Free Republic

A top economic adviser to President Trump confidently predicted Monday the US would not experience a recession this year — despite widespread uncertainty over the administration’s tariff regime. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told Fox Business Network “100% not, 100% not” when asked by host Maria Bartiromo about the possibility of a sustained downturn. “If you look at the jobs numbers, they’re very, very strong,” Hassett explained. “When I talk anecdotally to CEOs, I say things like, ‘Well, jeez, is the uncertainty over tariffs looking like it’s gonna be a big drag?’ And they’re saying things like, ‘No, in...

KYIV — President Trump’s special envoy to the Ukraine War urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to sign the now-deferred mineral rights deal with Washington during the envoy’s visit to Kyiv last week, but Zelensky’s chief of staff insisted on the Friday Oval Office signing that went badly awry, a senior US official involved with the talks told The Post. After three days of intense negotiations, retired Gen. Keith Kellogg secured the long-sought agreement with Ukraine that would have provided Washington with 50% of all future proceeds from the European country’s lucrative critical and rare-earth minerals.

President Donald Trump on the first day of his administration stripped the security clearances of a number of anti-Trump former officials, including retired Gen. Michael Hayden, an adviser to Newsguard, the establishment pro-censorship group operating a news blacklist against conservatives. Trump’s removed 50 security clearances, including former CIA and National Security Agency (NSA) Director and retired Air Force General Michael Hayden. Hayden is a controversial public figure, even for those in the Never Trump camp.

Richard V. Allen, who as President Ronald Reagan’s first national security adviser supported tougher Cold War military strategies and helped guide U.S. policies on Iran after the release of American hostages, but who soon stepped down amid fallout from an ethics probe, died Nov. 16 at a hospital in Denver. He was 88. His son Michael Allen confirmed the death but did not provide a specific cause. Mr. Allen’s influence on the Reagan era — and future Republican Party politics — also apparently unfolded over a tense few hours in July 1980 during the Republican National Convention in Detroit. Reagan...

Embattled Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who is facing congressional outcry and calls to resign over security lapses leading to President Donald Trump’s near-assassination Saturday, landed her role thanks largely to a close relationship with Jill Biden.. Cheatle, 53, is the first woman to lead the presidential protection agency and secured the non-Senate-confirmed role in August 2022 after a three-year stint as senior director of global security at Pepsi. ... Four sources close to President Biden’s family, including people who interacted with Cheatle during the Obama-Biden administration, said she was well liked by the future first lady and her most...

After Thursday's disastrous CNN debate, President Joe Biden and the First Lady Jill tried to get ahead of the inevitable backlash, glossing over the debacle with a flurry of soft-ball publicity appearances. A quick stop off at a debate viewing party held by ardent Biden-loyalists was followed by a midnight visit to an Atlanta Waffle House. As the President – still looking stunned after his televised humiliation – greeted fellow diners who awkwardly remained seated, Jill swept up to the counter and giggled: 'Order for Biden.' But, for all her slick attempts to paper over the cracks, what happened next...

A former senior policy adviser to President Barack Obama has been arrested and accused of child sex crimes in Great Britain. According to court documents, Rahamim 'Rami' Shy, a 46-year-old resident of New Jersey, stands accused of arranging a child sex offense, in addition to charges of possessing indecent images of children, according to a report from The Daily Mail. Shy, a US citizen, who lives in New Jersey, worked for the White House under president Barack Obama and secretary of state Hillary Clinton, was arrested in late February by Bedfordshire Police. He was charged the following day and appeared...

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) has appointed an adviser focused on extreme heat after the state experienced record summer temperatures last year. The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) announced Wednesday that Dr. Eugene Livar is now the country’s first statewide chief heat officer. Livar’s new position is part of Hobbs’s Extreme Heat Preparedness Plan, announced Friday, in which state agencies will work to address Arizona’s extreme heat in the immediate and long-term future. “ADHS is proud to play a role in meeting this moment and working to fix a complex problem facing Arizonans and we will handle this responsibility...

An adviser to former President Clinton warned Sunday that President Biden must broaden his appeal to 2024 voters instead of just focusing on attacks against former President Trump if he wants to be reelected. Doug Sosnik, a senior adviser to Clinton, compared the 2024 election to 1980 in a New York Times op-ed, with Biden being former President Carter and Trump former President Ronald Reagan. Sosnik pointed out that both Carter and Biden had trouble winning over voters, and warned that Biden may need to switch strategies to win. Biden has spent much of his 2024 reelection campaign focused on...

