Free Republic

The Alabama governor's office confirmed Wednesday that he had interviewed suspended Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore to potentially replace Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL). Sessions, Trump’s nominee for U.S. attorney general, would leave an vacancy in the U.S. Senate if he is confirmed next year. Local news station WVTM confirmed with the Gov. Robert Bentley's (R) office that Moore was under consideration to fill Session's seat. Moore was formally suspended for the remainder of his term as chief justice in September, on the grounds that he ordered lower court justices not to give same-sex couples marriage licenses. The U.S....

By now, who hasn’t heard a Bernie supporter or surrogate claim that Sanders would have won the election against Donald Trump? The Sanders wing of the Democratic Party has developed a narrative that the Democratic Party was held back by Hillary Clinton. They claim that she was fatally flawed, that the DNC stole the nomination from Sanders, and that the ever so coveted white working class voter dislodged by globalization will never again vote for corporate interests. Of course, this narrative ignores the facts—that despite Clinton’s supposed flaws, she easily defeated Sanders in the primary via the pledged delegate count,...

‘I think 2018 is going to be a very good year for the Democrats’ he leaders of the Democratic Party of the future will be Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Joe Biden, said Joe Biden in an interview Sunday. The outgoing vice president appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" with Jake Tapper: TAPPER: “Who is the leader of the Democratic Party as of January 21st?" BIDEN: “Well, like after every presidential election where the party loses, there is no single leader. There are voices that hopefully will be heard. Hopefully, I’ll be able to have a voice...

Hillary Clinton returned to Washington DC Thursday. As AP detailed yesterday, she strangely used the occasion of Sen. Harry Reid’s portrait unveiling to air a grievance over so-called “fake news” and called for legislation to combat it. Isn’t it a little tacky to use a speech that’s supposed to be about honoring your colleague on his big retirement day to whine about your big, humiliating loss from four weeks ago? (TWEET-AT-LINK) Did I miss something? Was yesterday Festivus or something? Be that as it may, there was a remarkable display on Capitol Hill as the former Secretary of State walked...

At the risk of "offending" the millions of people who supported and fought for him, Donald Trump should drop Mitt Romney from consideration for Secretary of State, best-selling author and radio host Wayne Allyn Root wrote for Townhall. He added, there are two darkhorse names the President-elect should consider for his administration: Joe Lieberman and Ted Cruz. Root, an early supporter of Trump's, makes the case for Cruz for the Supreme Court vacancy, and offers up 5 reasons why Lieberman would be a solid choice for Secretary of State: •Expand the GOP tent looking ahead to 2020. •Expand the tent...

There is a reasonable chance that two more Democrat Senate seats could be lost to the GOP when the next Congress convenes.

President-elect Donald Trump ran on a platform of being extremely tough on immigration. One of his vows to voters was that he’d get rid of President Barack Obama’s executive actions, which could include those that provided protections to young undocumented immigrants from being deported. One Republican lawmaker and Trump critic is now prepping legislation that would keep those protections in place in case Trump moves forward with his pledge. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has said he is working with both Democrats and Republicans in order to protect immigrants, known as Dreamers, who willingly came forward to give their information in...

On the list of surprising visitors calling on president-elect Donald Trump last week, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas ranks right up there with alleged Secretary of State candidate Mitt Romney. While Romney who called Trump a “phony” and talked openly about derailing his candidacy during the campaign had an actual job attached to the meeting with his former nemesis on Saturday, Cruz’s visit was billed as more of a drop-by. It’s true that after the name-calling between Cruz and Trump (who tagged him “Lyin’ Ted’) during the primary campaign; after Trump’s derogatory comments about Cruz’s wife; after Trump’s suggestion that...

Most Democrats want their party leaders to stand up to incoming President Donald Trump rather than work with him, says a new survey that reflects a deeply divided nation. Nearly two-thirds – or 65 percent – of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters agreed that congressional Democrats should “stand up” to the president-elect on issues important to Democratic supporters, “even if it means less gets done in Washington,” the Pew Research Center poll found. Just 32 percent want party leaders, who are now in the minority in the House of Representatives and Senate, to work with Trump if it means disappointing Democrats....

Good evening, I’m still reporting on Trump Brings the Strongest Republican Party in History! Good afternoon, I’m still reporting on Trump. Newt Gingrich’s assessment of Donald Trump’s coattails is that Trump brings the strongest Republican party ever to Washington. [insert] However, Gingrich says he does not want to join the administration: [insert] I’m still reporting from Washington. Good day. Bill Still is a former newspaper editor and publisher. He has written for USA Today, The Saturday Evening Post, the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, OMNI magazine, and has also produced the syndicated radio program, Health News. He has written 22 books...

Incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he wants President-elect Trump to select a "mainstream" candidate to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Asked by NBC on Sunday whether he was comfortable filibustering any Trump nominee for the court, Schumer dodged answering the question directly. "I hope that President Trump picks a mainstream candidate," Schumer said. "A mainstream candidate is somebody you may not agree with on every issue, but basically believes in precedent." NBC's Chuck Todd interrupted Schumer and asked, "What does that mean? Can he nominate somebody in your mind...

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray has been elected by the Democratic caucus to serve as assistant Democratic leader, the third-ranking position in Senate Democratic leadership. Murray, a Democrat from Seattle, was elected Wednesday. In this post, Murray will work with Sen. Chuck Schumer, Democratic leader, to shape the Democratic agenda and strategy, and will play a critical role in implementing it on and off the Senate floor with the rest of the leadership team and caucus. Murray has served as the conference secretary, the fourth-ranking position, since 2006. “We have a tough road ahead of us with Republicans in control of...

Red-state Democrats and party strategists are already nervously looking past 2016, when they are angling to recapture the Senate, to the 2018 elections, hoping against hope that their party isn’t setting itself up for a titanic midterm backlash that could flip control of the Senate for a third time in three elections. As difficult as the 2016 Senate map has been for Republicans, who had to defend numerous blue- and purple-state seats and could lose their majority, Democrats’ 2018 map looks practically unnavigable. The party starts with five ruby-red seats to defend: Indiana, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia....

Did Donald Trump’s acceptance speech preview who will surround him at the White House? Here’s a look at who he praised and who stood with him through all the campaign trials: * RNC chairman Reince Priebus * Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich * Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani * New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie * Sen. Jeff Sessions * Retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn * Retired Army Gen. J. Keith Kellogg Jr. * Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson

House Republicans will hold a members-only conference call Wednesday at 1 p.m., two GOP aides confirmed. The call is an opportunity for members to touch base after Tuesday's elections, a senior GOP leadership aide said, noting that House Republicans regularly hold meetings or calls after large events. Republicans are expected to retain their majority in the House but are likely to lose seats. The call, which is being hosted by the National Republican Congressional Committee, will give members a chance to assess the level of damage and to discuss what's ahead.

Donald Trump edges Hillary Clinton by just one point in New Hampshire with less than a week remaining before Election Day, a new poll finds. Trump beats Clinton 40% to 39%, in the latest survey of likely voters from WBUR. Clinton led Trump by three points in WBUR’s prior poll, on Oct. 12. The new survey was taken Saturday through Tuesday, after Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey said the agency was examining new emails related to its probe of Clinton’s private server. Other New Hampshire polls, meanwhile, have given Clinton the lead, as the RealClearPolitics average shows. McConnell’s...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made his strongest statement yet in favor of his party's presidential nominee, telling supporters in his home state that "we need a new president, Donald Trump, to be the most powerful Republican in America." McConnell, who has warned repeatedly that Republicans could lose control of the Senate this year, has been silent on Trump in recent weeks as he has come under fire for his statements about women and his claims that the election is rigged against him...

The FBI is investigating allegations that a “wealthy Saudi family” perpetrated an illegal donation scheme in support of Florida Democratic Rep. and 2016 Senate candidate Patrick Murphy, who is seeking to unseat Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, The Hill reported Monday. According to the report, a conservative super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, alleged that Murphy’s high school friend, Ibrahim Al-Rashid, coordinated a “straw donor” scheme to help Murphy’s 2012 run for the House. These schemes are an effort to avoid legal limits to political campaign contributions by using other people’s names. The Hill noted that there is “no evidence that Murphy himself...

During a keynote address Wednesday at the U.S. Chamber Institute's Legal Reform Summit, Mitt Romney made a series of subtle jabs at the Republican nominee on his business platform, in front of a friendly audience used to Republican business orthodoxy. After opening with a familiar refrain—“I get asked on a regular basis, boy, why aren't you running this year. I ask myself that now and then, too"—Romney delivered a speech that seemed to dig at a few of Donald Trump's policy positions without ever mentioning him by name. ... “I don’t think either candidate for president has said they’re going...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has never had much to say about Donald Trump. But lately, he has fallen completely silent. On the few occasions when the Republican leader has appeared publicly in his home state of Kentucky this month, he’s either avoided answering reporters’ questions, or explicitly refused to address the topic he acknowledged was on everyone’s mind: His party’s presidential nominee. At a local Chamber of Commerce event in Danville, McConnell twice instructed the crowd not to ask him about the presidential race “even though that’s what I know you all wanted me to talk about.”