Free Republic

On the left: What DOJ/Jack Smith wanted to conceal. On the right: Now we know why. More proof of collaboration btw Biden White House and NARA to concoct a case. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Outrageous lies by Joe Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and DOJ/Jack Smith about "independence" from investigations into Trump. The Biden White House and DOJ wew intimately involved in developing a criminal case against Trump for records mismanagement--it appears the first go-around related to alleged "destruction" of government papers. Contrary to public and legal assertions, NARA was working with DOJ/White House to craft a criminal referral by Sept. 2021--FIVE MONTHS...

A Houston college student sentenced for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 breach at the U.S. Capitol is one of the alleged victims of a FBI agent who was indicted for theft. Alexander Fan was sentenced to 12 months probation for trespassing during a sentencing hearing on Friday. His attorney, Mark Thering, said he pleaded guilty and expressed genuine remorse in a statement to the court. Fan's home was searched after his arrest in June 2023. Court records filed ahead of the hearing state, "the next day, Fan reported to the FBI that some items--including cash and silver bars--had...

Is the migrant crisis plaguing the U.S. just the spontaneous movement of the globe's peoples to the U.S. ... or the work of an evil little banana-republic dictator plotting to take down the U.S.? Based on a new report from Agence France-Presse, which ran on the Voice of America's website, it actually looks like the latter: … analysts say that the government of Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega, a longtime nemesis of the United States, has deliberately made it easier for migrants to bypass the Darien by flying straight into his country and then heading north overland. Manuel Orozco, a migration...

Are we fighting in Ukraine in order to “queer the Donbass”? That phrase, which I believe originated with TAC’s editor-at-large Rod Dreher, implies that the ideological package that NATO rallied to Ukraine to defend includes not only freedom and democracy but also pride parades and drag queen story hour. That would, of course, be a ridiculous reason to fight a war. Many Americans don’t want to queer their own kids’ elementary school, much less an industrial Slavic province five thousand miles away. In August 2022, President Volodymyr Zelensky pledged that his government would introduce legislation to create civil partnerships for...

Regardless, China-Russia relations grew more strained than outsiders might imagine, with Russia finally taking a big gamble: It would drop an informational bomb on Beijing. The subject of that information was then Foreign Minister Qin, who had been tapped for the post by Xi. It's easy to see what might have motivated Russia. Being China's top diplomat, Qin would have been the person responsible for sending the Chinese delegation to Ukraine. Russia labeled Qin as pro-U.S. as he had served as ambassador to the U.S. for a short period before being tapped as foreign minister. So it "passed on internal...

Top Democrats and former Republicans met at a Washington, D.C. think tank in early June 2023 to discuss election interference strategies to block former President Donald J. Trump’s return to the White House, according to a report in the Washington Post. The meeting is said to have included recent Biden White House chief of staff Ron Klain, Democratic National Committee senior advisor Cedric L. Richmond, as well as Stephanie Cutter, a former campaign adviser to Barack Obama who has also worked with Biden. “They were joined by former senators Doug Jones (D-Ala.), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), along...

Slade Sohmer, the ex-editor-in-chief of The Recount, was charged with two counts of possession of child pornography and two counts of dimensions of child pornography, the district attorney says in a press release. Authorities received a tip in June that sparked an investigation into Sohmer, authorities say. Sohmer’s phones and multiple electronic devices were seized in October, according to the release and a police report reviewed by PEOPLE.

Trump’s lawyers on Wednesday afternoon attended a hearing in Fort Pierce, Florida on whether Judge Cannon will agree to postpone the classified documents trial currently scheduled for May 2024. Judge Cannon signaled she may postpone Trump’s trial. She also admonished one of Jack Smith’s prosecutors, according to Julie Kelly who attended Wednesday’s hearing. Trump’s lawyers dropped bombshell revelations during the hearing on Wednesday, according to reporter Julie Kelly. Julie Kelly attended the hearing in person on Wednesday. According to Kelly, Trump’s lawyers revealed: Trump’s lawyers told Judge Cannon they discovered a June 2023 letter asking DOE to remove Trump’s ACTIVE...

An officer fatally shot the suspect in the shooting that happened just before 3 p.m. Friday, police in the North Dakota city said. A motive wasn't known. [...] Zibolski identified the suspect as Mohamad Barakat, 37, of Fargo, but provided few details about him or the shooting, citing officials’ desire to protect the investigation. He said he was confident authorities would eventually determine the motive.

