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"Michigan Republican Rep. Fred Upton announced his retirement Tuesday from the House floor making him the fourth Republican who voted in favor of President Donald Trump’s impeachment to do so."

Rep. Fred Upton is planning to retire from Congress, according to an email the Michigan Republican sent to supporters Tuesday morning, GOP sources confirmed.Upton, 68, later announced his retirement in a House floor speech. Upton has represented western Michigan in the House since 1987 and has toyed with retirement in recent years, only to stick around and fend off the occasional GOP primary challenger and silence conservative critics who accused him of being too centrist. But this year, Upton also was contending with opposition from former President Donald Trump.

Former Attorney General Bill Barr revealed that his last conversation with former President Trump before the 2020 election was a heated exchange that resulted in the two men not talking for weeks. In his upcoming book, "One Damn Thing After Another," Barr recalled that in October 2020, Trump called soon after a Newsmax segment on Hunter Biden's laptop. Reports about the computer revolved around emails that appeared to connect Joe Biden to his son's business dealings when the elder Biden was vice president.

Rep. John Curtis (R-UT) says a plan that gives amnesty to illegal aliens and expands pipelines for foreign visa workers will be a boost for business. Last week, as Breitbart News reported, Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL) and six House Republicans introduced “The Dignity Act” to provide green cards to the nation’s 11 to 22 million while expanding visa programs to more readily outsource American jobs. Curtis is co-sponsoring the bill alongside Reps. Dan Newhouse (R-WA), Pete Sessions (R-TX), Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon (R-PR), Tom Reed (R-NY), and Peter Meijer (R-MI). The bill is backed by the United States Chamber of Commerce and...

Endangered Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney chose to mingle with reporters and media executives over attending an annual grassroots event last weekend during a rare appearance in her home state. (snip) “I’m not going to convince the crazies and I reject the crazies,” Cheney told the Times Saturday while she gathered with reporters instead of grassroots supporters 230 miles away. “I reject the notion that somehow we don’t have to abide by the rule of law. And the people right now who are in the leadership of our state party, I’m not trying to get their support because they’ve abandoned the...

Former WWE star Jesse Ventura has admitted he is considering jumping in the ring with a wildcard presidential run — only days after bashing rumors about it. “OK, I’ve decided I’m going to test the waters. IF I were going to run for president, the GREEN party would be my first choice,” the 68-year-old wrestler-turned-Minnesota governor tweeted Monday. “To be clear: I haven’t filed anything. I authorized a letter of interest that was sent on my behalf to the Greens and I’m testing the waters for Green Party nomination,” he said. “I’m an independent. I’m not a Democrat or a...

Justin Amash is reconsidering his place in a party he is at odds with, isolated from Republicans that have largely bent to the will of the president. The Michigan Republican is gaining a national following as a Congressman who isn’t afraid to buck the Republican line, often going to toe to toe with the party’s biggest star, President Donald Trump. Amash is a frequent critic of the president, often slamming Trump on Twitter, accusing him of violating the constitution and attacking Trump’s character.

By ALEX ISENSTADT 01/18/2019 05:04 AM EST Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Republican Gov. Larry Hogan is acting a lot like a guy who wants to run against Donald Trump in 2020 — and the president's reelection team is taking notice. The second-term Maryland governor has been implicitly going after Trump in speeches, meeting with Never Trump Republicans, and planning a March trip to Iowa as vice chair of the National Governors Association. It’s all fueling speculation that Hogan, a 62-year-old cancer survivor who coasted to reelection in liberal Maryland and remains one of the most popular governors in...

Sen.-elect Mitt Romney(R-Utah) (R-Utah) on Wednesday condemned President Trump's and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's latest comments about journalist Jamal Khashoggi's killing, calling them "inconsistent" with the U.S. national interest. "The President's and Secretary of State's Khashoggi statements to date are inconsistent with an enduring foreign policy, with our national interest, with basic human rights, and with American greatness," Romney said in a statement. "Sanctions do not necessarily require ending the alliance; they do demand real and painful consequence," he added.

Republicans in Kansas further splintered Tuesday as the last moderate member of the party to hold the governor’s office endorsed a Democrat for governor over Kris Kobach, the GOP nominee. In a statement, former Kansas governor Bill Graves said he planned to support state Sen. Laura Kelly in the November election. Kelly is running against Kobach and independent Greg Orman. “Laura Kelly is the only Democrat I have ever endorsed for public office,” Graves said in the statement. “And the reason I’m doing that now is because I believe so much is at stake in the state of Kansas. I...

