Cincinnati police union unanimously votes no confidence in mayor Aftab Pureval amid viral beatdown fallout

Union representatives for the Cincinnati Police Department have roundly rejected the city's mayor, stemming in part from the fallout from the viral July 26 beatdown that reverberated across the nation. 

"Tonight, the Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 69 unanimously voted no confidence in Mayor Aftab Pureval, citing a series of leadership failures over the past month that have undermined public safety, police operations, and community trust," the FOP said in a Monday night statement obtained by Fox News Digital.

FOP President Ken Kober decried what the organization feels is a lack of support from the mayor's office in the release. 

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"This unanimous vote of no confidence is a clear message from our members that Mayor Pureval's leadership has fallen short in supporting the men and women who protect this city every day," Cincinnati FOP President Ken Kober said. "From political interference in law enforcement to neglecting the well-being of officers and the community, these failures demand accountability and change."

The FOP detailed the discussion that led them to the no confidence vote, and said that the mayor does not respond quickly enough to serious situations. Specifically, they referred to the three-day period between the July 26 viral brawl and Aftab's first response to it. 

The brawl occurred early on a Saturday morning, and the mayor remained on vacation in Vancouver until several days later. 

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According to the release, Aftab also ordered the city solicitor to charge a White victim of the brutal beatdown with a crime, which the FOP said was done "solely to appease racial tensions at the urging of a few community leaders." 

That led to 45-year-old Alex Tchervinski being charged with disorderly conduct. Tchervinski can be seen slapping one of the perpetrators in the viral video, but his lawyer says he was hit in the head 28 times and robbed during the attack, while trying to protect his girlfriend and another friend during the melee. 

His attorney says he was also hit "multiple times" before slapping back. 

"City Solicitor [Emily] Woerner and the Pureval administration’s blatant political meddling is the most egregious I’ve witnessed in my career," Kober told Fox News Digital after the charges were announced. "Overruling law enforcement and prosecutors for cheap political points is a disgraceful stain on our city, and those responsible should be utterly ashamed of themselves."

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The police union also said that Aftab failed to properly condemn city contractor Iris Roley, who was accused of interfering in a separate police investigation earlier this month, according to WLWT

Seven alleged attackers have been charged in connection with the violent assault. 

Six suspects, Patrick Rosemond, 38, Jermaine Mathews, 39, Montanez Merriweather, 34, DeKyra Vernon, 24, Dominique Kittle, 37, and Aisha Devaughn, 25, are each charged with three counts of alleged felonious assault, three counts of assault and two counts of aggravated rioting. 

A seventh suspect in the attack, Gregory Wright, 32, was charged with alleged aggravated riot and aggravated robbery after allegedly snatching a chain off a victim of the brawl. 

Separately, Merriweather has been charged at the federal level with being a felon in possession of a firearm, and Mathews has been charged federally with conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl and operating a premises for the purpose of trafficking narcotics. 

Pureval's office did not immediately return a comment request. 

Fox News Digital's Julia Bonavita contributed to this report. 

Democrats outraged that alleged gang member could be sent to Uganda

Democrats are expressing outrage that alleged gang member and illegal immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia may be deported to Uganda. 

In the latest turn in Abrego Garcia’s high-profile immigration case, the alleged MS-13 gang member was arrested by ICE at an immigration check-in at a Baltimore facility on Monday and is now facing possible deportation to Uganda. 

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, an Obama appointee, ruled on Monday to temporarily block Abrego Garcia’s deportation, ordering he stay detained in the U.S. pending a hearing. Xinis ordered Abrego Garcia be kept at the same facility he was moved to in Virginia. 

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who has been leading the charge of Democrats advocating for Abrego Garcia, expressed outrage over his arrest and possible deportation on Monday, saying, "ICE is holding Kilmar Ábrego García and refusing to answer questions from his lawyers — while the Trump Admin continues to spread lies about his case."

