Free Republic

In November Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Ron Johnson (R-WI) blasted Lt. Col Vindman in an 11-page letter written to ranking member of the House Intel Committee Devin Nunes and Rep. Jim Jordan. Senator Johnson wrote the Congressman a letter to provide his first-hand information and perspective on events relevant to the impeachment inquiry.Johnson traveled to Ukraine with special envoy Kurt Volker, spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in person and spoke to President Trump about the hold on military aid — unlike all of the ‘witnesses’ Schiff has dragged in to testify using...

The White House is weighing a plan to dismiss Alexander Vindman from the National Security Council after he testified in President Donald Trump’s impeachment inquiry, preparing to position the move as part of a broader effort to shrink the foreign policy bureaucracy, two people familiar with the matter said. The White House intends to portray any house-cleaning as part of a downsizing of the NSC staff, not retaliation, according to the people. Some of the officials being targeted for removal from the NSC would be reassigned because they’re perceived as being disloyal to the president, three people familiar with the...

Let's not give Nancy Pelosi and her obviously filled-with-hate, malicious and malevolent band of America-and-constitution-hating thugs the last word Two principles in law nullify, make voidable, and void, a defective and unconstitutional impeachment. As if it never happened! * Ab Initio - ” translates as “from the beginning.” (Initio is a form of the noun initium, meaning “beginning,” which gave rise to such English words as initial, initiate, and initiative.) Ab initio...is also used as an adjective meaning “starting from or based on first principles”...

More to the point, Donald Trump doesn’t think Democrats can work with him either. In his Super Bowl interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Trump complained bitterly about the “damage” done to his family and the country in the impeachment and trial. “I’d like to” work with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, Trump told Hannity, but they’re so dishonest and obsessed with winning that he doesn’t think it’s possible.That sounds like exactly what Pelosi and Schumer would say, too: HANNITY: Two hundred and seventy days from now, I guess the ultimate jury –the American people — go to...

The Justice Department’s wiretap abuse report is providing new arguments for two Trump associates and a Russian entrepreneur trying to clear their names but suffering court setbacks, so far. The Dec. 9 report by Justice Department Inspector General Michael D. Horowitz exposed a string of abuses by FBI agents and lawyers in obtaining four Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) wiretaps on former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. On Jan. 30, Mr. Page filed a lawsuit in Chicago against the Democratic National Committee and its law firm, Perkins Coie. The DNC and the Hillary Clinton campaign financed the Kremlin-source dossier the...

Former FBI Director James Comey said America has weathered dark times in the past, which proves it can survive President Trump being acquitted by the Senate. “When I was a little kid, the United States seemed to be coming apart,” Comey, 59, wrote in an opinion piece for the Washington Post. Comey cited the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy, as well as the protests against the Vietnam War and desegregation. “War and death and disorder dominated the news,” he wrote. “There is a natural human tendency to think we live...

The American people have the former national security advisor to blame for the presence of the self-serving brothers on the National Security Council staff. During his four decades as an accumulator of power in the nation’s capital, a holder of high offices in the State Department, and finally a stint as President Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton has been well known for his scrupulous attention to the hiring and firing of his staff. He always has demanded unwavering personal loyalty as well as fealty to his own—not his president’s—policy agenda. He has performed the most rigorous vetting on all...

Chief Justice John Roberts seemed visibly irritated when Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., formally asked a question during President Trump's impeachment trial Thursday that referenced him and questioned the legitimacy of the Supreme Court and Constitution in relation to the proceedings. In accordance with Senate rules, the chief justice of the United States must read aloud the questions posed by senators to the impeachment managers and the president's counsel. Roberts formally recognized Warren, a Democratic presidential candidate, who then submitted her written question to a clerk. Roberts read her question from the card -- which referenced him.

Deputy White House Counsel Patrick Philbin shredded House Intelligence Committee Chairman and lead Impeachment Manager Adam Schiff (D-CA) for his contact with the Ukranian whistleblower, which led to the impeachment inquiry, and eventually the current trial. As it currently sits, we are still in the dark about what role Schiff and his staff played in the whistleblower's inquiry. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) presented the question on behalf of Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Josh Hawley (R-MO). "Is it true that Shawn Misco and Abigail Grace and the alleged whistleblower were employed by or detailed by the National Security Council in...

Bolton book should be included in an Omarosa, Stormi et al full Series, that should be entitled ‘The President Who Made Me Rich’ The common sense, lawyerly-minded Mark Levin has totally upset the apple cart of ‘Roads to Riches’ John Bolton in a single Tweet: “Question to Romney, Collins, & Murkowski: if John Bolton had evidence of an actual quid pro quo or impeachable offense, why didn’t he immediately report it to Congress or criminal authorities or ethics officials; or why didn’t he go public immediately with a press conference?”

