Free Republic

Two Senate committees are now investigating former Vice President Joe Biden’s role in the “unmasking” of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, as Republican senators seek to go on offense with an issue they think will damage the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee while helping them retain their majority. Republicans are seizing on a declassified National Security Agency document made public Wednesday showing that 39 former Obama administration officials in late 2016 and early 2017, including Biden, requested to know the identity of an American whose had come up in intelligence briefings based on his conversations with then Russian ambassador Sergey...

Rep. Justin Amash (L-Mich.) announced Saturday he will not run for president as a Libertarian, saying the circumstances do not “lend themselves” toward a successful third-party campaign. “I’ve spent nearly three weeks assessing the race, appearing in media, talking to delegates and donors, watching the Libertarian Party’s convention plan unfold, and gathering feedback from family, friends, and other advisers,” Amash tweeted. “After much reflection, I’ve concluded that circumstances don’t lend themselves to my success as a candidate for president this year, and therefore I will not be a candidate.” Amash maintained that a third party candidate could contribute a fresh...

Republican-led efforts to hold China accountable for the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus are being watched closely by the communist regime. State-run media reported Thursday that Republican lawmakers will “face severe consequences” for speaking out against China, pursuing lawsuits, and pushing “anti-China” legislation. “Republicans who have been groundlessly accusing China and inflaming the 'holding China accountable' political farce will face severe consequences, sources said, noting that the aftermath will also impact the upcoming November elections, while business and trade between Missouri and China will be further soured,” the Global Times, a branch of the Communist Party of China's People's Daily,...

For Americans hoping Senate Republicans might finally engage the Russia collusion hoax seriously, last night’s interview of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell by “Special Report’s” Bret Baier was a tremendous disappointment. McConnell better figure out quickly that if he doesn’t hold the Resistance accountable for the Russia hoax that harmed his party and the entire country for many years, he won’t have a majority in the next term. If it helps to motivate him, he should remember that not having the majority in the next term means he won’t get to confirm judges, an issue he hopes will be his...

Even with all of the lockdown restrictions, voters somehow managed to make it to the polls yesterday for two special elections and the Republican candidates appear to have locked both of them down (if you’ll pardon the phrase). The first one was in Wisconsin and the result wasn’t much of a surprise. In the Seventh District, the race to replace the now-retired Sean Duffy is projected to go to Tom Tiffany. The 7th is a fairly solidly conservative district and Tiffany had garnered the endorsement of President Trump. (Associated Press) Tom Tiffany, a state senator endorsed by President Donald...

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday signed an executive order to ensure every registered voter in the state is automatically mailed a ballot for the November presidential election. The executive order does not replace in-person voting, Newsom said during a press conference. "Mail-in ballot is important but it's not an exclusive substitute to physical locations," Newsom said. He added that the state is still working to have "the appropriate number of physical sites for people to vote as well." Secretary of State Alex Padilla, who's been pushing to expand vote by mail, called into Newsom's press conference and said the...

Has the pandemic caused the liberal media to lose whatever vestigial grip on reality it ever had? The question arises in light of a surreal conversation on today's Morning Joe between Mika Brzezinski and Eugene Robinson. The pair were discussing Robinson's latest Washington Post column, the gist of which is that Democrat campaign tactics are too nice, being based on "reason and fairness." Robinson urged Dems to instead "go straight for the jugular" by using tough Republican campaign tactics that employ "emotion, patriotism, and cultural affinity." Democrats rely on "reason and fairness" in their campaigns? Has Robinson gone mad? He's...

The allegation of sexual assault leveled against former Vice President Joseph R. Biden is starting to cause headaches for Democrats running in competitive down-ticket races that will decide which party controls Congress. The North Carolina GOP on Thursday said Cal Cunningham, a Democrat running for the Senate, is trying to sidestep Tara Reade’s charge that Mr. Biden pinned her up against a wall and sexually assaulted her in 1993. Mr. Biden, who was a senator then, is now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. “His handling of Tara Reade’s allegations is just further evidence that Cal Cunningham has no core convictions...

The Pentagon has declassified three previously leaked top-secret U.S. Navy videos that show “unexplained aerial phenomena” and that some believe could show Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) in an effort “to clear up any misconceptions by the public on whether or not the footage that has been circulating was real or whether or not there is more to the videos,” said a Pentagon spokesperson. “The aerial phenomena observed in the videos remain characterized as ‘unidentified'”, the spokesperson added. “The Department of Defense has authorized the release of three unclassified Navy videos, one taken in November 2004 and the other two in...

The Republican Party hasn’t changed plans to hold a full-scale presidential convention in August but will reassess the decision later this summer in light of the coronavirus pandemic. As states across the country prepare plans to reopen their economies, GOP Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel told reporters Monday that party officials don’t yet believe they will have to come up with a different plan. “We are full steam ahead planning a traditional convention,” she said. “We do not think at this time we have to switch to an alternative plan, but of course, we will monitor circumstances and adjust accordingly.” While the...

