The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has served search warrants in an investigation to find out who leaked the audio recording in October of several Democrat City Council members making racist comments late last year.
As Breitbart News reported, the recording — which captured leading Democrats, including the City Council’s president, in conversation with a local labor leader — roiled L.A. politics and nearly upended the mayoral race:
NBC Los Angeles reported:
Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez and Councilman Kevin de León apologized Sunday for an attack on colleague Mike Bonin during a recorded conversation in October 2021 that included racist slurs by Martinez directed at Bonin’s young son.
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Martinez also called the child “ese changuito,” Spanish for “that little monkey.”
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“Su negrito, like on the side,” Martinez added, using a Spanish term for a Black person that’s considered demeaning by many.
The question of who, exactly, recorded and leaked the audio, and why, has never been fully resolved. However, the Los Angeles Times reports, the investigation has been taken up — post-election — by the local police:
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the probe is ongoing, did not identify the specific targets of the warrants.
But they said the department obtained warrants for several social media accounts.
Among the targets, the sources said, is the Reddit account to which the audio was posted and related cellphone records.
The LAPD is investigating the leak under a California law that requires all parties to consent to a recording. The law is rarely prosecuted, but can be pursued as a felony.
Martinez resigned; other participants are still in office.
In contrast, a May leak at the U.S. Supreme Court of the draft decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, which overturned Roe v. Wade , has yet to produce results.
The leak, which is being investigated by the Court marshal, led to violence by pro-choice activists, including an effort to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The Department of Justice has largely ignored illegal protests at justices’ homes.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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