Free Republic

WASHINGTON -- The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee charged that President Trump's United Nations speech ripping the "embarrassment" Iran deal could have killed any chance for a peaceful solution with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program. "The United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea. Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime," Trump declared in his first address to the world body in New York. Trump, who said Monday...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein defended Sunday her much-criticized grilling of a judicial nominee over her Catholic faith, saying that Amy Coney Barrett had made “questionable” statements in her writings. Ms. Feinstein said that she considered Catholicism to be a “great religion,” but that it was appropriate for the Senate Judiciary Committee to quiz Ms. Barrett about her religious beliefs. “Having said that, this is a woman who has no real trial or court experience,” said Ms. Feinstein on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “And therefore there is no record. She’s a professor, which is fine, but all we have to look...

Seems that for Senator Dianne Feinstein, being a believing Catholic is enough to disqualify a candidate for a federal judgeship. Feinstein stated as such at confirmation hearings for Notre Dame law professor Amy Barrett, nominated by President Trump to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. "I think whatever a religion is, it has its own dogma," explained the Senator. "And I think in your case, professor, when you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you, and that's of concern when you come to the big issues that large numbers of people have...

SAN FRANCISCO — U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein was booed by some constituents Tuesday night when she said President Donald Trump could be a good president if he changed his approach to the job and brought the nation together. “I just hope he has the ability to learn and change — and if he can he can be a good president,” she said at a Commonwealth Club forum at the historic Herbst Theater, surprising San Franciscans used to hearing their politicians decry Trump. “Oh, come on!” a few people shouted. “No, no!” screamed others. While Feinstein was welcomed with a standing...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein may be San Francisco’s favorite politician, but she quickly learned Tuesday evening that even a wildly popular ex-mayor can get into trouble if she tries to say something nice about President Trump. Feinstein received a standing ovation from the 850 people at the sold-out Herbst Theater when she walked onto the stage for an hour-long “conversation” with former East Bay Rep. Ellen Tauscher. But near the end of the political lovefest, the senator shocked the crowd when she declined to say that Trump should be impeached, and warned the audience that they should expect to deal with...

Rather than echoing calls to impeach President Trump like some of her Democratic colleagues, Sen. Dianne Feinstein told a crowd that with a little bit of change, Trump has the potential to “be a good president.” According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the California Democrat made the remarks during an hour-long conversation with former East Bay Rep. Ellen Tauscher during a Commonwealth Club of California event at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco. The paper described Feinstein, who served as mayor of San Francisco for a decade, as “wildly popular” but said even she “can get into trouble” for saying...

Our federal lawsuit against the DOJ bureaucracy over the secret meeting between former Attorney General Lynch and former President Clinton has already unearthed documents proving the FBI lied that it had “no” documents, that the media was colluding with the Obama DOJ to bury the story, and that AG Lynch (AKA Elizabeth Carlisle) was using a secret email address to conduct official business. Now we’ve uncovered that the White House was involved. On the afternoon of June 29, 2016, two days after the Clinton-Lynch meeting, senior DOJ officials forwarded an email containing a transcript of AG Lynch’s press availability where...

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein called Thursday for the federal government to reverse the deportation of an Oakland nurse and her husband, saying their removal after more than two decades in the country revealed the “cruel and arbitrary nature” of President Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Responding to a front-page Chronicle story about the couple — who plan to leave for Mexico on Tuesday with their 12-year-old son, while leaving behind three older daughters who have legal status — Feinstein’s office set up a meeting Thursday between the California Democrat and the family to discuss their plight. “These are the kind...

Exclusive, gated street on which Pelosi and Feinstein once lived. The wealthy residents of San Francisco's exclusive, gated Presidio Terrace haven't paid a $14/year tax bill for three decades. This led the city to auction off the tony street that boasts among its former residents House minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA). The auction was an attempt to recoup its delinquent tax losses valued at less than a thousands dollars (including penalties, interest, etc.).Officials hit the jackpot when a young couple purchased the street at auction two years ago for $90,100. The new owners are reportedly...

Wedged into a secure, windowless basement room deep below the Capitol Visitors Center, U.S. District Court Judge John Bates appeared before dozens of senators earlier this month for a highly unusual, top-secret briefing. The lawmakers pressed Bates, according to people familiar with the session, to discuss the inner workings of the United States’ clandestine terrorism surveillance tribunal, which Bates oversaw from 2006 until earlier this year. FISA court papers show NSA warrantless surveillance rules Classified documents spell out procedures for targeting foreigners and minimizing the collection of data from U.S. persons. Bates had rarely spoken of his sensitive work. He...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Democrats on the Judiciary Committee will support subpoenaing James Comey to testify if needed, arguing it is crucial for the former FBI director come before the panel.  Feinstein sent a letter Thursday to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the chairman of the committee, saying they are on the same page about the need for Comey to testify before their committee, which has oversight of the FBI.    "We unanimously believe that Director Comey should testify before our Committee regarding serious concerns that have been raised about political interference with FBI investigations and possible obstruction of justice. ... Be assured...