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"Instead of spewing unproven allegations on social media, they need to put up or shut up IN COURT," he went on, adding, "Mr. Ábrego García must be allowed to defend himself." 

This follows Salvadoran Abrego Garcia being released from federal custody on Friday in Tennessee, where he was being held pending his trial for charges of human smuggling of illegal immigrants in the U.S. 

Earlier this year, Abrego Garcia was deported by the Trump administration to his home country of El Salvador, but after Democratic uproar over an alleged lack of due process and a Supreme Court ruling ordering his return, he was eventually returned to the U.S. to stand trial. 

According to an earlier X post by Van Hollen, the senator met with Abrego Garcia virtually on Sunday to discuss his "long and torturous nightmare" of being deported and standing trial for human smuggling. 

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Van Hollen wrote that "during our conversation, I shared with him that I and many others have been fighting for months to ensure that his constitutional due process rights were respected despite Trump’s efforts to deny them at every turn." 

"The courts & public outcry forced Trump to return him to MD, but Trump’s cronies keep lying about his case & are engaged in a malicious abuse of power to try to deport him to Uganda," wrote Van Hollen, adding, "As I told Kilmar, I won’t stop fighting for justice & due process for all." 

Van Hollen was not the only Democrat to express outrage over the Van Hollen’s arrest. 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., also took to X to denounce the Trump administration, which she said, "wrongly sent Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a horrific El Salvadoran prison."

"Now, just days after he was reunited with his family, they’re trying to deny him his rights and deport him to Uganda. Kilmar—like everyone—deserves a fair hearing to defend himself," wrote Warren. 

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Meanwhile, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, a prominent Democratic voice and vocal Trump critic, also drilled into the administration, saying, "Let’s be clear: deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Uganda makes no sense—it’s not his home country."

"Nothing about this process has been fair," she wrote. "ICE is targeting him with cruelty. This is the weaponization of government, not justice."

Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., who joined a rally advocating for Abrego Garcia earlier on Monday, wrote that "Mr. Abrego Garcia must not be sent to some third party country like Uganda."

Ivey wrote that "the people united will continue to seek justice for Kilmar!" 

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In response, the Department of Homeland Security posted on its official X account, "Kilmar Abrego Garcia is not and will never be a Maryland Man—he is a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador and public safety threat." 

DHS called it "insane" that "sanctuary politicians chose to glorify and stand with an MS-13 gang member over the safety of American citizens."

The agency said that Trump and Secretary Kristi Noem "are not going to allow this illegal alien—who is an MS-13 gang member, human trafficker, serial domestic abuser, and child predator—to terrorize American citizens any longer."

Meanwhile, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital that, "Democrats have proven that they care more about a criminal illegal alien MS-13 member who beat his wife than they do about the safety and security of the American people." 

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"The Trump Administration will never apologize for fulfilling our promise to deport criminal illegal aliens," said Jackson.

Chris Newman, an attorney for Abrego Garcia’s family, categorically denied DHS' allegations, telling Fox News Digital, "None of those things are true, full stop."

"The problem here is that the administration is trying its hardest to litigate this case through the media, as opposed to through courts of law," said Newman. 

He said that "in essence" what the Trump administration has done "is to use the highest office in the land to blackmail an innocent man into sacrificing his constitutional rights."

"And we've been fighting against that both and winning in court even as the Trump administration insists on polluting the public debate with lies."

In an emailed statement sent to Fox News Digital, Ivey accused Trump of ignoring the law.

"When I prosecuted, MS 13 cases, we indicted, tried the case, won the convictions, sentence them to jail time, and did not support them until after they had served jail their sentence," said Ivey. "That way, we followed the constitution and the law. The Trump administration is ignoring both. They want to deport them without giving them the day in court that the Supreme Court has required. And they want to jail them indefinitely even though they haven’t been convicted of a crime. That’s wrong and I’ll continue to fight against it."

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