Mayor Karen Bass' handling of LA riots adds to decades of political baggage
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is facing heightened scrutiny from President Donald Trump for her handling of the anti-ICE riots gripping the city, which follows a history of political scandals and criticisms across her decades as an elected official, Fox News Digital has learned.
Bass, who was sworn in as mayor in 2022, is under fire after denouncing immigration raids that began in LA on Friday, when federal law enforcement officials converged on the city, sparking protests that soon devolved into violence and chaos.
Trump administration officials have since argued that Democratic rhetoric denouncing the immigration raids, while simultaneously offering messages of support to illegal immigrants residing in the nation, emboldened protesters, which led to the riots.
"Newsom and his stooge Karen Bass fomented and encouraged the riots, because their entire political movement exists for one purpose: to promote mass migration into our country," Vice President JD Vance wrote on X on Tuesday. "It is their reason for being. Democratic leadership has no solution for the economy, for prosperity, or for security. They use their power when they're in the majority to import millions of illegal immigrants and when they're in opposition they do everything possible to prevent deportations."
As Bass faces ongoing condemnation from the Trump administration over the violence in Southern California, Fox Digital took a look back at previous scandals and incidents that landed the former House lawmaker in hot water.
As Bass was floated as a top contender to join former President Joe Biden as his running mate during the 2020 election, multiple news reports parsed Bass' past comments on communist leaders, including lamenting Communist Cuban dictator Fidel Castro's death in 2016 in a statement.
"I wish to express my condolences to the Cuban people and the family of Fidel Castro. The passing of the Comandante en Jefe is a great loss to the people of Cuba. I hope together, our two nations will continue on the new path of support and collaboration with one another, and continue in the new direction of diplomacy," she said in a statement after his death. "Comandante en Jefe" translates to commander in chief.
Bass distanced herself from the statement as she faced vetting to potentially join the 2020 presidential ticket alongside Biden, telling Fox News in 2020 that her views on Cuba "developed over time" and that she understood that Castro's government, which spanned nearly 50 years, "was a brutal regime."
"I absolutely would have not put that statement out," she added while appearing on Fox News that year.
Bass again raised political eyebrows in 2020 for her praise of communists after Politico resurrected her 2017 remarks eulogizing one of the top members of the Communist Party USA in 2017, including calling him a "friend and mentor" in remarks inserted in congressional record.
"I would like to honor the life and memory of my friend and mentor, Oneil Marion Cannon, who passed away on January 20, days before his 100th birthday," Bass wrote of Oneil Cannon.
The comments did not mention that Cannon was a top leader of the Communist Party USA, identifying him instead as being "deeply involved in politics" and that he belonged to the Independent Progressive Party.
"I would like to salute Oneil Cannon for his longstanding commitment to serving and uplifting others, and for a century of fighting to make the world a better place," she added.
An obituary published in the communist-founded newspaper, People's World, reported that Cannon was a "longtime communist" who served as the Communist Party USA's "education director in the Southern California District, and a member of the Party's Southern California and National Central Committees."
Bass' team argued in response to criticisms over the praise of the communist leader that the former House lawmaker never shared Cannon's political ideology, similar to how she was friends with former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy without the pair holding the same political views.
"Karen Bass has always been a Democrat and only a Democrat. The Congresswoman is friends with Kevin McCarthy and is not a Republican. She knew Oneil Cannon but never shared the political ideology he may have had at one time in his life," a spokesperson told Politico at the time.
Bass's office told Fox Digital on Thursday, when asked about the list of previous scandals and criticisms, that the mayor is focused on "leading the city through this difficult time to ensure the safety and stability of its residents."
"While the Administration continues to create chaos and provoke the people of Los Angeles, Mayor Bass is focused on leading the city through this difficult time to ensure the safety and stability of its residents. Mayor Bass has made change in Los Angeles and under her leadership, crime is down, she has reduced homelessness for the first time in years and is leading a natural disaster recovery effort that is on pace to be the fastest in state history," the mayor's office said.
Bass' office faced scrutiny late last year after the FBI raided the home of her deputy mayor of public safety, Brian Williams, in December for making a bomb threat to Los Angeles City Hall.
