Free Republic

President Trump issued an executive order March 6 suspending any government work by the law firm of Perkins Coie and its contractors. He barred the firm’s employees from entering federal buildings, revoked its security clearances and ordered an investigation into the firm’s discrimination policies. Ouch. To no one’s surprise, a handy federal judge offered a lifeline last week to the law firm that cooked up part of the Russian collusion hoax for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, an appointee of President Obama, issued a temporary restraining order after the firm argued in federal court...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that if Russia rejected the 30-day U.S.-brokered cease-fire that Ukraine had accepted, “we’ll unfortunately know what the impediment is to peace here.” We knew that before, but now we know even on Mr. Rubio’s terms, as the Kremlin on Thursday said nyet. President Trump’s envoy, Steven Witkoff, is visiting Moscow, and the Kremlin welcomed him with the back of its hand. Yuri Ushakov, a close adviser to Vladimir Putin, told Russian television that a cease-fire would be “nothing other than a temporary breather for Ukrainian soldiers.” He added, “our goal is long-term peaceful...

The Wall Street Journal has called for Donald Trump to be sued to prevent tariffs being imposed on Canada and Mexico. The newspaper's editorial board wrote in very blunt terms that Trump did not have the power to order the tariffs without Congressional approval. 'He's treating the North American economy as a personal plaything, as markets gyrate with each presidential whim,' the WSJ board wrote. 'It's doubtful Mr Trump even has the power to impose these tariffs, and we hope his afflatus gets a legal challenge.' The WSJ, published by Rupert Murdoch who also owns Fox News, is usually sympathetic...

(UPI) -- President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order to suspend security clearances for Perkins Coie lawyers, as he continues to retaliate against law firms connected to his political opponents. Perkins Coie has been a target of Trump's criticism going back to his first campaign ahead of the 2016 election as it connects to the compilation of a political opposition research report about him. The executive order directs the heads of the Justice Department, National Intelligence and other relevant agencies to take steps to suspend active security clearances held by employees of Perkins Coie. It also seeks to...

"BERLIN—President Trump’s embrace of Russia is causing Europeans to rethink their security and giving currency to an idea the U.S. has long sought to avoid: a nuclear-armed Germany. Friedrich Merz, who is poised to become Germany’s next chancellor, said Berlin should start talks about expanding the French and British nuclear deterrents to cover Europe, according to an interview the conservative politician did with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung weekly. .... On the nuclear side, researchers and some politicians say Berlin’s fastest route to rebuilding a deterrent could be to replicate its arrangement with the U.S. This could see French nuclear bombers...

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose. The dishonest and dangerous activity of the law firm Perkins Coie LLP (“Perkins Coie”) has affected this country for decades. Notably, in 2016 while representing failed Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Perkins Coie hired Fusion GPS, which then manufactured a false “dossier” designed to steal an election. This egregious activity is part of a pattern. Perkins Coie has worked with activist donors including George Soros to judicially overturn popular, necessary, and democratically enacted election...

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order Thursday suspending security clearances held by employees of the law firm that hired Fusion GPS, which produced the infamous Steele Dossier in 2016, Breitbart News has learned. A White House document provided exclusively to Breitbart News by a White House official states that clearances held by those who work at Perkins Coie LLP “will be immediately suspended, pending a review of whether their access to sensitive information is consistent with the national interest.” “The Federal Government will halt all material and services, including sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) access provided...

Billionaire LinkedIn co-founder and major Democrat donor Reid Hoffman, who recently donated $250,000 to Nikki Haley in a strategic attempt to stop Donald Trump from winning the GOP nomination, visited Epstein Island. Hoffman donated to Haley’s campaign after a chief executive for JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon, called on Democrat donors to donate to Haley through the SFA Fund Inc. super PAC. Last year, Hoffman admitted he had visited Epstein’s island, Little St. James, telling the Wall Street Journal, “It gnaws me that, by lending my association, I helped his reputation, and thus delayed justice for his survivors.” According to then-MIT...

High-profile MAGA personalities applauded Friday as President Trump escalated his hostility toward Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky. Mr. Trump wrote on social media that Mr. Zelensky “disrespected the United States in the cherished Oval Office” and “can come back when he is ready for Peace.” That followed a hostile meeting in which Mr. Trump and JD Vance berated and bullied Mr. Zelensky, with the vice president demanding: “Have you said thank you once?” In the days leading up to the meeting, Mr. Trump described Mr. Zelensky as a “dictator” and suggested that Ukraine started the war with Russia. Along with the...

President Trump is looking forward to a fundamentally productive negotiation with Russia’s Putin and Ukraine’s Zelensky, Vice President JD Vance has said, in comments mischaracterised by the Wall Street Journal as a threat of war.U.S. Vice President JD Vance is speaking at the Munich Security Conference — taking place just one day after what is said to have been a terror attack in the city — and meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal before these engagements, Vance communicated President Donald Trump’s determination to make a peace deal in Ukraine and the incentives on...

