Free Republic

Man, this is tough stuff from an influential conservative at a moment when McCarthy’s desperately trying to convince righties in the House to give him a chance as Speaker. In an unguarded moment, House speaker-in-waiting Kevin McCarthy claimed credit for the decline in Hillary Clinton's poll numbers because House Republicans had formed a congressional committee investigating the attacks in Benghazi, making it look like a political witch hunt. “I heard from him at 6 a.m. the next morning,” Gowdy told the Post on Tuesday when asked about McCarthy. “How many times can somebody apologize? Yes, he’s apologized as many...

House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), an ally of House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in the upcoming Speakership elections, tells reporters that he thinks any GOP House member who doesn’t back McCarthy on the floor should be kicked out of the GOP to go form their own third party. “We’ve been down this road several times and at some point you have to realize how elections work, how the Congress functions and how—what’s laid out clearly in the Constitution as a Democratic Republic,” Nunes says. Several conservative House members are considering bucking McCarthy on the floor...

It probably wasn’t the best idea for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), the presumptive successor to outgoing Speaker of the House John Boehner, to suggest that Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers were sinking due to the existence of the House Select Committee on Benghazi. The Clinton Team already has a campaign ad about it, and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), who is challenging McCarthy for the speakership, called the remarks “absolutely terrible.” In a second salvo, House Democrats are aiming to dissolve the Select Committee on Benghazi tonight, with Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) proposing the Rules Committee eliminate it tonight, though it’s bound to...

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said Monday morning that he is putting a hold on three of President Obama’s ambassadorial nominees until the administration shows it is taking steps to punish Secret Service staff involved in leaking unflattering information about a lawmaker. “This was apparently a violation of law, and absolutely shocking conduct,” Cotton said in an interview. “The executive branch all the way up to the West Wing needs to treat this with the seriousness it requires.” Cotton called on Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to “personally attend” to disciplining top Secret Service leaders — specifically including new Director Joseph...

Sen. Ted Cruz will meet with a group of House Republicans one day before they're scheduled to vote for a new senior leadership team. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, has invited the Texas Republican, leading presidential contender, to address his Conservative Opportunity Society at a Wednesday breakfast meeting. The agenda, according to the invitation, is "conservative strategy for the remainder of the year." Cruz has meddled in House affairs on several occassions, advising supportive insurgent Republicans in the chamber on key legislation and strategic matters. However, it's unclear if Cruz, who ranks fifth in the Washington Examiner's presidential power rankings, plans...

I never expected to write these words, but I miss Mitt Romney. Last Wednesday, the day the front-runner for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination was in New Hampshire alleging that Syrian refugees fleeing for their lives may actually be clandestine terrorists, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee was in Washington, talking sense. "Donald Trump will not be the nominee," Romney told a group of business-school students at Georgetown University. And why won't Trump, who when he isn't besmirching Syrian refugees as terrorists is maligning Mexican immigrants as rapists, get the nod? Because, Romney said, "when all is said and done, the...

The search for life beyond Earth is one of the grandest endeavors in the history of humankind -- a quest that could transform our understanding of our universe both scientifically and spiritually. . . . The search for life beyond Earth is one of the grandest endeavors in the history of humankind -- a quest that could transform our understanding of our universe both scientifically and spiritually.

House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz is planning to run for House speaker, taking on Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy in what appears to be a long-shot bid to lead House Republicans, according to multiple sources. The Utah Republican, first elected to Congress in 2008, is launching a campaign less than a week before the Oct. 8 leadership elections for the House GOP Conference. The date for a floor vote to pick the next speaker has not been set yet. McCarthy (R-Calif.) is the overwhelming favorite to win, and it’s unclear how many votes Chaffetz can garner. Chaffetz's office would not comment.

House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz is planning to run for House speaker, taking on Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy in what appears to be a long-shot bid to lead House Republicans, according to multiple sources. The Utah Republican, first elected to Congress in 2008, is launching a campaign less than a week before the Oct. 8 leadership elections for the House GOP Conference. The date for a floor vote to pick the next speaker has not been set yet. McCarthy (R-Calif.) is the overwhelming favorite to win, and it’s unclear how many votes Chaffetz can garner. Chaffetz's office would not comment....

This week, Politico released on article suggesting that Ted Cruz has lost the trust of his peers, save for libertarian-leaning Mike Lee, who chimed in to his defense. The comments on the article, mostly from liberals who will never agree with a conservative philosophy anyway, resorted to ad hominin attacks. Criticism from the left is to be expected; however, the concerning part of this story is that conservatives and libertarians are voicing their opposition to Cruz fighting the status quo. The irony? Both camps claim to share the belief that Washington is dysfunctional, and many public opinion polls show that...

