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Congress authorizes Trump to arm Syrian rebels with anti-aircraft missiles The House voted for the first time today to explicitly authorize the incoming Donald Trump administration to arm vetted Syrian rebels with anti-aircraft missiles. Summary Today, the House passed a defense bill that conditionally allows the provision of MANPADs to anti-Syrian regime forces. Author Julian Pecquet Posted December 2, 2016 While the language in the annual defense bill also creates restrictions on the provision of the controversial weapons, it represents a win for Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., a fervent advocate of helping the rebels resist President...

WASHINGTON — South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham confirmed Thursday he is in the process of reaching out to former “Gang of Eight” members to help him craft legislation that would protect immigrants who illegally entered the country as children from deportation. Graham and other Gang of Eight members — Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, and Colorado Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet — crafted immigration legislation in 2013 that passed the Senate but was never...

Washington, D.C. ­– U.S. Senators  John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) released the following statement today on the Egyptian parliament’s passage of legislation regulating non-governmental organizations (NGOs): “The Egyptian parliament’s passage of draconian legislation regulating non-governmental organizations (NGOs) undermines Egypt’s stated commitment to protecting constitutionally-guaranteed rights and to furthering Egypt’s democratic transition. We urge President al-Sisi to reject this legislation and uphold Egypt’s constitutional commitment to freedom of association and assembly.  “This legislation would effectively subject the operation of independent NGOs to powerful Egyptian security agencies. Egypt’s longstanding and vibrant civil society would be placed under unprecedented pressure to cede...

The Senate Armed Services chair vowed to help move Mattis through the upper chamber's confirmation process. McCain, who will chair Mattis's confirmation hearing, told the Washington Examiner that he would write the bill to grant Mattis a waiver of the seven-year rule. Not all lawmakers agreed on that Thursday night. Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y., a former Hillary Clinton supporter, said she is against changing that rule in order to accommodate Mattis. "While I respect Gen Mattis's service, I oppose a waiver-civilian control of our military is a fundamental principle of American democracy," Gillibrand tweeted.

In a Senate floor speech today, Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham announced that they are offering an amendment to strip a key element of the recently passed Justice Against Sponsors of Terror Act (JASTA) that clarifies U.S. law for civil claims against foreign governments for funding terrorism. JASTA was passed in the Senate in May with no objections, and passed the House of Representatives unanimously in September. President Obama promptly vetoed the bill. The Senate and House successfully voted to override the veto and the bill became law. McCain and Graham specifically said they want to strip the "discretionary...

He’s just been reelected, he’s probably in his final term, and he’s built up a thick skin after being bashed by grassroots conservatives for so many years. If Trump nominates someone for the cabinet who’s obviously unqualified or tries to push a giant infrastructure boondoggle through the Senate, McCain’s free to say no and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. Judging from his tone here, he’s fully prepared to do so.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday that President-elect Donald Trump's pledge to pull out of an Obama administration trade deal is predictable but disappointing. "The President-elect’s announcement that he intends to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, though anticipated, is still a disappointment to those of us who still believe in free trade and the importance of America’s strategic role in the Asia-Pacific region," McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. He added that Trump's decision to pull out of the trade deal, which is already expected to die on the vine in this year's lame-duck...

A leading Republican voice on national security matters said Saturday he doesn't care what President-elect Donald Trump says, the United States will not reinstate waterboarding. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said at the Halifax International Security Forum that any attempt to bring back harsh interrogation techniques such as waterboarding, which simulates drowning, would quickly be challenged in court. "I don't give a damn what the president of the United States wants to do or anybody else wants to do. We will not waterboard. We will not do it," McCain said to applause during a...

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (AP) — A leading Republican voice on national security matters said Saturday he doesn’t care what President-elect Donald Trump says, the United States will not reinstate waterboarding. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said at the Halifax International Security Forum that any attempt to bring back harsh interrogation techniques such as waterboarding, which simulates drowning, would quickly be challenged in court. “I don’t give a damn what the president of the United States wants to do or anybody else wants to do. We will not waterboard. We will not do it,” McCain...

Washington (CNN)A Republican hawk, John McCain, is warning a Republican President-elect, Donald Trump, about growing too close to Vladimir Putin before Trump's presidency even begins. McCain on Tuesday did not mention Trump's name in a statement but left no question about his opinion on a president acting too chummy with the Russian leader. Trump has been criticized by Republicans at times for his praise of Putin and believes that the US and Russia can work strategically together to advance an international agenda. McCain said President Barack Obama's attempts to cool tensions between the US and Russia had enabled the nation...

