Free Republic

Raleigh, N.C. — North Carolina Republicans held a news conference Sunday afternoon, praising senators for confirming Justice Brett Kavanaugh, despite what they called a “smear campaign” spearheaded by Democrats. During the event, the women of the North Carolina Republican Party said the sexual assault claims against Kavanaugh are “outlandish.” The news conference opened up with Michele Nix, vice chairwoman of the North Carolina Republican Party, saying that women stand with sexual assault survivors, but they also stand in support of the presumption of innocence....

'He has the power to shape the court for a generation' Chief Justice John Roberts and retired Justice Anthony Kennedy conducted the swearing-in for Justice Brett Kavanaugh on Saturday. Kavanaugh’s addition to the Supreme Court comes after a tumultuous, monthslong confirmation process. Sacramento political analyst Steve Swatt weighed in on the impact of Kavanaugh’s confirmation. Q: How much is partisan politics affecting the Supreme Court? Swatt: That’s what a lot of people are concerned about, that the politics will in fact saturate the court. What is interesting is that in Brett Kavanaugh, the court now has a reliable staunch conservative...

Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and an opponent of President Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, made the following comments on ABC’s “This Week” on Oct. 7 following the Senate’s confirmation of Kavanaugh, who was immediately sworn in as an associate justice. =*= Jonathan Karl, ABC News: You called this process a sham. He is now Justice Kavanaugh. Do you view Justice Brett Kavanaugh as a legitimate justice? Hirono: He’s going to be on the Supreme Court with a huge taint and a big asterisk after his name. And the...

Picking up the pieces after a contentious nomination battle, the Senate’s majority leader said Sunday that the chamber won’t be irreparably damaged by the wrenching debate over sexual misconduct that has swirled around new Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. While Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Kavanaugh’s confirmation was a shining moment for the GOP heading into next month’s pivotal elections, GOP Gov. John Kasich of Ohio predicted “a good year” for Democrats and said he wonders about “the soul of our country” in the long term after the tumultuous hearings. McConnell, in two news show interviews, tried to distinguish between...

President Trump's counselor Kellyanne Conway said that newly-confirmed Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh should not be seen as tainted, saying that many women viewed him as unfairly accused, and “saw in him possibly our husbands, our sons, our cousins, our co-workers, our brothers.” Conway, in an interview with ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl on “This Week” Sunday, pushed back against the notion that many people may see now-Justice Kavanaugh as tainted due to his being confirmed to the Supreme Court despite allegations of sexual misconduct and sexual assault against him. “A lot of women, including me, in...

Republicans lost the argument, but they ultimately had the votes.Forty-nine Senate Republicans and one Democrat just confirmed Brett Kavanaugh to the United State Supreme Court. No allegations, no protesters, no public opinion poll showing Brett Kavanaugh is the most unpopular person to be elevated to the nation’s highest court in recent history was going to stop them. To the senators who confirmed him, it did not matter that Christine Blasey Ford testified for four hours under oath and told the Senate Judiciary Committee that she was “100 percent” certain Brett Kavanaugh was the boy who pulled her into a room...

Lynette Villano’s grandson doesn’t speak to her because of it, but she’s still one of the president’s most die-hard supporters. Are there enough Lynettes for Trump to win in 2020? The day after the 2016 election, Lynette Villano, a 72-year-old widow and clerk for the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, sent her grandson Connor Mulvey a text message: “I guess you can probably figure out that I’m very happy today,” Lynnette began. “Donald Trump is to your generation what Ronald Reagan was to ours. I am so fortunate to have been part of both. … He defied conventional...

"I’m glad that Dr. Ford was heard; I'm glad that Judge Kavanaugh was heard," she added. With the Great Sphinx of Giza and the pyramids visible over her shoulder, first lady Melania Trump expressed support for Brett Kavanaugh, her husband's nominee for the Supreme Court, on the final day of a trip to Africa trip that focused on her advocacy for children. The first lady had stayed largely quiet about the Supreme Court battle that had raged in Washington since Kavanaugh was publicly accused of sexual assault by Christine Blasey Ford last month, but Melania Trump spoke about what the...

Wow, what a week. First, some background. I have a source on the judiciary/courts whom I call "Zen Master" because in two years he hasn't been wrong. He has given me heads up on all the circuit court judges, was right on Gorsuch, and very early said Judge K would be the selection (he favored another) and that Judge K would get confirmed. He predicted the confirmation would be September 28 by 53-47. Ok, the date was a tad off because of the extra week demanded by Flakey, and the final will be two votes short because of MurCowSki's betrayal...

President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will campaign next week in Kentucky, with each seeking to sway a hotly contested 6th Congressional District race that could help determine which party controls the House of Representatives next year. Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Barr is in a tight race with Democrat Amy McGrath, a retired Marine fighter pilot. Trump's campaign said Friday it will hold a rally in Richmond, Kentucky, on Oct. 13. It will be Trump's third visit to Kentucky, but his first venture outside of the state's largest city of Louisville. Trump will appear at the Alumni...