There’s a reason Mitch McConnell has been Senate Majority Leader for the past 13 years: He gets the job done. And the biggest part of that job is keeping the GOP caucus, however necessary. At this point, he appears to have pulled off the feat once again.

In a statement, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec accused Bolton of “grossly” mischaracterizing the exchange. “While the Department of Justice has not reviewed Mr. Bolton’s manuscript, the New York Times’ account of this conversation grossly mischaracterizes what Attorney General Barr and Mr. Bolton discussed,” Kupec said. “There was no discussion of ‘personal favors’ or ‘undue influence’ on investigations, nor did Attorney General Barr say that the President’s conversations with foreign leaders was improper. “If this is truly what Mr. Bolton has written, then it seems he is attributing to Attorney General Barr his own current views — views with which...

The twin brother of controversial anti-Trump NSC aide Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman had seen a draft copy of John Bolton’s controversial new book, raising the possibility that he passed key passages to the New York Times. The Wall Street Journal described Yevgeny as “an NSC lawyer handling ethics issues.” Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman described his twin as the “lead ethics official” at the NSC. A U.S. Office of Government Ethics web page, updated on Friday, identifies Yevegeny Vindman as the “Alternate Designated Agency Ethics Official” for the NSC..

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton claims to have privately told Attorney General William Barr last year that he was concerned the President was granting favors to the autocratic leaders of China and Turkey, The New York Times reported Monday, citing multiple people's descriptions of an unpublished draft manuscript by Bolton. Barr told Bolton in response that he worried Trump had created the appearance of undue influence over two Justice Department investigations of companies in China and Turkey, which are traditionally independent inquiries, the draft manuscript says, according to the Times.

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton is publishing a tell-all book about his time in the Trump administration. The book is scheduled for release this March, but Bolton’s former Chief of Staff, Fred Fleitz, penned an op-ed for Fox News calling on Bolton to withdraw his book from publication. “I don’t understand the need for a former National Security Adviser to publish a tell-all book critical of a president he served,” Fleitz said. “Especially during a presidential reelection campaign that will determine the fate of the country. There will be a time for Bolton to speak out without appearing to...

A spokesperson for former White House National Security Advisor John Bolton denied Monday that he or his publishers coordinated with the New York Times after the newspaper published claims in his upcoming book about President Donald Trump and Ukraine. “Ambassador John Bolton, Simon & Schuster, and Javelin Literary categorically state that there was absolutely no coordination with the New York Times or anyone else regarding the appearance of information about his book, THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED, at online booksellers. Any assertion to the contrary is unfounded speculation,” Bolton aide Sarah Tinsley said in a statement. The denial comes after...

Equally predictable have been the reactions by the three most likely RINO Usual Suspects, Mitt Romney, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski. Romney, who has been actively looking for any pretense to side with his Democrat pals, jumped almost immediately, telling a CNN reporter early Monday morning this: “I can’t begin to tell you how John Bolton’s testimony would ultimately play on a final decision but it’s relevant and therefore I’d like to hear it.” Ok, yeah, sure, uh-huh. Romney, by the way, refused to say whether or not he would also support calling witnesses the Trump defense would like to...

Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) on Monday lashed out at fellow GOP Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah) over his apparent openness to call witnesses as part of President Trump's impeachment trial. Loeffler — who was just sworn into the Senate earlier this month after being appointed to succeed Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), who was popular among members on both sides of the aisle — tweeted that it was "time to move on" from the impeachment effort. "Sadly, my colleague [Romney] wants to appease the left by calling witnesses who will slander the @realDonaldTrump during their 15 minutes of fame. The circus is...

Top Republican senators dismissed leaked details from former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s upcoming book, saying the allegations were not new.“There’s nothing new here. It does seem to be an effort to sell books,” Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the No. 3 Republican in the Senate, told reporters in Washington on Monday.“The basic dynamic of the obligation of the House to take the time they have to put a case together doesn’t change. I don’t think it changes any fundamental information, nor does it change the basic case that the House has to put the case together,” added Sen. Roy...

A lawyer for White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney pushed back against reports that he was involved in discussions about holding hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Ukraine in exchange for investigations.“John Bolton never informed Mick Mulvaney of any concerns surrounding Bolton’s purported August conversation with the president,” his lawyer, Bob Driscoll, said in a statement (pdf) on Monday. “Nor did Mr. Mulvaney ever have a conversation with the president or anyone else indicating that Ukrainian military aid was withheld in exchange for a Ukrainian investigation of Burisma, the Bidens, or the 2016 election.”The statement remarked...