Free Republic

Who really knows Pavel Durov? Arrested in France and facing charges as explosive as they are controversial – complicity in drug trafficking, money laundering, organized fraud among others –, the creator of Telegram, the encrypted messaging app used by more than a billion people worldwide, including Volodymyr Zelensky and Emmanuel Macron, denounces a conspiracy, a denial of justice, and claims to be already punished without having been tried. In this extensive interview, the longest he has ever given, the man who founded VKontakte (the "Russian Facebook") before leaving Russia in 2014 to preserve his independence reflects on his fight for...

President Donald Trump directly rebuked Tulsi Gabbard, his own director of national intelligence, during a Q&A with reporters on Friday afternoon amid reports that she’s an increasingly irrelevant figure within his administration. After being asked by MSNBC’s Vaughn Hillyard about why he was considering a strike on Iran given his expressed opposition to the Bush administration’s war in Iraq, Trump stated that Iran had gathered “a tremendous amount of [nuclear] material.” “What intelligence do you have that Iran is building a nuclear weapon? Your intelligence community has said they have no evidence that they are at this point,” followed up...

Fox News’ Kayleigh McEnany ripped the “isolationist” right for embracing the “beachside foreign policy of Joe Biden” on Thursday’s edition of Outnumbered. McEnany’s comments came during a discussion about President Donald Trump and the strike on the Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordow that he’s reportedly mulling over. “That would be a precision strike, which is what we’re talking about. President Trump, his doctrine is peace through strength. An optimal word in that is strength, and identifying the moments to show American strength as he did with Soleimani, al-Baghdadi ,when he acted in Syria in 2017,” began McEnany. “To the isolationist...

Retired U.S. Admiral and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander James Stavridis predicted that President Donald Trump would order a military strike on Iran in the coming days during an appearance on CNN Thursday morning. After beings asked about the “factors” that might be “going into the president’s thinking” as he mulls his options, Stavridis weighed in. “I think all presidents begin with pros and cons. The pro is pretty obvious here. U.S. has the ability, using these big, bunker-busting bombs we’re talking about constantly, in all probability to take out definitively the beating heart of the Iranian nuclear program at...

Iran is suffering blow after blow, and Russia, its most powerful supporter, is apparently not prepared to do much of anything about it. Not long ago, backing the West’s least-favorite power in the Middle East had its uses. In prosecuting his war of attrition in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has made confrontation with the West the organizing principle of his foreign policy. In that context, edging closer to Iran and its partners in the “Axis of Resistance” made sense. ........... A defenseless Iran will not respond well to Russian sticks, and in any case, Moscow is unlikely to take a punitive...

As President Donald Trump privately mulled joining Israel’s campaign against Iran this month, one member of his Cabinet sent what he viewed as an audacious attempt to steer him in the opposite direction. At 5:30 a.m. on June 10, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard tweeted a cryptic, three-minute video warning that “political elite and warmongers” are “carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers” — and that the world is “on the brink of nuclear annihilation.” Trump saw the unauthorized video and became incensed, complaining to associates at the White House that she had spoken out of turn, according...

The Texas Legislature cancelled the state’s program to build its own border wall as the legislative session came to a close, having spent more than $3 billion to build only about 65 miles of scattered segments. In December 2021, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced the program at a press conference along the border, the first of its kind in the country, banging a mallet on one of the wall’s metal beams as he “declared the barrier to be impenetrable,” reported The Texas Tribune, but that bold declaration soon ran into challenges: “It’s heavy and it’s wide,” he said assuredly....

An Afghan national was detained on the fourth floor of the San Diego Immigration Court Thursday after attending a routine hearing. “I came here to make a better life,” said the man during his arrest, captured on video. “I didn’t know that this would happen … I worked with the U.S. military. I worked in a very dangerous part of Afghanistan with the U.S. military.” He was at the courthouse for a master calendar hearing — the first stage of a removal proceeding in immigration court. Not attending a master calendar hearing is grounds for deportation. The federal government made...

President Trump began the Group of Seven (G7) summit Monday in Canada by arguing it was a mistake to kick Russia out of the organization more a decade ago. “The G7 used to be the G8. Barack Obama and a person named [former Canadian Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau didn’t want to have Russia in, and I would say that was a mistake, because I think you wouldn’t have a war right now if you had Russia in,” Trump said during his first meeting of the summit with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Trump has made similar comments in the past....

Israeli strikes on the headquarters of Iran’s state broadcaster, IRIB, in Tehran on Monday were captured during a live broadcast as shocking footage showed the anchor fleeing the studio while debris fell from the ceiling. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had issued an evacuation warning to citizens ahead of the strike, targeting what Israeli officials described as a hub of Iranian propaganda. Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote in a statement: “The Iranian propaganda and incitement mouthpiece is on its way to disappear.” Tehran has yet to release a full statement on casualties or damage, but images circulating online show heavy...

