Latest news with #Soboroff
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Liberal media downplays LA riots, dismiss violence as isolated while touting 'peaceful' anti-ICE protests
There has been a widespread effort by the mainstream media to downplay the rioting that has erupted in Los Angeles over the past several days in response to ICE raids targeting illegal immigrants. ABC7 Los Angeles anchor Jory Rand went viral for cautioning law enforcement from escalating tensions by interfering in rioter vandalism. "It could turn very volatile if you move law enforcement in there in the wrong way, and turn what is just a bunch of people having fun watching cars burn into a massive confrontation and altercation between officers and demonstrators," Rand said. La News Anchor Claims People Are Having 'Fun' Watching Cars Burn, Riots 'Relatively Peaceful' CNN media analyst Brian Stelter has been vocal in minimizing the rioting that has taken place. "The unrest is isolated. It has not overtaken the entire city of LA. LA is home to millions of people, most of whom are having a normal day here on Sunday," Stelter said as CNN aired a breaking news banner reading "AS L.A. RIOTS EXPAND, SO DOES MISINFORMATION." Read On The Fox News App On Monday, Stelter urged CNN viewers to "be careful" about what they see on social media. "A lot of these algorithms are surfacing hours-old or even days-old content!" Stelter exclaimed. "So you might be looking at a video of something wondering what's happening in LA- it's actually from two days ago!… It only matters because it can give people a false impression of what's actually happening at a moment of unrest." La-based Jimmy Kimmel Claims 'There's No Riot Outside' As He Blasts 'Mentally Ill' Trump Stelter offered a similar sentiment on X. "Offline, in real-world Los Angeles, most Angelenos are having a perfectly normal day. But online, the fires and riots are still raging. Seeking clicks, clout and chaos, unvetted social media accounts are preying on fears about where last weekend's clashes will lead," Stelter wrote Tuesday. "The powerful algorithms that fuel social media platforms are feeding users days-old and sometimes completely fake content about the recent unrest in L.A., contributing to a sense of nonstop crisis." NBC News correspondent Jacob Soboroff acknowledged that there had been "civil unrest" and "reports of looting overnight," but stressed that isn't happening "on a wide scale" across the city. "And I think it's important to emphasize that this is also not what was happening before the National Guard came to Los Angeles. That's the point that Governor Newsom is making," Soboroff said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." Soboroff also shrugged off news coverage of the "gnarly" depiction of the protests by sharing a video of himself attending an "interfaith vigil" blocks away. On Wednesday's installment of "Today," his NBC colleague Liz Kreutz told Savannah Guthrie that LA is "not on fire." "You could be in Santa Monica or another part of LA and not even feel the impact of these protests," Kreutz said Wednesday. "They are very much concentrated, Savannah, to a very small pocket of downtown LA, around the federal building, around City Hall. That is where these protests are taking place right now. That is why local law enforcement believe they can handle this situation. Of course, the president is painting a different picture." "And we should say there are some agitators and people that have been really instigating things with police. But for the most part, especially during the day, many of the protesters gathering have been peaceful," the NBC News correspondent added. The New Yorker published a political cartoon Tuesday depicting the National Guard gathered outside LA's iconic Cinerama Dome with one saying to another, "The protesters seem to be doing some sort of joyful synchronized dance. Is it time to call in the Marines?" On Sunday, The New York Times published a story with the headline, "Not far from tense clashes, life goes on in L.A.," touting how the Los Angeles Pride parade "went forward without delay" among other things going on in the city. "As the first National Guard troops rumbled into Los Angeles on Sunday, summoned by the Trump administration to quell protests against an immigration crackdown, Los Angeles remained its eternal self — bigger than any one disruption. Los Angeles County, all 4,000 square miles of it, has a way of insulating and isolating mayhem, man-made or otherwise," the Times wrote. "As clashes have broken out between protesters, federal agents and police officers, life — that uniquely sunlit and serene Southern California version of it — mostly unfolded peaceably. It's not that those elsewhere were oblivious to what was happening. It's just that there was space for the one to not interrupt the other." The ladies of ABC News' "The View" also peddled the narrative. "It's been peaceful for days, and then suddenly these guys showed up and flipped everybody out. And so that's what my family is saying," Whoopi Goldberg said Tuesday. "I spoke to five people that live in LA, that work in LA, and they said the protests were very, very orderly, they weren't violent, and they occurred in about a four-block radius, and we all know how large LA is," Sunny Hostin followed. "And so, in my view, there is no crisis in Los Angeles that ICE did not cause. That is the fact of the matter, right?" Sunny Hostin Claims Ice Caused Crisis In Los Angeles On Tuesday, ABC's LA-based late-night host Jimmy Kimmel declared "there's no riot outside" and suggested the media is hyping the unrest while blasting President Donald Trump for sending in the National Guard. "Someone sets a fire in a garbage can, 12 camera crews go running toward it," Kimmel asserted. "Trump wants it to seem like anarchy, so he goes around our governor and calls in 4,000 troops from the National Guard and 700 active-duty Marines. When we had the wildfires that devastated big chunks of our city, he did absolutely nothing. Now that we're in the middle of a non-emergency, send in the National Guard!"Original article source: Liberal media downplays LA riots, dismiss violence as isolated while touting 'peaceful' anti-ICE protests
