Free Republic

The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has abruptly cancelled a long-established plan to hold talks with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, in Berlin, citing unspecified “international security issues”.

Washington (CNN)Secretary of State Mike Pompeo abruptly canceled a scheduled trip to Germany, where he was planning to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel "due to pressing issues," the State Department said early Tuesday. No specific reason was given for the cancellation. The press pool traveling with Pompeo has not been told where they are going next, and have been warned they may not be able to report from the country they are going to until after their departure.

Joe Scarborough's white-hot hatred of Donald Trump apparently extends to members of the President's administration. On today's Morning Joe, Scarborough launched a nasty, personal attack on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. After playing a clip of Pompeo expressing frustration at Chris Wallace asking on Fox News Sunday, asking why President Trump didn't bring up election meddling with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, Scarborough came unglued, calling Pompeo, among other insults, an "absolute fool" who is "beneath contempt," complete with his wife's supportive echoing. Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

enezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro was prepared to leave the country Tuesday and seek asylum in Cuba but was stopped by Russia, U.S. officials said. “We’ve watched throughout the day, it’s been a long time since anyone’s seen Maduro,” Pompeo told CNN. “He had an airplane on the tarmac, he was ready to leave this morning as we understand it and the Russians indicated he should stay.” Pompeo said Maduro had been planning to travel to Havana. Asked if Maduro would have been allowed to safely depart for Cuba, Pompeo dodged the question. “Mr. Maduro understands what will happen if he...

In Brooklyn, New York a judge dismissing a court challenge to mandatory measles vaccinations in neighborhoods with large Orthodox Jewish populations. There's been a large measles outbreak in the New York area..... The big Newsdump event of the week Thursday with release of a redacted report of Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller into matters related to President Trump..... Protest bans in Paris for Yellow Vests demonstrations Saturday with Notre-Dame Cathedral added.... In France Thursday a day to honor firefighters who fought Monday night's blaze at the Notre-Dame Cathedral.... Was the fire at Notre-Dame something other than an accident?..... In Northern Ireland...

The International Criminal Court will not investigate alleged war crimes in Afghanistan by the U.S. and its allies in the early days of the War on Terror, rejecting a request from the chief prosecutor to launch a formal probe into the matter and handing an ideological victory to National Security Advisor John Bolton on a pet issue that he has made a focus of the Trump administration. The United States is not a signatory to the ICC and administrations of both parties have long been wary of the Hague, in part out of concern that it might allow for the...

In a historic move on Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the designation of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization. This is the first time the U.S. has given the designation to part of a government. The designation will enable the U.S. to further ramp up sanctions against Iran’s tyrannical regime under the administration’s “maximum pressure” policy. The Revolutionary Guard Corps is both the sword and shield of Iran’s Islamic revolution, dating back to 1979. It is charged with attacking Iran’s enemies overseas, supporting Iran’s network of foreign terrorist proxies, and crushing political opposition to...

United States military forces stationed in Libya have been pulled out of the country. The United Nations also moving personnel out of the country as the Libyan National Army forces press their attack on the US-UN backed government that controls a small part of the country mostly around the capital city of Tripoli.... US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calling for an end to the fighting and for negotiations between the warring factions..... As early as Monday, the United States is expected to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran as a "terrorist organization"..... Seven were killed in a...

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday that the recent arrest of Yujing Zhang, the woman who allegedly breached security at President Donald Trump's private Florida club while carrying Chinese passports and a flash drive containing malware, is an example of the threat Beijing poses to the US. Pompeo declined to provide additional details related to that claim during the interview on "CBS This Morning," but did say, "I think this tells the American people the threat that China poses, the efforts they're making inside the United States, not only against government officials but more broadly." CNN reported on Wednesday...

WASHINGTON DC (Kurdistan24) – On Thursday, US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, reaffirmed the State Department’s tough language in its read-out, summarizing Pompeo’s meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu the day before.The statement issued by the State Department on Wednesday included wording that suggested the US was prepared to respond militarily to any Turkish attack on America’s Kurdish allies in Syria.According to the US read-out, Pompeo warned Cavusoglu “of the potentially devastating consequences of unilateral Turkish military action” in northeastern Syria, while Pompeo also complained about Turkey’s plans to purchase the S-400 and its unjustified detention of US citizens.Without...

US personnel in Afghanistan are being investigated by the ICC. The US has revoked the entry visa for the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda. The decision is thought to be the US response to Ms Bensouda's investigation into possible war crimes by American forces and their allies in Afghanistan. The US secretary of state had warned the US might refuse or revoke visas to any ICC staff involved in such probes. Ms Bensouda's office said the ICC prosecutor would continue to her duties "without fear or favour". Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: "If you're responsible...

