Free Republic

The House committee investigating the notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Tuesday night asked Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Goldman Sachs ’ top lawyer, Kathryn Ruemmler, billionaires Leon Black and Ted Waitt, and three other people to testify about their dealings with Epstein. Gates, Ruemmler and Black all quickly agreed to voluntary, transcribed interviews with the House Oversight Committee. The panel is also seeking testimony from Doug Band, a former assistant to former President Bill Clinton, Epstein’s former executive assistant Lesley Groff, and Sarah Kellen, another former assistant to Epstein. A spokesperson for Gates said, “Gates welcomes the opportunity to appear...

Just days after Illinois Democrats introduced legislation to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s trafficking network and its possible ties to the state, party leaders are now scrambling to pull the bill. The sudden reversal comes after explosive revelations that former President Bill Clinton testified under oath that he once flew Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Jeffrey Epstein’s private plane. On March 2, Democratic State Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid of Bridgeview introduced House Bill 5723, known as the Illinois Epstein Files Investigation Act. The legislation was backed by several lawmakers, including State Sen. Graciela Guzman.

The House committee investigating Jeffrey Epstein voted to subpoena U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify on her handling of Justice Department files on the disgraced financier. The Republican-led House Oversight Committee voted 24 to 19 Wednesday to issue the subpoena. A Justice Department spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the vote. Republican Nancy Mace of South Carolina proposed the subpoena and it passed the over the objection of the panel’s chairman, James Comer of Kentucky. Mace said the subpoena would require a taped, closed-door deposition under oath and a time had not yet been set...

An ‘Epstein Walk of Shame’ appeared overnight in Washington, D.C., with stickers dedicated to public figures associated with Jeffrey Epstein. On March 1, residents noticed star-shaped stickers placed around Farragut Square, each featuring an image of the convicted s- offender. On the lines of Los Angeles’ Hollywood Walk of Fame, each star on the Walk of Shame mentions the name and designation of a public figure mentioned in the recently released Epstein Files. Every sticker has a QR code, which, when scanned, directs users to the Department of Justice’s website page about the Epstein Files. Some codes link to pdf...

Former President Bill Clinton may have just handed Illinois voters a political earthquake. In a recent closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee, Clinton admitted under oath that he brought now-Gov. JB Pritzker and his wife on Jeffrey Epstein’s private plane. “I think that I had my first trip for the man who’s now the Governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker and his wife,” Clinton reportedly testified.

Juliana Stratton, the state’s lieutenant governor, is running her first TV ad beginning Friday, a spot featuring a series of people, including Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., all saying “F--- Trump.” “F--- Trump, vote Juliana,” one person after another says in the ad. At least half a dozen bleeps will be audible to obscure the salty language when it airs on TV, according to the campaign. For her part, Stratton does not take part in the cursing. “They said it, not me,” Stratton says as she appears on the screen.

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich argued Gov. JB Pritzker got "outplayed and outflanked" as the Chicago Bears look to leave the state for Indiana. On Thursday, an Indiana House panel approved legislation to help finance a potential new NFL stadium for the team. The facility could be constructed near Wolf Lake in Hammond, Indiana, just across the state border. "The Indiana legislature did what it did, and it caught our governor asleep," Blagojevich said Saturday on "Fox & Friends Weekend." "Governor Pritzker really is guilty of gubernatorial malpractice, and this isn't the first time a major business is about to...

Gov. JB Pritzker is demanding President Trump refund the state of Illinois more than $8 billion after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his sweeping reciprocal tariffs Friday. The court ruled 6-3 that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, does not authorize the president to impose tariffs. Now businesses are pressing the Trump administration to issue tariff refunds, and Gov. Pritzker has joined in their call. In a letter to Mr. Trump that Pritzker shared publicly, he wrote, "Your tariff taxes wreaked havoc on farmers, enraged our allies, and sent grocery prices through the roof. This morning, your...

Landlord who tipped off ICE about illegal alien gang members faces investigation. The ‘sanctuary’ for illegal alien criminals movement began with radical activists harboring them in ‘churches’. That escalated to ordering law enforcement not to cooperate with immigration authorities. And from there sanctuary states like California began to penalize any law enforcement personnel who cooperated with ICE. Then came the riots, systemic harassment of immigration law enforcement personnel being coordinated from the top down, and now, in the next step, legal threats against American citizens who cooperate with ICE. Remember this massive raid on a hive of TdA gang members...

I’ve spent my life covering Chicago politics and Chicago political corruption. So, I guess you could say that I’ve seen some things: Many years ago, when I was first starting out in the newspapering business, the vaunted Chicago press corps—the corporate legacy media–was bowing and sniveling before a black “reform” mayor (not named Johnson) for fear of being branded as racists. This was just as the mayor’s top aide wearing a bad wig, collected rent in a city limousine from impoverished women living in his slum buildings full of rats. Or later, when Chicago politicians were terrified into silence when...

