Free Republic

Starting last fall, the Department of Homeland Security spent $464 million on a no-bid contract to buy 10 used airplanes from a firm in Northern Virginia. That was an enormous price tag, but the department said it had no time to consider other offers. The planes were needed urgently for deportation flights. But since then, the department has barely used this new fleet — for deportations, or anything else. The department’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has long outsourced its deportation flights by chartering planes from private companies. It also uses military and Coast Guard aircraft. In a written statement,...

President Trump on Monday accused US Attorney Jeanine Pirro of folding “like an umbrella” for dismissing charges against former Olympian David Hearn — rather than standing by the case that alleged the canoeist vandalized the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall.“The judge was extremely unfriendly to Jeanine and frankly, I think she choked,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. “The judge was really vicious. Instead of going after the people that did it, the judge went after her and went after her department, and I guess she choked.” “I was disappointed in Jeanine Pirro. Really disappointed in...

Donald Trump accused US attorney Jeanine Pirro of having “folded like an umbrella” amid reports that he was considering removing her from her post. Trump criticized Pirro on Monday after she dropped vandalism charges against a former Olympian accused of damaging the recently renovated Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool. Trump nominated Pirro to serve as interim US attorney for the District of Columbia last year, and the Senate later confirmed her in August. Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office, Trump said: “Frankly, I think she choked because the judge was really vicious. Instead of going after the people that did...

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has asked the highest-ranking US Army officer to resign amid the Iran war. Hegseth asked General Randy George to step down and take immediate retirement, sources told CBS News. A Pentagon official said: 'We are grateful for his service, but it was time for a leadership change in the Army.' George, a Biden appointee, is understood to have clashed with the administration's vision for the Army. Vice Chief of Staff General Christopher LaNeve, a former aide to Hegseth, is likely to be considered as his replacement. Hegseth's decision comes as 50,000 US troops are deployed in...

Nonfarm payrolls were expected to increase 50,000 in February while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%, according to Dow Jones consensus estimates

President Trump said Monday morning that murdered actor-director Rob Reiner had “driven people CRAZY” with his opposition to the Republican chief executive in a bizarre, rambling post on Truth Social that prompted outrage from critics of all political persuasions. Reiner, 78, and his wife Michele, 68, were found butchered in their Brentwood, Los Angeles, home Sunday afternoon. Their son Nick has been taken into custody in connection with the crime. ”A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has...

For many of Trump’s primary rivals, the case against nominating the former president was straightforward: He could not defeat President Biden in a general election, when more moderate and independent voters are needed to prevail in key battleground states. But recent polling has dealt a blow to that argument. Polls from The New York Times, CNN, CBS News and Emerson College have shown Trump leading Biden in a hypothetical 2024 matchup both in key swing states and at the national level. “The electability argument is gone for others,” said one former Trump White House official. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki...