Los Angeles City Councilmember and mayoral candidate Nithya Raman has renewed her call for the removal of Police Chief Jim McDonnell over his handling of last year’s federal immigration raids, during a video interview posted online where she urged viewers to “stop fascist liars.”
Raman, running against Mayor Karen Bass in the Nov. 3 election, criticized both McDonnell and the mayor over the LAPD’s use of tear gas against people protesting federal immigration arrests.
The 90-second video, uploaded to Instagram by content creator Ed Choi, was shot Sunday at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, where Raman held a rally spelling out her plan for her first 100 days as mayor. Facing the camera, the video begins with Raman and Choi declaring in unison: “Only you can stop fascist liars!” as an image of Bass appears onscreen.
By Tuesday morning, Choi had removed the video from his Instagram page.
Bass assailed Raman over the video, accusing the councilmember of calling the city’s police officers fascist liars. Raman voted against police hiring earlier this year and called at one point for defunding the police, Bass said in a statement.
“But labeling them ‘fascists’ — when officers put on the uniform every day to keep us safe — is crossing the line,” Bass said. “It’s dangerous and extreme rhetoric, and it has no place in this city — let alone from someone trying to become mayor.”
McDonnell declined comment through a spokesperson.
Raman spokesperson Liz Garcia said her boss used the phrase “only you can stop fascist liars” to describe federal immigration agents and “the Trump administration’s violent kidnappings” in L.A. Choi then edited the video interview, Garcia said.
“Nithya never used that phrase to describe Mayor Bass, Chief McDonnell, or LAPD officers, which is why we removed ourselves from the post and asked the creator to take it down immediately,” Garcia said in a statement.
Last year, LAPD officers fired hard foam projectiles and other less-lethal munitions at protesters who had gathered downtown to oppose the immigration sweeps. Video footage also showed people being trampled and hit with batons as officers traveled on horseback.
U.S. District Judge Hernán D. Vera barred the LAPD and federal agents from using crowd control weapons on reporters and nonviolent protesters, arguing that the 1st Amendment “demands better.” A few months later, a different judge found that the department had violated previous court restrictions by using projectile weapons to disperse crowds at protests against immigration enforcement.
Choi, who is also listed as the co-founder of a clothing brand, said in his interview with Raman that Los Angeles had become “extremely fascist, especially because Karen Bass appointed McDonnell as chief of police.” He asked Raman how she would “de-fascistize” the city if elected mayor.
Raman, who called previously for McDonnell to be replaced, told Choi she would seek new leadership at the LAPD, saying the chief has not “met this moment.”
“People are exercising their First Amendment rights to protest this federal government,” she said. “And LAPD under this police chief and under this mayor has tear gassed protesters, something they weren’t even doing in 2020 and that needs to end.”
As Raman spoke, the video showed an image of McDonnell’s face with an X drawn over it. The video ends with Raman’s campaign logo and the message “VOTE! And Help De-Fascistize LA!”
Bass, who campaigned with actress Jane Fonda over the weekend, has been running campaign ads highlighting her response to last year’s protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions, including footage of her July 2025 confrontation with immigration agents in MacArthur Park. Last week, she signed an ordinance prohibiting the use of city property for the staging of immigration enforcement actions.
The mayor also signed an executive director requires that city law enforcement personnel use their body worn cameras to record federal immigration enforcement actions.
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