Free Republic

President Trump on Friday was adamant he was not being “played” in talks to end the war in Ukraine and sounded a confident note he would be able to close the deal after Secretary of State Marco Rubio indicated the clock was ticking on negotiations. “We’re going to get it stopped, ideally. Now, if for some reason one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say ‘you’re foolish, you’re fools, you’re horrible people and we’re just going to take a pass.’ But hopefully we won’t have to do that,” Trump told reporters in the Oval...

President Trump on Thursday said he hoped Russia would “do the right thing” as his administration presses for a ceasefire agreement between Moscow and Ukraine. Trump told reporters he was getting “good signals” about where Russia stood on agreeing to a ceasefire, though he acknowledged nothing was certain. Trump also expressed an openness to speaking with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the potential agreement. “We’re getting word that things are going OK in Russia, and it doesn’t mean anything until we hear what the final outcome is. But they have very serious discussions going on right now with President Putin...

President Trump said Monday a proposed economic deal between the U.S. and Ukraine was still on the table, but he argued Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky needed to be more “appreciative” of U.S. support. Trump took questions from reporters on the heels of a confrontational meeting with Zelensky late last week after which Trump called off peace talks and an agreement for the U.S. to invest in Ukraine’s critical mineral supply went unsigned. Asked if the deal was dead, Trump said, “I don’t think so.” “It’s a great deal for us, because you know Biden very, very foolishly, stupidly, frankly, gave...

President Trump on Tuesday appeared to blame Ukraine’s leaders for the three-year war with Russia, arguing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “should have never started it.” Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, after massing troops on the border and demanding a ban on Ukraine ever joining the NATO alliance. The invasion took place nearly a decade after Russia took over Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Trump vowed to end the war during his presidential campaign and on Tuesday repeated his claim that the war would never have started if he had been president. He spoke after U.S....

Trump over the weekend threatened to prosecute donors, lawyers and elections officials who he claimed “cheated” in the 2020 election or who engaged in behavior he deemed “unscrupulous” in November. And he elevated a dubious claim about fraud involving mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania, echoing rhetoric he used to cast doubt on the 2020 results. Republicans have long argued Trump’s fixation on the 2020 election and his claims of widespread fraud are unhelpful politically, but critics viewed Trump’s most recent posts as a blaring warning sign about how Trump may react to November’s results, win or lose. “As we head into...

Former President Trump is setting off alarms among critics as he pushes the claim that Vice President Harris’s ascent to become the Democratic nominee is somehow unconstitutional, with some warning he could be laying the groundwork to contest an electoral defeat as he did in 2020. Trump has repeatedly sought to cast Harris replacing President Biden as the Democratic nominee as nefarious, likening it to a “coup” and in recent days claiming it may be unconstitutional because she was not atop the ballot in the primary process. Biden and other Democrats, as well as some Republican Trump critics, have suggested...

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) on Monday blasted comments from presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in which he defended the government’s surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr. “The racist campaign to spy on Martin Luther King, Jr in an effort to discredit the civil rights movement and stifle America’s march toward racial equality is indefensible,” Thompson, the former chair of the House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, said in a statement first given to The Hill.

The Republican presidential primary calendar won’t officially kick off until the Jan. 15, 2024, Iowa caucuses, but former President Trump’s dominant position in the polls has already sparked chatter about who could join him on a general election ticket. Trump is leading his primary rivals by an average of 60 percent at the national level and more than 20 percent in state surveys, creating a sense that the nomination is his to lose. Some have started to look beyond the primary calendar and toward a rematch between Trump and President Biden, with former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and others weighing...

President Biden cautioned Israel Wednesday not to make the same mistakes the United States made after the 9/11 terrorist attacks as Israeli forces are expected to prepare a ground offensive in response to terrorist attacks launched by Hamas. Biden delivered remarks in Tel Aviv at the end of a trip to Israel meant to underscore his unwavering support for the Jewish state in the aftermath of the Hamas attacks, which killed more than 1,000 Israelis and has set off concerns about a wider conflict in the region.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) will expand its strike Friday afternoon, with employees walking off the job at General Motors and Stellantis parts distribution facilities, union President Shawn Fain announced. Fain, in livestreamed remarks, said workers have made progress in negotiations with Ford since a targeted strike began at the Big Three auto companies last week. “At GM and Stellantis, it’s a different story,” Fain said. The union is expanding the strike Friday to include Stellantis and GM facilities at 38 locations across 28 states, he said. “We will shut down parts distribution until those two companies come to their...

