Free Republic

Several defendants who are among the first indicted on terrorism-related charges for their alleged connection to Antifa are scheduled to plead guilty this week and next, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Texas. A grand jury indicted nine North Texas Antifa Cell operatives on charges of providing material support to terrorists in the July 4 attack against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas. “This is the first indictment in the country against a group of violent Antifa cell members,” Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Nancy...

Former Republican state legislator Austin Smith pleaded guilty Monday to what he previously called “ludicrous” charges that he personally forged more than 100 signatures on his petitions for reelection last year. The Republican from Surprise was a member of the far-right Arizona Freedom Caucus, which has a history of spreading false claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election and pushed for election law changes in the state legislature.

President Trump and his administration on Wednesday ramped up a pressure campaign on congressional Republicans who are pushing for a full release of the Justice Department’s files about the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, rushing to head off a House vote on the matter. Top officials met in the White House Situation Room on Wednesday with Representative Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican who is backing an effort to force a House vote on whether to demand the release of the files. She was summoned to sit down with top Justice Department and F.B.I. officials, according to two people familiar with...

An Illinois jury on Wednesday convicted a former sheriff’s deputy of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Sonya Massey, a Black woman who called 911 asking for help. Sean Grayson, 31, could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison, or probation. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 29. Grayson and another deputy arrived at Massey’s home in Springfield, Illinois, early on the morning of July 6, 2024, after she reported a prowler. Grayson shot the 36-year-old woman after confronting her about how she was handling a pot of hot water she had removed from her stove. Grayson and...

A former “Teacher of the Year” has pleaded guilty to having an “ongoing relationship” with one of her female students starting when the girl was just 15. Brandyn Martin Hargrove was convicted on Wednesday of 12 criminal counts connected to her sexual assault of the ex-student while she was a teacher at Brazoswood High School in Clute, Texas. The formerly-decorated educator was sentenced to 10 years of probation and a 10-year probated sentence, meaning she won’t face any time in prison, despite grooming her student and having a sexual relationship with the minor, which continued until the girl turned 17,...

A one-time Colorado “counselor of the year” is accused of sexually assaulting a female student over several years — and threatened to kill herself if the girl ever came forward, according to police. Cassandra Poncelow, 40, met her accuser in her high school counseling office in the Poudre School District in Fort Collins, Colo. — and later began bringing her to her home for “sleepovers,” according to court documents obtained by 9News. The student — who is now an adult — met with police in July and claimed she was assaulted more than 100 times over several years at Poncelow’s...

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will plead guilty to US criminal charges as part of a deal that allows him to go free, according to court documents. Assange, 52, was charged with conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information. For years, the US has argued that the Wikileaks files - which disclosed information about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars - endangered lives. He has spent the last five years in a British prison, from where he has been fighting extradition to the US. According to CBS, the BBC's US partner, Assange will spend no time in US custody and will...

A leftist woman who’s been hassling U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents ran to the media to whine after she was unsurprisingly detained. The woman, a 71-year-old grandmother named Barbara Stone, showed up at the San Diego Courthouse Tuesday with the explicit intent to “document” ICE agents, according to local station KGTV. She claimed she was a volunteer for a left-wing pro-illegal alien group named Detention Resistance that goes around “showing support for … asylum seekers,” according to Stone’s own words. Speaking with KGTV, her lawyer added that the purpose of her volunteer work is to “film[] the...

President Obama on Tuesday pardoned retired Gen. James Cartwright, the former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff accused of lying to the FBI about his conversations with reporters regarding U.S. efforts to cripple Iran's nuclear program. Cartwright pleaded guilty in October to one felony count of making false statements during the FBI's investigation into leaks about the government's role in a highly classified operation known as Operation Olympic Games. The clandestine effort -- untaken with Israel -- deployed a computer virus known as Stuxnet that destroyed Iranian centrifuges. New York Times journalist David Sanger exposed the operation in...

The verdict is in....

Eric Coomer, the security and product strategy director at Dominion Voting Systems, sued MyPillow founder Mike Lindell for defamation. Lindell called Coomer a traitor and accused him of stealing the 2020 election. Coomer is also a former employee of Lindell. Mike Lindell, founder of MyPillow, has been ordered to pay a former employee millions in damages after he was found liable for defamation. Lindell called the former employee, Eric Coomer, a traitor and accused him of stealing the 2020 presidential election on his online media platform.

