Free Republic

On July 25, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a damning report revealing an additional $2 billion in accounting errors related to the Pentagon’s aid to Ukraine.This discovery compounds the $6.2 billion overestimation previously disclosed, bringing the total to an alarming $8.2 billion in misallocated funds. The discrepancies arose from the Pentagon’s use of “replacement value” instead of “depreciated value” in calculating the aid provided under the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA). The PDA, authorized by the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, allows the President to direct the transfer of defense articles and services from U.S. stocks to address foreign...

SUBJECT: Delegation of Certain Functions and Authorities Under the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for Ukrainians Act By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby order as follows: Section 1. (a) I hereby delegate to the Secretary of the Treasury the functions and authorities vested in the President by sections 104(a)(1) and 104(a)(2)(A) of the Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity for Ukrainians Act (Division F of Public Law 118-50) (the “Act”). (b) I hereby delegate to the...

Hunter Biden released an emotional statement on Sunday following his father’s decision to withdraw from his campaign for reelection. The first son marveled at his father’s attributes and asked “all Americans” to “thank” President Joe Biden for his public service. “For my entire life, I’ve looked at my dad in awe. How could he suffer so much heartache and yet give so much of whatever remained of his heart to others?” Hunter wrote. “Over a life time I have witnessed him absorb the pain of countless everyday Americans who he’s given his personal phone number to, because he wanted them...

The seeds of President Joe Biden’s reaction to the Democratic Party’s crisis of confidence in him were planted years ago. Facing an extraordinary push by his friends and allies to end his political career, Biden has responded with defiance. For three weeks, he has dug in, denied polling evidence and vowed to stay in the race, claiming that he is the only one who can defeat former President Donald Trump. Only in the last few days have people close to him said they believe he is more receptive to stepping down. To many of his allies, he is in a...

What does President Joe Biden’s exit from the 2024 White House race look like? According to an NBC News report Friday, members of the octogenarian’s own family are working through scenarios dealing with that very question right now. The report cites two people familiar with the discussions. It sets out one proviso of the discussions is that Biden has to keep his reputation in tact through the exit while not giving former President Donald Trump any leeway to add to his growing political capital. The outlet continues: Biden’s family members have specifically discussed how he would want to end his...

Former President Donald Trump might not understand what is going on in Ukraine, according to the country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, however he said Friday he is happy to bring the Republican nominee up to speed if he returns to the White House in 2024. Zelensky made his claim about Trump’s ignorance in an exclusive interview with the BBC in London, adding he was willing to work with anyone who was in power in Washington. “Maybe he really doesn’t understand what goes on in Ukraine, so we have to work with the United States,” Zelensky told the BBC, repeating his previous...

Hunter Biden is using a pair of judicial opinions that were favorable to his father's political rival to argue his conviction on gun charges should be tossed out. In federal court papers filed in Delaware, Hunter Biden’s attorneys asked the judge who oversaw his gun trial to dismiss the case against him because of a federal court ruling in Florida dismissing the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump. In the ruling Monday, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed Jack Smith’s criminal case against Trump on the grounds that the appointment of and funding for the special counsel were...

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...

American automakers will need to make major changes to their businesses if they want to remain competitive with Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) poised to flood the global market, according to analysis published by auto industry consultants. U.S. manufacturers currently do tens of billions of dollars of business abroad, but Chinese competitors are poised to take over approximately one-third of the global market share by 2030 with particularly strong growth in Europe, South America and Asia driven by EVs and plug-in hybrids, AlixPartners projects in its report. The auto market is evolving to favor EVs thanks in part to the policy...

Ukraine is on an “irreversible” path to NATO membership, the 32 members of the alliance affirmed in a joint communique released Wednesday on the second day of the summit being held in Washington. Allies had negotiated for months over what language would be published in the joint communique, but discussions on specific words — including “irreversible” — had continued in D.C. throughout the first days of the summit.

The 32-members of NATO on Wednesday formally declared Ukraine on an “irreversible” path to membership in the Western military alliance, offering a bare but more binding assurance of protection once its war with Russia ends. NATO member countries individually and in Wednesday’s joint statement from their summit in Washington announced a series of steps aimed at bolstering Ukraine’s defenses. That includes the U.S., the Netherlands and Denmark announcing that the first NATO-provided F-16s would be in the hands of Ukrainian military pilots by this summer. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted his appreciation of the effort to strengthen his air force,...

