Free Republic

In a move that stunned many members of the media, on Thursday night Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the Russia probe due to Jeff Sessions’ recusal and who earlier this week confirmed only he has authority to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, released an unorthodox statement to be “skeptical about anonymous allegations” following the relentless barrage of news reports emerging from the WaPo and the NYT about the evolving probe into Russia’s “election interference” and possible collusion with Trump, all based on “anonymous sources.” “Americans should exercise caution before accepting as true any stories attributed to anonymous...

In the days and hours leading up to a hearing of the Senate’s Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, the Big Three Networks (ABC, CBC, and NBC) were giddy at the prospect of two heads of U.S. intelligence agencies fingering President Trump in a plot to shut down the Russian investigation. But after the two and a half hour long hearing, they weren’t kicking themselves for getting their hopes up, they were kicking Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and NSA Director Michael Rogers for not giving them what they wanted. .. The anonymous claims about Trump pressuring high-ranking intelligence officials were...

President Donald Trump has filed for an extension on his 2016 tax return, a White House official said Saturday. The official did not provide information on when Trump sought the extension or why. The official was not authorized to discuss the president’s taxes and insisted on anonymity.Tax Day this year was on April 18. The Internal Revenue Service allows individuals and businesses to apply for a six-month extension to get more time to file a return. An extension does not provide more time to pay taxes. …

Washington Post media critic Margaret Sullivan says anonymous sources provide a better foundation to a news story than official sources. Sullivan was speaking to CBC News Saturday about how the Washington Post used 30 anonymous sources to write its article this week on President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey. The story, which alleged sinister motives on behalf of Trump, was composed by four reporters and was pieced together from “the private accounts of more than 30 officials at the White House, the Justice Department, the FBI and on Capitol Hill, as well as Trump confidants and other...

WASHINGTON — The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, asked the Justice Department this weekend to publicly reject President Trump’s assertion that President Barack Obama ordered the tapping of Mr. Trump’s phones, senior American officials said on Sunday. Mr. Comey has argued that the highly charged claim is false and must be corrected, they said, but the department has not released any such statement. Mr. Comey made the request on Saturday after Mr. Trump leveled his allegation on Twitter. Mr. Comey has been working to get the Justice Department to knock down Mr. Trump’s claim because there is no evidence to...

The deadly Jan. 28 commando raid in Yemen in which Navy SEAL William "Ryan" Owens died hasn't so far yielded any significant intelligence, NBC News reported Monday night. Although Pentagon officials have said the raid produced "actionable intelligence," unnamed senior officials said they were unaware of any, NBC News reported.

On every new article featuring leaks about the White House, editors should place a disclaimer: Anonymous officials cited in this piece stopped short of justifying the havoc this story is about to create. A flurry of would-be bombshell reports over the last week appeared to show more ties between President Trump and Russia or further demonstrate the supposed ineptitude of the Trump administration. The stories depended entirely on anonymous "current and former U.S officials" who share a lot of tantalizing information then, strangely, clam up just as things are about to get good. The news media spin every "leak" into...

President Donald Trump is plagued by insecurities about his coverage in the media, aides who were not authorized to speak to the press revealed to The Associated Press anonymously. Trump's aides think they have a solution, though: Get the president to watch less TV. It's easier said than done: After relishing in Friday's inaugural festivities, the new president grew increasingly upset the next day by what he felt was "biased" media coverage of women's marches across the globe protesting his election, according to a person familiar with his thinking. Trump was particularly enraged with CNN, which he thought was "gloating"...

According to eyewitness reports ISIS sex slaves are reportedly being sold in Saudi Arabia. Jihad Watch reported: It isn’t news that the Islamic State has long been abusing and trafficking sex slaves – especially Yazidi girls – but it has been now discovered that the sex slaves of IS are being “sold in horrifying auctions to UK ally Saudi Arabia.” An eyewitness reported: Dozens of women were being held in a large room, and it was not only Iraqis and Syrians trading women but also Saudis and Westerners, whose actual nationality was not clear. Western women have also been reported...

The growing scandal over cooked ISIS intelligence just got much worse. Now, analysts are saying they’re being forced out for not toeing the Obama administration’s line on the war. Two senior intelligence analysts at U.S. Central Command say the military has forced them out of their jobs because of their skeptical reporting on U.S.-backed rebel groups in Syria, three sources with knowledge of their claim told The Daily Beast. It’s the first known instance of possible reprisals against CENTCOM personnel after analysts accused their bosses of manipulating intelligence reports about the U.S.-led campaign against ISIS in order to paint a...

