Free Republic

WASHINGTON—The White House delivered a warning to conservative groups on Thursday: We’re watching you. Two days after voters rebuked President Trump and his party, the administration moved to hold together a coalition that was beginning to splinter. The White House Office of Public Liaison, which works with outside groups, sent a memo to more than 3,000 conservative organizations that laid out a list of Trump’s accomplishments in office and pledged to prevent newly ascendant Democrats from reversing them. The memo concluded with a sentence that was highlighted in yellow. “As always, we are monitoring statements, press releases, and media engagements...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Francis ‘secret decrees’ undermined defendants’ rights in Cdl. Becciu trial, lawyers sayDefense attorneys told Vatican judges that unpublished papal decrees unlawfully expanded prosecutorial powers and violated Cdl. Angelo Becciu’s fundamental rights under Vatican law.Defense lawyers have told the Vatican appeals tribunal that “secret decrees” issued by Pope Francis unlawfully expanded prosecutorial powers and undermined the fundamental rights of defendants in Cardinal Angelo Becciu’s trial.On Tuesday, during the resumption of the appeals phase of the Vatican’s so-called trial of the century, defense attorneys for Becciu and eight co-defendants argued before the Vatican City State Tribunal that four confidential...