The multiplying charges brought against allies of former President Trump and their mounting legal fees are creating consternation in Trump world — while presenting a real risk to the former president. Trump has burned through millions of dollars in donor money to pay for legal fees as he defends himself against charges in New York City, Florida, Georgia and Washington, D.C. But the former president, who has built a reputation for stiffing workers, has shown no interest in providing financial aid to former aides charged over their efforts to keep him in power. Former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani has listed...

MILWAUKEE — President Biden on Tuesday traveled to a manufacturing warehouse in Wisconsin to tout one of his signature legislative achievements, a reflection of how the White House is betting Americans will favor their focus on kitchen table issues as the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination is once again mired in legal troubles. Biden delivered remarks on the Inflation Reduction Act, a law he signed one year ago that contained numerous Democratic priorities to address climate change and lower the cost of healthcare and prescription drugs. He chose to come to Wisconsin, which is sure to be a hotly...

Former President Trump is taking a risk in targeting Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R), picking a fight with an influential and well-liked figure in the first state on next year’s GOP presidential primary calendar. Trump narrowly finished second in the Iowa caucuses in 2016 but went on to win the GOP nomination, something he could easily repeat this cycle. However, an underwhelming performance in the Hawkeye State in 2024 could open the door to a viable challenger building momentum early in the primary calendar... Some in the state found the criticism of Reynolds to be uncalled for and the type...

President Biden on Friday will mark the second anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, the White House said Monday. Biden will host a ceremony in the East Room and deliver remarks about the insurrection, the White House said. Officials did not provide additional details. Friday will mark two years since rioters violently stormed the Capitol to try and stop the certification of electoral votes declaring Biden as the winner of the 2020 election. The attack, which resulted in the death of two Capitol police officers and one rioter, followed a speech by then-President Trump in which...

President Biden will establish a task force to coordinate government efforts to address antisemitism and other forms of religious bigotry, the White House said Monday, in the wake of a rise in antisemitic rhetoric from high-profile public figures. Biden is creating an interagency group led by the staff at the Domestic Policy Council and the National Security Council, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. The group’s first order of business will be to formulate a national strategy to counter antisemitism.

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Monday pushed back on former President Trump’s assertion that the Constitution should be disregarded to allow for him to return to the White House in the wake of new revelations about Twitter’s handling of a controversial story about Hunter Biden. “I must tell you that I think that everyone that serves in public office, everyone that aspires to serve or serve again should make it clear that we will support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” Pence said on WVOC radio in Columbia, S.C., ahead of a visit to the state on...

Former President Trump on Monday insisted he does not want to “terminate” the Constitution, responding to broad backlash after he said over the weekend its rules and laws should be disregarded so he can return to the White House. Trump, in a pair of posts on Truth Social, responded to the fallout from his comments on Saturday that the 2020 election should be redone or he should be put back in office. The former president weighed in after internal Twitter communications showed company officials deciding to limit the spread of posts about allegations against Hunter Biden, President’s Biden’s son, in...

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Monday said former President Trump was “wrong” to have dinner with white nationalist Nick Fuentes last week, but said he does not believe Trump is an antisemite or racist. “President Trump was wrong to give a white nationalist, an antisemite and a Holocaust denier a seat at the table, and I think he should apologize,” Pence told NewsNation in an interview. “With that being said, as I point out in the book as well, I don’t believe Donald Trump is an antisemite. I don’t believe he’s a racist or a bigot,” Pence continued. “I...

It was Sept. 20 when the White House was on alert for the potential that DeSantis was organizing a flight of migrants from Texas to President Biden’s home state of Delaware, his latest move to draw attention to the surge of immigrants at the southern border and what he viewed as the responsibility of blue states to share the burden. One week later, DeSantis was on the phone with Biden in the first of three calls the two men have held this week to coordinate the response to Hurricane Ian as the storm knocked out power, flooded communities and destroyed...

Share Tweet ... More Former President Trump is facing a new political quagmire as Senate Democrats open an investigation into allegations he pressured the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate his political opponents. Former U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman wrote in a new book that the Justice Department under Trump pushed his office to pursue criminal cases against former Secretary of State John Kerry and others viewed as political opponents of Trump. Democrats, who have been happy to elevate Trump and his conduct in the wake of an FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago estate, will look into the matter, Senate Judiciary...