Free Republic

*** Driving the news: In a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel first obtained by Axios, Reps. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) and Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) asked that they "immediately clarify whether this allegation is true." The lawmakers asked for a timeline of the DOJ's declassification and publication of the Epstein files, an explanation for why they haven't turned over any new documents since February. And they requested a description of Trump's role in reviewing the files, a list of personnel involved in their release and an answer for why files previously released to Congress contained "significant...

President-elect Trump told The Post Saturday he supports immigration visas for highly skilled workers, appearing to side with Elon Musk in the roiling intra-MAGA debate on the issue. “I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them,” Trump said by phone, referring to the H-1B program, which permits companies to hire foreign workers in specialty occupations. “I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B. I have used it many times. It’s a great program,” added Trump, who restricted access to foreign worker visas in...

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) praised Vice President Kamala Harris’ debate performance Wednesday, arguing that the Democratic nominee demonstrated that she is “intelligent” and “capable” in her first showdown against former President Donald Trump. Romney, a longtime Trump critic who has refused to vote for the GOP nominee for president going back to 2016, told reporters on Capitol Hill that the ABC News debate proved Harris can “answer questions from the media.” “Those were answered well. She spoke well and clearly and I think she prosecuted her case well,” the Utah Republican said. Romney, who lost the 2012 White House race...

New polling showed Vice President Kamala Harris with a widening margin over former President Donald Trump in a Reuters/Ipsos poll published Thursday. It found Harris leads Trump 45% to 41%. Among registered voters, the 4 percentage-point lead was more significant than the 1-point lead Harris had over Trump in the outfit’s last poll in July. The poll had a 2% margin of error. Over in polling guru Nate Sliver’s latest models, Harris didn’t fare as well. “Although we wouldn’t advise worrying too much about the difference between a 52/48 race one way versus a 48/52 race the other way —...

Donald Trump’s lawyers on Thursday urged the judge overseeing his Manhattan criminal hush money case to delay the former president’s sentencing until after November’s presidential election.The request came one day after Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan rejected Trump’s latest demand that the judge step aside from the case, clearing the way for the Republican presidential candidate to learn his fate as soon as Sept. 18.The lawyers argued for the sentencing to be paused to allow Trump time to appeal if Merchan, in a decision expected by Sept. 16, declines to toss the conviction based on the US Supreme Court’s...

Former White House adviser Kellyanne Conway joined the chorus of GOP strategists who want former President Donald Trump to change his tone on the campaign trail. Conway told Fox Business anchor Larry Kudlow during an interview on Monday that her former boss needs to adapt his rhetoric to produce a “winning formula” against Vice President Kamala Harris. “The winning formula for President Trump is very plain to see,” Conway proclaimed. “It’s fewer insults, more insights, and that policy contrast.” The GOP strategist worked closely with Trump for three years before retiring from her role as counselor to the president in...

Vice President Kamala Harris has a commanding lead nationally over former President Donald Trump, according to a new poll — as Republicans accuse Harris of avoiding media interviews for more than two weeks to avoid stumbling and potentially ending her “honeymoon” period as the Democratic candidate. Harris would take 50% of the vote to Trump’s 42% among likely voters if third-party candidates are options, Marquette Law School found in a poll conducted July 24-Aug. 1, shortly after President Biden dropped out of the race on July 21 and endorsed Harris as his successor. Although the poll’s margin is an outlier...

Former President Donald Trump is set to speak at the Libertarian Party’s National Convention on Saturday in Washington, D.C. It’s in some sense both a big win and loss for the party. For a former president to address the party is a symbolic victory. But, on the other hand, it is a bizarre thing for the party to do given that Trump is neither the Libertarian Party presidential candidate nor is he in any meaningful sense a libertarian. The only beneficiary of this, at the margins, is Trump, who has made clear he wants the vote of registered Libertarians. “We...

President Biden and former President Donald Trump are locked in a statistical tie as they gear up for the first of two scheduled debates next month, but nearly one-fifth of voters say they could still change their mind about for whom they ultimately pull the lever. In a one-on-one matchup, Biden garnered 48% support to Trump’s 47%, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll of registered voters released Wednesday. Last month, the survey found Trump and Biden in a flat-footed tie, with each receiving 46% support. Despite the incumbent’s lead, history suggests the margin would be tight enough for Trump...

Gov. Kristi Noem has “no shot” at being Donald Trump’s running mate after revealing in a forthcoming book that she shot and killed her puppy, sources close to the 45th president tell The Post. *** “She was already unlikely to be picked as VP, but had a shot,” the person said of Noem, who has been widely projected to be on Trump’s shortlist. “After this, it’s just impossible.” Noem writes, according to the Guardian, that she executed Cricket, a 14-month-old wirehaired pointer, after determining that the pooch’s “aggressive personality” made her “untrainable” as a hunting dog. “It was not a...

Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker will return the witness stand today for the second day of Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial over covering up “hush money” payments to a porn star. Pecker will resume testimony where he is expected to detail the inner workings of a scheme he, Trump and his “fixer” lawyer Michael Cohen devised to buy up and bury bad news during the 2016 presidential election. Trump is on trial for allegedly fudging business records to conceal a $130,000 payoff to Stormy Daniels made before the 2016 presidential election. The 72-year-old ex-CEO of the Enquirer’s parent company,...

“Look, we have a majority of one, OK? It’s not like he can go and do whatever he wants to do,” Trump, 77, told radio host John Fredericks on Real America’s Voice Monday night. “I think he’s a very good person. You know, he stood very strongly with me on NATO,” added Trump, referring to a campaign rally in which he urged member states to pay more for their common defense — or he would let Russia “do whatever the hell they want.” “I think he’s trying very hard,” the 45th president concluded.Johnson (R-La.) bucked the majority of his conference...

Former President Donald Trump lost three major legal challenges in the past week, including his efforts to dismiss a racketeering case on First Amendment grounds. Here is a look at the rulings in three separate cases this week in Georgia, Florida, and New York. New York judge denies Trump’s attempt to delay hush money trialNew York Judge Juan Merchan denied the former president’s attempt to delay his criminal hush money trial on Wednesday, after Trump claimed he was protected under presidential immunity. Merchan said that Trump had plenty of opportunity before March to claim presidential immunity in the case. Trump...

US District Judge Aileen Cannon on Thursday denied a motion filed by former President Donald Trump seeking to dismiss the criminal charges against him in his classified documents case. Trump, 77, had argued that under the Presidential Records Act of 1978 he had the authority to designate sensitive documents as his personal property after leaving the White House. Cannon ruled that “the Presidential Records Act does not provide a pre-trial basis to dismiss” the 40 charges against the former president. She further noted that prosecutors “make no reference to the Presidential Records Act” in the indictment against Trump and did...

Documents for Donald Trump's $175 million bond in his New York civil fraud case were rejected by a court because a current financial statement was not included. On Wednesday, a message on the New York State Supreme Court's electronic filing system showed Trump's "Bond/Undertaking" had been "returned for correction."New York State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ruled in February against Trump; his two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump; and others associated with the Trump Organization. They were accused in a lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James of inflating the former president's net worth and the...

Former president Donald Trump posted a $91.63 million bond on Friday as he appeals a Manhattan jury’s judgment against him for defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll. The posting of the bond is expected to allow Trump to stop the penalty from being enforced while he challenges January’s verdict at the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The bond is guaranteed by the Federal Insurance Company, which has offices in Virginia and New Jersey, according to Trump’s filing. Trump was ordered to pay the massive sum at a trial to determine damages after a federal judge found Trump...

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign slammed two draft resolutions *** The first resolution would mandate the RNC remain neutral in the nominating contest until he secures the necessary 1,215 delegates, while the second would ensure the party doesn’t foot his legal bills.“The primary is over and it is the RNC’s sole responsibility to defeat Joe Biden and win back the White House,” senior Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita said in a statement. *** Trump is also pushing for his daughter-in-law Lara Trump to serve as party co-chair, and North Carolina GOP Chair Michael Whatley to replace Ronna McDaniel as the...

The biggest individual contributions to Donald Trump's and Robert F. Kennedy Jr's 2024 presidential Super PACs in January both came from the same longtime Republican mega-donor, according to filings. Timothy Mellon, heir to the Mellon banking fortune, donated $5 million to the Trump-aligned MAGA Inc. fundraising attempts in January, as well $5 million to a Super PAC supporting the Democrat-turned-independent's presidential bid the same month, Federal Election Commission (FEC) listings reveal. Mellon, the grandson of former U.S. treasury secretary Andrew Mellon, is known to be a longtime donor to Republicans such as Trump. He gave $20 million to the Trump-aligned...

Donald Trump won’t deliver his own closing statement at his New York civil fraud trial after all — after the judge said he needed to stick to “relevant, material facts.” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron emailed Trump attorney Christopher Kise Wednesday saying he was assuming the 77-year-old former president wouldn’t agree to the “lawful limits” and “therefore, he will not be speaking in court tomorrow.” Kise first notified the judge in a January 4 email that after the lawyers give their arguments in the $370 million case on Thursday, “President Trump plans to present argument at closing as well,”...

In his latest gaffe-laden speech, Donald Trump appeared to suggest former President Barack Obama was running in 2024 as he warned that “cognitively impaired” President Joe Biden could lead the country into “World War Two” if he wins re-election.During his remarks at the Washington DC Pray Vote Stand Summit on Friday, the former president said: “We have a man who is totally corrupt and the worst president in the history of our country, who is cognitively impaired, in no condition to lead, and is now in charge of dealing with Russia and possible nuclear war.” “Just think of it. We...