Free Republic

Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy pressed FBI Director Kash Patel on Tuesday to continue the release of files in the Jeffrey Epstein case, specifically information about who other than Epstein, if anyone, was on the receiving end of girls and women being sex trafficked. “The issue’s not gonna go away,” said Kennedy during the Senate Judiciary Committee’s FBI oversight hearing, where Patel was testifying. “I think you’re gonna have to do more to satisfy the American people’s understandable curiosity in that regard.” Kennedy’s comments were notable as the Trump administration battles complaints about the Justice Department’s slow, piecemeal approach to...

A group of GOP senators are working on legislation to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies with policy changes designed to win over conservatives, according to four people granted anonymity to disclose private discussions. This group has gotten “technical assistance” from the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over the subsidies, according to two of the sources. The Obamacare subsidies are set to expire at the end of this year. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, an Alabama Republican running for governor, said in an interview Monday he was “part of that group that’s working on the wording to make sure we do it...

The AI argument kicked off in late July, just a day after Trump announced his AI plan — a 28-page strategy to accelerate the technology and build new power infrastructure to supply it. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) fired off a tirade on X, complaining that AI could create mass poverty by replacing human jobs, and giant AI data centers could have potentially devastating effects on the environment and water supply. In the days that followed, GOP strategist Steven Bannon chimed in, comparing the pursuit of AI superintelligence to “summoning the demon.” And since then, think-tankers and populist conservative outlets...

The House Oversight Committee released over 33,000 pages of records related to Jeffrey Epstein. Unfortunately, when I try to download the documents, I am told that the download quota for the papers has been exceeded. Therefore, I cannot view or read them. From Politico: This batch, subpoenaed by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, contains almost exclusively information that has already been released publicly; Oversight Committee Democrats say that, based on their initial review of 33,000 files, only three percent of the documents contained new details. Many of the files appeared to be regular court filings, including, for example,...

The majority of California Democrats do not want former Vice President Kamala Harris to make another White House run in 2028, according to a UC Berkeley/Los Angeles Times poll released Tuesday. Almost two-thirds of registered voters in California and 51% of Democrats said Harris should not seek the presidency again following her two failed White House bids in 2020 and 2024, according to the survey. Meanwhile, roughly 45% of California’s registered voters said they were “very” or “somewhat” enthusiastic about the prospect of Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom running for president, while 36% said the same about Harris. “She [Harris]...

A nomination hearing for Trump's pick to fill a vacant Fed board seat is expected next week.Key Republican lawmakers have long warned against any move to encroach on the Fed’s independence from the executive branch. The Cook firing, which is almost certain to spark a landmark legal fight, could complicate the path forward for Miran — and provide an avenue for any concerned Republicans to dissent from the president’s campaign against the central bank.“Now it’s like a political stand and a referendum on Trump,” a GOP congressional aide who was granted anonymity to speak candidly said of the Miran nomination....

The president in recent days is leaning even further into using the National Guard as a glorified police force, visiting the troops and allowing them to be armed. He’s suggested he’s eyeing Chicago and New York next for their next deployment. On Sunday, he needled Maryland Gov. Wes Moore for Baltimore’s notorious crime statistics, hinting he could send troops there as well. It's a sign that despite polling showing how unpopular Trump’s moves are in Washington, the president is playing to a national audience — and betting this is a battle he and the GOP can win. If his recent...

Politico in its absolute obsession with pushing Jeffrey Epstein stories has broken its old record of five stories a few days ago and has now pushed out upon its readers six, six, SIX Epstein stories in a 24 hour period. A symptom of its laughable urgency to hopefully make its readers forget all about the Russia Hoax revelations by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.In fact, Politico has barely touched upon that more impactful scandal while shoveling up one Epstein story after another. It all makes one wonder if the Politico reporters are paid an Epstein bonus for writing about...

Katie Porter was the biggest beneficiary of Kamala Harris passing on a run for California governor, according to a new poll from POLITICO and its partners, with the former representative now holding a commanding lead in the race. Thirty percent of registered voters who said they’d vote for Harris if she ran for governor now plan to support Porter, the latest POLITICO-Citrin Center-Possibility Lab survey found. Sixteen percent of Harris supporters said former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was their second choice, while 11 percent said their new favored candidate was former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. Porter’s...

The Trump-despising Politico senior writer, Ankush Khardori, has found four, count 'em, FOUR, foreign diplomats who are remarkably all worried about the rule of law under President Donald Trump. Also very conveniently, all these diplomats happen to be unnamed. And Khardori milked them to warn about Trump on Monday in "‘We Still Don’t Know How Far They’ll Go’."Was that quote by the unnamed diplomats given to Khardori in unison or separately? The subtitle warns "Foreign diplomats are growing nervous about the rule of law in Trump’s America — and it could complicate law enforcement across the globe." So are those...

