Free Republic

A criminal organization masquerading as a political party, as somebody or other famously said: The FBI is investigating an alleged illegal donation scheme involving a wealthy Saudi family that supports Democratic Florida Senate candidate Patrick Murphy. The Hill has found no evidence that Murphy himself was involved in, or even aware of, the alleged scheme. The Murphy campaign declined to say whether the candidate is aware of the FBI probe, but the campaign said neither Murphy nor his campaign staff is being investigated.The Murphy campaign noted that a conservative super PAC earlier this year filed a complaint on the issue...

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said that he will not discuss any leaked documents published by WikiLeaks and is calling on the rest of his party to ignore them as well. "As our intelligence agencies have said, these leaks are an effort by a foreign government to interfere with our electoral process and I will not indulge it,” Rubio told ABC News. "Further, I want to warn my fellow Republicans who may want to capitalize politically on these leaks: Today it is the Democrats. Tomorrow it could be us."

As everyone's been hearing and talking about, James O'Keefe and Veritas have torn away the facade to expose the mass fraud, corruption and assaults on democracy being carried out by the DNC and Hillary Clinton campaign against Trump and Republicans (not to mention Bernie Sanders before that), with devastating videos that are already dominating social media this week. Already Scott Foval, Bob Creamer and other crooked Dem operatives have been fired, and the fallout is only beginning. As usual and unsurprisingly, the "mainstream" media has been almost totally silent on these smoking-gun revelations-- DNC operatives openly talking about how they've...

After enthusiastically endorsing and campaigning for Ted Cruz in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, radio talk show host Glenn Beck admitted he made an error and said he should have supported Marco Rubio instead. Beck had just finished a contentious interview with Cruz, in which he quizzed the Texas Senator about supporting Donald Trump after making a public show of not endorsing him. “For the very first time I heard Ted Cruz calculate,” he said after the commercial break. “And when that happened, the whole thing fell apart for me,” he continued. “And it’s my fault. It’s my fault for...

MIAMI — Senator Marco Rubio of Florida was nominated for a second term by Republican voters on Tuesday, five months after suspending his presidential campaign. He will face Representative Patrick Murphy, a two-term House Democrat, in one of the crucial races for control of the Senate. The primary results appeared to point to a preference among voters in Florida, a pivotal swing state, to eschew more extreme candidates on the right and the left in favor of establishment lawmakers favored by national party leaders. In another important primary race, Senator John McCain of Arizona, a Republican seeking a sixth term,...

As Rep. Alan Grayson’s Senate campaign began falling apart over allegations he beat his ex-wife, he blasted out a new robocall touting a Grayson for U.S. House campaign. Grayson, however, wasn’t dropping out of the Senate race and running for reelection. Instead, he was phoning Wednesday on behalf of his new wife, Dena Minning Grayson. She married him during the election season on Memorial Day weekend, when she was running as Dena Minning. She promptly changed her last name and began campaigning as his ideological and familial heir in a district where she didn’t live and was once a complete...

Hoping to draw a contrast with U.S. Sen Marco Rubio on the depth of each man’s support for Donald Trump and generate some media attention for his underdog campaign, GOP Senate candidate Carlos Beruff arrived at the Republican National Convention Tuesday and immediately hit the floor to watch Florida’s delegation award it’s 99 delegates to Trump.IMG_8456 “I’m here to back up Donald Trump all the way to the White House, unlike Mr. Rubio, whose afraid to take a stance,” Beruff, a Manatee County homebuilder, said during a brief interview on the convention floor.

A high-powered group of senators officially petitioned the State Department Thursday to suspend the security clearances of former Secretary Hillary Clinton and her top aides — a move that could effectively kneecap her preparations for the White House. Sen. Marco Rubio, a member of the intelligence committee, led the push, joined by Sen. John Cornyn, the Senate’s second-ranking Republican and a handful of others... They took that step after the White House said it wouldn’t act on its own. The administration says both major presidential candidates have traditionally gotten such access, and President Obama won’t break that tradition despite the...

Marco Rubio has decided to skip the GOP convention in Cleveland this month after originally saying he would attend, citing the rigors of his newly launched Senate campaign. He's the latest major GOP politician to skip out on the convention, which will serve as Donald Trump's coronation as the party's nominee. Only a small handful of Trump's former rivals will attend. "Florida has always been a competitive state and it will be this fall. Marco had planned to go to the convention before he decided to seek re-election. Since Marco got into the race late, he will be in Florida...

If you think "Robot Rubio" faded away after Marco's painful debate in New Hampshire, think again. The Carlos Beruff Senate campaign has resurrected that image of Marco Rubio as a talking points repeater in a new digital ad featuring clips of newly minted Senate candidate Rubio repeatedly declining to make an "unequival" statement promising to fill out a full second term rather than run again for president.

