Free Republic

California Democrat Sen. Adam Schiff warned during an appearance Sunday on ABC's "This Week" that President Trump intends to "subvert" the midterm elections, perhaps by forcing through a bill mandating voter ID. "He's basically telling us he intends to interfere in this upcoming election," Schiff said. "We cannot ignore what they're telling us they're going to do because time and time again we have seen that they’re willing to go to extraordinary and lawless lengths. The last, best hope for our democracy is not going to be the Congress or the court, it’s going to be the American people." "Republicans...

A notable number of Republican lawmakers broke sharply with the White House on Friday after President Trump posted — and later deleted — a video on social media that included a clip of former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama depicted as apes. Republicans have generally been careful about voicing criticisms of Trump, and Friday’s episode began with a more typical partisan line, with Democrats quick to condemn the video as racist. But then Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) — a close Trump ally and the only Black Republican in the Senate — soon joined them, paving the way...

Governments habitually lie. They lie so often that it is peculiar for governments to claim “authority” on anything other than falsehood. Before the Gutenberg press and general literacy, “authorities” announced self-serving lies in the public square. With the arrival of newsprint, “authorities” disseminated State propaganda as daily news. Radio and television revolutionized the mass manipulation of minds. The adoption of the personal computer, the rise of the Internet, the commercialization of pocket computers posing as handheld phones, and the sticky web of an ever-growing social media complex have made it possible for government “authorities” to reach inside every human brain...

The White House deleted a meme video posted on President Trump’s Truth Social that depicted former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, as apes — after a prominent GOP senator called the clip the “most racist thing I’ve seen” and demanded it be taken down. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt initially defended the post and accused critics of fomenting “fake outrage” — but the video was taken down a little before noon Friday. A White House official added that a staffer had “erroneously made the post. It has been taken down.” Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), the highest-ranking black...

Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr issued an apology for claiming that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are not 'rooting out violent criminals'Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr walked back his previous comments that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are detaining legal citizens and “five-year-old kindergartners” instead of “rooting out violent criminals.”

JUST IN: Democrat Rep. Jerry Nadler appears to suggest American citizens would be justified in shooting masked ICE agents. "What is really the major problem in this country today is the fascism in our streets." "The attacks on American citizens by masked hoodlums. If you were attacked by a masked person, you might think you were being kidnapped. You'd be justified in shooting the person to protect yourself."

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) compared Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller to fictional villains on Friday, calling them both a “sycophant” as tensions rise over the administration’s immigration enforcement efforts. “A sycophant is more than just a ‘yes-man,’” Tillis wrote in a lengthy post on social platform X. “It refers to someone who acts excessively servile toward someone important in order to gain an advantage.” He added, “They aren’t just being nice, they are using excessive flattery, often insincerely, to get what they want, whether that’s a promotion, social status or favor.”...

Alex Pretti’s last words were, “Are you okay?” Renee Good’s were, “I’m not mad at you.” Both were fatally shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers this month. Neither was holding weapons. They were observers, present to record, witness and alert their communities. We all saw what happened to them. ICE brutality is not new. The agency has instituted inhumane conditions and separated families for decades. Thirty-two people died in ICE custody in 2025, but that was also true in 2004. What has changed is not the violence. The change is that we can no longer pretend we do...

Cardinal McElroy fans the flamesBy now all responsible public leaders have recognized the need to dial down the rhetoric and de-escalate the confrontations in Minnesota. Yet Cardinal Robert McElroy has joined with several other religious leaders in Washington to rouse passions still further, beyond their already dangerous heights.“The murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti,” the religious leaders’ joint statement begins. Right away that opening statement signals their choice to use inflammatory language. They could have spoken in neutral terms about the “deaths” of those two people. Or “killings” would have been perfectly accurate, and conveyed a better sense of...

The actor revealed his thoughts on the ongoing situation during an interview with Variety at the Sundance Film Festival on Tuesday night.“This is time for a revolution — and they don’t even know that’s what they’re starting,” the actor said. “We have to stand up to it. They can’t take us all down. If the whole world showed up on Putin’s doorstep or the Iranians’ doorstep or in Washington, they’d kill 500 or 50 million or however [many], but the rest of us would survive with a new [world].”Esposito said the situation is all part of a “very insidious problem”...

