Free Republic

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is moving to nix the blue slip for two of President Trump’s judicial picks, sparking a showdown with Democrats over nominations. Grassley announced on Thursday that he has scheduled Nov. 29 hearings for David Stras, Trump’s nomination to be an appellate judge on the 8th Circuit, and for Kyle Duncan, nominated to serve the 5th Circuit. “Today I’m announcing that the Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing for two circuit court nominees, each of whom has one home state senator who has not returned a blue slip containing a positive endorsement,” Grassley said from the Senate...

Hours after news broken that a U.S. senator made inappropriate sexual advances on a woman, Alabama Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore said he is not getting the similar benefit of the doubt. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minnesota, was accused by sports broadcaster Leeann Tweeden of groping her and kissing her aggressively when they were rehearsing a skit for a USO show in 2006. The incidents occurred two years before Franken - a former comedian - was elected to the Senate. Sen. Al Franken accused of kissing, groping woman Sen. Al Franken accused of kissing, groping woman TV host and sports broadcaster...

Alabama Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore reacted to the groping allegations made against Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken on Thursday by arguing a double standard is at play. In a tweet, Moore, who is facing calls to drop of the Senate race after multiple women have accused him of sexual misconduct in the past, attacked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell over his differing responses. Moore tweeted: “Al Franken admits guilt after photographic evidence of his abuse surfaces. Mitch: ‘Let's investigate.’ In Alabama, ZERO evidence, allegations 100% rejected. Mitch: ‘Moore must quit immediately or be expelled.’”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that if Alabama's Senate candidate Roy Moore wins, he'll face an ethics investigation immediately after he's sworn into office. "It would be a rather unusual beginning," McConnell said, speaking at a Wall Street Journal event. "I'd like to save the seat, and it's a heck of a dilemma when you've got a completely unacceptable candidate bearing the label of your party within a month of the election," he added. McConnell is one of several Republicans who have called for Moore to step aside. He has also spoken with President Trump and Vice President Pence...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says Roy Moore "should step aside" from his U.S. Senate bid in light of allegations that he had sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl when he was a 32-year-old assistant district attorney in Alabama.

WASHINGTON — Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, said Monday that Roy S. Moore, the Republican Senate candidate in Alabama, “should step aside” and that he believes the women who have accused Mr. Moore of sexual misconduct when they were teenagers. “I believe the women, yes,” Mr. McConnell said at a news conference in Louisville. Mr. McConnell also said that encouraging a write-in candidate to run in the Dec. 12 special election is “an option we’re looking at.” Mr. Moore, a judge who was twice removed from the state’s high court, first for refusing to remove the Ten Commandments from...

Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore responded to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) call for Moore to "step aside," saying that McConnell is the one who should do so. "The person who should step aside is [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell. He has failed conservatives and must be replaced," Moore tweeted on Monday. His tweet comes after McConnell said on Monday that Moore should withdraw from the race. Several conservative leaders have called for Moore to step down following allegations that he engaged in sexual encounters with teenagers in the past, including one 14-year-old girl who alleged that he...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday called for GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore to "step aside," according to the Associated Press. His comments come after a woman accused Moore of initiating sexual contact with her in 1979, when she was 14 and he was 32. McConnell was asked if he believes the allegations to be true. "I believe the women," he said.

Mark asked his audience: How did the WaPo know there were four women, who they were, and how to contact them?… A Washington Post reporter just happens to be in Alabama talking to Roy Moore supporters… And he happens to hear what no one has reported in 38 years, no political opponents – No one… That Roy Moore, 38 years ago, made advances to teenage girls. Four of them. Now, the four girls do not know each other, they have never met. Yet the person who the Post reporter happened to run into and speak to, the person who supposedly...

Right before he beat Luther Strange, Team McConnell were telling donors they had someone on Moore dealing regarding sex and an underage woman. And a donor told me.

Senate Republican leadership is calling for Alabama GOP candidate Roy Moore to step down as the party's nominee if new allegations of his inappropriate sexual conduct against a 14-year old girl in 1979 are true. Both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) released brief statements on Thursday, shortly after The Washington Post published the allegations. "If these allegations are true, he must step aside," McConnell said. Gardner's statement echoed that from McConnell. “The allegations against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore are deeply troubling,” he said. “If these allegations are found...