Williams, who no longer works in the mayor's office, agreed to plead guilty in May to a felony charge of "information with threats regarding fire and explosives," which carries a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
The former deputy mayor's plea agreement outlined that on Oct. 3 of last year, Williams was in a virtual meeting with colleagues when he used a Google Voice application on his personal cell phone to call his work phone, the DOJ reported in a press release last month. The city official then left the virtual meeting and called the Los Angeles Police Department's chief of staff to report he had received a call from a man threatening to bomb city hall.
Williams then texted Bass and other city officials that he had received a bomb threat, the DOJ said.
"Bomb threat: I received phone call on my city cell at 10:48 am this morning. The male caller stated that 'he was tired of the city support of Israel, and he has decided to place a bomb in City Hall. It might be in the rotunda.' I immediately contacted the chief of staff of LAPD, they are going to send a number of officers over to do a search of the building and to determine if anyone else received a threat," the message read, Fox News Digital previously reported.
The DOJ noted in its press release that "Williams received no such call and had made the bomb threat himself. At no time did Williams intend to carry out the threat."
"Like many, we were shocked when these allegations were first made, and we are saddened by this conclusion," a spokesperson for Bass said in May of Williams admitting to the bomb threat.
Bass faced backlash during her mayoral campaign in 2022, when her opponent, real estate magnate Rick Caruso, launched an ad campaign showing Bass praising the Church of Scientology during a 2010 speech at the opening of the group's headquarters in Los Angeles. Scientology is frequently described by former members as a "cult," a label the church rejects.
"The Church of Scientology I know has made a difference," Bass said during the 2010 speech. "Because your creed is a universal creed and one that speaks to all people everywhere."
Amid backlash, Bass distanced herself from the group, citing how first-hand accounts have "exposed this group."
"Back in 2010, I attended the event knowing I was going to address a group of people with beliefs very different than my own, and spoke briefly about things I think most of us agree with, and on those things — respect for different views, equality, and fighting oppression — my views have not changed," Bass wrote in the statement posted to social media in 2022. "Since then, published first-hand accounts in books, interviews and documentaries have exposed this group."
Bass faced intense criticism earlier this year after wildfires erupted in Los Angeles while she was abroad in Africa—blazes that quickly escalated into widespread devastation across the region.
Bass traveled to Ghana for the swearing-in ceremony of the nation's president in January at a time when Southern California was at high risk of fires, Fox Digital previously reported. The Palisades Fires began on Jan. 7, with Bass not returning to California until the following day.
A reporter confronted Bass about her overseas trip as she exited the plane upon her return to Los Angeles, but she refused to answer his questions.
"Do you owe citizens an apology for being absent while their homes were burning? And do you regret cutting the Fire Department budget by millions of dollars, Madame Mayor?" Sky News reporter David Blevins asked as Bass was seen waiting to exit the plane.
"Have you absolutely nothing to say to the citizens today?" he added, but Bass did not respond in a video that subsequently went viral.
Photos later emerged showing Bass at a cocktail party in Ghana just moments before evacuation orders were issued over the raging fires, Fox Digital previously reported.
"The presidential delegation was hosted by the United States ambassador to Ghana on the way to the plane," Bass spokesperson Zach Seidl said in response to the photos at the time. "For the majority of the time, the mayor was in a different room on calls from LA."
Bass said in February during an interview with Fox 11 Los Angeles that she "felt absolutely terrible not being here for my city."
"Would I say it was a mistake, absolutely. The idea that I was not present was very painful," she added.
The woes did not end there, however, as Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley told local media during the raging fires that she believed the City of Los Angeles and Bass, specifically, failed residents. The fire chief added that the department had long been plagued by staffing issues and lack of resources, which she had previously detailed in a series of memos to the city.
"Since day one, we've identified huge gaps in regard to our service delivery and our ability of our firefighters' boots on the ground to do their jobs since day one," Crowley said at the time. "This is my third budget as we're going into 2025-2026, and what I can tell you is we are still understaffed, we're still under-resourced and we're still underfunded."
"Any budget cut is going to impact our ability to provide service," she said. "That is a ground truth in regard to our ability. If there's a budget cut, we had to pull from somewhere else. What does that mean? That doesn't get done or that there are delays."
Bass fired Crowley in February, citing the former fire chief's handling of wildfires.
"We know that 1,000 firefighters that could have been on duty on the morning the fires broke out were instead sent home on Chief Crowley's watch," Bass said.
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