Free Republic

US Vice-President Mike Pence has criticised the US National Basketball Association (NBA) in a speech attacking Chinese diplomatic and trade policies. Mr Pence accused both the NBA and the sports equipment firm Nike of "kowtowing" to Beijing and "muzzling" criticism of China. It comes in the wake of a diplomatic row over an NBA team manager's support for anti-Beijing protests in Hong Kong. He also said Chinese policy was growing "more aggressive and destabilising". In the speech in Washington DC, the vice-president said: "In siding with the Chinese Communist Party and silencing free speech, the NBA is acting like a...

Former NBA player Charles Barkley said that Vice President Mike Pence “needs to shut the hell up” in response to Pence’s comments blasting the NBA for being accommodating China. “First of all, Vice President Pence needs to shut the hell up,” Barkley said during an NBA pregame on TNT. “All American companies are doing business in China.” The former NBA player added that he thought it was “unfair” that politicians were attempting “to make the NBA and our players look bad” after President Trump has started a trade war against China. “But I don’t understand why these holier than thou...

""""Vice President Mike Pence’s Big Brother Is Sitting In On Congress’s Closed-Door Impeachment Depositions"""" WASHINGTON — As dozens of House members in charge of the impeachment investigations sit in on closed-door depositions about Ukraine, at least one person in the room has unusually close ties to President Donald Trump’s administration — Vice President Mike Pence’s older brother, Rep. Greg Pence. The first-term member of Congress sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, one of three House committees leading the impeachment investigation (along with the House Intelligence and Oversight committees). He was assigned to the committee earlier this year by members...

Vice President Pence said Tuesday that President Trump is following through on his promise to bring U.S. troops home from Syria and talked up the prospect of a permanent ceasefire in the region. Pence insisted that a ceasefire the administration helped broker between Turkey and Syria last week “has held” and claimed Trump’s own moves had paved the way for the possibility of a permanent ceasefire. “Earlier today, we received word from the Syrian defense forces commander that all of their military forces have withdrawn from the safe zone under Turkish military control and before I came here, our team...

Tomorrow, Japan's Emperor Naruhito will proclaim his succession to the Chrysanthemum Throne in an enthronement ceremony. ... Notably, U.S. transportation secretary Elaine Chao is expected to attend. (Previously Vice President Mike Pence was supposed to travel to Japan for the ceremony, but a change was made somewhat last minute). Prince Charles will also be there, representing the United Kingdom—he previously attended Akihito's enthronement ceremony with Princess Diana—as will other members of royal families throughout the world such as: King Jigme and Queen Jetsun of Bhutan, Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, and King Felipe and Queen...

U.S. AmbassadorÂ’s Residence Ankara, Turkey 8:36 P.M. TRT THE VICE PRESIDENT: One week ago, Turkish forces crossed into Syria. Earlier this week, President Trump took decisive action to call on Turkish forces to stand down, to end the violence, to agree to negotiations. And today, IÂ’m proud to report, thanks to the strong leadership of President Donald Trump and the strong relationship between President ErdoÄŸan and Turkey and the United States of America, that today, the United States and Turkey have agreed to a ceasefire in Syria. The Turkish side will pause Operation Peace Spring in order to allow for...

The cease-fire established between Turkey and Syria with the help of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence was an "amazing accomplishment," but the situation is not yet fully rectified, Karl Rove said Thursday on "The Daily Briefing." "It's a pretty amazing accomplishment by Pompeo and Pence to get the cease-fire," he said.

Turkey has agreed to a ceasefire in northern Syria between its forces and their allied rebels and U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds, Vice President Mike Pence announced.

Text of a Letter from the Counsel to the Vice President to Chairman Cummings, Chairman Engel and Chairman Schiff October 15, 2019 Dear Chairmen: The Office of the Vice President has received the Committees’ Letter to the Vice President, dated October 4, 2019, which requests a wide-ranging scope of documents, some of which are clearly not vice-presidential records, pursuant to a self-proclaimed “impeachment inquiry.” As noted in the October 8, 2019 letter from the White House Counsel to each of you and to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, I the purported “impeachment inquiry” has been designed and implemented in a manner that...

President Trump has played this out perfectly. By isolating Turkish President Recep Erdogan, and effectively leaving him naked to an alliance of his enemies, Erdogan is now urgently asking for the U.S. to mediate peace negotiations with Kurdish forces. This request happens immediately after President Trump signed an executive order [See Here] triggering the sanction authority of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Erdogan called the White House requesting an urgent phone call with President Trump. After President Trump talked to Kurdish General Mazloum Kobani Abdi, the commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, President Trump then discussed the options available to...