President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) shared the podium in the Rose Garden this afternoon, where the two men tried to downplay to reported souring relationship between the White House and Senate Republicans (via ABC News): Trump claimed that his relationship with McConnell is "outstanding," a refutation of reports ranging back to the summer that documented growing frustrations between the two powerful Republicans.After first discussing his administration's current efforts at a tax overhaul, Trump suddenly pivoted to describe his rapport with McConnell."My relationship with this gentleman is outstanding [and] has been outstanding." Trump said.McConnell later...

It’s on! Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell slammed Steve Bannon on Monday during his joint press conference with President Donald Trump. McConnell has failed to pass ANY significant legislation since President Trump entered office in January.Nothing!   Former Trump Chief Strategist Steve Bannon announced his plans to replace the deadbeat Republicans who trash President Trump and stall the conservative-populist agenda in Washington DC. Last week Steve Bannon warned the GOP elites, ” We’re going to cut off the oxygen to Mitch McConnell.” McConnell didn’t like that.Today McConnell lashed out at Steve Bannon for going after GOP senate seats in...

Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell walked back his announced intention to eliminate a longtime tool of bipartisanship in the Senate by doing away with blue slips — something that Republicans used and abused in order to block former President Barack Obama’s judicial nominees during his time in office. McConnell had told The Weekly Standard on Tuesday that he planned on removing the importance of blue slips, rendering them as a symbolic gesture as opposed to a procedural mechanism. But McConnell's spokesman, Don Stewart, told HuffPost on Wednesday that the Republican Party did not intend on eliminating blue slips. The blue slip is not a rule...

Our political establishment always eagerly supports reform as long as it is no more than theater meant to fool the voters, an entirely phony exercise. In the early 1990s, I held in my hand a small-run book, “Lip Service,” by Richard Viguerie, which highlighted the attempts of Republican leaders to fool conservatives. Finally, after years of conservatives ignoring the obvious need, Steve Bannon, former Trump White House adviser and Breitbart editor, is launching a sustained war to eject Democrats pretending to be Republicans and elect actual, genuine Republicans to the U.S. Congress. Our country is lost without this. But many...

The GOP leader may not personally be a fan of blue slips, but he’s not getting rid of them, says his spokesman. WASHINGTON ― Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will continue to honor the blue slip rule ― an arcane but hugely consequential Senate tradition that lets lawmakers block a president’s judicial nominees from their home states ― even though a news article suggested he would get rid of it, his spokesman said. The Weekly Standard reported Wednesday that McConnell said in an interview that Democrats would no longer be allowed to use the rule to deny some of...

A group that backed Republican Roy Moore in Alabama’s contentious U.S. Senate primary said a super PAC aligned with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell “wasted millions” trying to defeat Moore. The Senate Leadership Fund spent $9 million in the race on behalf of Sen. Luther Strange. Ed Rollins, lead strategist for the Great America PAC backing Moore, said the Senate Leadership Fund can “atone for this mistake” by providing Moore with the same level of financial support as he faces Democrat Doug Jones in the general election. …

Judge Roy Moore’s substantial defeat of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s handpicked, well-financed candidate, “Big Luther” Strange in the Alabama Republican Senate Primary is a political earthquake. It shows that the political and cultural tide that propelled Donald Trump past 16 primary opponents and Hillary Clinton into the White House is still running strong. They present a near-perfect symmetry of cause and effect: McConnell’s brand of timid, ineffectual leadership, on the one hand, leads to a devastating electoral rebuke on the other. Voters served notice—again—that unprincipled, do-nothing Republicans who are more at home in opposition than in power are unneeded...

Former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore easily won yesterday’s GOP primary in his home state, beating interim senator Luther Strange a 55-45 margin. Strange, a former state attorney general, had been the Republican establishment’s occupant in the seat since Jeff Sessions was appointed by President Trump to become Attorney General, where he is busy indicting college basketball coaches while ignoring the criminal behavior of a wide variety of Obama Administration officials and former FBI directors. Going into the primary, an increasingly desperate GOP establishment issued stern warnings, telling voters to vote for their preferred milquetoast candidate because, well, he...

Update 7:38p.m.: Now the Moore campaign is walking back its previous statement. They have agreed to a debate with Strange sans moderator. "We are glad Luther Strange has agreed to our challenge of an honest and open debate, with no conditions," the Moore campaign said. A Moore campaign spokeswoman said the details haven't been worked out yet......... Original story: Senator Luther Strange campaign has agreed to hold a debate with challenger Roy Moore without a moderator, although the incumbent senator slammed his opponent for having "ridiculous demands."...... Earlier Wednesday, Moore said he would only have a debate with Strange styled...