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NBC News reporter who Trump border czar called ‘very dishonest' fires back: ‘It's right there on tape'
NBC News correspondent Jacob Soboroff pushed back Monday after Donald Trump's border czar Tom Homan claimed he was 'taken out of context' and that Soboroff deceptively edited his comments about threatening to arrest California Gov. Gavin Newsom. 'It's right there on the tape,' Soboroff said, airing a clip of Homan saying that Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass could be jailed if they 'crossed the line' with federal officials. With the protests in Los Angeles over the president's immigration raids and mass deportation efforts growing increasingly volatile over the weekend, Soboroff spoke to Homan about the administration's response to the demonstrations, which included Trump deploying the National Guard to 'liberate Los Angeles from the migrant invasion.' California officials, namely Newsom and Bass, have argued that Trump is further inflaming tensions in the region with these actions. During Soboroff's interview with Homan, the Trump official suggested that the governor and mayor could face prosecution if they interfered with ICE agents in the area or were found to be harboring undocumented migrants. 'I'll say it about anybody,' Homan said when asked if this also meant Bass and Newsom. 'You cross that line, it's a felony to knowingly harbor and conceal an illegal alien. It's a felony to impede law enforcement doing their job. During the clips that were aired over the weekend and the online article on NBC News' digital site, Homan also stated that he didn't believe that Bass has 'crossed the line yet.' At the same time, he also roundly criticized Newsom, calling him an 'embarrassment for the state' who didn't care 'about public safety in the state of California' due to the state's sanctuary laws. Soboroff would later interview Newsom and bring up Homan's comments, prompting the governor to taunt the border czar and urge him to 'just get it over with' and arrest him. 'He's a tough guy. Why doesn't he do that? He knows where to find me,' he continued. 'That kind of bloviating is exhausting. So, Tom, arrest me. Let's go.' During appearances on Fox News and MSNBC on Monday morning, Homan would back away from his threats to arrest the Democratic politicians, claiming his comments were misconstrued and deceitfully presented by Soboroff. 'The NBC reporter that interviewed me is very dishonest. We did a 20-minute interview, and he cuts out a little clip and takes my words out of context,' Homan grumbled on Morning Joe. 'I never threatened to arrest Gov. Newsom, so I'm not biting off in that. It's just that the reporter is dishonest and let them play the whole 20-minute interview, and you'll see a whole different discussion that we had,' he added. Appearing on MSNBC a few hours later, Soboroff sought to set the record straight by airing the video footage that Homan claimed had misrepresented his comments. 'Tom Homan said we cut a clip and took his words out of context. We did anything but,' the reporter told MSNBC anchor Ana Cabrera. 'In fact, we presented the clips in their entirety in all of our airings, including on In the clips that Soboroff shared, the reporter was seen directly asking Homan if either Newsom or Bass could face arrest if they were determined to have interrupted the federal government's attempts to apprehend and deport undocumented immigrants. 'I'll say it about anybody, if you cross that line – it's a felony to knowingly harbor and conceal an illegal alien. It's a felony to impede law enforcement doing their job,' Homan told Soboroff. Asked if he felt that the mayor was doing that, Homan added: 'If she crosses that line, we will ask DOJ to prosecute. Do I think she's crossed the line yet? I don't think she's crossed the line yet.' Soboroff also teed up a clip from his Newsom interview, featuring him telling the governor that Homan has not ruled out arresting him before asking if he had a response to the Trump administration official. Soboroff also said that Homan had pointed out that neither Bass nor Newsom had crossed any line yet to warrant prosecution. 'It's right there on the tape,' Soboroff told MSNBC viewers on Monday. 'I don't know what Tom Homan had seen, but we were very clear in giving the full context of the statement he had made.'The reporter concluded: 'He did not believe that Gov. Newsom had crossed a line yet. Nor did Mayor Bass but he said he reserved the right to arrest them if they did, which is what Gov. Newsom responded to in the clip that Tom Homan saw.' While Homan continues to insist that he never threatened to arrest Newsom, the president himself backed the notion of his border czar jailing the Democratic governor of the nation's most populous state. 'I would do it if I were Tom,' Trump told reporters on the White House lawn on Monday. 'I think it's great. Gavin likes the publicity.' The president's remarks were quickly denounced by prominent Democrats, who said that Trump's threat to arrest the governor was the 'hallmark of authoritarianism on the road to tyranny.' Newsom also weighed in on Trump's latest remarks. 'The President of the United States just called for the arrest of a sitting Governor. This is a day I hoped I would never see in America,' he tweeted. 'I don't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican this is a line we cannot cross as a nation — this is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.' Meanwhile, Newsom has said that his state will go to court to stop Trump from 'illegally' deploying the National Guard to face off against the Los Angeles protesters. He also accused the president of having 'flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalize the National Guard,' claiming the violence that has marked some of the protests is 'exactly what Trump wanted.'