We’ve already written about the ongoing mess with Virginia’s GOP. But to be fair, Virginia’s Democrats aren’t exactly firing on all cylinders, either. One candidate for the House of Delegates just outed herself as being “ethically nonmonogamous,” i.e., a swinger.Hmm.Sure hope she lives in a swing district! *Ba-bump-bump-ching!* (“Thank you! Be sure to tip your waitress! Try the veal.”)Of course, no one had asked her about her sex life, probably because nobody cares. Nonetheless, Yvonne Rorrer, 47, decided to volunteer the information all on her own:Rorrer, a Democratic candidate for Virginia’s House of Delegates in the 47th district, revealed Saturday...

A former State Department budget analyst has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $650,000 from the agency over a two-year span, according to the US Attorney’s Office in Washington, DC. Levita Almuete Ferrer, 64, of Maryland, admitted to abusing her signature authority over a State Department checking account between March 2022 and April 2024 in her capacity as a senior budget analyst in the department’s Office of the Chief of Protocol. She wrote 60 checks to herself and three checks to someone else she had a personal relationship with, prosecutors said. She printed and signed each check before depositing all...

@WallStreetApes WOAH 🚨 Former Director of the CIA John Brennan “issued the Visas to 15 of the 19 September 11 hijackers” AGAIN: 15 out of the 19 Visas issued to the 9/11 hijackers were issued by the man who would become Director of the CIA - John Brennan was the CIA daily intelligence briefer for President Bill Clinton - In 1996, he was CIA station chief in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - John Brennan issued passports (visas -ed) to 9/11 hijackers - John Brennan becomes Director of the CIA What are the odds???

stunning email issued by a USAID official today will generate a national uproar and provoke another massive legal battle. Politico obtained an email from a senior official at USAID ordering the remaining staff to convene at the agency’s former headquarters on Tuesday to destroy all remaining documents by either shredding or burning them. USAID’s acting executive secretary Erica Carr told the staff to meet at the RRB 14th Street Lobby to “shred as many documents first, and reserve the burn bags for when the shredder becomes unavailable or needs a break.” Carr also ordered staff to label the burn bags...

Chelsea Clinton receives annually-recurring funding from USAID, allocated by Obama for her Foundation, which provides afternoon meals to children in Africa, India, and Bangladesh. However, as of today, the reported number of meals served stands at 11,886, implying an astonishing cost of $1,410 per meal. Net Worth $70 Million Husband Net Worth $45 Million Inheritance $52 million USAID Earnings $3.9 Million per year Real Estate Assets $25 million Monthly Spends $100,000 Car Collection Eight Has accomplished nothing.

SNIPThe bill, led by Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), was introduced Tuesday and is called the Protect U.S. National Security Act. It aims to prove that USAID reform should abide by laws and “not harm American soft power” as the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) looks to cut federal spending at various agencies and departments. “Over the past 10 days, Elon Musk and DOGE have shut down USAID’s website, closed its headquarters, placed thousands of staffers on leave, and issued a stop work order on most foreign assistance – including life-saving humanitarian assistance,” Jacobs said in a release. SNIPJacobs,...

Joe Biden issued a series of pardons as he prepared to leave office, including pardons for his family members. Former Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., who requested a pardon, did not receive one. In a statement, Jackson expressed disappointment and criticized the Biden administration for failing to address what he called the "felonization" of Americans who have served their sentences. CHICAGO - Former President Joe Biden issued a number of pardons on Monday before leaving the White House, including for his own family. However, he did not grant former Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr.'s request. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s Response What they're saying...

President Trump criticized former President Biden for pardoning several members of his family during his last moments as commander in chief, with Trump arguing the actions make “him look very guilty.” “That makes him look very guilty,” Trump said while speaking to reporters late Monday in the Oval Office as he signed a number of executive orders. “I could have pardoned my family. I could have pardoned myself and my family,” he said. “I said, ‘If I do that, it’s going to make me look very guilty’ – I don’t think I’d be sitting here, frankly.” Trump also said the...

President Joe Biden on Monday issued preemptive pardons for Gen. Mark Milley, Dr. Anthony Fauci and members of Congress who served on the committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, using extraordinary executive prerogative as a shield against revenge by his incoming successor, Donald Trump. The pardons, coming in the final hours of Biden’s presidency, amount to a stunning flex of presidential power that is unprecedented in recent presidential history. They serve to protect several outspoken critics of the incoming president, including former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, whom Trump has vowed retribution against. “These are exceptional circumstances,...