**SNIP** Even Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., agrees. "I would have a queasy feeling too," she told CNN on Sunday. "I think we need to know more about that, and there's only one way to know about it, and that's to have the Judiciary Committee take a look at that." Feinstein, a liberal stalwart on Capitol Hill, lends credibility to calls for Lynch to face questions about her conduct. Laughably, "a person close to" Lynch told the New York Times that "use of the bland term [matter] was intended to neither confirm nor deny that the investigation existed." Sure.

Feinstein: Judiciary Committee should 'take a look at that' Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) said Sunday that she too would have a "queasy feeling" if she received the request that former FBI Director James Comey got from then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch to call the Hillary Clinton email investigation "a matter." She added the Judiciary Committee should investigate. CNN's Brianna Keilar asked Feinstein on Sunday about Comey's testimony on Thursday to the Senate Intelligence Committee, where Comey said that Lynch had directed him to not call the probe into Clinton's use of a private email server an "investigation," but instead, "a...

During the endless ratings bonanza which was the Comey testimony, you may recall that the former FBI Director was asked multiple times in several variations of wording about what the President said to him about the Flynn investigation and, in a more general sense, all of the Russia questions. Was he asked to drop the investigation? No. Was he told to drop the investigation? No. Was he ordered to drop the investigation? Again and again… no. And did he, after all the inferences and “hopes” allegedly expressed by the President of the United States, actually wind up dropping the investigation?...

RUSH: Last night CNN is back with Dianne Feinstein begging her, “Last time we had you here, Senator, you said you had no evidence — you’ve seen no evidence — of collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign. Well, we brought you back again, and we’d like to know, has anything changed?” Here’s how the exchange went… Feinstein: Still No Evidence Of Trump Camp-Russia CollusionWOLF: I just want to be precise, Senator. In all, uh… You’ve had access from the Intelligence Committee, from the Judiciary Committee. In all the access you’ve had very sensitive information, so far you’ve not...

Congressional officials were told by FBI Director James Comey before he was fired that there are just a small number of Americans who are targets of the criminal or counterintelligence probes involving Russia and that none were President Trump or his top aides, Circa has confirmed. Behind closed doors, Comey provided specific updates on about a half dozen or less targeted US citizens who were the focus of either counterintelligence probes or criminal investigations emanating from the Russia election scandal, sources familiar with the intelligence told Circa. "President Trump is not a target, nor is any senior government official if...

California Senator Dianne Feinstein, certainly not sympathetic to the Trump administration, was just briefed along with other Senators on the Intelligence Committee at CIA headquarters and appeared on CNN. Wolf Blitzer asked her straight out: “Do you have evidence that there was in fact collusion between Trump associates and Russia during the campaign?” Her response: “Not at this time.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) told reporters Monday afternoon that former Obama National Security Advisor Susan Rice “ought to testify under oath” after Bloomberg News’s Eli Lake revealed that, during the presidential transition, she deliberately sought to “unmask” President Donald Trump’s associates from intelligence surveillance. Paul called the reports that Rice made dozens of requests to learn more about the identities of anonymous people thought to be close to the Trump transition team, inadvertently caught on tape during investigations into foreign persons of intelligence interest, “enormous news.” “If it is allowed, we shouldn’t be allowing it. I don’t think we should...

No. Rob brought you some first-rate Dianne Feinstein insanity yesterday, but you realize the week is young, right? I sometimes get frustrated with conservatives who treat Supreme Court nominations as if they are nothing more than a means to stop abortions - not that this isn’t important, but you’d think the federal courts do nothing that matters aside from deciding whether Roe v. Wade will stand or fall. But let’s be fair here: Democrats are every bit as obsessed with this if not more so. Even if they’re only doing it to check a box with their most ardent pro-abortion...

GORSUCH: Respectfully, I’d suggest that does not represent the body of my work. I’ve written two thousand — I’ve participate in 2,700 opinions over ten years. And if you want cases where I’ve ruled for “the little guy,” as well as “the big guy,” there are plenty of those, Senator. The Ute Indian tribe — FEINSTEIN: Would you be willing to submit some of them? It’s hard to read 2,700 cases — [crosstalk] GORSUCH: Oh, I’ll name a bunch them right now. [crosstalk] I’m sorry, Senator, of course. Ute 5 and 6. Fletcher. The Rocky Flats case, which vindicated the...