President Biden announced on Monday that his domestic policy adviser Susan Rice will be stepping down from her role. Rice, who has been in the role since the beginning of the administration, handled politically-charged issues from gun violence to student loans in her portfolio. Biden praised her in a statement, saying, “there is no one more capable, and more determined to get important things done for the American people than Susan Rice.” “[W]hat sets her apart as a leader and colleague is the seriousness with which she takes her role and the urgency and tenacity she brings, her bias towards...

With much sycophantic, slobbering fanfare from corporate media fangirls, the main government proponent of the U.S. COVID-19 lockdowns and vax mandates “retired” late last year. Like a CIA agent, though, does the chief Public Health™ officer ever really retire? What is the cagey federal retiree up to now, aside from collecting $50k speaking fees in addition to his pension as the highest-paid federal employee in history?Via ANSA (translated from original Italian), March 29, 2023:The immunologist Anthony Fauci has accepted to work informally as strategic adviser to Rino Rappuoli, scientific director of the Siena Biotechnopolo, an institution founded by the ministries...

We reported earlier this week on the new report that no gun was found at the site of the death of former Clinton adviser Mark Middleton, a death that was ruled a suicide, according to the Daily Mail. There was a cord around his neck tied to a tree limb above and a gunshot wound to his chest.pic.twitter.com/4g0TcddiGM— Dr. Nickarama (@nickaramaOG) February 25, 2023Now the Mail has more documents that they obtained from the sheriff in the matter that reveals that the initial report was incorrect — that indeed there was a shotgun found — 30 feet away from Middleton’s...

An adviser to Pennsylvania Sen.-elect John Fetterman already admitted the senator would not be able to answer questions in the way lawmakers usually do, due to health-related conditions. Rebecca Katz, a longtime Fetterman adviser, said there are “two things we need to get out of the way” regarding the senator-elect when responding to a reporter’s tweet saying Fetterman did not answer a question on Tuesday about if he would be wearing a hoodie — his typical campaign attire — on the Senate floor. “John Fetterman has a suit and will wear it to the Capitol,” she tweeted, admitting, “He is...

God gave mankind two arms, each ready to be injected with vaccines pushed by government officials, President Biden’s coronavirus adviser Ashish Jha said this week. “I really believe this is why God gave us two arms — one for the flu shot and the other one for the COVID shot,” Jha said during the administration’s COVID-19 press briefing:

The retired judge who advised former Vice President Mike Pence ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol is expected to be among those who will testify as hearings begin next week, according to Axios. J. Michael Luttig, a former Fourth Circuit appeals court judge appointed by George H. W. Bush, wrote ahead of the attack that the vice president’s role in certifying the election is only “to faithfully count the electoral college votes as they have been cast.”

A former White House adviser to former President Obama pled guilty to wire fraud on Friday in connection to an alleged scheme to steal $218,000 from a school network that he helped create. “Seth Andrew, a former White House advisor, admitted today to devising a scheme to steal from the very same schools he helped create," Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. "Andrew now faces time in federal prison for abusing his position and robbing those he promised to help.”

Elicit fear then use calls for lockdown as justification for lockdown.Jordan Peterson says he spoke to a senior government adviser who told him Canada’s COVID restriction policies are completely driven by opinion polls and not science.“In relation to the COVID restrictions, I talked to a senior adviser to one of the provincial governments a couple of weeks ago,” said Peterson.“He told me flat out that the COVID policy here is driven by nothing but opinion polls related to the popularity of the government,” he added.“No science, no endgame in sight, no real plan, and so what that means is that...

Larry Summers, a former economic advisor to former President Barack Obama, warned President Joe Biden on Monday that inflation is a looming threat to the United States economy. “Now, the primary risk to the U.S. economy is overheating — and inflation,” Summers wrote in a Washington Post op-ed published Monday evening.

On Monday’s broadcast of “CBS This Morning,” White House Senior Adviser for COVID Response Andy Slavitt said that he thinks in places where there are high levels of vaccination, “you’re going to see very much a 2019-type of a life.”

A top member of President-elect Joe Biden’s COVID-19 task force says the country needs “targeted” restrictions to contain the coronavirus, not a nationwide lockdown — as suggested by another doctor on the panel. “We’re not in a place where we’re saying shut the whole country down. We got to be more targeted,” Dr. Vivek Murthy said Friday morning on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “If we don’t do that, what you’re going to find is that people will become even more fatigued. Schools won’t be open to children and the economy will be hit harder, so we’ve got to follow science,...