On Thursday's edition of Special Report, Stephen F. Hayes of the Weekly Standard revealed he has met several Iowans who are now "former Trump supporters" because he decided not to participate in tonight's debate hosted by the FOX News Channel. "I talked to a couple of Trump supporters who are now former Trump supporters," Hayes said. "Precisely because they thought that his sitting out this one in particular was a slap in the face of Iowans." "I talked to one woman last night who was not a Trump supporter, she was going to caucus for Rubio or Cruz. She said,...

In short, this (anonymous) person said, the Republican Party had been a stool supported by three legs: national defense, free-market economics, and social values. But the person said that thanks mostly to President George W. Bush, the party has failed on the first two legs. The country has shifted significantly on the last one, and there's nothing a Republican candidate can do to change it. As a result the Republican Party is in disarray, and Trump is taking advantage.

Apparently Jeb Bush’s focus on “The Donald” has become quite personal. Bush is said to be “deeply disappointed” that the media and corporate attacks on Mr. Trump have only made the outspoken billionaire’s appeal to voters that much stronger. It is a political dynamic for which Bush political operatives are increasingly confused and concerned over. Those concerns were said to be given some salve in the form of assurances from Bill Clinton during a personal call he had with Jeb Bush two days earlier. While most of that conversation remains private, Jeb did share with others that the former president...

Officials in PM's party aren't waiting for the election results: To them, it's already clear the campaign was a 'colossal failure,' thanks to Netanyahu. Likud officials aren’t waiting for the election results. On Wednesday, following less than favorable polls, senior officials labeled the election campaign a failure, and blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the party’s poor showing in the polls ahead of Election Day on Tuesday. “The Zionist Union will be larger than Likud after the election. This, it seems, is already a fact. The question is what the gap between the two will be. Even if we manage...

WASHINGTON - A new book on the government's secret anti-terrorism operations describes how the CIA recruited an Iraqi-American anesthesiologist in 2002 to obtain information from her brother, who was a figure in Saddam Hussein's nuclear program. Dr. Sawsan Alhaddad of Cleveland made the dangerous trip to Iraq on the CIA's behalf. The book said her brother was stunned by her questions about the nuclear program because — he said — it had been dead for a decade. New York Times reporter James Risen uses the anecdote to illustrate how the CIA ignored information that Iraq no longer had weapons of...

<p>The new White House press secretary got into a familiar old spat with the White House press corps the other day over the use of anonymous sources.</p> <p>Josh Earnest — has there ever been a more perfectly named spokesman? — was a bit off in his timing. He lit into The Washington Post — and noted its reporters were absent from the briefing — for its alleged overuse of unnamed sources.</p>

Newt Gingrich plans to formally suspend or end his presidential campaign next Tuesday, senior Gingrich aides told Fox News.

“In the absence of a candidate who has any poetry — who has any ability to connect on an emotional level — how do you create a bond?” Romney’s agenda, the adviser said, is “warmed-over oatmeal” and needs to be bolder. “If you’re a super-charismatic candidate like George W. Bush or John McCain...They had other, more emotional-level, values-level ways to connect with voters. This guy just doesn’t have it. He has all the warmth of a Wall Street CEO.” ...the more they put on a facade, the more people pick up on it.” "...Mitt Romney is still a big question...

With just days to go before Nevada Republicans head to the polls to choose who they want to take on President Obama in November, reality show host Donald Trump is injecting himself into the race and endorsing Newt Gingrich. Trump's office announced Wednesday that he would make a major announcement Thursday morning in Las Vegas, without providing details of what he would say. Two sources confirmed to CBS News that the publicity savvy businessman plans to endorse the former House speaker in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. Nevada holds its caucus Saturday.

UPDATE -Mayor Emanuel is denying he is involved in anyway with the exchange of information regarding Cain's sexual harassment accusers. Herman Cain's campaign is revealing suspicions about who is behind the story regarding the former unidentified employees who accused Mr. Cain of sexual harassment in the late 1990's. According to a source who is friends with the Cain campaign, not only is the Rick Perry campaign involved but also the Mayor of Chicago and former Obama White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is likely involved with the sexual harassment accuser attacks. A friend of the Cain campaign believes a...