Free Republic

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell distanced himself from other Republican lawmakers who have called for the National Guard to be sent in to break up the antisemitic riots and demonstrations that have taken over multiple university campuses throughout the US over the last week and a half. “What needs to happen, at least at the beginning, is these university presidents need to get control of the situation, allow free speech, and push back against antisemitism,” McConnell told Margaret Brennan on the CBS 'Face the Nation' program. “I thought that was largely gone in this country, but we’ve seen a number...

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), 82, intends to remain in the U.S. Senate to oppose conservatives who support a truce between Russia and Ukraine, he said Monday. McConnell announced in February he would step down as Senate minority leader at the end of the cycle following health issues and incidents of freezing up during press conferences. He is the longest-serving party leader in Senate history. In an interview on WHAS, Terry Meiner asked McConnell what his “mindset” is “when your feet hit the floor in the morning?" "I’m not leaving the Senate,” McConnell said. “I’m particularly involved in actually fighting back...

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) on Thursday again pressed Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to take up the Senate-passed national security spending package, which includes $60 billion for Ukraine, despite Johnson’s message to GOP senators this week that he’s moving in a different direction. McConnell didn’t express much interest in waiting weeks or maybe months for the House to come up with an alternative proposal to help Ukraine. “The chilling reality here is abundantly clear. Withholding critical weapons has not helped manage [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s escalation. It has only emboldened him,” McConnell warned on the Senate floor. That alternative...

Amid rising concerns that Chinese-made giant cargo cranes found at U.S. ports could be a security concern are new reports that communications devices have been found within the mammoth cranes. A report in the Wall Street Journal, citing congressional aides and documents, said cellular modems have been found that could be remotely accessed. The finding is potentially serious, because ZPMC, a China-based manufacturer, has made about 80 percent of the cranes that unload ships at U.S. ports. China “is looking for every opportunity to collect valuable intelligence and position themselves to exploit vulnerabilities by systematically burrowing into America’s critical infrastructure,...

Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)’s successor needed to be independent from former President Donald Trump. Partial transcript as follows: JON KARL: By the way, I should point out that the former president’s had some choice words for you as – as you no doubt know. I think he called you – or questioned whether or not you were crazy or just stupid, a jerk, a RINO, a weak – anyway, we could go on. But – but how important is it for whoever the Senate leader is to...

Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox. Sign up here. President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., are pushing ahead with an aggressive effort to get more federal judges confirmed amid the global coronavirus pandemic, as they grapple with the possibility that the November elections could wrest away Republican control of the Senate and White House. Losing the White House or control of the Senate would be a major blow to efforts to install conservative jurists on the federal bench, as the president nominates judicial nominees and the Senate confirms them....

“The House’s hour is over,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared Thursday in a floor speech slamming Democrats for putting on a “partisan performance” celebrating the signing of articles of impeachment by handing out souvenirs and posing for smiling photos. In a contrived signing ceremony Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) signed the articles of impeachment, one letter at a time, using golden pens delivered to her on a silver platter – which she handed out as souvenirs, McConnell said:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on Monday tore into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., just days after the speaker backed down from her refusal to send the articles of impeachment against President Trump to the Senate, calling Pelosi’s delay a “strange gambit” that “produced absolutely nothing.” During a speech on the Senate floor, McConnell chastised Pelosi for ending what he called “her one-woman blockade” and questioned her strategy for holding off sending the articles to the Senate. The House in December voted to impeach Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress for matters relating to...

Judge Sri Srinivasan, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, formally requested that Chief Justice John Roberts assign another circuit to look into a complaint of ethical improprieties by McConnell and the judge whose resignation created a controversial opening on the DC circuit, Judge Thomas B. Griffith. The complaint was filed by the progressive advocacy group Demand Justice which is questioning the timing and circumstances of Griffith’s retirement announcement in March after reports that the Senate Majority Leader “had been contacting appeals court judges nominated by Republican presidents to encourage them to...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell set the stage Thursday for a potentially bruising fight between the leadership of the two chambers over impeachment, as he tore into Nancy Pelosi for “shoddy work” and said Democrats may be “too afraid” to send the articles to the Senate after the House speaker abruptly held off on transmitting them. “This particular House of Representatives has let its partisan rage at this particular president create a toxic new precedent that will echo well into the future,” McConnell said on the floor, accusing Democrats of giving in to "temptation" with their impeachment vote while challenging...

Two weeks ago, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was in a bind. Cracks were beginning to form in the ranks of Senate Republicans, and some moderate and vulnerable GOP senators were voicing their support for calling witnesses in Trump's impeachment trial — a measure McConnell and other allies of President Donald Trump were staunchly against. Then John Bolton, Trump's former national security adviser, said he was prepared to testify. The announcement was McConnell's worst nightmare. A pivotal witness who was in the president's inner circle had stepped forward and offered to testify in Trump's trial. Could McConnell and Senate Republicans...

Senate Majority Mitch McConnell took to the chamber floor Tuesday to say the only high crime and misdemeanor committed by President Trump was his defeat of Hillary Clinton in 2016, pushing back against House Democrats’ charges in the “nonsense impeachment.” “That is the original sin of this presidency — that he won and they lost,” Mr. McConnell said. The Kentucky Republican pointed the finger at House Democrats, arguing they were the ones to abuse power, saying they pursued the only partisan impeachment in American history due to their hatred of this president and fear they cannot beat him in the...

Every hostile nickname that Mitch McConnell gets is further confirmation of his effectiveness. The latest is “Midnight Mitch,” a reaction to his resolution setting out the road map for the Senate impeachment trial. The measure stipulated that House impeachment managers could make their case over two days of 12-hour sessions, possibly pushing the presentations into the wee hours. Hence, the latest alliterative moniker for McConnell, also known to his enemies as “Moscow Mitch.” McConnell relented slightly on the resolution, giving the managers – and the president’s team – three days, instead of two, for opening arguments. But he still got...

McConnell Speaks Before Senate Confirms Judge Barrett ‘The Senate will render one of the most consequential judgements it can ever deliver. We will approve a lifetime appointment to our nation’s highest court. Since the ink dried on the Constitution, only 114 men and women have been entrusted to uphold the separation of powers, protect people’s rights, and dispense impartial justice on the Supreme Court. In a few minutes, Judge Amy Coney Barrett of Indiana will join their ranks. WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding Judge Amy...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court was a “wonderful birthday present” for Hillary Clinton. “It was a wonderful birthday present for Hillary Clinton to confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court Monday night on her birthday,” McConnell (R-Ky.) told his supporters on Wednesday. “Oh, I’m sure she was so grateful, so grateful.”

This may seem like an abstruse parliamentary maneuver -- and it is -- but Mitch McConnell just escalated the judicial wars in a minor but meaningful way. If frustrated conservatives want the GOP Senate majority to " start acting like one ," McConnell's decision eliminates a lever Democrats have been using to stymie some of President Trump's judicial picks. In that sense, he's very much acting like a majority leader; a Democratic one. Try not to let your eyes glaze over as you read the details of this move, which involves dramatically reducing the power of so-called "blue slips"...

President Trump announced ten federal judicial nominees today. All of them will sail through the Senate. All of them will fill seats stolen from President Obama. There are over 120 vacancies in the federal judiciary, and Obama had nominated people to fill 81 of them. But by the end of his two terms, 59 of those nominees were still in limbo, because Mitch McConnell’s Senate confirmed only 22. This week, ten new nominees were announced to take their seats—as promised, mostly conservative firebrands picked by the Heritage Foundation and Federalist Society—with many more sure to come. The Republicans’ strategy of...

President Donald Trump gave unusually strong praise for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for his role in Judge Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court at a rally in Richmond, Kentucky, Saturday evening. "There's nobody tougher, there's nobody smarter," Trump said of McConnell to a cheering crowd of some 6,000 supporters in the senator's home state. "He stared down the angry left-wing mob." McConnell briefly took the stage and praised Trump for his judicial nominations, asking him to keep it up. Trump said that Democrats "demonized" Kavanaugh before knowing anything about him. "What happened to him was so unfair, I've...

(National Sentinel) Game, Set, Match: The Democrats showed their true colors — again — over the past two weeks by debasing the judicial confirmation process with gutter accusations of sexual misconduct by non-credible accusers. It was the Left’s latest effort at destroying yet another institution — another pillar of government — by turning the process into a nightmare few people will want to subject themselves to in the future. Nevertheless, thanks to the insanity, Republicans had a good week, as noted by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. In an interview with Fox News‘ Laura Ingraham Friday night after the...

A confident Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday the Senate will take a final vote on a $1.4 trillion tax package as soon as Thursday night or by Friday at the latest. "We are on the cusp of a great victory for the country and particularly small business," McConnell said at an event featuring small business owners praising the GOP tax plan.