Free Republic

President Donald Trump said Thursday that he will replace interim U.S. attorney Ed Martin, his embattled nominee to serve as the top prosecutor for D.C., after 15 tumultuous weeks in office marked by his threats to investigate Trump’s perceived political adversaries and firings and demotions of career prosecutors who investigated the president and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. Martin, 55, an ardent Trump loyalist whom the president named to a 120-day interim post on Inauguration Day, can serve until May 20. Addressing reporters, Trump praised Martin and expressed disappointment at the Senate’s refusal to advance his nomination. “I just...

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) is flipping off Donald Trump, announcing Tuesday he will oppose the president’s nominee for the crucial U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia just hours after Trump called for Senators to support him. Tillis’s decision, first reported by Breitbart News nine hours before Tillis’s confirmation, could sound the death knell for Trump’s nominee, Ed Martin, who has been serving in the office on an interim basis. Breitbart News reported Monday that Tillis withholding his supporting was the critical impediment to Martin’s nomination being advanced before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Without Tillis’s support, Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IO)...

During a portion of an interview with Portland, Maine ABC affiliate Channel 8 WMTW released on Thursday, Attorney General Aaron Frey (D) said that the opposition to allowing biological men to play women’s sports “is driven, in large part, by a lot of lack of information or misinformation.” Frey stated, “I think some of the public sentiment is being driven by a lot of half-truths or untruths, right? There have been transgender athletes — student athletes in Maine for years, for years and years and years. Safety, privacy have always been a consideration, not just for transgender students, by the...

Attorney General Pam Bondi launched a forceful attack on members of the federal judiciary Sunday, accusing judges of overstepping their authority and obstructing President Donald Trump’s policy agenda. During a Fox News interview on Sunday Morning Futures, Bondi said recent rulings against key administration initiatives reflect a judiciary that is “out of control.” Bondi specifically criticized federal judges who have paused or struck down Trump-era policies, including deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, environmental funding rollbacks, and bans affecting transgender military service. “This is an out-of-control judge, a federal judge, trying to control our entire foreign policy, and he cannot...

On March 7, 2025, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche — on his second day in office – sent a written notice of termination to Liz Oyer, Pardon Attorney in the Department of Justice. The Pardon Attorney is a “career” position in that it is not an office that requires a presidential appointment that is confirmed by the Senate. The Pardon Attorney is appointed by the Attorney General, but the position is in the “Senior Executive Service.” These are the top management positions just below the presidential appointees in all federal agencies. Oyer posted the written notice she was given on...

The Internal Revenue Service’s top lawyer has reportedly been demoted as Elon Musk’s DOGE agency continues its push to get access to confidential taxpayer data. William Paul, the IRS’ acting chief counsel, was recently removed from his position, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing multiple sources. Paul is expected to be replaced by another IRS lawyer, Andrew De Mello, who was nominated to be the Education Department’s inspector general during President Trump’s first administration, according to the sources. The exact circumstances surrounding Paul’s demotion weren’t immediately clear. Paul, who is a non-political appointee, has been running what is essentially...

Trump administration says ‘gold card’ will replace EB-5 visa programA 60-year-old former Atherton resident who had a San Jose law practice has been extradited from the Kyrgyz Republic in central Asia to face fraud charges in federal court in San Jose related to a controversial visa program aimed at attracting foreign job creators. Danhong “Jean” Chen, also known as Maria Sofia Taylor, was indicted by a grand jury in 2019 along with her ex-husband Jianyun “Tony” Ye. The pair were accused of fraud in connection with the federal EB-5 visa program that lets foreign citizens live permanently in the...

Former second gentleman Doug Emhoff is returning to his career as a private attorney after his wife, former Vice President Kamala Harris, lost the presidential election. A longtime entertainment attorney, Emhoff has joined Willkie Farr & Gallagher as a partner and will split his time between Los Angeles and New York, the law firm announced Monday. The announcement indicated Emhoff’s practice will advise corporations on investigations and litigation, “including matters with significant reputational concerns that are international in scope.” “I am delighted to be joining Willkie, where I am looking forward to working alongside trusted and innovative legal counselors,” Emhoff...

The Wyoming Supreme Court is considering whether and when it’s appropriate for law enforcement agents to search a criminal defendant’s lawyer. Jason Gay, of Tynsky Law Office, filed a petition last week to the state’s highest court, asking it to decide if it’s unreasonable for sheriff’s deputies to search a lawyer and his office – and potentially his home – when the attorney isn’t suspected of a crime, among other questions. The contested case isn't clear-cut: Gay's client is both a defendant in a criminal case and the victim of alleged crimes. Gay represents Chet Walker, a Robertson, Wyoming, man...

Meet Heather Shaner. She is a DC Public Defender who has represented 43 J6 defendants who couldn’t afford real representation. Shaner says it’s her job to “educate” J6ers, stating, “I mean, if you start out with a whole bunch of baloney and you don't know it's baloney, you're going to keep exercising your choices based on incorrect information”. She has referred to people who went inside the building and took pictures as “schmucks”. All of her J6 clients pled guilty. When asked if her clients “deserve her”, she replied “They’re damn lucky if they get me,” with a laugh. This...

