Free Republic

The Trump administration will allow an Iranian delegation to attend the United Nations General Assembly next week, albeit with some restrictions, a State Department spokesperson said Thursday. The decision to grant Iranian top officials visas to travel to New York City for the annual meeting of global leaders comes seven months into the U.S. war with Iran. “Consistent with our host country obligations, the core delegation from the Iranian regime will be able to attend U.N. General Assembly High Level Week,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “The delegation will be under travel restrictions and will face prohibitions on the...

In early March, U.S. President Donald Trump said that the United States had already “won” the war against Iran but still had to “finish the job.” Months later, as fighting escalates across the region and diplomacy is stalled, the “job” remains unfinished with no end in sight. Trump on Wednesday said that “hopefully we are toward the end of the war” and suggested that Iran wants to make a deal. But that optimism is belied by what’s happening on the ground—and there’s little evidence that Tehran is eager for an agreement. The United States has had military successes in the...

Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-FL) has taken direct aim at President Donald Trump and his immigration crackdown in a new re-election ad, warning that the Hispanic voters who helped return him to the White House in 2024 now feel “betrayed.” The congresswoman, who endorsed Trump in 2024 and urged Hispanic voters to back him, delivered the unusually direct message to the president as she campaigns for another term in her Miami-area district. “Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far. In July, 50% of the 50,000 people that were detained had no criminal record. Be careful...

New photos obtained exclusively by CBS News reveal for the first time the widespread damage and destruction of buildings and vehicles at multiple U.S. positions across the Middle East, as a result of Iranian missile and drone attacks. The Defense Department's inspector general this week released a fresh report on the war in Iran that revealed "equipment losses" worth up to $3.7 billion — including nearly 60 aircraft. In a first-of-its-kind mandatory report to Congress, the inspector general added that U.S. Central Command reported Iranian strikes at U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan.

Washington — For the third time, the House voted Tuesday to block President Trump from taking further military action against Iran, with seven Republicans breaking with the president. The vote ended in a 220 to 204 tally, marking a symbolic rebuke of the president over the largely unpopular war. Tuesday's resolution drew more GOP support than the previous two efforts to limit Mr. Trump's war powers in June and July. Three new Republicans voted yes: Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn of Iowa. The four who supported the prior resolutions were Reps. Tom...

A slight majority of registered voters describe President Trump as corrupt and dangerous, a recent poll found, while just 14% say he isn't divisive.The big picture: Simply put, polling hasn't been pretty for the president — or for his Iran war, tariffs or other top priorities. Still, with the midterms weeks away, Trump has centered himself, making the election a referendum on his presidency. By the numbers: "Corrupt" (53%) and "dangerous" (51%) led the list of descriptors voters applied to Trump in the Sept. 11-14 The Economist-YouGov poll of 1,461 U.S. registered voters.Those words were followed by "out-of-touch" (47%), "cruel"...

Rep. Thomas Massie introduced articles of impeachment against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Tuesday for waging the Iran war without congressional approval. Massie (R-Ky.) made the surprise announcement on the House floor, accusing Hegseth of violating the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which requires congressional authorization to conduct military operations lasting longer than 90 days. “Peter Brian Hegseth, and and his capacity as Secretary of Defense has executed unlawful orders in contravention of Section 2(c) of the War Powers Resolution of 1973,” Massie declared. “Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a...

Nicotine-pouch salesman and onetime conservative pundit Tucker Carlson has all but endorsed lefty Michigan Senate hopeful Dr. Abdul El-Sayed while defending his controversial comments about 9/11.Carlson, 57, who recently fawned over disgraced Democratic former first son Hunter Biden, last week ripped into El-Sayed’s Republican foe, Mike Rogers, for his track record on national security issues and urged the “good people of Michigan keep this man far away from Washington.” “El-Sayed did not celebrate airplane hijackings or cheerlead Al-Qaeda; he simply said that the U.S. conducting terrorism of its own in response to 9/11 was not exactly an appropriate reaction. He...

During an interview aired on Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Ingraham Angle,” President Donald Trump defended his prediction that the Iran War will end after the 2026 midterm elections and responded to a question on why the war will end if Republicans lose the elections by saying that “a lot of people think if we lose, then I’ll be much more angry and I’ll just take care of business, that’s another way of doing it.” Host Laura Ingraham said that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is “trying to wait out the midterms as well, isn’t he?” Trump responded,...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Thursday criticized President Trump's controversial proposal to pay out $5,000 checks to every U.S. adult if Republicans win the midterms. "What I would say is, if you are getting surplus revenue, you should cut people's tax and return it to the people," DeSantis said during a press conference in Miami on Thursday. "What I don't think you want to do is borrow another trillion-and-a-half dollars and then just try to flood that into the economy, because that will lead to more inflation," DeSantis continued. "That will lead to more debt and more inflation."

