Free Republic

President Trump hosted a number of Republican and Democratic House lawmakers at the White House Wednesday to negotiate over border security and end the ongoing government shut down. “The President and his team had a constructive meeting with bipartisan members of the problem solvers caucus. They listened to one another and now both have a good understanding of what the other wants. We look forward to more conversations like this,” Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said about the meeting.  These House Democrats in the centrist Problem Solvers Caucus met today with @realDonaldTrump in the Situation Room to discuss the shutdown: Josh...

A former congressional staffer filed a lawsuit last week saying she was raped by an employee at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, and when she said she was taking legal action against the foundation she was fired by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee. The employee, who is suing as a Jane Doe plaintiff, is seeking at least $75,000 in damages for derailing her career and for emotional duress. She says she was raped in 2015 by the coordinator of her intern program at the foundation, and says there was DNA and text messages and phone calls that proved the encounter happened....

A Texas man has been indicted in federal court on counts including mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering that stem from allegations that he raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for fraudulent political committees. Kyle Gerald Prall is accused of setting up political committees named "Feel Bern," "HC4President" and "Trump Victory" and soliciting donations he claimed would support the candidacies of Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Prall was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Austin. Prall allegedly raised more than $300,000 in contributions to "Feel Bern," more than $165,000 in contributions to "Trump Victory" and...

President Trump announced six new picks for federal district court seats Wednesday in what was his first slate of judicial nominees released since the start of the new Congress this year. ~snip~ The new nominees announced Wednesday include Louisiana Supreme Court Judge Greg Guidry for the Eastern District of Louisiana, James W. Hendrix and Mark T. Pittman for the Northern District of Texas, Sean D. Jordan for the Eastern District of Texas, Michael T. Liburdi for the District of Arizona, and Peter D. Welte for the District of North Dakota.

12:30 p.m. Seven Democratic lawmakers, including newly elected freshmen, have arrived at the White House ready to ask President Donald Trump to reopen the government while talks continue over border security. It's the first group of rank-and-file Democrats to meet with Trump during the shutdown, which stretched into its 26th day Wednesday. The White House has been trying to peel lawmakers away from Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (puh-LOH'-see), but invitations to Democrats earlier this week were declined. Those arriving Wednesday for the midday meeting in the Situation Room included five freshmen, several of whom did not back Pelosi as...

If Republicans had a messaging operation, they would be hammering statistics like these at every event and at every encounter with the media. This is what Speaker Pelosi, Senator Schumer and other Democrats have shut down the government for. To protect thousands of illegal alien rapists and pedophiles.

As an attorney experienced working with public policy litigation, here is a practical plan for how Trump can keep the legal dispute entirely within the Fifth Circuit and out of the Ninth Circuit. First, President Trump should get on Air Force One and fly to Texas to meet with Republicans opposed to illegal immigration Governor Greg Abbott, Senator Ted Cruz, and leaders of the Texas legislature. Second, Governor Abbott should formally request the Texas legislature to issue an application for the federal government to defend the Texas border with Mexico. Section 4, Article 4 of the United States Constitution commands...

President Trump hosted a border security meeting at the White House Tuesday afternoon. In an effort to make progress on the government shutdown, Trump invited Republican and Democrat lawmakers to attend with ideas. Not a single Democrat showed up. Their leaders, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, were also missing. “As Senator Schumer and Speaker Pelosi refuse to negotiate, President Donald J. Trump and his team are working hard to find solutions to solve the humanitarian and national security crisis at the border and reopen the government. The President has a proposal on the table...

The House and Senate this week voted overwhelmingly to provide back pay to about 800,000 federal workers who are going without paychecks because of the partial government shutdown. But seven lawmakers — all House Republicans — opposed the measure. Those "no" votes came from Reps. Justin Amash (Mich.), Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Glen Grothman (Wis.), Thomas Massie (Ky.), Chip Roy (Texas) and Ted Yoho (Fla.). President Trump on Thursday indicated he would sign the bill, leading to its passage by unanimous consent in the Senate later that day. On Friday, the House cleared the measure in a 411-7...

Once again, House Republican leaders last week found themselves having to answer for the offensive statements of Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. This time King further confirmed his insensitivity and evidently racist approach to public policy. The New York Times quoted King asking, "White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization – how did that language become offensive?" In a frank Washington Post op-ed, Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., asked, “Why are Republicans accused of racism? Because we’re silent on things like this.” To their credit, many Republican office holders were quick to condemn the provocative remarks, with Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst tweeting, “I...