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
NBC News' Jacob Soboroff Sets Deal With HarperCollins to Chronicle Los Angeles' Devastating Blazes in ‘Firestorm'
Jacob Soboroff, a national and political correspondent for NBC News, has set a deal with HarperCollins to write a book examining the wildfires that devastated his hometown of Pacific Palisades as well as Altadena in January. 'Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America's New Age of Disaster' is set to be published on Jan. 6, 2026, the day before the one-year anniversary of the start of the wind-whipped fires. More from Variety Ahead of PGA Awards, Guild Says Fighting Runaway Production Is Top Priority: 'We Have to Stand Up and Fight for Los Angeles' ABC News Plans 'SoCal Strong' Coverage, Fundraising for California Wildfire Victims MSNBC Plans Launch of 'American Swamp' Docuseries with Katy Tur, Jacob Soboroff Soboroff inked his deal with Peter Hubbard, senior VP and publisher of the HarperCollins imprint Mariner Books. The pair worked together on Soboroff's 2020 nonfiction best-seller 'Separated: Inside an American Tragedy.' That book, about the Trump administration's family separation policy for migrants, was made into a 2024 documentary helmed by Errol Morris. 'We are honored to be partnering with Jacob again as he embarks on writing a defining account of the devastating 2025 Los Angeles fires, a subject so close to his mind and heart,' Hubbard said. 'Having worked with Jacob on his first book, 'Separated,' I know that every page of 'Firestorm' will evidence his blend of dogged reporting, open-hearted attunement to human stories, and a wide-angle understanding of the complex regional, national and global implications of the L.A. fires.' Soboroff said he intends to keep the time frame of 'Firestorm' fairly narrow, given the limited time that he has to finish the book. It will focus on the momentous two weeks from the start of the blazes on Jan. 7 until Jan. 24, the day newly inauguarated President Donald Trump visited the Palisades to survey the destruction with California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Soboroff intends to establish a meticulous timeline of what happened and to capture the experiences of survivors, first responders and myriad others whose lives were up-ended by the blazes that left more than 20 people dead and more than 18,000 homes and buildings destroyed. 'It's been a real journalistic endeavor of investigating what went on and a reflection that there will be more of these fires,' Soboroff told Variety. 'It's a book-length examination of what we've experienced as a society and as a country.' Soboroff noted that his drive to write 'Firestorm' was similar to the process that led him to write 'Separated,' after he saw first-hand how the Trump administration's cruel policy of family separation for migrants was being implemented along the U.S.'s southern border. It was the jolt that inspired Soboroff to dig deep into the policy failures and political fights around immigration policy for decades. 'Family separation was the X-ray vision that allowed us to undersand the immigration system and how broken it was,' Soboroff said. 'The fire has exposed the intersection of disaster and inequality. When an event like this hapens, it makes the problems so concrete. It makes things glaringly obvious.' Soboroff grew up in the Pacific Palisades area. His brother and other family members were in harm's way when Soboroff headed out of NBC News' L.A. bureau to cover the devastation in an area he knows so well. 'This was in many ways the fire of the future,' he said. 'I felt like I was watching my childhood flash before my eyes. And this book is becoming an examination of what my children's future is going to look like as it relates to these types of disasters.' Soboroff is repped by CAA. (Pictured top: NBC News' Jacob Soboroff speaks to an employee of a restaurant destroyed in the Pacific Palisades fire on Jan. 10.) Best of Variety What's Coming to Netflix in June 2025 New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts?