But the House policy agenda has been the main focus of our dialogue. We’ve talked about the common ground this agenda can represent. We’ve discussed how the House can be a driver of policy ideas. We’ve talked about how important these reforms are to saving our country. And we’ve talked about how, by focusing on issues that unite Republicans, we can work together to heal the fissures developed through the primary. Through these conversations, I feel confident he would help us turn the ideas in this agenda into laws to help improve people’s lives. That’s why I’ll be voting for...

(CNN)Just a day after House Speaker Paul Ryan endorsed Donald Trump, he turned around and blasted the presumptive Republican nominee for attacking the judge overseeing the Trump University lawsuit.

If there was any doubt that Paul Ryan’s endorsement of Donald Trump was less than full-throated, he crushed it on Friday. Less than 24 hours after Ryan announced that his “not ready” had become a “ready,” the House speaker ripped into the presumptive Republican nominee, making it clear he will not be Trump’s defender in chief. Unprompted by WISN radio host Vicki McKenna, Ryan scolded Trump for his racially-based attacks against the federal judge in California overseeing a civil fraud lawsuit against Trump University. “Look, the comment about the judge the other day just was out of left field for...

On Thursday night Trump supporters were assaulted, spit on, beaten, cold-cocked, egged, chased, tackled and bloodied as they left the San Jose Trump rally by mobs of far left, Mexican nationalist, Socialist, SEIU and anarchist thugs. Trump supporters were left bloodied and beaten in the street. The San Jose police chief admitted he held back from interfering when the conservatives were beat down in the streets. Video released on Monday shows street thugs terrorizing and beating Hispanic Trump supporters. ... Speaker Paul Ryan has posted over 50 tweets since Friday morning. Not once did he mention the Republican beatdown. Senate...

WASHINGTON — Speaker Paul D. Ryan on Tuesday called Donald J. Trump’s criticism of a Hispanic-American judge “the textbook definition of a racist comment” and said he “regrets” the remark. But Mr. Ryan also reiterated his support for Mr. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, against Hillary Clinton. “I disavow these comments — I regret those comments that he made,” Mr. Ryan said after announcing a new Republican anti-poverty initiative in Anacostia, an overwhelmingly black neighborhood in Washington. “Claiming a person can’t do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment,”...

Here we go again. Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump has done it this time. His attacks on the Mexican heritage of federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel clearly show that Trump's campaign is off the rails. The proof is that even prominent Republican leaders like House Speaker Paul Ryan and former Speaker Newt Gingrich have disavowed themselves from Trump's attacks on the judge. Surely, this is the beginning of the Trump campaign's self-destruction! Not so fast my friends. Let me rewrite the opening paragraph to represent the true Trump strategy here, one I don't endorse but still recognize for what it is:...

House Speaker Paul Ryan reiterated his support Wednesday for Donald Trump at a closed door meeting with House Republicans and asked his colleagues to unite behind the presumptive Republican nominee, according to several members who attended the session.

(CNN)One year ago the question hovering over Park City, Utah, was which presidential candidate could capture the hearts of Mitt Romney's friends. Less than a week later, Donald Trump said he was running for president and made them his enemy. And he beat them. Now, with Trump as the GOP nominee, those same Republican fundraisers, business titans and longtime friends of Romney are back to huddle far from Trump Tower. Attendees caution that Romney's annual summit -- The Experts and Enthusiasts, or E2, retreat -- is not an exclusive conclave for the #NeverTrump movement. Yet it is the closest thing...

Specifically, the three questions Ryan’s office is refusing to answer are: 1.) Will Speaker Ryan immediately pull all funding for Muslim refugee resettlement in America? 2.) Does Speaker Ryan think America should allow any Muslims to continue immigrating into America after this terrorist attack? 3.) Since President Obama is still refusing to call this radical Islamic terrorism, Donald Trump is calling for the president to immediately resign from the White House. Does Speaker Ryan agree or should President Obama yet again be allowed to keep ignoring the threat and face no consequences? Ryan, of course, as Speaker has facilitated the...

After presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump reasserted his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, House Speaker Paul Ryan signaled his dissent.