Free Republic

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Monday that the order President Trump signed earlier in the day suspending certain temporary work visas through the end of the year will have a “chilling effect” on the nation’s economic recovery amid the coronavirus pandemic. “This decision, in my view, will have a chilling effect on our economic recovery at a time we should be doing all we can to restore the economy,” Graham said in a series of tweets. The order Trump signed Monday applies to H-1B visas, H-2B visas, H-4 visas, L-1 visas and certain J-1 visas. “Under ordinary circumstances, properly administered...

A protest organizer in South Carolina said future demonstrations coordinated by his advocacy group will canceled until further notice, after about a dozen people who participated in recent rallies tested positive for the novel coronavirus. "Some of our leaders, photographers and protestors have tested positive for COVID-19," said Lawrence Dishawn Nathaniel in a video announcement shared to Facebook on Sunday. Nathaniel, who founded nonprofit community organization People Demand Action, has helped lead protest efforts across South Carolina over the past month with an initiative called I Can't Breathe SC. Nathaniel went on to explain the new diagnosis numbers in greater...

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Saturday he will not take up President Trump's nomination for a new U.S. attorney for Manhattan unless New York's Democratic senators sign off. Graham, a Republican from South Carolina who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he will honor the "blue slip" tradition and require the consent of home state senators to proceed -- in this case, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand. Graham's statement signals an uphill climb for Trump to get a new Senate-confirmed federal prosecutor in one of the nation’s most high-profile districts. It comes hours after Attorney General Bill Barr made a Friday...

WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today made this statement on the Trump Administration’s intent to nominate Jay Clayton to be the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. “According to Attorney General Barr, the Trump Administration intends to nominate Mr. Jay Clayton to be U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. “I have not been contacted by the administration in this regard. However, I know Mr. Clayton and believe him to be a fine man and accomplished lawyer. “As to processing U.S. Attorney nominations, it has always been the policy of...

On Thursday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi ordered the removal from the Capitol Building of four portraits of former Democratic House speakers who had ties to the Confederacy. Robert Hunter of Virginia, James Orr of South Carolina, Howell Cobb and Charles Crisp of Georgia. The removal of the portraits is the latest meaningless gesture from the speaker and Democrats following the death of George Floyd. Pelosi sent a letter to House Clerk Cheryl Johnson ordering the removal of the four portraits in observance of Juneteenth, an unofficial holiday commemorating the Republican's emancipation of the last slaves in the Confederacy....

Why is a Senate office building named for a racist? While the secular Taliban of the Left has been busily destroying statues like they’re ISIS in Palmyra, scrubbing American history and reducing Founders, such as Declaration of Independence authors, to racist caricatures, they’ve missed one big, glaring target: the Russell Senate Office building. But there’s big reason why groups such as antifa, Black Lives Matter, and other professional protesters probably don’t want to touch the issue. The building, previously known as the Old Senate Office Building, was renamed for Georgia’s Senator Richard Russell, a Democrat, in 1972. Senator Russell, a...

President Trump signed an executive order on police reform Tuesday at the White House mandating more accountability among U.S. law enforcement as the nation continues to reel over the Minneapolis police killing of unarmed, African American man George Floyd. The measure will center largely on de-escalation training, use-of-force standards, and help bring swifter justice to officers who use excessive force. But as expected Trump's measure was not enough for some Democrats. "Much, much too little and does not go far enough," Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) reacted on FOX News Channel’s "Special Report" with Bret Baier. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) appears to believe...

Republican senators on Tuesday began vocalizing their opposition to Stephen Moore, President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, amid widespread criticism that the economic commentator is unfit for the job. Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) both told reporters that they’re not confident in Moore, whom many economists have called out as a partisan pick more known for promoting conservative fiscal policy than for having any economic expertise. Ernst, the first Republican to speak out, told CNN it was “very unlikely” that she’d support Moore’s nomination and that she didn’t believe he would be...

WALHALLA, SC (WSPA) – The city of Walhalla has enacted a curfew amid rival protests in front of a Confederate monument, Monday evening. The curfew runs from 9:00pm to 6:00am. Community activist Traci Fant said Mayor Danny Edwards and members of the city council enacted the curfew at the scene of the protests. Dozens of people, some representing Black Lives Matter and others carrying Confederate flags were gathered at the “Our Confederate Dead” monument on Main Street. The monument was the scene of another protest Friday evening which included one protester tying himself to the monument. Walhalla Police said several...

The soldiers were staying at the Marriott Marquis Hotel during their mission to the nation’s capital when they decided to order a pizza from a nearby establishment using Uber Eats, according to a Department of Defense report shared with The Post and Courier. When they opened the pizza, they found shards of glass baked into the dough and cheese. They didn’t eat the pizza and no one was injured, according to the report. No other Guardsmen experienced a similar problem. “The command says that the soldiers are OK, and that this was the only incident to their knowledge,” said Capt....

