Free Republic

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is making a move to open up Germany's market to U.S. gas companies, following a lobbying push from President Trump, The Wall Street Journal reported. Merkel told a group of lawmakers over breakfast in October that her government will co-finance a $576 million liquified natural gas (LNG) shipping terminal in northern Germany, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the meeting. The project had been stalled for years, but Trump has lobbied hard for Europe to increase LNG purchases from the U.S. while reducing their reliance on Russia. Germany gets most of its gas from Russia,...

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Monday the Trump administration will end subsidies for electric cars and renewable energy sources, Reuters reports. Kudlow said he expected subsidies for electric cars would end by 2020 or 2021, according to the report. The remarks were made in response to a question about what the administration would do about General Motors' plans to layoff 15,000 people and shutter five plants across North America. The company's plans have sparked outrage in Washington from both parties. Trump last week floated cutting GM's subsidies for electric vehicles and raising auto tariffs to punish the...

"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace noted during a discussion with the president that William McRaven has said Trump's attacks on the media are the "greatest threat to democracy in his lifetime." Trump in response called McRaven a "Hillary Clinton fan" and "Obama-backer." "Wouldn’t it have been nice if we got Osama bin Laden a lot sooner than that, wouldn’t it have been nice?" Trump asked. "You know, living — think of this — living in Pakistan, beautifully in Pakistan in what I guess they considered a nice mansion, I don’t know, I’ve seen nicer. But living in Pakistan right...

FiveThirtyEight's election forecaster Nate Silver said Sunday that the House could end up in Democrat or Republican hands in Tuesday's election, though polling predicts that Democrats will flip the chamber. "So in the House we have Democrats with about a 4 in 5 chance of winning," Silver told ABC's "This Week." However, he noted that "polls aren't always right." "The range of outcomes in the House is really wide," he explained. "Our range which covers 80 percent of outcomes goes from, on the low end, about 15 Democratic pickups, all the way to low to mid 50s, 52 or 53."...

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said its online fundraising for the 2018 election cycle surpassed $100 million on Tuesday. "The DCCC made the early and aggressive investments necessary to build a top-tier online fundraising operation, and it’s paid off massively," DCCC Chief Digital Officer Julia Ager told The Hill in a statement. "The outpouring of support from grass-roots donors has allowed us to invest in over 80 races, fund an unprecedented $30 million base engagement and turnout campaign, and hold Republicans accountable every step of the way." Politico first reported the news earlier on Wednesday. In 2016, the DCCC had...

Prosecutors have granted immunity to David Pecker, the CEO of the company that publishes National Enquirer, as part of their investigation into President Trump's longtime lawyer Michael Cohen. Pecker met with the prosecution to discuss Cohen's involvement in Trump's hush-money deals with women leading up to the 2016 presidential election, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. DEVELOPING...

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) on Tuesday said that he thinks a “smelly special interest network” of dark money was involved in Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination process. “There is a very smelly special interest network that is operating through this nomination process and I think we’ve gotta put a spotlight on that as well,” Whitehouse told CNN Tuesday. Kavanaugh has been under the Democrat’s scrutiny since President Trump nominated him to succeed Justice Anthony Kennedy in July. Whitehouse told CNN, “I think that to the extent that the focus in these proceedings is entirely on Kavanaugh and misses the...