"Vice President Mike Pence says he’s being dispatched to the Middle East by President Donald Trump as U.S. troops pull out of northeast Syria and Turkish forces invade. Pence says Trump spoke with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier Monday and called for an immediate end to Turkey’s moves against the Kurds in Syria. Pence says the president is “very concerned about instability in the region” and is denying that Trump gave Turkey the green light to launch the invasion when he announced a troop pullout. Pence says the U.S. is “simply not going to tolerate Turkey’s invasion of Syria...

As House Democrats ponder the politics of impeaching Donald J. Trump, they are weighing the possible outcomes. An impeachment inquiry could weaken the president before next year's election and give the White House back to the Democrats, or it could backfire, the way the GOP's effort to oust Bill Clinton did in 1998. But there's a third option: impeachment could succeed. As a senior staffer on the House Judiciary Committee framed the dilemma, "What if we're left with President Pence?" That scenario has seemed far-fetched — until this week. At the moment there don't seem to be enough GOP senators...

STATEMENTS & RELEASES Remarks by Vice President Pence in a Press Gaggle | Waukee, IA Issued on: October 10, 2019 Manning Farms Waukee, Iowa (October 9, 2019) THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you all for being here. It’s great to be back in Iowa. Grateful for Senator Ernst’s leadership. You know, at a time when Congress is spending all of its time on endless investigations here in Iowa, we wanted to come to make it clear that the American people, the people of Iowa, want to see us working on issues that are going to expand opportunity and prosperity in...

Under a long-term deal sealed by the Obama administration, a Chinese Communist company was set to control the second-busiest container port in the United States. In an unreported Trump administration victory, the Communists are out after a drawn-out national security review forced a unit of China-based COSCO Shipping Holdings Co. (Orient Overseas Container Line—OOCL) to sell the cherished container terminal business, which handles among the largest freight of imports into the U.S. It all started with a 40-year container terminal lease between the Port of Long Beach in southern California and Hong Kong. The Obama administration proudly signed the agreement...

The Vice President will make a stop in Minnesota just hours before the president this week. Vice President Mike Pence will visit Minnesota Thursday before President Donald Trump stops for a rally in Minneapolis later that night. The Minnesota GOP said that second lady Karen Pence and Lara Trump will also visit the state a day earlier for an event at Union Depot in St. Paul. The Office of the Vice President confirmed Pence will land in Minnesota just before 4 p.m. and will go to Safety Signs in Lakeville. He will then join President Trump at his rally later...

This clip from Saturday was advertised over the weekend by some as a plan to oust Trump and Pence so that Pelosi can become president. Not true — it’s even weirder than that. What Jill Wine-Banks, a former Watergate prosecutor, is proposing is a way to oust Trump and Pence so that Pelosi doesn’t become president. A “President Pelosi” scenario is preposterous inasmuch as Senate Republicans would never allow it, but as a melodramatic plot arc it’s perfectly straightforward. “Democratic coup! First Trump goes, then Pence goes due to his own role in the Ukraine matter, then Pelosi takes...

MSNBC contributor and former Watergate prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks presented a way to remove President Trump from office and pave the way for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to assume the Oval Office: impeach Vice President Mike Pence first and offer the president a deal. Joining the network's AM Joy on Saturday, Wine-Banks was asked if Congress should look to impeach Trump first or turn their eyes to Pence instead. In response, she suggested going after Pence first and giving Trump the option to either replace him before being impeached himself — so that a Republican can remain in the White House...

Here’s a subject that no Democratic lawmakers will touch right now. The thinking is: Pence is implicated in Trump’s campaign to pressure Ukraine to reopen their investigation into Joe Biden and Hunter Biden. Although Pence never mentioned Biden’s name to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, he was after all, involved in communicating the delay of the U.S. aid and at the request of President Trump, he skipped Zelensky’s inauguration. Shouldn’t Pence be impeached too? A rather low bar for impeachment to be sure, but that’s all they’ve got right now. The media, on the other hand, has no such reservations. The...

MACKINAC ISLAND, MI -- Vice President Mike Pence said there’s no doubt President Donald Trump earned the vote of Michiganders for a second time. Pence visited Mackinac Island Saturday for the biennial Michigan Republican Party leadership conference at the Grand Hotel, becoming the first sitting vice president to attend the event. Pence stumped for Trump’s reelection campaign, saying the president kept his promises to Michigan voters and it’s up to Republicans to spread that message in 2020. “It’s been two and half years of promises made and promises kept, but we are just getting started and that’s why we need...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence called on Congress to pass the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) — a trade deal between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. He said the deal would add more momentum to an already "booming" economy. The agreement was drafted last September, and Mexico agreed to the deal in June. Democrats are stalling the USMCA, focusing on labor and environmental issues. Even so, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has said Democrats are on a "path to yes" on the trade deal. Pence said the USMCA represents "one more opportunity to add even more momentum...