The Wall Street Journal reports that the consumer confidence that accompanied President Donald Trump’s entry into office has eroded. The University of Michigan’s February report on consumer sentiment found that it fell by 5 percent, from 71.1 percent in January to 67.8 percent this month. Americans now expect inflation this year will be 4.3 percent, a 1 percent increase from last month. Morning Consult also found that consumer optimism is quickly fading. Consumers are worried about volatile decisions around sweeping executive orders and potential tariffs. Early polling data from Trump’s first days in office showed that the speed of the...

Forgive us if we missed it, but we don’t recall Donald Trump campaigning to invade Panama and retake its famous canal. But there was the President-elect on the weekend, threatening our Central American ally with punishment if it doesn’t meet his demands. “Our Navy and commerce have been treated in a very unfair and injudicious way. The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, highly unfair, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama—I say, very foolishly, by the United States,” Mr. Trump told a crowd in Phoenix. “This complete ripoff of our country will immediately stop.”...

WASHINGTON—In naming a set of unconventional nominees to run federal departments, Donald Trump this week also took steps to push for a broader goal: realigning the balance of power among Washington’s major institutions so that more authority flows from the White House. Trump has threatened to take steps that would undermine the Senate’s confirmation powers and Congress’s role in budgeting—the most essential powers of the two chambers. He has insisted that senators allow him to place some nominees directly in their jobs, bypassing the Senate’s public hearings and confirmation process. He has said he would move to impound—or decline to...

SENATE PROBE ON ELON BASED ON WSJ’S UNFOUNDED CLAIMS? A WSJ article alleging Elon held “regular conversations” with Putin is now driving a Senate investigation—but where’s the accountability for WSJ’s reporting? Despite relying solely on unnamed “current and former officials,” the piece quickly sparked backlash, with both Elon and the Kremlin slamming it as “absolutely false.” Now, Senators Jeanne Shaheen and Jack Reed are calling for a probe based on these unverified claims—so why isn’t WSJ facing scrutiny for publishing such an explosive story on shaky grounds? https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/1857608109012783348?t=ns0BAkwpB0os0TDMCX-LeQ&s=19 Sources: Sky News, PBS

Stop me if you've heard this before. Officials within the United States government are conspiring against Donald Trump to undermine whatever decisions he may make. It might as well be 2017 again. According to a new report from Natasha Bertrand, who was such a purveyor of the Russian collusion hoax that she was nicknamed "Fusion Natasha" after Fusion GPS, Pentagon officials are coordinating how they'll respond if Trump orders U.S. troops to assist with illegal immigration: Pentagon officials are holding informal discussions about how the Department of Defense would respond if Donald Trump issues orders to deploy active-duty troops domestically...

*** Mr. Gigot asks how Mr. Trump would persuade Xi Jinping to stand down from a blockade of Taiwan. “Oh, very easy,” the former president says. “I had a very strong relationship with him.... *** Mr. Trump returns to Mr. Gigot’s question: “I would say: If you go into Taiwan, I’m sorry to do this, I’m going to tax you”—meaning impose tariffs—“at 150% to 200%.” He might even shut down trade altogether. Mr. Gigot: “Would you use military force against a blockade on Taiwan?” Mr. Trump: “I wouldn’t have to, because he respects me and he knows I’m f— crazy.”...

Does anybody in politics understand tax policy these days? The Biden-Harris Democrats want to raise tax rates to Thomas Piketty French socialist levels. Republicans want to cut taxes, but they want to do so for specific groups to buy their votes. They’ve all lost the growth plot. Mr. Trump’s tax fumbling is especially disappointing because his 2017 cut in tax rates was the policy foundation for the strong pre-pandemic U.S. economy. But so far in this campaign he’s proposing hugely expensive tax cuts for different voting groups that won’t do much for growth. We’ve written about his promise not to...

WASHINGTON—Kamala Harris is making abortion rights central to her candidacy for president as Republicans struggle to articulate a winning message on the issue. In contrast with President Biden, who was reluctant to say the word abortion, the vice president has campaigned aggressively on it since the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that eliminated the constitutional right to the procedure. At the White House, she has met with abortion providers and women who have had abortions. Earlier this year, Harris was believed to be the first president or vice president to visit an abortion clinic. After locking up the support to be...

The need for stability and experience should eliminate the young MAGA-in-a-hurry types like Sen. J.D. Vance or Members of the House. As the GOP convention nears, and voters focus on the election, the race remains closer than it should be given Mr. Biden’s infirmities. Swing voters still worry about Mr. Trump and the possibility of four more years of turmoil. The former President can help his campaign, and the country, by projecting stability and calm. We know many readers will think this is impossible, and maybe it is. Yet he showed admirable restraint after the debate last week, letting Democrats...

The election campaign between Donald Trump and Joe Biden is so far largely a personal showdown, but their policy ideas matter to the country’s prosperity. Mr. Trump can claim the better record on the economy, thanks in part to his 2017 tax reform, so it’s too bad he’s now floating special-favor tax ideas like exempting worker tips from federal taxes. “For those hotel workers and people that get tips, you’re going to be very happy,” Mr. Trump said on a recent swing through Nevada, “because when I get to office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips.” He...