Free Republic

President Donald Trump’s offer to most federal employees to resign now and be paid through September stunned the workers who received it – angering some, confusing many and raising questions about whether the offer is even legal. When a US Department of Agriculture staffer based in Mississippi received the deferred resignation offer on Tuesday, they read through it, laughing because it was just “nonsensical,” and then deleted it. “I’ve got my whole entire life invested in the federal government,” said the staffer, who also spent time in the military. “I’m not going to throw everything away.” Across the United States,...

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz will win reelection to a third term, CNN projects, defeating Democratic challenger Rep. Colin Allred and denying Democrats one of their best chances to mitigate potential losses elsewhere. The Longhorn State has long been a Republican stronghold, with the GOP winning every statewide election there since 1994. However, amid demographic shifts, Democrats have long seen Texas as a potential future battleground and national party groups poured millions of dollars into trying to boost Allred’s candidacy in the final months of the race. Allred, a former NFL linebacker who defeated GOP Rep. Pete Sessions to win his...

CNN — Kamala Harris is officially the Democratic presidential nominee, but Donald Trump is continuing to describe the vice president’s elevation to the top of her party’s ticket as “unconstitutional” and accusing her of taking part in a “coup.” No serious effort to challenge Harris’ status as the Democratic nominee is underway. But some of Trump’s critics warn that the former president could be laying the groundwork to question the outcome of the 2024 election if he loses a second time. Democrats are set to gather next week in Chicago for a national convention at which they’ll rally around Harris...

Former Vice President Mike Pence called out his former boss by name on Friday, saying that "President (Donald) Trump is wrong" in claiming that Pence had the right to overturn the 2020 election on January 6, 2021. Speaking at the Federalist Society Florida Chapters conference near Orlando, Pence delivered his strongest response yet to Trump's ongoing efforts to relitigate the 2020 presidential election, calling it "un-American" to suggest one person could have decided the outcome. Pence warned against conservatives who continue to insist the vice president can alter an election, and said it could be a problematic position for Republicans...

(CNN)The report detailing the findings of contractors who conducted Arizona's sham "audit" of last year's election results -- which had been expected Monday -- will be late because three of the five members of the auditing team have tested positive for coronavirus, the state's Republican Senate leader says. Cyber Ninjas Chief Executive Officer Doug Logan, whose firm was hired by the Republican-led Arizona Senate to audit the 2.1 million votes cast in Maricopa County in 2020's presidential race, and two other members of the five-person audit team tested positive "and are quite sick," Senate President Karen Fann said in a...

The company that conducted Arizona’s sham review of the 2.1 million ballots cast in Maricopa County during the 2020 presidential election is set Monday to deliver a report detailing their findings to the Republican state senators who ordered it up. Elections experts in both parties have said for months that results of the so-called “audit” — conducted by the Florida-based company Cyber Ninjas, which had no experience auditing election results and is led by a man who has repeated wild conspiracy theories about election fraud — will not be credible. The company and its volunteers and subcontractors did not follow...

Altoona, Iowa (CNN)Joe Biden said Sunday that even though he was the last top-tier Democratic candidate to call for President Donald Trump's impeachment, "I'm the reason there is impeachment going on." The former vice president lambasted Trump for asking foreign governments to investigate him and his son Hunter -- despite there being no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of either Biden -- at a forum in Iowa, saying that the President is leading the "most corrupt administration in modern American history." "It's gotten so far now, if you don't move on it, then what do we say to the...

Rep. Steve Stivers of Ohio, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, tweeted: "Congressman Steve King's recent comments, actions, and retweets are completely inappropriate. We must stand up against white supremacy and hate in all forms, and I strongly condemn this behavior."

After a review of the same intelligence reports brought to light by House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers and aides have so far found no evidence that Obama administration officials did anything unusual or illegal, multiple sources in both parties tell CNN. . .One congressional intelligence source described the requests made by Rice as "normal and appropriate" for officials who serve in that role to the president. And another source said there's "absolutely" no smoking gun in the reports, urging the White House to declassify them to make clear there was nothing alarming in the documents.Still,...

Washington (CNN)Donald Trump's much anticipated vice presidential pick is expected to be announced next week, a Trump adviser told CNN Tuesday... Does Trump want to double the bombast by picking a brash straight-talker who mirrors his own style, like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie or former House Speaker Newt Gingrich? Does he prefer someone whose Washington experience and message discipline would counter his freelancing, like Indiana Gov. Mike Pence? Or does he want to elevate a rising star, like Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst or Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton? Pence and his wife Karen met with Trump at his New Jersey...

Hillary Clinton is on the cusp of clinching the Democratic presidential nomination, and could move closer as Puerto Rico's primary results are announced Sunday night. The former secretary of state is competing with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders to win a majority of Puerto Rico's 60 delegates. Clinton began the day 60 delegates shy of the 2,383 she needs to win the Democratic nomination -- with 1,776 pledged delegates and another 547 superdelegates. Sanders, meanwhile, started Sunday with 1,547 delegates total: 1,501 pledged delegates and another 46 superdelegates. Clinton is closing in on a historic nomination as the first female presidential...

Bill Clinton made his speaking debut on the 2016 campaign trail Monday by telling voters about the softer side of his wife, Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton. In a speech at the Nashua Community College in New Hampshire, Clinton told stories about the early days of their relationship. "I thought she was the most amazing person," he said, describing the two meeting and falling in love nearly 45 years ago. "Everything she touched, she made better," he said. Clinton hit Republicans presidential candidates, though not by name, saying the entire field is "kind of scary." Clinton's understated speech marked the...

Hillary Clinton answered a question about Bill Clinton's alleged sexual impropriety on Thursday, saying that victims of sexual abuse "should be believed" until evidence disproves their allegations. At a campaign stop in Hooksett, New Hampshire, a woman asked Clinton: "Secretary Clinton, you recently came out to say that all rape victims should be believed. But would you say that Juanita Broaddrick, Kathleen Willey and Paula Jones be believed as well?" Clinton responded: "Well, I would say that everyone should be believed at first until they are disbelieved based on evidence."

Long-time Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin offered her first-ever tweet on Monday -- and it's a shot at Republican presidential contender Ben Carson. Carson is under fire for his Sunday comment on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he "would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation." Abedin, who is Muslim, tweeted: "You can be a proud American, a proud Muslim, and proudly serve this great country. Pride versus prejudice."(continued)