Fox News contributor Meghan McCain will serve as permanent co-host of the network’s talk show Outnumbered, Fox News Channel announced Monday. The 32-year-old commentator and daughter of Arizona Sen. John McCain will join co-hosts Harris Faulkner and Sandra Smith on the daytime discussion show, along with one rotating male co-host, whom the network refers to as “one lucky guy.” McCain will make her first appearance as co-host on Monday.

After a 31-point blowout at the KFC Yum! Center, Rick Pitino's postgame press conference drifted from the usual Xs and Os. . . .Everybody in this room has problems with him. And I think the only way to remedy a problem is to find a solution. The first thing I said in the show is ... call up John McCain, apologize and then publicly apologize. Because that has upset me since day one. That man was five years in solitary confinement and was beaten. He's a hero to all of us, and he needs to be apologized to first ......

On Sunday evening, side-by-side images of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta and his brother Tony next to police sketches of potential suspects in a 2007 kidnapping of a three-year-old girl took over the internet. The resemblance is striking, and Reddit, 4chan, and Twitter rapidly took up the case. -snip- In 2013, five years after Portuguese police had closed the case, they reopened it and revealed two new police sketches. It was believed that they were supposed to be of the same man, but from two different witnesses. Reddit and others on social media are now asking, what if it...

Chief strategist to the John McCain 2008 presidential campaign and current MSNBC contributor Steve Schmidt advised the Trump campaign to focus on writing a "dignified" concession speech for "Madam President-Elect Hillary Clinton."

John McCain and Mitt Romney held a 'get out the vote" rally last night in Mesa AZ featuring free food and drink. 150 people showed up LMAO.

Former Republican presidential candidate John Kasich confessed on Monday evening that he wrote in Arizona Sen. John McCain for president on his early voting ballot instead of Republican nominee Donald Trump. Chris Schrimpf, the governor's political spokesman, confirmed to Cleveland.com that the Ohio governor voted straight-ticket Republican on the rest of his ballot, but stood by his July promise not to vote for the billionaire businessman.

MRC president Brent Bozell appeared on “The Kelly File” with substitute host Martha MacCallum to discuss new e-mails about Benghazi and Fox News coverage of Benghazi. The e-mails are between State Department PR operative Victoria Nuland and friendly Associated Press reporter Matt Lee, discussing the alleged “BS” on Fox during “The O’Reilly Factor” on September 13, 2012, two days after the consulate attacks. Bozell thought the Obama publicist and the AP reporter sounded way too much like each other. (Video, transcript below)

[big campaign] McCain, Marcos, Mobuto, Chalabi, Blackwater, Black. From:eli@moveon.org To: bigcampaign@googlegroups.com Date: 2008-05-16 13:29 Subject: [big campaign] McCain, Marcos, Mobuto, Chalabi, Blackwater, Black. MoveOn.org Political Action For Immediate Release: Contact: Friday, May 16, 2008 Trevor Fitzgibbon or Doug Gordon (202) 822-5200 *** View Web Ad At: http://pol.moveon.org/charlieblack/video.html*** MoveOn Attacks McCain's Lobbyist Connections; Calls For Chief Adviser To Resign Black Should Be The First To Go Under Campaign's New "Conflict Of Interest Policy" John McCain's chief adviser, lobbyist Charlie Black, is the subject of a new video released today calling on him to resign. The video comes after revelations of past...

A hacked email published by WikiLeaks this week shows that Democratic strategists — including top political allies of Hillary Clinton — were gauging voter attitudes about the Muslim faith of Barack Obama’s father during Clinton's unsuccessful fight for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. If this had come out in the midst of the 2008 Democratic primaries it would no doubt prompt angry comments from Obama campaign staffers and condemnations of attempts to other-ize the senator. But Democrats, not surprisingly, were mum Friday. According to Tom Matzzie and Paul Begala, two Democratic consultants advising the 2008 polling effort by Progressive Media...

Russ Feingold and John McCain largely made their names in the Senate fighting the power of special interest money. But now as McCain fights for re-election in Arizona and Feingold tries to return to the Senate in Wisconsin, the authors of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law are benefiting from the same sources of funding they once scorned. …