A Virginia realtor is facing the possibility of having his license revoked over social media posts as concerns mount about the status of free speech for those working in real estate and other professions. Wilson Fauber, a Staunton, Virginia-based realtor with a career spanning four decades, appeared before the Virginia Association of Realtors on Wednesday in a hearing to determine whether he violated the National Association of Realtors’ Standard of Practice 10-5. Adopted in 2020, the standard declares that realtors “must not use harassing speech, hate speech, epithets, or slurs based on race, color, religion, sex disability, familial status, national...

Ariel Mitchell-Kidd, the attorney representing a woman who accused Sean “Diddy” Combs of a 2018 sexual assault, made shocking claims during an interview with Ashleigh Banfield on NewsNation. Mitchell-Kidd, who previously represented other plaintiffs against Combs, revealed harrowing details of the alleged assault on her current client. According to Mitchell-Kidd, the incident occurred at a private residence in 2018, when her client was drugged and then sexually assaulted by Combs and another man. The victim, in a state of terror, escaped to the streets, where a neighbor intervened. A police report was filed, though it did not initially name Combs...

Chief prosecutor Jack Smith will soon be forced to reveal his election fraud case against Donald Trump, a criminal defense attorney has told Newsweek. Keith B. Johnson, an attorney in Augusta, Georgia, said that Smith will have to lay out his case against Trump at a hearing on September 26. That will allow judge Tanya Chutkan to check if the evidence stands, following the Supreme Court's July 1 ruling on presidential immunity. "The Court gave prosecutors until September 26th to argue that the remaining counts of the superseding indictment do not run afoul of the Supreme Court's July ruling on...

People living and working in Portland, Oregon, told Fox News Digital they hope the ousting of their progressive district attorney will end what they view as a permissive attitude toward crime. "They wanted law and order," former Portland news videographer Andy Chandler said of voters' decision. "They didn't want this kind of hollow, empty gesture concept of law and order that I think a lot of us have lived with for four years." Nathan Vasquez, a longtime prosecutor, beat his boss, Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt, in Tuesday's nonpartisan primary election after running a tough-on-crime-campaign. Vasquez received endorsements from...

Porn star Stormy Daniels wore a bulletproof vest to get to court to deliver salacious allegations about Donald Trump because she feared what “some nut might do to her,” according to her attorney. Daniels, 45, was “paralyzed with fear” before her two days testifying to her alleged fling with Trump that is at the heart of his criminal hush money trial, her attorney, Clark Brewster, told CNN late Monday. “She was concerned about the security coming in to New York,” Brewster told CNN on Monday. “She wore a bulletproof vest every day until she got to the courthouse,” he said,...

Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, and a top aide for First Lady Jill Biden attended a White House event on December 11, 2023, two days before Hunter defied a congressional subpoena to appear before Congress, White House visitor logs show reported by New York Post’s Jon Levine. The attendance of Lowell and Biden’s aide, along with the timing of the appearances, raises questions about whether the White House and Hunter’s legal team are in coordination. The White House claimed the log entry related to a White House Hanukkah reception and that nobody discussed Hunter’s legal woes, Levine reported.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to tap California attorney and entrepreneur Nicole Shanahan as his running mate, according to a report. Shanahan, a Democratic donor who was once married to Google cofounder Sergey Brinn, funded Kennedy’s pricey Super Bowl campaign commercial, Mediaite reported Saturday. The pair “align on numerous issues,” including his condemnation of vaccines, and she can help funnel money into Kennedy’s long-shot bid and get him on ballots in all 50 states, sources close to the campaign told the outlet. The pick notably keeps New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, whom Kennedy said was...

We are in North Idaho and need a real tough, combative, junkyard dog real estate attorney with a good track record. How do you go about finding such an attorney? The lot below us sold after being in one family for many decades. A developer bought it (call him Party 1) and has been less than forthcoming about his plans for the property. He proposes to build a second building on the property that will partially block our lake view and completely block another neighbor's lake view. The building plans comply with setback and height limitations so there's nothing there...

Hunter Biden's attorney has spoken out to slam the tax evasion charges against the president's son, claiming that nobody similarly situated would be criminally charged. 'Where's the fairness, justice and decency in this?' attorney Abbe Lowell said in an interview with CNN on Friday, after Hunter was hit with nine new charges carrying a penalty of up to 17 years in prison. The 56-page indictment filed by Special Counsel David Weiss accuses Hunter of scheming to avoid $1.4 million in taxes he owed from 2016 through 2019, while spending lavishly on drugs, prostitutes, and an extravagant lifestyle. 'The charges in...

Donald J. Trump plans to return next week to the New York courtroom where his civil fraud trial is slowly proceeding, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, a reappearance that is likely to bring him face-to-face with his former fixer Michael D. Cohen. Mr. Trump attended the first three days of the trial that stems from a lawsuit brought by the New York attorney general, Letitia James, and used the camera-lined courthouse hallway as an impromptu campaign stop. *** Mr. Trump’s return, first reported by The Messenger, is likely to coincide with the appearance of the most...