Free Republic

Members of Kevin McCarthy’s staff have been working the phones on behalf of Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan’s run for speaker, multiple sources confirmed to Semafor. It’s unclear if McCarthy himself has sanctioned their work. One source familiar with their efforts described the staff as “consulting and providing guidance” to Jordan’s operation, which they distinguished from an endorsement. Jordan’s top competition is Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a longtime McCarthy deputy. McCarthy said he “might” endorse a successor at his post-ouster press conference on Tuesday night but has not suggested which candidates he’s inclined to favor.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom will appoint EMILY’s List President Laphonza Butler to fill the seat of the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, elevating the head of a fundraising juggernaut that works to elect Democratic women who support abortion rights, according to a person familiar with the decision. Newsom is moving swiftly to name the next senator, two days after Feinstein’s death and just as a perilously split Congress narrowly averted a government shutdown. Senate Democrats are in need of every vote in the closely divided chamber. The announcement was expected to come Monday, and an adviser to the governor, Anthony York,...

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) wants to remove House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for working across the aisle to stop a government shutdown — but some Democrats are not on board. Why it matters: As Axios has previously reported, Gaetz will likely need the vast majority of Democrats to vote with him, barring an unprecedented GOP uprising against McCarthy. Driving the news: Gaetz said during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that he planned to file a motion to vacate against McCarthy this week. What they’re saying: "I'm not going to follow Matt Gaetz to Peter Luger's...

Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., said he thinks ousting House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., would be a "disaster for the future of the Republican party" in an interview with CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday. "Kevin is the right guy at the right time," McCarthy said. "The only way he loses his job is if a handful of Republicans join up with Democrats to fire him." Graham's comments came as Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said he would move to oust McCarthy from his leadership position as early as this week after the California Republican worked with Democrats to gain the votes...

Former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign early Sunday left a birdcage and bird food in front of GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley’s hotel room door in Des Moines in reference to his new nickname for her, “Birdbrain,” per a photo shared with The Messenger. The Trump campaign shared the photo early Sunday with The Messenger and later posted the picture on Twitter. Trump debuted the moniker prior to Wednesday’s debate on his social media platform Truth Social. It's unclear why he came up with that nickname in particular. "MAGA, or I, will never go for Birdbrain Nikki Haley," Trump wrote...

The Georgia prosecution of former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants is staying in Fulton County court. At least for now. U.S. District Court Judge Steve Jones rejected bids by four defendants in the election subversion case who had wanted to move the proceedings to federal court. In written orders handed down Friday, Jones denied the requests of former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, ex-Georgia Republican Party chairman David Shafer, state Sen. Shawn Still, and onetime Coffee County Republican Party chairwoman Cathy Latham, remanding them back to Fulton County Superior Court. “We are disappointed with the Court’s ruling. We will...

Former President Donald Trump has decided not to seek to move his election interference trial from Fulton County to federal court, his lawyer said Thursday. In a surprise, two-page notice filed in Fulton Superior Court, attorneys Steve Sadow and Jennifer Little said Trump based the decision “on his well-founded confidence that this Honorable Court intends to fully and completely protect his constitutional right to a fair trial.” In order to move his case, Trump would have had to show he was operating as a federal official — rather than a political candidate — as he attempted to overturn the results...

A civil trial in which Donald J. Trump is accused of fraudulently inflating the values of his properties could begin as soon as Monday, after a New York appeals court rejected the former president’s attempt to delay it. The appeals court, in a terse two-page order Thursday, turned aside a lawsuit Mr. Trump filed against the trial judge, Arthur F. Engoron, which had sought to delay the proceeding. The ruling came two days after Justice Engoron issued an order that struck a major blow to Mr. Trump, finding him liable for having committed fraud by persistently overvaluing his assets and...

JUST NOW: Rep Matt Gaetz (R-FL) tells @CBSNews at a GOP meeting this morning he accused Speaker Kevin McCarthy of having or paying social media influencers to trash Gaetz. So.. that’s where things stand. Less than 72 hours til a shutdown

A press event will be held today at 11:00 a.m. to announce the unsealing of an indictment charging Robert Menendez, U.S. Senator from New Jersey, and his wife, Nadine Menendez, with bribery offenses in connection with their corrupt relationship with three New Jersey businessmen.

