAC used nearly identical tactics to those deployed in Philadelphia. It funneled $1.5 million through the group Elect Chicago Women to fund attack ads against Biss, and used another shadow group, the Chicago Progressive Partnership, to fund ads boosting another marginal left-wing candidate, Bushra Amiwala, which helped splinter the progressive bloc supporting Abughazaleh.
Similar tactics were less successful last week in New Jersey, where Analilia Mejía, a former aide to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), clinched the Democratic nomination despite her primary opponent pulling in $350,000 from an AIPAC donor who had also bankrolled the effort to oust Jayapal.
As both Democratic and Republican candidates increasingly seek to prove their anti-establishment credibility by swearing off donations from AIPAC and other lobbying groups, Grim said that it'll be difficult for voters to take them seriously unless the parties adopt rules requiring greater transparency.
"One thing Democrats and Republicans, through the [Democratic National Committee] and [Republican National Committee], could actually do, if they don't want to ban AIPAC spending in primaries altogether, is say, fine: AIPAC can spend just like anybody else, but like everybody else, they have to do it through their regular super PAC and be transparent about it," he said. "Then let voters decide."
He called on party leaders to “stop making voters play forensic detective and chase money from some dark money foundation to a PAC to another PAC with all of them using names that have nothing to do with AIPAC or Israel, only to learn after the election that it was actually AIPAC money.”
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In Latest Threat to Press, Hegseth Tells Journalists to ‘Think Twice’ Before Publishing Classified Info
Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth attacked reporters who publish stories based on leaks as "incredibly irresponsible and unpatriotic."
Apr 24, 2026
Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth lobbed his latest threat against the American press during a briefing on Friday, telling reporters to "think twice" about publishing stories containing classified information—a common journalistic practice that has brought to light mass surveillance, war crimes, and other government abuses.
Hegseth said Friday that the Pentagon takes "leaking very seriously here" and blasted reporting based on leaks containing classified information as "incredibly irresponsible and unpatriotic." He went on to "encourage members of the press to think twice about the lives they're affecting when they publish things in their publications like the New York Times."
Q: I’m with O'Keefe media group. Earlier this week, James O'Keefe published a story on a department of army nuclear chief who revealed top secret national security information to a stranger he met on a dating app. Will you defer him for termination and prosecution?
Hegseth: He… pic.twitter.com/P9o6cweW2i
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 24, 2026
Hegseth's Pentagon—and the Trump administration more broadly—has been aggressive in attempting to curtail press freedoms, particularly amid the US war of choice in Iran. President Donald Trump said earlier this month that his administration would attempt to jail journalists who reported leaked information pertaining to a US fighter jet recently shot down in Iran.
Last month, the Pentagon temporarily barred press photographers from media briefings on the war because Hegseth's staff was reportedly displeased with "unflattering" pictures of the Pentagon chief.
The Pentagon has also attempted to force journalists to promise not to publish or even solicit information that the department has not specifically authorized for release—with violators forced to surrender their press passes. A federal judge has blocked that policy and rebuked the Pentagon earlier this month for attempting to reimpose the policy with insubstantial changes.
Seth Stern, chief of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, noted in a recent column for The Intercept that "the Pentagon’s legal filings imply that reporters who don’t follow the rules risk more than their press passes."
"The government argued that although journalists may lawfully ask questions of 'authorized' Pentagon personnel, 'a journalist does solicit the commission of a criminal act, and that solicitation is not protected by the First Amendment, when he or she solicits … non-public information from individuals who are legally obligated not to disclose that information,'" Stern wrote. "The government’s argument would have turned countless Pulitzer-winning national security reporters into criminals."
"The Trump administration is barging through the door the Biden administration left wide open, when, despite warnings from First Amendment advocates, it extracted a plea deal from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Espionage Act charges for obtaining and publishing government records, including about Iraq war crimes," Stern added.
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