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
NBC News' Jacob Soboroff Sets Deal With HarperCollins to Chronicle Los Angeles' Devastating Blazes in ‘Firestorm'
Jacob Soboroff, a national and political correspondent for NBC News, has set a deal with HarperCollins to write a book examining the wildfires that devastated his hometown of Pacific Palisades as well as Altadena in January. 'Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America's New Age of Disaster' is set to be published on Jan. 6, 2026, the day before the one-year anniversary of the start of the wind-whipped fires. More from Variety Ahead of PGA Awards, Guild Says Fighting Runaway Production Is Top Priority: 'We Have to Stand Up and Fight for Los Angeles' ABC News Plans 'SoCal Strong' Coverage, Fundraising for California Wildfire Victims MSNBC Plans Launch of 'American Swamp' Docuseries with Katy Tur, Jacob Soboroff Soboroff inked his deal with Peter Hubbard, senior VP and publisher of the HarperCollins imprint Mariner Books. The pair worked together on Soboroff's 2020 nonfiction best-seller 'Separated: Inside an American Tragedy.' That book, about the Trump administration's family separation policy for migrants, was made into a 2024 documentary helmed by Errol Morris. 'We are honored to be partnering with Jacob again as he embarks on writing a defining account of the devastating 2025 Los Angeles fires, a subject so close to his mind and heart,' Hubbard said. 'Having worked with Jacob on his first book, 'Separated,' I know that every page of 'Firestorm' will evidence his blend of dogged reporting, open-hearted attunement to human stories, and a wide-angle understanding of the complex regional, national and global implications of the L.A. fires.' Soboroff said he intends to keep the time frame of 'Firestorm' fairly narrow, given the limited time that he has to finish the book. It will focus on the momentous two weeks from the start of the blazes on Jan. 7 until Jan. 24, the day newly inauguarated President Donald Trump visited the Palisades to survey the destruction with California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Soboroff intends to establish a meticulous timeline of what happened and to capture the experiences of survivors, first responders and myriad others whose lives were up-ended by the blazes that left more than 20 people dead and more than 18,000 homes and buildings destroyed. 'It's been a real journalistic endeavor of investigating what went on and a reflection that there will be more of these fires,' Soboroff told Variety. 'It's a book-length examination of what we've experienced as a society and as a country.' Soboroff noted that his drive to write 'Firestorm' was similar to the process that led him to write 'Separated,' after he saw first-hand how the Trump administration's cruel policy of family separation for migrants was being implemented along the U.S.'s southern border. It was the jolt that inspired Soboroff to dig deep into the policy failures and political fights around immigration policy for decades. 'Family separation was the X-ray vision that allowed us to undersand the immigration system and how broken it was,' Soboroff said. 'The fire has exposed the intersection of disaster and inequality. When an event like this hapens, it makes the problems so concrete. It makes things glaringly obvious.' Soboroff grew up in the Pacific Palisades area. His brother and other family members were in harm's way when Soboroff headed out of NBC News' L.A. bureau to cover the devastation in an area he knows so well. 'This was in many ways the fire of the future,' he said. 'I felt like I was watching my childhood flash before my eyes. And this book is becoming an examination of what my children's future is going to look like as it relates to these types of disasters.' Soboroff is repped by CAA. (Pictured top: NBC News' Jacob Soboroff speaks to an employee of a restaurant destroyed in the Pacific Palisades fire on Jan. 10.) Best of Variety What's Coming to Netflix in June 2025 New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts?
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The L.A. fire recovery officer's contract is up. He says he wasn't asked to do much
In January, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass appointed former L.A. Police Commissioner Steve Soboroff to 'kickoff the City's massive rebuild and recovery effort' after the devastating Palisades Fire. He signed a 90-day contract and agreed to work for free. Those 90 days are up, but Soboroff says he hasn't been asked to do anything in the last 45. In a scathing interview with the Los Angeles Times published Friday morning, Soboroff said his position was gradually and dramatically diminished over the course of the 90 days. 'They haven't asked me to do anything in a month and a half, nothing, zero,' Soboroff told The Times on Tuesday. He said that as quickly as two weeks into his tenure, he was ousted from decision making. He learned of Bass' decision to reopen the Pacific Palisades in February from a reporter, who asked him about the move. In an event on Thursday, Bass said Soboroff 'laid a great foundation' in his time as recovery czar — an event Soboroff says he was not invited to. 'I wasn't invited to press conferences either,' Soboroff told The Times. 'People say, 'Well, why aren't you offended?' Because I was too f— busy. I had to do all that, and I don't care who took credit for it, but I had to do it, because it wouldn't have gotten done.' He told The Times he was open to extending his contract. A spokesperson for Bass' office told The times that Soboroff 'sent confusing messages to residents but we are grateful for his service and contributions.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
