This week, Congressman Abe Hamadeh has sent a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel urging him to rescind the Department of Justice’s report on the Phoenix Police Department.
Hamadeh said he was “advocating for the men and women of the Phoenix Police Department who have been the victims of the Biden Administration’s weaponization of the Department of Justice.”
Just this week, Hamadeh joined members of the Phoenix PD in a regularly scheduled Air Support Mission to see first-hand what officers in action are up against.
After the flight, the Congressman stated that the “officers’ commitment to excellence and selfless dedication goes above and beyond the call of duty, exemplifying the highest standards of integrity, compassion, and leadership.”
Hamadeh believes that by rescinding the DOJ’s report on the Phoenix Police Department, the “Trump administration will send a powerful message that political interference has no place in law enforcement, and that America First principles now govern the day.”
The DOJ began investigating PPD in August 2021. Their investigation focused on “types of force used, retaliatory activity against First Amendment-protected activity, discriminatory policing, unlawful seizures or disposals of homeless belongings, and responses to disabled individuals.”
In late 2023, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell blasted DOJ involvement, noting the failed oversight of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MSCO).
“MCSO has been under a consent decree since 2015 and is required to run every decision through their court ordered monitor — who, by the way, hasn’t been to their $8,000 a month office, paid for by the Maricopa County taxpayers, in more than three years,” said Mitchell in explaining why she was “not about to give the Justice Department control of Phoenix Police.”
Opposition to the DOJ’s interference is bipartisan.
In 2024, now-Senator Ruben Gallego ran on a pledge to end DOJ involvement. According to NPR, “in a letter to the Justice Department — sent one day after the Arizona Police Association announced it’s backing Gallego in the state’s U.S. Senate race — the congressman said federal investigators “missed the mark” in their examination of Phoenix police.”
Congressman Hamadeh’s letter reads in part:
The Biden DOJ’s “pattern or practice” report on the Phoenix Police Department was a desperate witch hunt. It is nothing more than an attempt to undercut valid police work, leaving my constituents – both officers and civilians – at risk.
Despite the Biden DOJ’s baseless claims, our officers did everything right, voluntarily cooperating in good faith, opening their records, and participating in lengthy interviews. They were met with stonewalling, mischaracterized testimony, and a final report riddled with glaring inaccuracies. The Biden DOJ’s claim that Phoenix Police Department officers violated constitutional standards during unrest following one of President Trump’s rallies was absurd. That claim is especially ludicrous because the Ninth Circuit affirmed that the department’s actions were lawful. The Biden DOJ ignored this and many other court-backed facts, choosing instead to cherry-pick narratives that support their political agenda.
The Biden DOJ sowed distrust, diverting millions from public safety, and discouraging officers – at the very moment when Arizona’s communities need them most.
