Free Republic

Monday on CNN’s “Inside Politics,” host Dana Bash said President Donald Trump was acting as the “arsonist” by sending the National Guard to Los Angeles. Reporter Manu Raju said, “Just to get the point of how much Donald Trump wants this fight, I mean, he’s been posting and talking about it pretty much nonstop over the weekend, including just moments ago saying if we had not done this, send the National Guard in Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated. Now, I’m not quite sure if that’s exactly the case of what people are saying on the ground here. But...

"GOP Sen. Rand Paul says he expects to have enough votes in Senate to pass resolution to effectively block Trump’s tariffs. But Paul, who expects the vote Wednesday, attacked Speaker Johnson’s move to block such resolutions as “dishonesty.”" *** The background to this, via Politico: The White House warned that Trump will veto a bipartisan Senate resolution that would terminate his sweeping global “Liberation Day” tariffs. The statement of administration policy from the Office of Management and Budget, sent to congressional offices Monday, comes ahead of an expected vote this week forced by several Democrats led by Sen. Ron Wyden...

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) snapped at a CNN reporter after he was asked about pay raises in the massive spending bill. A stop-gap spending bill to fund the government through March 14 was unveiled by lawmakers on Tuesday evening. If it passes, it would give members of Congress their first pay raise since 2009. Lawmakers currently make $174,000 a year, with those in leadership making more. Durbin was confronted by CNN reporter Manu Raju, who asked him, “Do you guys deserve a pay raise?” The Democrat senator seemed surprised. He responded, “Well, that’s news to me, that’s good news. What’s...

Is Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., having his Joni Ernst moment? It sure seems like it. On Wednesday, the Hoosier State’s senior senator told CNN mouthpiece Manu Raju he’s still undecided as to whether he will support Pete Hegseth’s nomination to become the next secretary of defense. The comments came after the two veterans met to discuss Hegseth’s potential promotion earlier that day. “I haven’t decided yet, as I’ve shared with him and happy to share with others…We had a good meeting. It was an extensive conversation, and he answered the questions I asked,” Young reportedly said. “We had a very...

VIDEOOh how he LOVES saying it. Over and over and over again. Yes, CNN's Manu Raju is following the playbook laid down by George Soros and voiced by his degenerate son, Alex, to repeat over and over again "Convicted Felon" in reference to Trump. Unfortunately for poor Manu, the Lawfare against Trump has COLLAPSED since the BS Kangaroo Court convicted him of a bookkeeping entry "crime" (and no one can exactly state what the crime was) somewhere on the level of ripping off a mattress tag. The utter FAILURE of the Lawfare strategy has backfired as revealed on Manu's own...

CNN’s Manu Raju reported over the weekend from Appomattox, Virginia on the effort inside the House GOP to oust one of its own, Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), who is the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. Raju both aired his report on CNN’s Inside Politics Sunday and published an article on CNN.com detailing the various House Republicans openly campaigning in support of Good’s GOP primary opponent, state Sen. John McGuire. Raju noted that campaigning openly against a House colleague is “a tactic long viewed as a serious breach of protocol but one that underscores the bad blood within the House...

Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN) claims former House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) shoved him while his back was turned. NPR congressional correspondent Claudia Grisales first reported the encounter on X (formerly Twitter), saying it happened when she spoke with Burchett after the GOP’s conference meeting on Tuesday. Burchett was one of the House Republicans who supported the push to oust McCarthy as Speaker, and according to him and Grisales, McCarthy struck at him which led to an intense encounter. Burchett's back was to McCarthy and his detail walking by in the hallway, then the lunge. Burchett responded jokingly as McCarthy...

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell bluntly warned Republican senators in a private meeting not to sign on to a bill from Sen. Josh Hawley aimed at limiting corporate money bankrolling high-powered outside groups, telling them that many of them won their seats thanks to the powerful super PAC the Kentucky Republican has long controlled. According to multiple sources familiar with the Tuesday lunch meeting, McConnell warned GOP senators that they could face “incoming” from the “center-right” if they signed onto Hawley’s bill. He also read off a list of senators who won their races amid heavy financial support from the...

“I didn't take any bait,” MTG told me of heckling and calling Biden a liar during SOTU. “As a matter of fact, I got so many messages from people in my district and people across the country, it was like I won my election again. You know what, people are pissed off” pic.twitter.com/orCq4kkmag— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 8, 2023

CNN — House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy has won his party’s nomination for speaker, beating conservative challenger Rep. Andy Biggs in a 188-31 vote, according to multiple sources in the room. It was a secret ballot, and McCarthy only needed a simple majority.

