Free Republic

To hear Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and once and maybe future Democratic presidential candidate tell it, her new book "Hard Choices" isn't the kickoff to a 2016 campaign. She still hasn't made up her mind about another run for the presidency, she told Renee Montagne, co-host of NPR's Morning Edition. It's more a review of the decisions she made as the nation's top diplomat. That the book looks backwards is proof, she said, that it's not a campaign document because, echoing a often used line of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, "I'm experienced enough to know...

Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged on Sunday the possibility that the five Guantanamo Bay detainees released in a prisoner swap for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl could return to terrorism. "I'm not telling you that they don't have some ability at some time to get back involved, but they also have an ability to get killed if they do that," he said in an interview that aired on CNN's "State of the Union." "And I don't think anybody should doubt the capacity of Americans to protect Americans," Kerry added. The swap for five Taliban detainees for Bergdahl has sparked fierce...

The White House knew the decision to swap Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for five imprisoned Taliban members would be controversial and never expected it “to be a good news story,” communications director Jen Palmieri said Thursday. Palmieri framed Obama’s decision to exchange the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay for Bergdahl as an obligation, and said the White House wasn’t surprised it created a firestorm. “We knew that this was going to be a controversial decision,” Palmieri said during an interview with MSNBC. “That was why we wanted the president to speak to it.” Palmieri’s comments follow stories in The Hill and...

President Obama said Thursday he would make “absolutely no apologies” for ordering the controversial prisoner swap to rescue Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the last American prisoner of war in Afghanistan. Obama said he was never surprised by “controversies that are whipped up in Washington,” but deflected criticism from members of Congress and the military over the trade of five Guantanamo prisoners for Bergdahl, who has been accused of abandoning his post in Afghanistan before his capture. “I make absolutely no apologies for making sure we get back a young man to his parents,” Obama said at a joint press conference...

A Taliban commander close to the negotiations over the release of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl told TIME Thursday that the deal made to secure Bergdahl’s release has made it more appealing for fighters to capture American soldiers and other high-value targets. “It’s better to kidnap one person like Bergdahl than kidnapping hundreds of useless people,” the commander said, speaking by telephone on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. “It has encouraged our people. Now everybody will work hard to capture such an important bird.”

Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts appears to have deleted several statements on Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl from his various social media accounts. His deleted tweets were caught by the website Politiwoops, a product of the Sunlight Foundation that tracks deleted tweets from members of Congress.

States are nailing down dates to release 2015 premium costs under ObamaCare, and their decisions will guarantee a drumbeat of news about rate hikes all the way to the November midterm elections. Democrats are bracing for grim headlines that could put the unpopular law back at the forefront of voters’ minds. Premiums are expected to go up in a majority of states, as they do every year, but the size of the increases could go a long way toward determining how much political damage Obama-Care inflicts on vulnerable Democratic lawmakers. A survey by The Hill of state insurance commissioners found...

WASHINGTON — House Republicans are proposing to let some schools opt out of healthier school lunch and breakfast programs if they are losing money. A GOP spending bill for agriculture and food programs released Monday would allow schools to apply for waivers if they have a net loss on school food programs for six months in a row. Championed by first lady Michelle Obama, the new standards have been phased in over the last two school years, with more changes coming in 2014. The rules set fat, calorie, sugar and sodium limits on foods in the lunch line and beyond....

The schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamic militant group Boko Haram have been paraded on video. The terror group said all of them had been converted to Islam while being held and all were shown wearing headscarfs. The group's leader said that it will release them in exchange for militant prisoners being freed Some girls on the 17-minute-long video, which was obtained by news agency AFP, spoke to camera, and looked extremely nervous. The girls recite Islamic prayers during the clip as they sit in a group in a wooded area. The video, which appeared to show around 130 girls, was aired...

Senate Republicans want to broaden the new Benghazi special committee to include members of the upper chamber. Their call for a bipartisan, bicameral panel similar to the 9/11 Commission puts pressure on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who is resisting the idea. Republican lawmakers on Tuesday spoke out after House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) outlined her conditions for establishing a select committee in the lower chamber to probe Benghazi. She said Democrats would participate only if the panel were “equally divided” between Democrats and Republicans. A spokesman for Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) immediately rejected Pelosi’s demand, but Senate...