Colbert suggested ICE was worse than Nazis because at least they were 'willing to show their faces'Late-night host Stephen Colbert is facing backlash over a remark he made about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, suggesting they were worse than Nazis because Nazis were willing to show their faces.Colbert made the comment during his show Monday and played a clip of Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino saying during a CNN interview that people were "trying to portray Border Patrol agents and ICE agents as Gestapo, Nazi and many other words."Colbert then said, "Yes, do not compare ICE or Border Patrol...

Former President Joe Biden, who oversaw what is widely considered the “worst border crisis in U.S. history,” took to social media on Tuesday to condemn the immigration crackdown happening in Minneapolis. Biden, 83, issued a statement following the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti on Saturday by Border Patrol officers in the city, which occurred the same month as the fatal shooting of Renee Good during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation. The former president, who is still plagued with the scandal of the autopen and the apparent coverup of his mental deterioration, said the events that have unfolded in...

A growing number of Republican senators are calling for an investigation into the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis as many Trump administration officials defend federal officers’ actions. Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Mike Crapo of Idaho, John Curtis of Utah, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina have all said there needs to be a thorough probe into Saturday's fatal shooting of Pretti, a U.S. citizen, by Border Patrol. Administration officials overseeing immigration enforcement may soon face public scrutiny from Republicans and Democrats alike. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.,...

U.S. Senator John Fetterman asked President Donald Trump to fire Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a social media post Tuesday, . “President Donald J. Trump: I’m making a direct appeal to immediately fire Secretary Kristi Noem,“ Fetterman wrote on Facebook. “Americans have died. She is betraying DHS’ core mission and trashing your legacy to secure our border. DO NOT make the same mistake President Biden made for not firing a grossly incompetent DHS Secretary.” Fetterman made a similar post on X, just a day after condemning the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by U.S. Border...

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem demanded a two-hour meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office late Monday after she was elbowed aside amid backlash over her handling of the latest deadly shooting in Minneapolis by ICE agents.Trump held the crisis talks with Noem after he revealed border czar Tom Homan was headed to take charge of Homeland Security efforts in Minneapolis after protester Alex Pretti was killed during a brutal takedown by Border Patrol agents, the New York Times reported.Noem has faced widespread criticism after she was quick to brand Pretti a “domestic terrorist” who had charged at officers...

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has sent letters to the heads of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to testify before his committee amid growing public controversy over immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis and other communities. Paul informed the leaders of President Trump’s immigration agencies in a tersely worded letter that “Congress has an obligation to conduct oversight” of what he called the “exceptional amount of funding” the Republican Congress has allocated to secure the borders and enforce immigration laws. “Congress has an obligation to conduct...

On today's Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough, speaking of the shooting death of anti-ICE protester Alex Pretti, Scarborough said: "Many people were describing [it] as an execution-style shooting."Joe, if you want to accuse ICE of the execution-style shooting of Alex Pretti, have the decency and guts to say so yourself, instead of putting it in the mouths of "many people." The bare minimum that journalistic integrity required was to name names of some of those "many people." But you failed to clear even that low bar. Shame on you. Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

Cardinal Tobin: Pray, mourn and say 'no' to ICE fundingA high-ranking Catholic leader is ratcheting up criticism of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown and urging people of faith to be more vocal in calling out injustice.Responding to a sense of helplessness many people are feeling in the wake of violence at the hands of federal immigration officials, Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, urged people of faith not to shy away from the news and to use their voices to say, "No."In a reflection delivered Jan. 26 during an online interfaith prayer service hosted by Faith in Action, Tobin...

“Barack Obama has made a rare political statement to condemn Donald Trump's administration over the fatal shootings of two US citizens by immigration officers in Minnesota. 'The killing of Alex Pretti is a heartbreaking tragedy,' the former president wrote on X in the wake of the most recent horror on Sunday. 'It should also be a wake-up call to every American, regardless of party, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.'”

Former President Bill Clinton accused the Trump administration of lying to the American people about the shootings that have taken place in Minneapolis at the hands of federal immigration officers. In a statement Sunday, the Democratic former president fiercely condemned the “horrible scenes” in Minneapolis “that I never thought would take place in America.”