(CNN) Sen. Joe Manchin and his staff told Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and his staff "unequivocally" on Thursday the West Virginia Democrat won't support the climate or tax provisions of a Democratic economic package that the two had been negotiating for months, according to two sources familiar with the talks. Schumer, a New York Democrat, made a number of concessions to pare back the climate provisions but Manchin would not budge. Manchin told Schumer he will not support a bill this month with any provisions on energy or climate, or consider raising taxes on the wealthy or corporations, which...

While speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) reacted to the Biden administration reportedly looking to increase energy imports from Iran and Venezuela by calling for a return to prior energy production policies to boost domestic energy production. CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju asked, “So, should the administration ease restrictions on production?”

Anger is growing in Democratic ranks over the failure to get President Joe Biden's sweeping agenda through this year despite unified control of Congress, with their party already bracing for what could be a brutal Election Day in next November's midterms. Major issues they promised to deliver on, such as a bill to overhaul voting laws, stand virtually no chance of becoming law. And the biggest ticket item -- the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better plan to dramatically expand the social safety net -- which is still mired in talks with West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, has yet to be...

Donald Trump's closest Hill allies are privately lobbying the former President to get involved in a Republican-on-Republican matchup in Illinois, a potentially messy scenario that has sparked internal strife in the party and prompted GOP leaders to launch a counter-campaign aimed at keeping Trump on the sidelines. At the center of it all is freshman Rep. Mary Miller, a member of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus who has been left without a seat after redistricting. Now she's deciding whether to challenge fellow Illinois Republican Reps. Rodney Davis or Mike Bost. Hoping to boost Miller's political prospects, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene...

CNN - Sen. Rand Paul just got temporarily kicked off YouTube for an inaccurate tirade against masks. Sen. Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, has been airing ads that urge people to go out and get the vaccine. The two Kentucky Republicans now perfectly exemplify the national divide over how to handle a deadly virus that is still ravaging the country -- and they couldn't be more diametrically opposed. McConnell has been one of the most consistent voices in the GOP when it comes to promoting health precautions, while Paul has become the face of the Republican resistance to Covid restrictions. Of course,...

VIDEOIf Senator Joe Manchin ever wants to get CNN's Manu Raju to paint his home and mow his lawn for the next couple of years he can do it simply by giving poor Manu just a hint that he might be open to ending the filibuster. That's how DESPERATE Manu Raju is in his role as a flat out advocate for ending the Senate filibuster even though he is supposed to be just a reporter relaying the news.

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) called out a CNN reporter for misrepresenting his comment about the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. CNN's chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju stopped Massie to pepper him with questions about the riot, but Massie says his report did not document his comment correctly. "Do you agree with Trump that the election was rigged or stolen somehow?" asked Raju. "We didn't have hearings, there's no way to litigate that up here. If you're in the minority, the DOJ wouldn't investigate it," responded Massie. "There's no evidence of widespread fraud," replied Raju. "That's your opinion,"...

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, criticized the Biden administration for the way it notified Congressional leaders about the U.S.’s military strike targeting Iran-backed military groups in eastern Syria on Thursday evening. Schiff, who is a member of the Gang of Eight which receives briefings on classified intelligence matters by the executive branch, told CNN reporter Manu Raju that Biden’s “means of notification” if the strike was “inadequate.”

CNN’s Manu Raju asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi if pursuing impeachment against former President Trump at the start of the new Congress would undermine efforts to create unity with colleagues from across the aisle. “No, I’m not worried about that,” Pelosi said during her weekly news conference. “The fact is, the President of the United States committed an act of incitement of insurrection. I don't think it's very unifying to say, oh, let's just forget it and move on. That's not how you unify," she continued. When Pelosi said, “just because he is now gone,” she paused to say “thank...

(CNN)Sen. Susan Collins declined last week to back President Donald Trump for reelection, saying she would focus on her own race while suggesting that she only picked sides in 2016 because she was not on the ballot. "I was not up for reelection," the Maine Republican told reporters, referring to the 2016 race, when she publicly voiced her opposition to Trump's presidential campaign. "I didn't have my own race to worry about at that point." But a dozen years ago, as she was running for reelection, Collins endorsed Republican Sen. John McCain over then-Sen. Barack Obama. She served as a...