US President Donald Trump said he did not regret going to war against Iran despite the impact the conflict may have on the November US midterm elections. "I don't believe in the word 'regret.' You can always question yourself a little bit," Trump said in an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham when asked if he regretted the Iran war due to the impact it may have on the elections. "If I had it do again, I would do exactly as I did," Trump said in the interview broadcast on Thursday on The Ingraham Angle show. Trump dismissed suggestions...

The U.S. national average price of diesel on Thursday surpassed $6 a gallon for the first time , according to price tracker GasBuddy, as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s refineries have squeezed supply. Diesel fuels trucks, trains, ships and heavy equipment that keep global supply chains moving. It is also crucial to running farm equipment. The latest surge in fuel costs is adding to inflationary pressures that have already strained consumers and businesses this year, creating a political headache for President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers as they seek to defend thin congressional majorities in...

President Donald Trump used the Republican Party’s first midterm convention to justify the Iran war rather than trying to put it behind him, as escalating violence and spiking oil prices loomed over the elaborate Trump-centered showcase in Dallas. In a speech billed as an opening argument for the peak campaign season, he defended his record and encouraged supporters to vote as if he were on the ballot. He also debuted a new enticement, promising to reward Republican congressional majorities by giving every American a $5,000 dividend to spend within the country.

Top White ⁠House ⁠advisers, including Vice ⁠President JD Vance and Secretary ​of State Marco Rubio, have privately warned ‌President Donald Trump that ‌the conflict with Iran could ⁠extend ⁠through the remainder of his presidency, the Wall ​Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing U.S. officials. The White House did not immediately ​respond to a Reuters request for comment. The ⁠advisers ⁠told Trump in private ⁠discussions ​in the Oval Office and the Situation ​Room that ⁠Tehran could continue to resist U.S. pressure, potentially prolonging the conflict beyond Inauguration Day in January 2029, the ⁠Journal added. The reported warning contrasts with Trump's own...

President Trump’s pledge to distribute $5,000 to every U.S. adult if Republicans win the midterms is drawing backlash from Republicans and Democrats as the president’s allies are forced to explain and defend the proposition. Fiscal hawks, including Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), openly questioned how the government would be able to afford to pay 270 million Americans that much money, while others have likened Trump’s proposal to bribery. “Maybe some of us think dependency is evil & soul-sucking in all its forms,” Roy wrote in a post on the social platform X, referring to Trump’s idea. Former Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.),...

Vice-president JD Vance appeared to partially row back on Donald Trump’s outlandish claims that every adult citizen in the US would receive $5,000 if the Republicans retain the House and Senate in the midterm elections. “If the Republicans win, you win with us, and you get $5,000,” Trump told a roaring crowd, during a nearly two-hour long speech at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas in which he also urged voters to “pretend that I’m on the ballot”. But Vance, speaking after the president, suggested the so-called dividend payments would not go to the wealthy and that it could be...

The Supreme Court Thursday rejected a bid to implement a new congressional map in Missouri that would have likely given Republicans an extra seat in the House of Representatives.In an order with no noted dissents the high court imposed a stay on the map while a lawsuit brought by opponents of the redistricting gambit makes its way through the legal system.For now, Missouri must use the map implemented following the 2020 census, which has returned a House delegation of six Republicans and two Democrats. The new map would have carved up parts of Kansas City to weaken the Democrats’ grip...

President Donald Trump pledged Wednesday to send every American adult $5,000 if Republicans retain control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections, an extraordinary gambit to reverse his party’s sagging fortunes in November. The dubious promise would likely cost more than $1 trillion and require congressional approval, and would further exacerbate the country’s nearly $1.8 trillion annual budget deficit and concerns about inflation. “If the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000,” Trump said during the GOP’s midterm convention in Dallas. “It will be called the Trump Dividend.”

Crude oil prices jumped 3% on Wednesday as fighting between the U.S. and Iran escalates in the Persian Gulf, raising investors fears that energy exports through the Strait of Hormuz will fall. Brent futures were up 3% at $100.86 a barrel by 8:29 a.m. ET. It is the first time the international benchmark has crossed the $100 threshold since July. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures traded 3% higher to $95.84. The U.S. military destroyed five Iranian crude oil tankers Tuesday in retaliation for attempted attacks on an American warship. The U.S. warship successfully evaded Iranian attack and no American personnel...

To make matters worse, the convention is scheduled on the same nights as the season openers of the NFL, perhaps the one American institution that commands a more loyal following from Trump voters than does Trump himself.