Free Republic

Antony Blinken represents neither the beginning nor the end of the info ops run to convince voters the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation. Revisiting the contemporaneous coverage of the laptop story in light of last week’s revelations about Blinken reveals the scandal extends far beyond the Biden campaign and involves government agents. Last week, news broke that a former top CIA official, Michael Morell, testified as part of a House Judiciary Committee investigation that Blinken, now-secretary of state and then-Biden campaign senior adviser, had contacted Morell to discuss the New York Post’s Hunter Biden laptop story. Blinken and Morell...

It has been three years since COVID-19 entered the scene. It probably emerged in the previous year based on COVID antibodies found in banked blood from the fall of 2019 and a severe non-influenza respiratory illness sweeping through ICUs in the early winter of 2019. In those days it was simply called the Chinese coronavirus, based on the reported origin but we still don’t know that for sure.In fact, much of what we have been told about COVID over the past three years has turned out to be “misinformation”, as government, corporate media, and big tech described everything that went...

In recent weeks, President Trump has been publicly criticized by high-ranking retired military officers such as General James Mattis, Admiral William McRaven, General Colin Powell, Lt. General John Allen, and others. These public criticisms, however, are in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), and law experts say these officials could be recalled to active duty and prosecuted. “Retired officers can’t make contemptuous remarks of the commander-in-chief,” John Dowd, a former Marine Corps Judge Advocate and former Trump legal advisor, told Just The News. “They’re all subject to recall. They’re subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice...

Claims by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) that he had no contact with the intelligence community whistleblower at the center of the first impeachment of then-President Donald Trump are disputed in a new book. In Unchecked: The Untold Story Behind Congress’s Botched Impeachments of Donald Trump, authors Rachael Bade and Karoun Demirjian reveal a meeting between the whistleblower’s attorney, Andrew Bakaj, and lawyers working for the House Select Committee on Intelligence. This occurred in the run-up to the fall 2019 launch of an impeachment inquiry into Trump over allegations he demanded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to initiate corruption investigations into now-President...

Today, the International Criminal Court (ICC) Appeals Chamber authorized an investigation into the alleged activities of the Taliban and U.S. and Afghan personnel related to Afghanistan. This is a truly breathtaking action by an unaccountable political institution, masquerading as a legal body. It is all the more reckless for this ruling to come just days after the United States signed a historic peace deal on Afghanistan – the best chance for peace in a generation. Indeed, the Afghan government, itself, pleaded with the ICC to not take this course. But the ICC politicians had other goals. The United States is...

One of the attorneys representing the anonymous “whistleblowers” accusing President Donald Trump of conspiring with foreign leaders to interfere in the next U.S. presidential election used to report directly to former director of national intelligence James Clapper. Charles McCullough, an attorney now representing the whistleblowers with Andrew Bakaj, a former staffer for Sens. Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton, was previously the inspector general of the intelligence community (ICIG) at the height of the Clinton email scandal. Now a partner at the Compass Rose Legal Group, McCullough’s professional biography on the law firm’s website notes that he reported directly to Clapper...

Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra are being eyed for possible top cabinet positions in President-elect Joe Biden's administration, said two sources familiar with the discussions. Yates, who currently serves on the advisory board to Biden's transition team, is "no doubt" being considered as a candidate to become the country's next Attorney General, said one of the two, who asked to remain anonymous because no decision has been reached.

An attorney for the whistleblower who sparked President Trump’s impeachment now says he has two clients prepared to sue if the Trump administration follows through with sanctions against the International Criminal Court. Mark Zaid told The Post he represents a pair of US law professors who intend to file a lawsuit if sanctions prohibit or criminalize their pro bono advisory work. Trump signed an executive order this month that allows sanctions against anyone involved in an ICC investigation of Americans or US allies. The order was issued in response to a decision from the court’s appeals chamber that authorized an...

Within the small group conducting the 2016 FBI investigation of the Trump campaign, the Steele Dossier was called “Crown Material“. A name relating to Christopher Steele’s British intelligence position. [James Comey testimony to congress] The “Crown Material” has become more interesting recently against the backdrop of U.S. Attorney John Durham seeking the documents and communication from former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey [SEE HERE] where John Brennan wanted the Crown Material (Steele Dossier) included the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment. However, there’s a coded email from Lisa Page, on January 10th, 2017, that might prove to...

Lawyers for Rep. John P. Murtha will appeal a recent ruling advancing a defamation lawsuit brought against the Pennsylvania Democrat by a U.S. Marine under investigation for killing Iraqi civilians. Justice Department lawyers representing Murtha on Nov. 16 filed notice that they planned to appeal a federal district court judge’s Sept. 28 ruling allowing the lawsuit to proceed and ordering Murtha to give sworn testimony in the case. Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich sued Murtha in August 2006, accusing the 17-term congressman of defaming him during a news conference last year on the Nov. 19, 2005 killings of Iraqi civilians...

