In the waning hours of Washington’s legislative session, it was revealed that Democrats blocked a proposal to honor local service members who died in the Global War on Terror.
In an interview on The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, Rep. Hunter Abell (R-Inchelium) said the proposal was intended to move forward a memorial that had already been authorized by legislation in prior years. This session, he requested a capital budget proviso of just $14,000 to help advance the Global War on Terror Memorial on the Capitol campus.
EXCLUSIVE: Democrats Block Funding for Global War on Terror Memorial on Washington Capitol Campus
Sources said Sen. Yasmin Trudeau, during capital budget talks, called the $14,000 memorial proposal “the most offensive thing [she’d] ever seen.” pic.twitter.com/ljDZ2ptqEH
— Ari Hoffman (@thehoffather) March 16, 2026
“This is part of what government does,” Abell said earlier this year when introducing House Bill 2514. “We honor those who gave the last full measure of devotion in service to our country.”
According to Abell, the request initially appeared in the House capital budget. But during final negotiations between House and Senate budget writers, the funding was removed.
Abell told Hoffman he was stunned by the resistance, especially because he had expected the proposal to be broadly bipartisan. House Bill 2514, introduced in January, was designed to create a formal process for the design, siting, and construction of a permanent memorial honoring Washington service members who lost their lives in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan after Sept. 11, 2001.
The legislation followed an earlier bipartisan effort that authorized the state to accept private donations for such a memorial. Abell has emphasized that the memorial was never envisioned as a major taxpayer expense. Instead, most of the cost would be covered through private fundraising, with the state’s role focused on establishing a workable process for selecting a site, design, and budget.
“The problem is, there’s no design for the memorial, no location for the memorial, and no process to get it built,” Abell said. “That was what my bill was trying to do.”
Abell said the proposal moved through Democratic-controlled committees with support, only to stall later in the session as it neared the House floor. At first, he said, some lawmakers expressed confusion over the phrase “Global War on Terror,” mistakenly viewing it as a political statement rather than the longstanding official name used by the federal government for the post-9/11 conflicts.
But Abell said he later learned the deeper objection was tied to broader tensions involving Iran, Israel, and the Palestinians.
Democrats Block Funding for Global War on Terror Memorial because of Iran, Israel/Gaza conflict
"The real problem was the conflict with Iran and ongoing tensions between Israel and Palestinians in the Middle East & they just didn't like it." pic.twitter.com/Kuh2zzESre
— Ari Hoffman (@thehoffather) March 16, 2026
“The Israel-Palestinian thing, there was just no relationship at all,” Abell said during the interview. “I thought it was very telling that they would come out of completely left field with some unrelated issue in order to tank the bill.”
Sources told Hoffman that Sen. Yasmin Trudeau (D-Tacoma) objected strongly when the $14,000 memorial item surfaced during capital budget talks, calling the proposal “the most offensive thing [she’d] ever seen.” When asked for comment on her statement, Hoffman was told that the senator had left immediately after the session and was not available.
🧵EXCLUSIVE: WA Sen. Yasmin Trudeau (D-HAMAS) asked @UW to keep the violent antisemitic 2024 Gaza encampment in the Quad calling it a "peaceful demonstration" the day after footage went viral of Jews being discriminated against on campus
She has a long history of antisemitism pic.twitter.com/BIM7Xccwug
— Ari Hoffman (@thehoffather) May 9, 2025
Trudeau has been actively involved in local anti-Israel events sponsored by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a radical activist group with ties to terror, including sharing a stage with Linda Sarsour, who was bounced from the Women’s March for antisemitism. Trudeau previously asked the University of Washington to keep the violent antisemitic 2024 Gaza encampment in the Quad, calling it a “peaceful demonstration,” the day after footage went viral of Jews being discriminated against on campus.
She previously defended Palestinian terrorists leading to the deletion of her official X account after her hate was exposed & after possibly violating laws regarding social media accounts. It was filled with posts supporting terror & not calling for the return of hostages pic.twitter.com/TeV7E81GF3
— Ari Hoffman (@thehoffather) May 9, 2025
Trudeau previously defended Palestinian terrorists on social media. The backlash was so severe that she deleted her official X account after her hate was exposed, and there were allegations of her possibly violating ethics laws regarding social media accounts. Trudeau rescinded her endorsement of fellow progressive Emily Randall in her congressional race after the candidate fired a staffer for liking pro-Hamas posts on social media.
Trudeau has been featured at events with some of the biggest Jew-haters in the world as part of her partnership with terrorist linked @CAIRNational including Linda Sarsour who was bounced from the Women's March for antisemitism pic.twitter.com/xj4tVerZgm
— Ari Hoffman (@thehoffather) May 9, 2025
Abell wasn’t aware if Trudeau was involved but said, “This might be like ‘Murder on the Orient Express,’ it may have been everybody had a role in killing this bill among the Democrats.”
He added, “I noticed a generational divide among the Democrats. The older, more senior Democrats who were alive and doing things on 9/11 instantly got the importance of this war memorial and were very good to work with. It was the younger socialist Democrats that said ‘hell no,’ and that I think is very, very revealing.”
“We’ve got a lot of members of the Democrat caucus who are very young, who’ve frankly never had a job outside of government, and they view their job as trying to remake the country in our state into kind of what they imagine to be a socialist utopia, and so that seemed to be the problem.”
Abell argued that the memorial is about honoring Washingtonians from every part of the state, including many from Democratic districts. He noted that those who served and died in Iraq and Afghanistan were not limited to one region, political background, or demographic group.
“This isn’t just service members from northeast Washington,” Abell said. “A lot of young people of color who signed up in the military right out of high school from Seattle and Tacoma … died in these conflicts overseas.”
Washington’s Capitol campus already includes memorials to veterans of World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Abell said those who died in the post-9/11 wars deserve the same recognition.
“Our Capitol campus rightly honors those who served in World War I and II, Korea, and Vietnam,” Abell said in January. “But for the men and women from Washington who lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan, nothing has ever been completed.”
Abell, a Navy Reserve commander with more than 20 years of military service, including deployments to Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, has argued that the state has a responsibility to ensure future generations understand the cost of freedom.
Estimates of the number of Washingtonians killed in the conflicts range from roughly 150 to nearly 300, depending on whether the count includes those born in Washington, stationed here, or who later made the state their home.
“Either way, they are Washingtonians,” Abell said earlier this year. “They lived here, trained here, raised families here, and they deserve to be remembered here.”
Though the funding request failed this session, Abell indicated the effort is far from over. Support remains strong among veteran groups and families of the fallen, and he suggested he intends to continue pushing for the memorial in future sessions.