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) on Monday denounced GOP leaders' move to remove him from all committee assignments, calling it a "political decision that ignores the truth." “[House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.)] decision to remove me from committees is a political decision that ignores the truth," King said in a statement shortly after McCarthy told reporters that the Iowa congressman would not receive any committee assignments in the new Congress. King was previously a member of the House Judiciary, Agriculture and Small Business committees. He had also served as chairman of a House Judiciary subcommittee on the Constitution and...

Slavery is acceptable in Islam. The Qur’an has Allah telling Muhammad that he has given him girls as sex slaves: “Prophet, We have made lawful to you the wives to whom you have granted dowries and the slave girls whom God has given you as booty.” (Qur’an 33:50) […] A couple who enslaved a West African girl at their home in Texas for 16 years have been convicted by a federal jury. Mohamed Touré, the son of Guinea’s first president Ahmed Sékou Touré, and his wife Denise Cros-Toure arranged for the child to travel to the US when she was...

RUSH: Okay. So it’s like Groundhog Day. It’s deja vu all over again! The New York Times and the Washington Post with gigantic stories on literally nothing! But headlined to make it look like there’s a new development in the Trump-Russia case, and that is that Trump was actually working and reporting to Russia. There is no evidence in these two stories. There is still no evidence — and they admit it — of any collusion whatsoever. And yet two brand-new and fresh stories about something that I would expect you to be bored silly by now. So the question...

Newly-elected Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on Monday called for conservative Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) to resign from the House because of his remarks questioning whether white supremacy is "offensive." “I think he ought to step aside and I think Congress ought to make it very clear he has no place there,” Romney told CNN’s Manu Raju on Monday. A spokeswoman for Romney confirmed the statement. Romney is the latest high-profile Republican voice to condemn King’s comments made in an interview with The New York Times in which he said, “white nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language...

Former President Obama's talk about how politics need “new blood” is being seen as a blow to Joe Biden, the former vice president that Obama did not back to succeed him in 2016. Sources close to both men describe Obama and Biden as friends who share an admiration and respect for one another. But they also acknowledge recent remarks like the one Obama made this week in Hawaii represent a sort of threat to Biden, who has told allies in recent days that he’s likely to enter the 2020 presidential race. Obama was speaking broadly about the need for new...

Since January 1, neither CNN nor MSNBC has booked a single “Angel Mom” — mothers of children brutally murdered by illegal aliens — as guests on their networks, per an analysis conducted by the Republican National Committee (RNC). The RNC told Breitbart News it has tracked both networks since the beginning of the year as they intensely bash President Donald Trump over the government shutdown that is now the longest ever in the history of the United States. Since the turn of the year to 2019 from 2018, neither network has conducted a single interview with any family members of...

Would a declaration of an emergency to build a border wall create a bad precedent? At the end of the last week, much of the political discussion here in Washington, D.C. in talk shows, statements from Congressmen and in conservative publications focused on warnings of how a future Democrat President might abuse a similar process to push left-wing policies. If Trump can declare an emergency to build the border wall, could a future Democrat President Chelsea Clinton declare an emergency and take people’s guns or force or enact legislation to fight the myth of man-made climate change. No, “that’s not...

Sen. Ted Cruz on Sunday joined a growing chorus of GOP lawmakers and other party officials condemning comments Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa made in support of white nationalism. "What Steve King said was stupid. It was stupid, it was hurtful, it was wrong. And he needs to stop it," the Texas Republican told NBC's "Meet the Press." In a recent interview with the New York Times, King — who served as the national co-chairman for Cruz's 2016 presidential campaign — questioned why words like "white nationalist" are now considered racist. "How did that language become offensive?" he told...

<p>You won’t see Beto O’Rourke announce whether he’s running for president in 2020 for a while. But you may see him do almost anything else in the meantime.</p> <p>“So, I’m here at the dentist,” the former Democrat congressman said with a giggle during a teeth-cleaning seen live on Instagram last week, before quizzing the dental hygienist about life along the U.S.-Mexico border.</p>

President Trump is working around the clock during the government shutdown trying to negotiate with Pelosi and Schumer to secure border wall funding. The Democrats however, are partying at a beach resort in Puerto Rico on day 22 of the government shutdown. The Democrats don’t care about the 800,000 federal workers who are currently not receiving a paycheck. Democrat Senator Bob Menendez was spotted hanging out with a bikini-clad “colleague” on the beach in Puerto Rico three weeks into the shutdown without a care in the world. The Hispanic Caucus of liberal Democrats is holding their retreat at a posh...