Iran’s oil exports have hit a five-year high in recent months as the country sells more to China and other countries, adding large volumes of discounted crude to a global energy market already struggling amid concerns over demand. The surge in Iran’s oil supply threatens to upend efforts by Saudi Arabia and other major crude producers to prop up prices by cutting output. Oil’s value has fallen by about a fifth since late last year on expectations of a slowing global economy and a glut of cheap Russian cargoes. It also shows how Iran is increasingly circumventing U.S. sanctions as...

Authorities in Vietnam said Friday they will prosecute 84 people accused of being involved in deadly attacks on two commune offices in central Dak Lak province and ordered them held in pre-trial detention. It isn’t clear who was behind the June 11 attacks, which left nine people dead, or what motivated them. On Friday, the Ministry of Public Security said it had confirmed that “organizations and individuals from overseas” had been involved, without getting more specific. “Materials and evidence collected by security forces show that the incident took place with the support and guidance of several organizations and individuals from...

Against the background hum of the convention center, Dar Leaf settled into a club chair to explain the sacred mission of America’s sheriffs, his bright blue eyes and warm smile belying the intensity of the cause. “The sheriff is supposed to be protecting the public from evil,” the chief law enforcement officer for Barry County, Michigan, said during a break in the National Sheriffs’ Association 2023 conference in June. “When your government is evil or out of line, that’s what the sheriff is there for, protecting them from that.”

During Friday's White House briefing, Biden press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked if the cocaine found in the White House last weekend belonged to any member of the Biden family. Jean-Pierre didn't say "no," but did provide this attempted alibi: "The Biden family was not here. They were not here. They were at Camp David. They were not here Friday. They were not here Saturday. They were not here Sunday. They were not even here Monday. They came back on Tuesday. So to ask that question is incredibly irresponsible." Here's how that unfolded: KJP says that "irresponsible reporting" is alleging...

I’m not gonna say “I told you so” because that’s tacky…But I do take my reporting very seriously and I love to see when our reporting is backed up by big sources.I’ve been shouting from the rooftops that the banking failures of April/May are not over.That was just the start.I’ve been saying we almost certainly see a period of time where the banks “shut down” and you can’t get your money. Now I being you this clip from Patrick Bet-David’s podcast with Col. Douglas MacGregor who basically confirmed all of that is true. But worse than I even expected.I expected...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset foreign relations and security committee that the Biden administration has held indirect talks with Iran on a “mini agreement” or “an understanding” related to Iran's nuclear program, according to five lawmakers who attended the meeting. Why it matters: The Biden administration has so far not publicly confirmed that it recently held indirect talks with Iran in Oman, as Axios previously reported. The administration has also denied that it is working on an interim agreement with Tehran. Netanyahu is opposed to a new deal with Iran. His remarks in a closed forum that...

Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan said Friday an FBI agent had voiced 'strong concerns' and revealed 'several unusual features' in the Department of Justice's raid on Mar-a-Lago. The DOJ indicted Donald Trump on Thursday on charges related to his handling of classified documents. Three days earlier the committee did a transcribed interview with Steven D'Antuono, the former assistant director in charge of the FBI's Washington field office. D'Antuono, one of the most senior agents in charge' of the raid told the committee he was frustrated the FBI was going to be left 'holding the bag again' with the August 2022 search...

Sanctuary state California and woke Governor Gavin Newsom are investigating 'state-sanctioned kidnapping' after 16 migrants were dropped on the doorstep of a Sacramento church without 'advance warning'. The young Venezuelan and Colombian men and women were dropped off on Friday outside the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento without 'advance warning' and with only a backpack's worth of belongings each, said Eddie Carmona, campaign director at PICO California, a faith-based community organizing group that has been assisting the migrants. The migrants had entered Texas via the southern border. California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a statement to say they had been transported...

As the global economic intelligentsia debates how to “decouple” or “de-risk” from China, Elon Musk clearly didn’t get the memo. The Tesla founder was feted like a returning king in Beijing this week. From the moment his private jet arrived on Tuesday, Musk is reportedly being called “Brother Ma,” putting him in rarified league with Alibaba billionaire Jack Ma. There are many takeaways from Musk’s first China visit in three years. One is that not everyone is decoupling from China, least of all the globe’s most influential electric-vehicle (EV) evangelist and owner of Twitter. Another: the future of EV production...