Washington (CNN) - Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will make allies in the key early presidential voting state of Iowa without even going there. Bush will host a re-election fundraiser for Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad in Coral Gables, Florida on May 22, Branstad's campaign confirmed to CNN. "With Gov. Bush's popularity and unmatched record as governor of Florida, we believe this will be a very successful fundraiser, and Gov. Branstad is excited to attend. Branstad admires the work Bush has done to manage Florida's finances while focusing on growing the state's economy," Branstad's campaign communications director Tommy Schultz told CNN.

The U.S. Capitol Police are investigating threatening emails against Rep. Trey Gowdy, the South Carolina Republican recently tapped to lead a special panel probing the Benghazi terrorist attacks. The investigation comes after POLITICO reporters and journalists at other outlets received two emails on Tuesday warning that Gowdy would be harmed because of his role in investigating the 2012 attacks.

NEW YORK (AP) — Former NBC News chief Steve Capus will join CBS in July as the top executive at Scott Pelley's evening newscast, the network said Tuesday. Capus left NBC in 2013 after eight years as president of the news division, part of a turnover triggered by troubles at the "Today" show. He was Tom Brokaw's last executive producer at NBC's "Nightly News" and is close to Brian Williams, whom he will now compete with each night. Capus will also have broader responsibilities as executive editor of CBS News, behind chairman Jeff Fager and President David Rhodes.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday morning that the new committee to investigate the 2012 terror attack in Benghazi being commissioned by the House GOP leadership must include an even split of Democrats and Republicans in order to be fair. “If this review is to be fair, it must be truly bipartisan. The panel should be equally divided between Democrats and Republicans as is done on the House Ethics Committee," Pelosi said in a statement. "It should require that witnesses are called and interviewed, subpoenas are issued, and information is shared on a bipartisan basis. Only then could it...

Former CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson joined the hosts of Fox & Friends on Monday and was asked for her thoughts on apparent efforts by former Obama administration officials Tommy Vietor and David Plouffe to dismiss the latest revelations about the response to the Benghazi attack. The former CBS reporter said that she believes there is a concerted effort to delegitimize investigations into that deadly 2012 attack orchestrated by people close to the White House. Attkisson was asked for her thoughts on how the White House has reacted to the latest release of emails pertaining to the response to Benghazi,...

Senate Democrats will schedule a vote this year on a constitutional amendment to reform campaign finance as they face tens of millions of dollars worth of attack ads from conservative groups. The Senate will vote on an amendment sponsored by Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) that would overturn two recent court cases that have given corporations, labor unions and wealthy individuals free rein to spend freely on federal races. “The Supreme Court is trying to take this country back to the days of the robber barons, allowing dark money to flood our elections. That needs to stop, and it needs to...

John Boehner is most likely not well-known for his impressions. His name? Yes. Well, he showed a different side of himself altogether at the Middletown Rotary Club Thursday when he adapted a very whiny impression of his Republican colleagues in Congress. Boehner was talking about how he wants to get immigration reform done in Congress soon, but it’s not happening because of some Republican obstinance. This is how Boehner described the situation: “But here’s the attitude. ‘Ooooh, don’t make me do this! Ooooh, this is too hard!”"

Sen. Rand Paul distanced himself Thursday from Cliven Bundy’s recent remarks on race, roughly a week after the likely 2016 presidential contender knocked the way the federal government has handled the land dispute with the defiant rancher. “Cliven Bundy’s remarks on race are offensive and I wholeheartedly disagree with him,” Mr. Paul, Kentucky Republican, said via Twitter.

President Obama got to play soccer with a Japanese robot on Thursday, an experience he described as both “amazing” and “a little scary.” The president visited the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo for an event designed to highlight technological collaboration between the U.S. and Japan. Obama met with students who showed off their scientific experiments, viewed a recorded message from Japanese and American astronauts aboard the International Space Station, and announced a new initiative to increase student exchanges between the two countries. But the highlight of the trip appeared to be the president’s interaction with a...

Jeb Bush once again told a group he is thinking of running for president. The reason interest is high in an undeclared candidate with loud (if not numerous) opponents within the GOP is not hard to figure out. With each passing week it becomes more apparent that there is a gap in the GOP field, which Jeb or some other candidate needs to fill in order for the GOP to win the White House. That candidate may be among the group of governors who are considering a run, but we haven’t seen anyone step forward in commanding style to fill...