Some Republican senators are calling to quickly reopen parts of the economy shuttered by the coronavirus, but are warning that it won't be an instantaneous return to normal. The goalpost setting comes as President Trump has appeared eager for restrictions to be scaled back soon, initially claiming that he had "total" authority to make the call, and named an economic task force to help come up with a strategy. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) warned that the country reopening would likely mirror how restrictions and stay-at-home orders went into place: By location and a piecemeal lifting of social distancing measures. "I...

President Trump announced at the White House coronavirus news briefing on Tuesday that the U.S. will immediately halt all funding for the World Health Organization, saying it had put “political correctness over lifesaving measures.” “I’m instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organization while a review is conducted to assess the world health organization’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus,” Trump said. https://twitter.com/BBCWorld/status/1250327763656962056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1250327763656962056&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fconservativeus.com%2Fgop-senators-delivered-a-letter-to-announce-the-investigation-of-the-w-h-o-over-china-covid-coverup%2F A number of GOP senators delivered a letter to the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday, announcing that they are investigating the organization’s involvement with China’s coverup of...

The Republican Party is willing to get people killed to immunize itself from the threat of democratic accountability. Whatever happens in Wisconsin’s primary and State Supreme Court elections Tuesday, that should be the headline. **SNIP** By Monday, it was clear that Wisconsin had no means of holding a free and fair election this week. A majority of the state’s poll workers had announced that they were not willing to jeopardize their lives by greeting continuous streams of voters for hours on end (in often tightly packed and poorly ventilated quarters). In Milwaukee, election officials revealed that they only had enough...

Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) holds a significant lead over Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) in the race for her Senate seat, a new poll found. A Battleground Connect survey of likely voters in the upcoming special election first reported by Politico revealed that 36 percent support Collins, who has represented the 9th district in Georgia since 2013, for the Senate seat currently held by Loeffler. Loeffler currently trails both Collins and a Democratic opponent, pastor Raphael Warnock of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, and sits at 13 percent in the poll. Warnock registered support from 16 percent of voters, indicating that Collins...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday she's creating a new House committee to oversee the coronavirus response that will have subpoena power to seek information from the Trump administration. "It would have subpoena power that’s for sure. It's no use having a committee unless you have subpoena power," Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday during a teleconference call with reporters. "And we would hope that there would be cooperation because this is not a kind of an investigation of the administration it's about the whole [response]." Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., will chair the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis. The committee...

Our first priority amid coronavirus must be neutralizing immediate threats to health and safety, but the disruption also provides a chance to engage in national reflection. Crises have a way of revealing critical, unspoken truths. If we can recognize these truths, we can emerge from such crises significantly stronger. While AmericaÂ’s first priority in the wake of the Wuhan coronavirus crisis must be neutralizing immediate threats to the health and safety of our people, the disruption of our lives also provides an opportunity to engage in national reflection.If we do so, amid the pandemic hysteria, several critical signals emerge....

White House and Senate leaders reached a historic deal shortly after midnight Wednesday on a massive $2 trillion coronavirus relief package for workers and businesses, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered something of a tepid endorsement of the agreement after previously pushing for her own legislation. The bipartisan breakthrough in the Senate capped days of heated negotiations that had nearly been derailed by last-minute demands from House Democrats. “Ladies and gentleman, we are done," White House legislative affairs director Eric Ueland announced as he left the office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., near midnight. "We have a deal."

House Republicans on Monday night offered a detailed critique of what they called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s “socialist wish list” in House Democrats’ $2.5 trillion proposal for responding to the coronavirus outbreak. “Speaker Pelosi unveiled legislation aimed at exploiting the COVID-19 public health crisis by attempting to force the inclusion of a socialist wish list of policies that have nothing to do with the public health and economic emergency,” said House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, Louisiana Republican. After poring over the 1,400-page proposal, Mr. Scalise offered his characterization of Republicans’ objections to the following items: Under the heading of “Union...

Anti-Trump GOP Senator Richard Burr is in deep trouble on Thursday after it was discovered the powerful chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee dumped as much as $1.72 million in hotel stocks before the coronavirus panic hit the US while reassuring the public about coronavirus preparedness. On Thursday, ProPublica reported on Burr’s decision on February 13 to sell somewhere between $628,000 and $1.72 million of his holdings in 33 different transactions; at the time, he was receiving daily COVID-19 briefings as the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The deals included a sale of $150,000 worth of shares of Wyndham...

There has been outrage across the political spectrum over a shocking report that Senate Intelligence chair Richard Burr (R-NC) dumped as much as $1.7 million in stock just before the market tanked, despite publicly maintaining that the government was on top of the coronavirus. Thursday night on Fox News, Tucker Carlson completely tore into the senator from the Tar Heel state. In a scathing end-of-show commentary, Carlson called on the senator to either justify his actions, or step down and be indicted. “Maybe there is an honest explanation for what he did,” Carlson said. “If there is, he should share...