It's a very strange reaction by Politico's senior editor Michael Schaffer to the federal takeover of the Washington, D.C. police force. In fact you could categorize that reaction as disappointment as you can see in his Thursday piece expressing amazement as to "Why Washington Residents Aren’t Flooding the Streets to Protest Trump."As if to emphasize that disappointment, the subtitle chimes in with this frustrating (for Schaffer) observation: "DC is built for protests. But after Trump’s takeover, they aren’t happening."Where, oh where are the mass protests against the federal takeover of the DC police? Let us take a journey with poor...

Meetings between NATO and U.S. defense officials left allies concerned that President Donald Trump would leave Europe to ensure a lasting peace in the war-scarred country.“There’s the dawning reality that this will be Europe making this happen on the ground,” said a NATO diplomat who was briefed on the talks. “The U.S. is not fully committed to anything.” The meetings — which occurred days after Trump and European leaders met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House in a sign of unity — underscore the massive task ahead for allies as they weigh plans to send a peacekeeping...

Democrats are tortured by what they should stand for now and heading into the 2028 elections. But a number of current trends suggest a likely answer: their own version of a populist, anti-establishment, MAGA-like makeover.Why it matters: The debate is usually framed as liberal vs. centrist, Rahm versus AOC. But big, fast changes in AI, media habits and general public angst point to a more sweeping shift in ideas and attitude.Four megatrends that are already shaping Democrats' efforts to remake their image and rewrite their agenda:Media: MSM is fading in its mesmerizing hold over liberals. At the same time, the...

Special envoy Steve Witkoff says the White House extracted critical wins from its Friday summit with Vladimir Putin in Alaska, even as President Donald Trump failed to walk away with the ceasefire he was loudly advocated for. Security guarantees offering Ukraine “Article 5-like protections” are the real prize, Witkoff told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday. They’re “game-changing,” he said. “We didn’t think that we were anywhere close to agreeing to Article Five protection from the United States in legislative enshrinement within the Russian Federation, not to go after any other territory when the peace deal is codified,” Witkoff said on...

The Sierra Club’s board of directors voted to fire Ben Jealous, its executive director, on Monday, according to multiple reports. Jealous began to helm the environmental nonprofit in early 2023 and was reportedly on leave for several weeks before he was let go after an “extensive” review of his behavior, according to multiple reports. Jealous reportedly made several staff cuts during his tenure and had a contentious relationship with some of the staff, according to Politico. VIDEO AT LINK................ “[Sierra Club’s board] unanimously voted to terminate Mr. Jealous’ employment with the Sierra Club for cause following extensive evaluation of his...

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his administration will release new rules and regulations on migrant farm labor, as the country’s need for workers and the food they help produce clashes with his vow to deport undocumented immigrants. Trump said his administration will continue to deport criminals, but that he wants to “work with” farmers to find a solution for their workers, oftentimes immigrants who have lived in the country illegally for decades and are paying taxes. He suggested the White House was working on a touchback program for some workers, requiring them to leave the U.S. and reenter through...

President Donald Trump’s approval rating remains underwater. But Democrats are faring worse, according to a new poll from The Wall Street Journal released Saturday. The new survey, conducted by Democratic pollster John Anzalone and Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio, found Democrats’ popularity at its lowest point in three decades of WSJ polling, with 63 percent of voters holding an unfavorable view of the party. Only 33 percent of voters hold a favorable view of Democrats, with a meager 8 percent holding a “very favorable” opinion, for a net negative favorability of 30 percentage points. While voters still have significant concerns over...

The preliminary agreement suggests there is a path forward to lowering the auto duties on other major trading partners, as well.President Donald Trump’s “massive” trade deal with Japan is buoying foreign carmakers — and alarming American car companies who fear they are now at a disadvantage.Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on all foreign auto manufacturers in early April, a duty that also applies to cars made by U.S. companies from parts imported from Mexico and Canada. But now, the president is planning to lower the tariff to 15 percent for Japanese autos and auto parts, the White House confirmed...

Epstein! Epstein! Epstein!Please keep your minds focused on Jeffrey Epstein and his connection to President Donald Trump! No other story should be allowed to divert your attention away from Epstein and Trump.That definitely seems to be the attitude with Politico which is now treating the unfolding of the shocking details of Team Obama and their role in basically staging a coup against incoming President Donald Trump in December 2016 as really nothing more than an annoying diversion away from EPSTEIN! That is the basic theme of Tuesday's article by Politico's White House correspondent Eli Stokols, "Deflecting Epstein questions, Trump urges...

Right-wing activist Laura Loomer warned that President Donald Trump’s handling of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein threatens to “consume his presidency” in an interview on Wednesday, a dramatic rebuke from a presidential confidante that illustrates the growing rupture in the MAGA coalition. She likened it to the intense media interest in ties between Trump’s first White House campaign and Russia, saying “I don’t want it to consume his presidency.” “Obviously, this is not a complete hoax given the fact that Ghislaine Maxwell is currently serving 20 years in prison in Florida for her crimes and activities with Jeffrey Epstein, who...