Free Republic

Republican lawmakers are slamming the Trump administration’s decision to halt some U.S. missile and munitions shipments to Ukraine, warning it risks emboldening Russia at a pivotal point in the war.Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, said he would be “aggressively looking into this matter” following the White House’s acknowledgment that the Pentagon froze deliveries of critical air defense weapons due to concerns over shrinking U.S. stockpiles.“We must build up our own defense industrial base here in the U.S. while simultaneously providing the needed assistance to our allies who are defending their freedom from a brutal invading...

President Trump warned Senator Lindsey Graham and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for going to Ukraine and encouraging them to continue fighting Russia.“Lindsey Graham and Mike Pompeo were on the ground in Ukraine, trying to provoke Ukrainians to keep fighting. What do you think of that?” a reporter asked President Trump after he touched down in New Jersey.Trump warned Lindsey Graham and Pompeo to be careful about what they say.“People have to be very careful with what they say. Their mouth could get them into a lot of trouble.”As TGP recently reported, Volodymyr Zelensky announced that 117 drones were...

Republicans could be poised to deal a symbolic blow to President Donald Trump’s trade policy, with several GOP senators indicating they planned to join Democrats in a Tuesday vote to block blanket tariffs on Canada. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Monday that she plans to back the resolution led by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) that would terminate the national emergency Trump declared last month, citing fentanyl trafficking and illegal immigration. Trump has used that declaration to justify 25 percent across-the-board tariffs on America’s northern neighbor and leading trade partner — duties that Trump has threatened to start levying later this...

Here are the 26 Republicans that just voted against codifying DOGE foreign aid spending cuts into law: ROLL CALL Senator Lindsey Graham Senator Barrasso Senator Boozman Senator Capito Senator Cassidy Senator Collins Senator Cramer Senator Crapo Senator Fischer Senator Grassley Senator Hoeven Senator Hyde-Smith Senator Lankford Senator McConnell Senator McCormick Senator Moran Senator Mullin Senator Murkowski Senator Ricketts Senator Rounds Senator Scott (SC) Senator Sullivan Senator Thune Senator Tillis Senator Wicker Senator Young

A coalition of 20 Democratic attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration Friday for firing thousands of probationary federal workers without providing advance notice. Led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, the plaintiffs argue the mass terminations violate federal law, which they argue mandates at least 60 days’ notice before large-scale layoffs. The lawsuit centers on various Office of Personnel Management (OPM) directives instructing agencies to review the employment of thousands of probationary employees “based on agency judgement regarding mission needs.” “These large-scale, indiscriminate firings are not only subjecting the Plaintiff states and communities across the country...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Five former secretaries of defense are calling on Congress to hold immediate hearings on President Donald Trump’s recent firings of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and several other senior military leaders, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press. The five men — who represented Republican and Democratic administrations over the past three decades — said the dismissals were alarming, raised “troubling questions about the administration’s desire to politicize the military” and removed legal constraints on the president’s power. Late last week, Trump fired Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr. as chairman of...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will give a live interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier just hours after his disastrous meeting in the Oval Office Friday with President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance over ending Russia’s war on Ukraine. The interview is scheduled to air at 6 p.m. EST on the Fox News Channel. Trump ordered Zelensky out of the White House, canceling a lunch and press conference that was meant to mark the signing of a mineral deal between the U.S. and Ukraine, after Zelensky argued with Trump and Vance for several minutes over the war and...

Public comments from President Trump blaming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for Russia’s invasion of his country are unnerving Senate Republicans, who have largely sought to avoid conflicts with the White House. Trump’s escalating war of words with the Ukrainian leader comes as hawks in both parties plead with the president not to give Moscow a free pass in talks to end the bitter three-year conflict. “I’m concerned with anything that would ultimately allow there to be a moral equivalency between Zelensky and Putin,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who visited Ukraine alongside a pair of Senate Democrats over the weekend...

Senator Richard Blumenthal condemned Hegseth’s message, calling it a "surrender & betrayal" of Ukraine. Blumenthal, who has made six visits to Ukraine during its fight against Russia, argued that the message amounted to abandoning Ukraine and undermining the security of European allies. .. Senator Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California, wrote: "Today, President Trump called our enemy, Russia, before calling our ally, Ukraine."

BREAKING: According to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the State Department spent $4,840,082 on influencers to promote pro-Ukraine, anti-Russian talking points on social media. They additionally paid $15,220 on an "influencers event" and another $22,231 on a "USAID Social Media Influencers Campaign."pic.twitter.com/Vt0DUnE36G— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) December 28, 2024

Washington — The House approved a $95 billion foreign aid package Saturday, in a pivotal moment for House Speaker Mike Johnson as he tries to stave off a right-wing rebellion. The package consists of four bills that were voted on separately and will be combined into one before being sent to the Senate. The first three bills include $60.8 billion to help Ukraine in its war with Russia; $26.4 billion to support Israel, which is fighting Hamas and Iran; and $8.1 billion to counter China in the Indo-Pacific. Humanitarian aid for Gaza, which Democrats said was necessary for their support,...

The foreign ministers of Britain and Poland appealed on Thursday to the U.S. Congress and personally to the House speaker to take the “epoch-making” decision and approve the $60 billion in aid for Ukraine. Britain’s David Cameron and Poland’s Radek Sikorski stressed that approving aid for Ukraine as it fights a war against Russia’s aggression is a matter of U.S. credibility among its allies in NATO and the world. “This is our joint appeal to the U.S. House of Representatives and personally to Speaker Mike Johnson to submit the Ukraine aid package to a vote,” Sikorski told a news conference

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Republican lawmakers on Wednesday stepped up their scrutiny of environmental groups’ work with foreign countries, requesting that the Center for Biological Diversity turn in a list of documents detailing their work with Japanese officials. It was the third action that Representatives Rob Bishop and Bruce Westerman have taken this month to put a spotlight on foreign governments’ relationship with green groups, who they allege can be used to influence U.S. policy or national security. {snip} Last week, the lawmakers sent a letter to Defense Secretary James Mattis asking him to provide information about environmental litigation against...

Germany spends the second most amount of money on lobbying in Washington by foreign governments. Only the United Arab Emirates splashed out more in 2013, according to research by a US foundation. The Sunlight Foundation has launched a tool called Foreign Influence Explorer, which analyzes spending by foreign bodies or their paid representatives reported to the US Department of Justice. The German government came second in the list, spending $12 million on lobbying in 2013. […] A German company was also the most active private foreign firm lobbying last year. Deutsche Telekom spent almost $12 million on lobbying US officials...