The CIA released 1,450 additional pages of documents related to the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy on Thursday, including 54 previously classified documents. The files could shed new light on the motivations of Sirhan Sirhan, the Palestinian-born Jordanian citizen convicted of Kennedy’s murder after the 1968 shooting. One of the handwritten notes includes the lines “Kennedy must fall” and “tonight, tonight.” Other records will disclose details about a trip that RFK took with former Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas to the Soviet Union in 1955, during which the future US attorney general and senator “served the Agency as a...

The Trump White House has repeatedly sounded an alarm about visitors with ties to China’s Communist Party coming to the United States, arguing that they are a potential security threat. But the administration appears to have literally left the door open to a member of a Chinese government group when it went along with a plan to give the biggest purchasers of President Trump’s digital currency access to the president and the White House. Mr. Trump launched a so-called memecoin, a type of cryptocurrency, just days before his inauguration. To bolster sales, the president’s business partners created a contest in...

Rep. Carlos Giménez plans to tour Florida facilities holding immigration detainees following a Miami Herald investigation into harsh conditions and use of force at the Federal Detention Center in Miami. The federal lawmaker said that he first learned about the reported conditions at FDC Miami when a journalist from the Washington Journal’s C-Span program asked him about the Herald story this morning. “I will be investigating those conditions,” said the Miami Republican during an interview on Capitol Hill. “Right now is the first I’ve heard of it.” The Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami has been housing detainees in civil...

No one voted against a resolution condemning the rise of hate crimes against Jews when it came to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday evening. But two congresswomen declined to vote yes. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, each voted “present” on the resolution, introduced in the wake of attacks on Jewish targets in Boulder, Colorado, and Washington, D.C. The women — both of whom have been accused of antisemitism themselves — each said they could not support the resolution because of what they said was Congress’ inattention...

Nucor Corporation has announced a price increase for its hot-rolled coil (HRC) consumer spot price (CSP), marking a shift in the steel industry as new tariff policies begin to reshape market dynamics. Effective June 9th, 2025, Nucor has raised its CSP HRC base price to $890 per ton for all producing mills, with California Steel Industries (CSI) pricing set at $950 per ton. This represents a $20 per ton increase for all mills and a $40/ton increase for CSI from the previous week’s pricing of $870 per ton for standard mills and $910 per ton for CSI, signaling a potential...

Now, a federal investigation has found that officials at the nonprofit in charge of coordinating organ donations in Kentucky ignored signs of growing alertness not only in that patient but also in dozens of other potential donors. The investigation examined about 350 cases in Kentucky over the past four years in which plans to remove organs were ultimately canceled. It found that in 73 instances, officials should have considered stopping sooner because the patients had high or improving levels of consciousness. Although the surgeries didn’t happen, the investigation said multiple patients showed signs of pain or distress while being readied...

In public, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia says his country’s growing friendship with China is unshakable — a strategic military and economic collaboration that has entered a golden era. But in the corridors of Lubyanka, the headquarters of Russia’s domestic security agency, known as the F.S.B., a secretive intelligence unit refers to the Chinese as “the enemy.” The threats are laid out in an eight-page internal F.S.B. planning document, obtained by The New York Times, that sets priorities for fending off Chinese espionage. The document is undated, raising the possibility that it is a draft, though it appears from...

President Donald Trump on Thursday lashed out at Elon Musk as their feud rapidly ramped up, calling him “CRAZY” and suggesting that he may terminate the Tesla CEO’s government contracts. Trump in a bitter Truth Social post wrote that Musk was “wearing thin” by the end of his tenure leading the president’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. “I asked him to leave,” Trump claimed. The angry swipe came after Musk blasted the president amid an escalating clash that stemmed from the mega-billionaire’s vocal opposition to Trump’s massive tax-cut bill. Trump earlier Thursday said Musk was “upset” that the budget...

The open acrimony between the two men comes after the billionaire denounced President Trump’s signature domestic policy bill as an “abomination.” President Trump and Elon Musk’s alliance dissolved into open acrimony on Thursday, as the two men hurled personal attacks at each other after the billionaire had unleashed broadsides against the president’s signature domestic policy bill. While meeting with Friedrich Merz, Germany’s new chancellor, in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump broke days of uncharacteristic silence and unloaded on Mr. Musk, who until last week was a top presidential adviser. “I’m very disappointed in Elon,” Mr. Trump said. “I’ve helped Elon...

Months ago, when Texas Senate Health and Human Services Committee Chair Lois Kolkhorst first held a hearing on Senate Bill 25 — requiring among other things, warning labels on foods containing certain additives — the first person to speak was Calley Means, a top adviser to U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy. “Texas can really lead here…These bills represent a Texas way that prioritizes transparency, prioritizes good education and prioritizes incentive change,” said Means, a former food and pharmaceutical consultant, who spearheaded the federal Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission. He’s also the brother of Casey Means, President Donald Trump’s...