A onetime opponent is throwing his support behind Marco Rubio. On Wednesday, Sen. Ted Cruz said he was “glad to support” Rubio in his re-election bid. Cruz, a Texas Republican, was one of more than a dozen Republicans who ran for president earlier this year. “Marco Rubio is a friend and has been an ally in many battles we have fought together in the Senate. I’m glad to support him in his bid for re-election,” he said in a Facebook post shortly after Rubio’s announcement. “Marco is a tremendous communicator and a powerful voice for the American Dream. At this...

Conservative talk radio host Mark Levin endorsed the reelection bids of Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Ron DeSantis in two key races in Florida. A recent critic of Sen. Rubio during his failed bid for the Republican nomination, Mr. Levin now says “Rubio has a solid record” and echoed the praises from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a former presidential rival who also endorsed Rubio’s bid for reelection. “I support Senator Marco Rubio for reelection to the U.S. Senate as well,” he wrote. “The Senator has reversed his position on whether or not to run again, and I see his change...

If you think "Robot Rubio" faded away after Marco's painful debate in New Hampshire, think again. The Carlos Beruff Senate campaign has resurrected that image of Marco Rubio as a talking points repeater in a new digital ad featuring clips of newly minted Senate candidate Rubio repeatedly declining to make an "unequival" statement promising to fill out a full second term rather than run again for president.

It took less than 48 hours for Marco Rubio to nearly clear the field in what had been a crowded GOP U.S. Senate primary. One after another, Republican candidates — some who had campaigned for more than a year — dropped out last week rather than face Rubio, one of the GOP’s leading figures nationwide. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio reversed course this week, and is seeking re-election. The last Republican standing in the way of Rubio claiming the nomination is a brash Manatee County homebuilder who has drawn comparisons to Donald Trump. Carlos Beruff seems determined to fight on regardless...

WASHINGTON - Just last week Florida Sen. Marco Rubio announced that he would seek re-election after a long presidential primary battle that saw him finish third to Donald Trump. Now it seems with the August GOP primary coming fast it seems that his biggest challenge on paper, could be someone who looks lot like Donald Trump. We know that there is no love lost between Rubio and the presumptive Republican 2016 presidential nominee. Now enter billionaire Carlos Beruff, who has endorsed Trump, he's espoused some of the same controversial beliefs, and may even have the backing of Florida Gov. Rick...

Only one person stands in the way of Marco Rubio merging from August's Senate primary victorious--and on paper, he looks a lot like Donald Trump Millionaire Carlos Beruff has endorsed Trump, he's espoused some of the same controversial beliefs, they both have allies in Florida Gov. Rick Scott, and hasn’t been afraid to pour their millions into their bids. And while Rubio's decision to reverse course and run for reelection this week all-but cleared the field and has made him the heavy favorite, Beruff has refused to go quietly. “The voters of Florida can reelect Washington’s candidate, who has consistently...

So I just stopped by the Corner blog at National Review Online to see their reaction to Trump's speech today. To my surprise, there wasn't a single post commenting on it. The NR writers spent the day posting about Brexit, and about Rubio's senate run, and about a picture of Trump they don't like. But not a word about Trump's speech. If that isn't proof that Trump hit a home run today, I don't know what is.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D., Ill.) has paid his wife and daughters hundreds of thousands of dollars from his campaign’s coffer since 2010, according to campaign finance data. Gutierrez, who was first elected to Congress in 1993, brought his wife, Soraida Gutierrez, onto his campaign’s payroll six years ago to act as his office manager, treasurer, and fundraiser. Soraida Gutierrez was a registered lobbyist in the state of Illinois from 2003 to 2009 before joining Gutierrez for Congress. She has since raked in more than $300,000 for her work on behalf of the committee while being the top recipient of campaign...

Former Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio reversed course Wednesday and said he will seek re-election to the Senate, telling Fox News: “I changed my mind.” The decision, widely expected among his Florida Republican colleagues, follows repeated claims during the GOP presidential primary race that he would not run again for Senate. Rubio for months had spoken about his frustrations with the Senate, in explaining his original decision to run for the presidency only – and defending himself against criticism for missed votes. But he told Fox News’ Chris Wallace on Wednesday while he’s “frustrated” with the Senate, it is “also...

You know the deal. Every amendment that adds significant border security to the Gang of Eight bill threatens to scare Democratic votes away, and Rubio, McCain, Graham, and Flake have decided that they’d rather have the bad bill they wrote pass than no bill at all. Four votes against the fence, just as Conn Carroll predicted this morning: Senators on Tuesday rejected building the 700 miles of double-tier border fencing Congress authorized just seven years ago, with a majority of the Senate saying they didn’t want to delay granting illegal immigrants legal status while the fence was being built. The...