Free Republic

Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) claimed Thursday on CNN’s “The Source” that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was the wrong person for his position. Kaine said, “This is a sad but very predictable situation. I think those of us on the Armed Services Committee who looked at Pete Hegseth’s material and it was voluminous before his hearing and the vote on his confirmation. Two things were plain when he was in the uniform of the United States, he served admirably, but in his leadership positions in many organizations, since his uniform service, he’s demonstrated appalling lack of judgment, both professionally and personally....

Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) claimed Thursday on CNN’s “The Lead” that the Trump administration’s moves were like a “war on veterans.” Host Jake Tapper said, “Your reaction to these massive cuts being made to the VA and the cuts that are affecting so many veterans who work for the federal workforce? I imagine your district workers are are hearing from a lot of your constituents directly affected, who are veterans.”

Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the Trump administration’s proposed deportations would be “an absolute gut punch” to the U.S. economy. Partial transcript as follows: MARGARET BRENNAN: Let me ask you about immigration. You’re a former governor. Incoming border czar, Tom Homan, has said that there will be massive deportation raids beginning as soon as Mr. Trump takes office. There are just about 300,000 undocumented individuals believed to be living in your state, according to Pew Research. And I know your current governor, Youngkin, has pledged to fully support efforts through state law enforcement...

enator Tim Kaine (D-VA) claimed Thursday on CNN’s “Newsroom” that President Joe Biden’s farewell address showed he was “sincerely worried” about the country’s future under the incoming Trump administration. Host Jim Acosta said, “President Biden did address the nation last night from the Oval Office. He talked about his fear that an oligarchy is taking over this country, that there is a tech industrial complex that has too much influence in this country. He offered some pretty stark warnings for the nation as Donald Trump is about to return to the White House. What did you make of that?” Kaine...

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) said he was "proud" to block a proposal from Democrats to protect federal workers from potentially getting reclassified as political appointees under the incoming administration. The measure was introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) as a way to prevent such reclassification without congressional approval. He asked for unanimous consent to pass the Saving the Civil Service Act, warning about “attempts in recent years to erode the independence of the federal civil service,” a reference to efforts President-elect Trump made in his first term. Kaine and other Democrats fear that Trump, now reelected, may attempt to reclassify...

On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) stated that he hasn’t paid attention to the issue of whether or not the Biden administration is disposing of border wall material and “We are expecting this to be a top priority next year, and we’ll deal with that as it comes.” After discussing Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-AR) request for records preservation on border wall materials, host Bret Baier asked, “Sen. Kaine, about that, obviously, we had an election and immigration was one of the issues. And there are some people at home saying, why get...

During an interview with ABC News on Friday, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) responded to charges from Republicans that rhetoric about 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump might have led to the assassination attempts of Trump by stating that we should “look at the identities of these two deranged individuals who carried out these attacks.” And “Donald Trump inspired an attack on the Capitol on January 6. And the Republicans might want us to stop talking about that and what that means, but it’s a fact.”

Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) said on his week’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday” that Vice President Kamala Harris can win in November because she has both “vibes and accomplishments.” Host Shannon Bream said, “We are just a few days out from people beginning early voting. Last I checked Kamalaharris.com still doesn’t have any policy prescriptions there. Is the idea to ride this out on vibes? Because they have been good, the momentum has been good for the ticket.”

On Tuesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) said that hearing Democrats publicly state their concerns that President Joe Biden couldn’t serve another four years in office “made me sick,” “It made me sick the way people were so quickly going and airing their concerns publicly, when they had the White House’s phone number.” Commentator Mike Barnicle asked, “The sitting President of the United States is a man known — noted for his compassion, his decency, his empathy, and, above all, his character. So, my question to you, were you at all surprised at the level of...

Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the treatment 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton received on the campaign trail as presidential candidate showed a “continuing existence of a double standard for women.” Host Kristen Welker said, “You say in one section of the book, 2016, when you were then-Secretaryq Clinton’s running mate ‘taught me some painful lessons about a country I thought I understood.’ What are the lessons?”