'Come and get me,' Illinois Governor JB Pritzker taunted Donald Trump last month. And it now appears Trump's Justice Department is doing just as he asked – launching a new criminal investigation that threatens to embroil the billionaire governor, the Daily Mail can exclusively reveal. Pritzker is a potential 2028 presidential contender. He is worth an estimated $3.9 billion, according to Forbes, with much of his wealth coming from his inherited stake in the Hyatt Hotels fortune. The case revolves around Pritzker's alleged links to his wife's friend, Jenny Thornley, who volunteered on his first gubernatorial campaign in 2018 and...

Police said the woman suffered "severe burns" all over her body and that she remains in critical condition at a hospital, per NBC 5. Firefighters who responded to the scene extinguished the flames before officers arrived, the outlet reported. On Tuesday, Nov. 18, police confirmed they had taken a person of interest into custody but said the investigation remains ongoing, ABC News and NBC 5 reported.

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Thursday night that the Justice Department has opened investigations into Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot over sustained efforts to dox and obstruct federal immigration agents. While speaking with Fox News, host Jesse Watters asked about recent comments from former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who announced a new project aimed at “unmasking” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents nationwide. “We want to create a centralized archive of all the purported criminal actions of ICE and CBP agents,” Lightfoot said of her new website while...

In early September, Kellen McMiller took part in a roundtable discussion with Gov. JB Pritzker at an event for anti-violence workers on the South Side. McMiller, 35, even posed for a photo with the governor in his neon yellow peacekeeper vest. The photo would later appear in a press release touting how violence prevention programs are helping drive down violent crime in Chicago. Just six days later, McMiller was allegedly involved in a smash-and-grab downtown that killed a man on his way to work. McMiller was one of a dozen offenders who authorities say robbed a Louis Vuitton store of...

An Illinois police officer living in the United States illegally has been arrested by immigration authorities, the Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday. Radule Bojovic, an illegal immigrant from Montenegro who was working as a sworn police officer with the Hanover Park Police Department, was taken into custody during Operation Midway Blitz, which targets illegal immigrants living in Illinois because of the state's sanctuary policies, federal officials said. Fox News Digital has reached out to the police department and the office of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump and his immigration policies. "J.B. Pritzker doesn’t...

The drug cartels basically said out loud this week that they want war. They might just get one. Before we get to war and other niceties, here's why they might have just opened a can of military-grade whoop-a** directly into their own faces. Bugs Bunny has been a hero of mine for so long that I can't remember a time when he wasn't. All Bugs ever really wanted to do was enjoy his (surprisingly posh) digs and indulge in a perfectly crafted carrot stew. He never sought out trouble, but when it came for him, he came back ready to...

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has vowed to prosecute Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in a post-Trump era. Pritzker made the comments during an interview with FOX 32 Chicago this week as ICE agents step up their efforts across the city of Chicago. “The tables will turn one day,” Prtizker explained. ”These people should recognize that maybe they’re not gonna get prosecuted today, although we’re looking at doing that, but they may get prosecuted after the Trump administration because the statute of limitations would not have run out.” The 60-year-old added that he had spoken with Illinois Attorney General Kwame...

Did you ever wonder how the Democratic Party got so crazy? For example, how is it that the governor of Illinois is inciting violent mobs against federal immigration authorities and meanwhile, in Virginia, every Democrat is rallying to the defense of Attorney General candidate Jay Jones, who openly fantasized about murdering political opponents? To summarize briefly: Bad causes attract bad people. To understand the symbiotic relationship between toxic political movements and their toxic supporters, my advice is to first read Eric Hoffer’s 1951 classic, The True Believer, especially Part 2: “The Potential Converts.” Next, you should read Friedrich Hayek’s The...

A week after federal agents arrested dozens of people during a military-style immigration raid of a South Shore apartment building, resident Cassandra Murray slowly inches down four flights of stairs because the elevators are broken again. Murray is disabled and walks with a limp. The 55-year-old wears plastic gloves as she holds onto a railing, pointing out urine spots and feces smeared on the wall in the building where she has lived for a decade. Murray is on her way to see a new apartment. She says her move wasn’t prompted by the harrowing raid or the Venezuelan immigrants who...

Posing as a TV reporter clad with body armor, Gov. JB Pritzker on Thursday mocked the Trump administrative narrative that National Guard troops are needed to quell chaos in “war-torn Chicago” in a bit for ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” “This is JB Pritzker, reporting from war-torn Chicago. As you can see, there’s utter mayhem and chaos on the ground. It’s quite disturbing,” he says on a downtown Chicago bridge. “The Milwaukee Brewers have come in to attack our Chicago Cubs. “We’ve seen people being forced to eat hot dogs with ketchup on them, and our deep dish pizza, well, has...