212-216: six Republicans voted no on the rule. Major blow for McCarthy who had promised it would pass this time.

House Democrats have begun internal discussions about how to deal with the prospects of a chaotic situation: The possibility that Speaker Kevin McCarthy could lose his job in an unprecedented vote on the floor. While no decisions have been made, some of the party’s moderates are privately signaling they’d be willing to cut a deal to help McCarthy stave off a right-wing revolt – as long as the speaker meets their own demands. Publicly, Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has not weighed in on how he’d want his members to manage a challenge to McCarthy’s speakership, saying it’s hypothetical at this...

One of the most visible purveyors of conspiracy theories that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election due to massive fraud has become one of the "witnesses for the state" in the former president's Georgia racketeering case, Fulton County prosecutors revealed on Wednesday. A once-celebrated defamation lawyer, attorney L. Lin Wood represented the parents of slain child beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey and helped secure the vindication of Richard Jewell, the security guard falsely accused of plotting to set off pipe bombs at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. His efforts to help Trump overturn his electoral defeat have put him on...

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has a message to fellow Republicans blocking their party from advancing government funding bills: You're making it impossible for the party to win any concessions from Democrats. "If Republicans hold Republicans back from moving bills it's like you're walking into a fight losing," McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters Wednesday. "And I've never understood that situation. So I want to be able to win these battles." House Republicans had hoped to pass a short-term government funding bill this week that contains spending cuts and border security policies to show party unity heading into inevitable negotiations with Senate Democrats...

Kevin McCarthy just failed to win the votes needed to pass the rule beginning debate on the defense spending bill. The rule failed 212-214. This is a major setback to the Speaker.

Former President Donald J. Trump said he hoped Mark Meadows — his final White House chief of staff and a co-defendant in a sweeping racketeering indictment in Georgia stemming from efforts to thwart the 2020 election — was still “loyal” to him. Mr. Trump made his comment during a lengthy interview with Kristen Welker, the new moderator of NBC’s “Meet The Press,” broadcast on Sunday morning. Mr. Trump has been warned by the federal judge in a case also stemming from his efforts to stay in office, brought against him by the special counsel Jack Smith, to avoid saying anything...

DailyMail.com uncovered evidence of Lewandowski and Noem's fling: Dozens of trips that mixed business with pleasure, private flights and luxury resort stays The pair met up Friday for a Trump campaign rally in Rapid City, South Dakota, but were careful to have no public interaction – despite being close for years The two were first suspected of being romantically involved in 2021, but Noem scornfully dismissed the story as 'total garbage and a disgusting lie' at the time A rising Republican star tipped by many to be Donald Trump's running mate should he win the presidential nomination has been involved...

A federal judge on Wednesday issued an order setting limits on where and how former President Donald Trump can discuss classified information with his defense lawyers for the criminal case where he is charged with retaining classified documents after leaving the White House. The order by Judge Aileen Cannon in U.S. District Court for southern Florida instructing Trump ansd his lawyers to discuss that information in a secured location endorsed limitations sought by prosecutors from the office of special counsel Jack Smith over the objections of Trump. But Cannon’s order was vague on the question of whether several concessions sought...

A federal judge denied former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows’ request for an emergency stay of a ruling that sent his Georgia election interference case back to state court, a court filing showed Wednesday. Meadows, former President Donald Trump’s final chief of staff, had asked U.S. District Judge Steve Jones to pause his ruling pending an appeal in a higher court. But Jones sided with Atlanta District Attorney Fani Willis, who on Tuesday urged the judge to reject Meadows’ latest move in his ongoing push to try and move his case to federal court. Meadows “has not shown...

CNN — Former Donald Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro has been convicted of contempt of Congress for not complying to a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. Navarro is the second ex-aide to former President Donald Trump to be prosecuted for his lack of cooperation with the committee. Steve Bannon was convicted last year on two contempt counts. Bannon’s case is currently on appeal. Prosecutors told the jury during closing arguments Thursday that Navarro “made a choice” not to comply with a February 2022 subpoena. Justice Department attorney Elizabeth Aloi...