Free Republic

The tables have turned. Had everything gone according to plan, Donald Trump would be on trial right now in South Florida for hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago ocean estate after leaving the White House. The politician, still licking his wounds from his New York conviction, would be desperately fighting to stave off a humiliating distinction: becoming the first former president to be branded a two-time felon. Instead, a very different trial of sorts will be underway this Friday at a tiny federal courthouse in the sunny beach city of Fort Pierce—one that will awkwardly put the Department of Justice...

On Friday, District Judge Aileen Cannon issued a new order in the Donald Trump classified documents case adding to the mountain of evidence that she is firmly in the former president’s pocket. Trump appointed Cannon in 2020 and the Senate confirmed her appointment in the days after he lost the 2020 election. It’s deeply offensive to the rule of law for judges to bend the law to benefit those who put them on the bench. Sadly, Cannon does just that.

The horrific events in the Middle East have repercussions that go beyond Israel and the possibility of a lengthy war with unimaginable bloodshed. They also have an enormous impact on today’s other grisly international conflict, the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As the U.S. rushes vital military aid to the Israelis, there lurks a challenge in Congress for the continuing resupply of vital armaments to Ukraine. On Tuesday, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) shamelessly used the crisis in Israel and Gaza to advance a pro-Russia agenda, calling for Ukraine funding to be diverted to Israel.

Elections are the answer to Trumpism, which aims to undermine the Constitution that protects our freedoms. Yesterday, we saw the antidote at work once again, and in battleground states, in special elections for state House seats in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. Both victories were consistent with a 2023 national trend, with abortion-rights Democrats overperforming in the wake of the 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationally.

A federal jury yesterday convicted four Proud Boys of participating in a seditious conspiracy aimed at keeping Donald Trump in office after Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election. Those verdicts, former federal prosecutor Dennis Aftergut argues in an MSNBC opinion piece, show that the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol was "an organized, violent uprising meant to overturn the 2020 election." According to Aftergut, "It's now established beyond a reasonable doubt that the Capitol siege was not spontaneous, but rather a planned assault by force on our democracy." There are a couple of problems with that characterization....