Fox News anchors said Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony was compelling. Republican strategists sent panicked text messages anticipating an electoral disaster. And even some Brett Kavanaugh supporters questioned whether he could rescue his nomination. But as Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court appeared to be crumbling under the weight of sexual assault accusations, President Donald Trump had already become convinced that abandoning the judge would come at too great a cost to his administration and his party’s chances in the midterm elections. The president, according to half a dozen officials and people working on the confirmation, came to the determination that...

President in Topeka Saturday to rally Republicans in what protest organizer calls ‘highly charged’ environment President Donald Trump will appear in Topeka, Kansas, Saturday night to rally support for candidates in two competitive House races and gubernatorial candidate Kris Kobach. But organizers of a large counter demonstration are concerned about public safety. Police will corral demonstrators onto sidewalks sandwiched between traffic on a four-lane road and metal fencing more typically used to enclose livestock, the Topeka-Capital Journal reported. Demonstrators will split between the north side of the venue in a space designated for Trump supporters and the south side in...

President Trump’s fight for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh is breaking up the “Never Trump” coalition of GOP leaders and pundits, many who are now uniting behind the president in advance of Saturday’s Senate confirmation vote. Rocked by the wall of Democratic opposition no matter what evidence supporting Kavanaugh is presented and impressed with Trump’s solid backing amid a brutal media attack, Never Trumpers are abandoning their opposition in a show of support for the man they once mocked. One famous Never Trumper even told Secrets that Trump’s unwavering support for Kavanaugh, a long-time public servant who worked for former...

A Pennsylvania county has become the example of how Trump took the nation by storm with a conservative rhetoric that reached the forgotten corners of America in the 2016 cycle. Ben Bradlee Jr., a former Boston Globe reporter who led the Pulitzer-Prize winning team featured in the movie "Spotlight," sat down with ABC’s Political Director Rick Klein this week for the Powerhouse Politics Podcast to discuss his book, “The Forgotten: How the People of One Pennsylvania Country Elected Donald Trump and Changed America.” His book takes a deep dive, through the lives of 12 characters, into how Luzerne County became...

<p>Sen. Steve Daines says he'll return to Washington D.C. by private jet on his daughter's wedding day if his vote is needed to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.</p> <p>The Montana Republican said in a statement to The Associated Press that his Republican colleague, Montana congressman Greg Gianforte, "has come to save the day" by offering him use of his private jet.</p>

The White House on Friday expressed confidence the Senate will confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. "We sure hope so. I think we should," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said when asked by reporters if Kavanaugh has enough votes. "Moving into the weekend, we certainly hope the Senate will vote to confirm him," she added. The comments come after Kavanaugh cleared a key procedural hurdle in the Senate, setting up a final vote on his confirmation as early as Saturday. But the vote was full of drama and was called without Kavanaugh knowing beforehand whether he would...

One of the most infuriating aspects of this whole Kavanaugh saga is the degree to which we are flying blind about some of the most fundamental points of disagreement at its core. Making this even worse, it doesn’t have to be this way. On the Senate floor late Thursday, Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) made a new and tantalizing claim about what’s in the FBI documents on Brett M. Kavanaugh that all senators have now reviewed. Senators are severely limited in what they can say about these documents, which are summaries of the interviews that the FBI conducted as part of their...

ROCHESTER, Minnesota (KTTC) – Thousands of people from across the country are heading to Mayo Civic Center in Rochester Thursday for President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again campaign rally. Andy Krogstad, the managing director of Mayo Civic Center, says there are 4,000 seats in the arena with standing room for 1,500 hundred additional people. But that space may not be enough. For Randal Thom of Lakefield, Minn. this is his 41st presidential campaign rally. Thom is the first person in line, and he has been at the MCC since 5:30 a.m. Wednesday. “We have our great president coming in...

Brett Kavanaugh may have the support of at least one Democratic senator. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) now seems to be leaning towards voting "yes" on Kavanaugh, according to a new report from Politico, which also says Manchin "certainly is gettable" for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky). Kavanaugh needs at least 50 votes to be confirmed (Vice President Mike Pence would break the tie), and since there are 51 Republicans in the Senate, a "yes" vote from Manchin could make up for a "no" vote from another swing senator like Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) or Susan Collins (R-Maine). President Trump clearly...

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker made one last attempt to derail the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, urging his 4.1 million Twitter followers to flood the Senate switchboard in opposition. Booker, D-N.J., issued his call to action as senators pored over a new FBI investigation into allegations of sexual assault leveled against Kavanaugh. "The time to call your senators is now," Booker tweeted with the hashtags "Stop Kavanaugh" and "Believe Survivors." THE 202 224 3121 TIME 202 224 3121 TO 202 224 3121 CALL YOUR SENATORS 202 224 3121 IS 202 224 3121 NOW 202 224...