Statement releasesd by Ashley Hunter – City of Cayce Spokeswoman – In Monday, at 8:11 p.m., a call was made to the Cayce Department of Public Safety. The complainant stated that two females with young children in strollers were vandalizing the Cayce Riverwalk with paint. Two females, matching the description of the suspects, including the strollers, were observed at 8:20 PM leaving the West Columbia Riverwalk Park and Amphitheater. One Cayce Department of Public Safety officer then attempted to speak to both of the females and observed paint on their clothing and their person.

Republican state Rep. Nancy Mace will face off against incumbent Rep. Joe Cunningham (D) in South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District this November. Cunningham ran unopposed in the Democratic primary Tuesday, while Mace was declared the victor of the GOP primary by The Associated Press with a 33-point lead with just over 25 percent of precincts reporting. Cunningham’s seat is a top target for the GOP after the Democrat flipped the district by just more than 1 point in 2018. The district went for President Trump by 13 points in 2016, giving Republicans hope that higher turnout will help unseat Cunningham....

In the next step of a race already on pace to become the most expensive in South Carolina history, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham has defeated three little-known GOP challengers, the last marker ahead of an expected general election face-off with Democrat Jaime Harrison. Graham, 64, bested fellow Republicans Duke Buckner, Michael Lapierre and Joe Reynolds in Tuesday’s primary election. Harrison was unopposed in his primary, and two Libertarians and one Constitution Party candidate have also filed to seek the seat.

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday that he has been denied access to interview an FBI agent and an FBI analyst who met with a key source for the Steele dossier who disavowed the salacious document. Graham has sought interviews with the FBI case agent and supervisory intelligence analyst to discuss their interview in January 2017 with the primary source for Christopher Steele, the former British spy who investigated the Trump campaign for Democrats. Steele’s source disputed many of the allegations attributed to him in the dossier, which the FBI used to obtain surveillance warrants against former Trump campaign aide Carter...

Sen. Lindsey Graham says that he plans on calling former FBI Director James Comey and former deputy director Andrew McCabe to testify before his Senate Judiciary Committee, because he doubts they were unaware the dossier compiled by ex-British spy Christopher Steele had been debunked before it was used to get a FISA warrant to monitor former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. After former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein denied having knowledge of any altered documents or that the Steele dossier had been disavowed beforehand, McCabe responded by saying that Rosenstein’s claim that he was misled by him or anyone else...

May 27, 2020 The Honorable Donald J. Trump President of the United States The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, DC 20500 Dear President Trump, We write today to urge you to consider the important role non-immigrant temporary visa programs will play in aiding post-pandemic economic recovery in America. Any changes to these programs should be very narrowly tailored to prevent additional damage to the already struggling American small businesses who rely on the assistance made possible through these visas. The coronavirus pandemic has brought devastating loss of life and livelihood across our country. As we begin to reopen,...

A South Carolina woman is facing charges for looting from two businesses when a peaceful demonstration turned riotous in Charleston, police said. Emma Waters, 19, was arrested Wednesday in connection with burglaries at a clothing shop and a grocery store Saturday, police said. Surveillance video showed people breaking into front windows at Las Olas before merchandise was stolen from a display at the clothing store, according to a police report obtained by WCSC. A woman was seen climbing through the window before unlocking a door and letting several other looters inside to rip merchandise from shelves, police said. Damage to the...

Sen. Lindsey Graham on Tuesday questioned how much blame should be directed at Antifa for the violent protests and looting in the wake of George Floyd’s death in police custody. Mr. Graham, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Antifa has played “a part” in the civil unrest. But the South Carolina Republican noted that rioting and looting happened during protests long before the militant anti-fascist group became a movement. “We will try to find out how organized this violence is,” Mr. Graham said. “But I am old enough to remember 1968, and Antifa was not around in 1968, that...

Campaign staff for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden are advertising their donations to a group that pays bail fees in Minneapolis after the city’s police jailed people protesting the killing of a black man by a white police officer. At least 13 Biden campaign staff members posted on Twitter on Friday and Saturday that they made donations to the Minnesota Freedom Fund, which opposes the practice of cash bail, or making people pay to avoid pre-trial imprisonment. The group uses donations to pay bail fees in Minneapolis. Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement to Reuters that the...

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - Protestors across the nation are planning to take part in car demonstrations, Saturday, May 30, asking state leaders to temporarily cancel all rent and mortgage payments in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Here in the Midlands, they’ll be gathering at the parking lot of the Full Gospel Word and Worship Center on North Main Street in Columbia. Organizers have recently added a new component to the upcoming demonstration. In addition to calling on the cancellation of rents and mortgages, participants are also being asked to bring signs calling for an end to police brutality and violence...