By: WILLIAM FINN BENNETT - Staff Writer NORTH COUNTY ---- Marine Corps officials confirmed Friday that Lt. Gen. James Mattis has called for an investigation into who leaked documents recently from a massive investigation of the 2005 deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha, Iraq. An attorney representing one of eight Camp Pendleton Marines charged in connection with the incident said Friday it was essential Mattis order the probe given the notoriety caused by a Jan. 6 Washington Post article. The newspaper cited interviews with eyewitnesses who allege four of the Marines had gunned down five men. "A lot of...

I'm an over-the-road truck driver. That means I have lots of time to indulge myself in activities not given to ordinary mortals, such as listening gavel-to-gavel to the Senate's impeachment process (still in progress as of this writing). Most ordinary mortals do not enjoy (?) this luxury, because they have lives of their own: things like home, family, hobbies, jobs that don't permit radio or TV listening. But me, I'm a captive audience in my truck, so if I feel like listening, then listening is what I do. It makes the miles go by. In the course of my tuning...

A man shelled out $60,000 for a “priceless, rare” piece of pop culture history — a single Pokemon card — and is now suing because it vanished from a Queens shipping depot, according to court papers obtained by The Post. Pokemon-loving plaintiff Marwan Alkhaja, 38, of Dubai says in his Brooklyn federal-court suit that he bought the “Trainer No. 3’’ card online from a US seller on eBay in August 2018. “This is not ‘just a Pokemon card,’ ” Alkhaja’s lawyer, Mark Zaid, told The Post. “Nothing that is mid-five figures is ‘just a card,’ and it is one of...

Adam Schiff went on Meet the Press on Sunday morning to discuss his failed week of sham impeachment hearings. During this 56 second clip below Schiff rattled off several lies. It was really stunning. We all know Schiff is a liar but nearly everything he said was complete garbage.

Giuliani reminded the DC swamp that he previously cleaned up mafia in New York and asked them, “Do you honestly think I’m intimidated?” RUDY GIULIANI: “I discovered a pattern of corruption that the Washington press covered up for years! I’m also going to bring out a massive pay-for-play scheme under the Obama Administration that will devastate the Democrat Party. Do you honestly think I’m intimidated? Giuliani presented a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham with evidence of a Democrat criminal conspiracy with Ukrainians to prevent Donald Trump from being President.

An attorney representing a whistleblower in the intelligence community who filed an inspector general complaint at the center of the impeachment proceedings lashed out at Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on Tuesday, accusing the congressman of lying and spreading conspiracy theories. Andrew Bakaj tweeted Tuesday that Jordan had lied about who the unnamed whistleblower had contacted before filing a report with the intelligence community's inspector general. "Congressman @Jim_Jordan - I AM TIRED OF YOU LYING IN A HOUSE COMMITTEE ROOM IN FRONT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. My client hired ME - no one else in leading up to filing the disclosure...

Fox News’ Gregg Re has just reported that a second whistleblower, possibly a real one this time, filed a complaint last week with the Intelligence Community Inspector General about the original whistleblower, alleged to be Eric Ciaramella. Re wrote that Ciaramella “may have violated federal law by indirectly soliciting more than a quarter-million dollars from mostly anonymous sources via a GoFundMe page.” So far, 6,000 donors have contributed a total of $227,000. The new whistleblower alleges that these funds: clearly constitute gifts to a current intelligence official that may be restricted because of the employee’s official position pursuant to 5...

A long forgotten video clip from ABC's "The View" resurfaced on Wednesday that showed co-host Joy Behar trying to explain a Halloween costume from when she was younger. The clip was shared by The Wrap media editor Jon Levine. Behar was seen discussing a New York Times op-ed about the resurgence of curly hair during the show in 2016. Behar showed her colleagues and the audience a picture of herself with curly hair when she was 29 years old. The co-hosts appeared surprised by her drastically different look. Raven-Symoné, a former co-host, asked, "Joy, are you black?"

Mark Zaid, one of the lawyers representing CIA leaker Eric Ciaramella, previously bragged about getting security clearances for “guys who had child porn issues.”Mr. Zaid in 2018 was responding to a fellow lawyer on Twitter who had claimed they helped people with past domestic abuse issues get security clearances. “I’ve gotten clearances for guys who had child porn issues,” Zaid responded to an attorney who specializes in helping government employees get security clearances.“Why would the whistleblower’s lawyer brag about this?” GOP operative Arthur Schwartz tweeted over Zaid. Why would the whistleblower’s lawyer brag about this? https://t.co/R8Wz9s81FL— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) November...