Convicted felon Hunter Biden is reportedly the “acting chief of staff” to President Joe Biden, usurping Jeff Zients in that designated role. The Biden family, which made millions from foreign business deals while Joe Biden was in and out of office, is helping to keep Biden in the race, a source told the Daily Beast on Wednesday: His family is standing with him, his wife Jill and sister Valerie, who Democrats relied upon to provide wise counsel—not just cheerleading. His son, Hunter, has been seen at the White House so much lately that one well-connected lawyer/lobbyist Democrat dubbed him “the...

When the person named Joe Biden is the titular President, it's pretty obvious that he's not in charge. He requires an enormous number of handlers. He is not allowed to take unscripted questions He needs pictures and text in large fonts to help him get around: President Joe Biden is given detailed instructions with pictures and large font instructing him on how to enter and leave venues ahead of planned events, it has emerged.A template provided to event staffers, and obtained by Axios, shows how Biden's aides prepare a short document with a photograph that depicts his precise route he...

Democrats trying to dislodge Joe Biden will first have to combat the proxy commander in chief: Hunter Biden — and that’s easier said than done. With the Biden family digging in behind Joe staying put, any staffers or party grandees deputized to strong-arm Joe Biden out of being their candidate in November had better not underestimate the first son. While the focus has been on four-time Vogue cover girl Jill Biden and her screeching assurances that Joe is hale and hearty and fit for another four years, the first son has flown under the radar. But Hunter is glued to...

Today, 'Washington Free Beacon' Editor, Peter J. Hasson, took readers for a walk down memory lane in terms of Joe Biden coverage. Interestingly, he found reports in corporate media all the way back to 2019 detailing Biden's worsening mental condition. It all came to a screeching halt, however, when Biden became the official Democratic nominee. The key to understanding the narrative collapse we all witnessed in real time over the last 9 days: before Biden had the Dem nomination locked down in 2019, the media were far more willing to discuss his apparent fragility. But only until he locked down...

First lady Jill Biden is unleashing fury at those who are trying to force President Joe Biden to quit his re-election campaign following his disastrous debate performance last week against former President Donald Trump. ABC News host Martha Raddatz said following Biden’s interview with the network on Friday that sources inside the White House have told her that Biden’s “very tight inner circle” is pushing Biden to stay in the race and that he will win as long as he keeps going. “This of course includes his wife Jill who they said is lashing out at those who want him...

A simmering rift between Joe Biden's family and staff has finally boiled over after his disastrous debate performance last week. The president blamed a cold and a generally 'bad night' for looking frail, confused, and struggling to finish sentences during the showdown with Donald Trump. Biden defiantly declared he would contest the November 5 election and win, despite a push by some top Democrats to convince him to stand aside.

CNN senior political commentator and former Obama adviser David Axelrod said Friday on “OutFront” that President Joe Biden’s family advisers are “indulging hm” by telling him there is a path forward for his candidacy. Axelrod said, “I think that for those who care about the president, I’m sure his family does, but family advisers who are, I think, indulging him here by telling him that there’s a path forward. I think that there’s a terrible risk to this. I do think that this is a this will define him if he moves forward. He’s had an extraordinary career. I worked...

When President Joe Biden met with a group of Muslim community leaders this week, he recounted a recent conversation he had with first lady Jill Biden relating to the conflict in Gaza. One of the attendees told the president that the decision to participate in the gathering had been a cause of concern for his wife, given the fierce backlash Joe Biden has drawn for his handling of the Israel-Hamas war, according to two attendees present at the meeting. Those attendees tell CNN that Biden brought up his own wife and closest confidant. “It’s got to stop,” he recounted the...

WASHINGTON, DC: Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Mike Turner pressed the White House to clarify if Hunter Biden is aware of classified briefings. This comes after the first son made a surprise appearance at the Executive Mansion this week in an attempt to bolster his father's flagging reelection campaign, according to the New York Post. Turner wrote to White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, "White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has confirmed that Hunter Biden is attending official White House meetings involving the President and his staff." He added, "An immediate response is requested, please notify the Committee...