On Tuesday’s broadcast of “CNN This Morning,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) stated that Hamas may be rejecting deals to release hostages because they don’t want hostages to tell the world how Hamas brutalized them and possibly because “as long as Israel is overreacting, Hamas, who are very unconcerned about civilian casualties, may want this to play out longer” and Hamas knew “Israel would respond and would overrespond” and that has caused people like him to criticize Israel. Co-host John Berman asked, “Senator, you came out against the United States providing offensive weapons to Israel at this point. You said you...

Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine was set to become the United States vice president, according to 2016 polling that decisively predicted a Clinton-Kaine administration. So it's no surprise that, when vote counts began telling a different story on election night, the Democrat experienced an unforeseen gut punch as his plans for the future circled the drain. A lot has changed in the past eight years, including Kaine's outlook on the world around him. In 2019, the senator began a years-long journey to hike Virginia's 559 miles of Appalachian Trail, cycle 321 miles along the Virginia Blue Ridge, and canoe the entire...

On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) stated that the military operation to build a pier to help deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza is a mission where “we knew” that the American troops in charge of the mission, “might be in harm’s way from Hamas. But after the events of this week, anybody doing humanitarian aid is going to wonder if they’re in harm’s way from the IDF. And so, we’ve got to see a dramatic uptake in Israel allowing humanitarian aid to suffering people.”

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said Friday that the “current approach is not working” in Gaza as he called to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into the besieged strip and provide only defensive weapons to Israel going forward. Kaine said he remains “deeply distressed” by the more than 33,000 Palestinians who have died as Israel fights against the militant group Hamas, along with the tens of thousands of displaced Israeli citizens in northern Israel and the roughly 100 Israeli hostages still believed to be held alive in Gaza. The senator, who sits on both the Armed Services and Foreign Relations...

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said Sunday that the difference between democratic and authoritarian regimes is that Russia and Iran would not tell the United States if there was going to be a terrorist attack in the U.S. Host Shannon Bream asked Kaine on “Fox News Sunday” whether the southern border can lead to “real danger” within the U.S., pointing to the attack in Russia that has left more than 133 dead in a Moscow concert hall. He first reiterated that the U.S. warned Russia about this kind of attack earlier this year.

The Biden administration’s legal justification for its attacks on Houthi militants in Yemen is “laughable,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said at a Senate Foreign Relations committee hearing Tuesday on United States actions in the Red Sea. Speaking to defense officials, Kaine said though “Houthi behavior is abhorrent,” he has “grave skepticism” about the administration’s interpretation of presidential military powers under Article 2 of the Constitution. “A narrow mission to defend U.S. shipping, both military and commercial — that is Article 2 self-defense,” Kaine said. “Article 2 self-defense means you can defend U.S. personnel, you can defend U.S. military assets, you...

Virginia Democrat Sen. Tim Kaine gave the FBI his approval to investigate Catholic parishes in his own state on Monday. When asked by a local ABC affiliate about the FBI’s Richmond division infiltrating Catholic communities to spy on the church for alleged extremism, Kaine called the revelations a misunderstanding. “I think the key is communication,” Kaine told ABC13. “If the FBI has a concern like that, then go to the church leaders and say, ‘Hey look, we have a concern and we don’t want your members to get unwittingly caught up in something.'”Former FBI Special Agent Kyle Seraphin blew the...

CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the Senate will press President Joe Biden over multiple airstrikes against Houthis in Yemen without congressional approval. Partial transcript as follows: MARGARET BRENNAN: And we have one of those, a- agencies with us later in the program, though far smaller than the 13,000 employees of the UN. President Biden has talked about these U.S. strikes on the Houthis continuing. I know you have some issue with that.

Congress has approved legislation that would prevent any president from withdrawing the United States from NATO without approval from the Senate or an Act of Congress. The measure, spearheaded by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), was included in the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which passed out of the House on Thursday and is expected to be signed by President Biden. The provision underscores Congress’s commitment to the NATO alliance that was a target of former President Trump’s ire during his term in office. The alliance has taken on revitalized importance under Biden, especially since Russia’s full-scale...

Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that the 2024 Republican candidates willing to support former President Donald Trump if he was the nominee didn’t “have the moral compass you need to be the leader of the greatest nation in the world.” Reacting to GOP 2024 hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy, Kaine said, “What I just heard was the complete lack of a moral compass.” He continued, “If you are unwilling to say that the behavior of Donald Trump trying to overturn the peaceful transfer of power is a disqualifier. If you pledge despite that to vote for him,...