A special election for a House of Commons seat in Wales on Thursday with the Labor Party holding the seat well ahead of the Conservatives 40 percent to 31 percent with the party of Brexit, UKIP, more than tripling their share to nine percent of the vote..... The "Daily Mail" publishing a poll with 48 percent calling on Mrs. May to resign..... Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini meeting in Paris Friday with France's leading opposition politician, Marine Le Pen of the National Rally.... Debate and discussion in France's National Assembly over giving the government of French President Emmanuel Macron new...

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested in a televised interview Thursday that God may have sent President Donald Trump to Earth to protect Israel. Pompeo made the remarks in an interview with Christian Broadcasting Network, or CBN, in Jerusalem, where he visited the Western Wall with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. When the interview turned to Iranian aggression in the Middle East, Pompeo was asked whether he thought "President Trump right now has been sort of raised for such a time as this, just like Queen Esther, to help save the Jewish people from the Iranian menace." "As a Christian,...

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested that the US may be forced to downgrade its intelligence cooperation with Israel over the Jewish State's growing ties with China. Pompeo was asked about the the Israel-China ties, a rare sore spot in US-Israel relations under the Trump Administration, during an interview with Barak Ravid on Channel 13 News. "China broadly presents a real opportunity," he acknowledged. "They’re an economic powerhouse and there are lots of opportunities that countries have to do business with China. When China behaves transparently, when China is engaged in real economic transactions, we are untroubled. When China...

President Donald J. Trump will host Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House next week, displaying a significant shift in policy from President Obama.Netanyahu will join Trump for a working meeting on March 25 during which they will “discuss their countries’ shared interests and actions in the Middle East,” according to the White House press release Wednesday. The U.S. President will then host Netanyahu at a dinner on March 26. This will be Netanyahu’s third visit to the Trump White House.What a difference nine years makes.OBAMA HAD A DISTINCTLY DIFFERENT APPROACH TO ISRAEL AND NETANYAHU It was on March 23,...

The International Criminal Court is an illegitimate globalist institution being used by enemies of the United States and Israel as a political lawfare weapon U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Friday new U.S. visa restrictions on those individuals directly responsible for any International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation of U.S. personnel in connection with U.S. and allied military and intelligence activities in Afghanistan. The ICC prosecutor had previously requested approval from the ICC’s judges to launch a formal investigation into what the prosecutor called the “situation in Afghanistan.” That request is still pending. Secretary Pompeo warned all those working...

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday ruled out a US Senate bid in 2020, saying he'll "be the secretary of state as long as President Trump gives (him) the chance to serve as a senior diplomat." "I love doing what I'm doing. I have great warriors around the world, trying to deliver for the American people," Pompeo said on NBC's "Today." "It's ruled out. I'm here. I'm loving it," he said.

Hamas-linked CAIR lawyer says Islamic State bride barred from US wants to return to “help deradicalize others” Hoda Muthana isn’t coming back, at least while Donald Trump is President: And Hamas-linked CAIR’s Hasan Shibly is peddling snake oil about how Muthana wants to come back to keep other Muslims from making the same mistake she did. She would “deradicalize” others, you see. Deradicalization programs, upon which the West has placed so much hope, have long been an obvious failure. Such programs are based on the premise that the true teachings of Islam are peaceful, and so all that needs to...

“ISIS bride” Hoda Muthana’s citizenship case will not be fast-tracked, a judge ruled Monday — waving off her family’s fears that the US might withdraw from Syria before her suit is resolved. DC federal court Judge Reggie Walton denied her family’s request to expedite their suit, saying their argument that she could get stuck in Syria or put in danger if American troops pull out involved too much speculation. “The case will need to adhere to the normal course of the flow of litigation” and “proceed on the normal track,” Walton said. Department of Justice attorney Scott Stewart argued Muthana’s...

Although the remarkable dumpster fire that is the Jussie Smollett self-beclowning saga has captured all the headlines this week, the legally murky kerfuffle that is the so-called "ISIS bride" — Hoda Muthana — is probably the more nationally pressing story. Muthana was born in the U.S. to a father who was a Yemeni diplomat. All sides of the constitutional debate regarding the original public meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Clause concede that if the Clause's intermediary phrase, "subject to the jurisdiction thereof," means anything at all, it refers to the fact that the children of foreign diplomats are not...