Archaeologists says it's one of the West's most spectacular SALT LAKE CITY -- For more than 50 years, rancher Waldo Wilcox kept most outsiders off his land and the secret under wraps: a string of ancient Indian settlements so remarkably well-preserved that arrowheads and beads are still lying out in the open. Archaeologists are calling it one of the most spectacular finds in the West. Hidden deep inside Utah's nearly inaccessible Book Cliffs region, 130 miles from Salt Lake City, the prehistoric villages run for 12 miles and include hundreds of rock art panels, cliffside granaries, stone houses built...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Scores of U.S. Secret Service employees improperly accessed the decade-old, unsuccessful job application of a congressman who was investigating scandals inside the agency, a new government report said Wednesday. An assistant director suggested leaking embarrassing information to retaliate against Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, chairman of the House oversight committee.</p>

A top House Republican, in emotional and heated remarks at the start of a high-profile Hill hearing Tuesday, excoriated Planned Parenthood for its "insatiable" desire for taxpayer dollars -- while also brushing off claims a series of disturbing videos showing the group's employees discussing fetal tissue harvesting were doctored. Ahead of the hearing, a forensic analysis said the videos "are authentic and show no evidence of manipulation or editing." Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, also brushed off claims of doctoring but focused squarely on the issue of taxpayer funding. "Their desire for more of...

Update: Hall ignored the deadline and proceeded to issue unconstitutional marriage licenses. As reported by The Denver Post: "This was not a hard decision. I'm proud to do this for my community," Hall said Tuesday afternoon, adding, "it's not about politics. This is about people who love each other." Hall's office has issued 88 marriage licenses to same-sex couples since Wednesday, when the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals struck Utah's ban on gay marriage.

Bre Lasley, 28, was terrified when 48-year-old Robert Berger came into her room on Wednesday just before midnight. 'He whispered and said I'm going to kill you,' she told Fox 13. Berger later kicked Lasley's sister Kayli, 22, down the stairs when she rushed in to help, setting off a scuffle where the knife-wielding assailant stabbed the older sibling in the leg and stomach.

ZION NATIONAL PARK — A major rock fall closed state Route 9 in Zion National Park early Wednesday morning and is expected to remain closed into the weekend. The large rocks fell on the highway about 4:30 a.m. about 200 feet from the Pine Creek Bridge on a switchback near the Mount Carmel Tunnel, according to park officials. The largest boulder is around 19 feet high, 20 feet long and 15 feet wide and officials said it weighs around 200 tons. The second boulder measured at approximately 10 feet high, 10 feet long and 15 feet wide, weighing about 100...

On September 18 the Utah Supreme Court ruled that under circumstances where retreat is not possible, business policies requiring employees to disengage or withdraw when under duress cannot be used as grounds for firing an employee who takes action to protect his or her life.The decision came in a case revolving around a 2011 incident in which “six workers were fired after they fought with a shoplifter who pulled a gun on them inside the Layton Wal-Mart.”According to Fox 13, when Walmart defended their actions, Utah Supreme Court Justice Christine Durham asked if employers should be able to fire employees...

WASHINGTON – The Empire strikes back? First, the Republican Party made Donald Trump sign an oath of loyalty by pledging to support its eventual presidential nominee and not run as a third-party candidate. Now, the establishment GOP may be planning to do the very thing it made Trump promise not to do: bolt from the Republican party and run a third-party campaign. Mark McKinnon, former President George W. Bush’s chief media strategist, suggested a scenario to NPR the GOP elite might follow if it looks like Trump will win the party’s presidential nomination. “The Republican establishment completely freaks out. They...

Seven members of a group called the Valencia Hiking Crew were killed when flash floods hit Zion National Park in Utah earlier this week, the National Park Service revealed Thursday. Sgt. Robert “Steve” Arthur and his wife Linda were with the group of canyoneers in Keyhole Canyon when a series of flash floods struck the region Monday, according to a news release from the Ventura County Sheriff's Office. Steve Arthur's body was positively identified on Wednesday, the Sheriff's Office stated. His wife's body was found Thursday morning. The bodies of five others who were killed in the storm were also...

Search teams have recovered the body of a missing hiker who was killed by a flash flood in Utah's Zion national park in Utah. The group, identified late Thursday, were washed away soon after they secured a permit to explore the canyon. The men and women were washed away on Monday afternoon. Search teams have found the body of a seventh hiker killed in a rain-swollen canyon of Utah's Zion National Park hours after the ill-fated group obtained a park permit to venture into that area despite forecasts of probable flash flooding, park officials said on Thursday.