Free Republic

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), Angus King (I-ME), Mike Crapo (R-ID), and Mike Lee (R-UT) reintroduced the bipartisan Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration (FAIR) Act, S. 4074, to protect property owners’ rights, defend innocent Americans, and restore the Fifth Amendment’s role in civil forfeiture proceedings. “The federal government has made it far too easy for government agencies to take and profit from the property of those who have not been convicted of a crime. The FAIR Act will uphold the Fifth Amendment and ensure government agencies no longer profit from taking American citizens’ property without due process....

“ I just listened to @SenMikeLee on @Foxnews @ShannonBream say that the people tearing down statues have a valid grievance. REALLY? What’s the grievance? What justifies arson, lawlessness, looting? Stop cowering to thugs!”

Sen. Mike Lee is fighting back against Fox News host Tucker Carlson's claims that he would rather be on the good graces of tech companies rather than protect the rights of his constituents. A "chairman's note" on Lee's website rebutted Carlson's assertion that the Utah Republican was not concerned about Silicon Valley's influence over the First Amendment. "Sen. Lee does share Tucker’s concern about liberal progressive bias at Google, Facebook, Twitter, NBC News, CBS News, ABC News, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and National Public Radio," the page reads. "What the NBC News’ “Verification Unit” tried to do...

In his opening monologue today Fox host Tucker Carlson took on the subject of Google and their control over 70% of all on-line advertising revenue. Within the very accurate segment, Carlson noted that Utah Senator Mike Lee is in charge of the antitrust subcommittee and yet does nothing, absolutely nothing, to stop the authoritarian demonetization and deplatforming action carried out through the monopoly Google holds. No single issue will do more damage to the reelection efforts of President Trump than allowing Google to carry out their political agenda. However, that accepted, that’s also the motive for the Senate and DOJ...

On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” the Federalist Co-Founder Sean Davis stated that the Federalist never got any notice from Google over the threatened demonetizing of the site, it appears NBC “partnered with a foreign left-wing group in Europe to go after us and to use Google to go after us.” And vowed that the site’s comments section will return. Davis said, “We never got any formal notice from Google. We never got any notice from their ad team. We learned about this from NBC News, from the reporter, Ms. Fraser, who emailed a general...

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, says he's hearing that Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser plans to evict at least 1,200 National Guard troops from city hotels after she clashed with President Trump over the handling of George Floyd unrest in the city....

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, told "The Story" Wednesday that he was "troubled" by the release of documents showing top Obama administration officials -- including then-Vice President Joe Biden -- requested to "unmask" the identity of Michael Flynn in intelligence reports during the presidential transition period. "I wasn't shocked by the people who were on [the list]," Lee said, "but I was, however, a little troubled by the idea that after 230 years in which we have had peaceful transitions of power between one administration and the other, you've got what appears potentially to have been an effort by one administration...

The Senate on Wednesday approved more legal protections for some individuals targeted by a shadowy surveillance court. The 77-19 vote, which will add language to a House-passed bill, marks a victory for privacy hawks who have raised red flags about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court for years. But it also adds a snag to getting the bill to Trump's desk. Because senators voted to amend the House bill, once it is passed by the Senate, which is expected to happen on Thursday, it will have to be sent back to the House to be passed for a second...

President Trump is looming as a wild card in the Senate’s fight over reauthorizing three lapsed surveillance programs. Trump, who has repeatedly lashed out that his 2016 campaign was “spied” upon, has not said if he will sign the House-passed bill, which would pair reauthorization of the three lapsed parts of the USA Freedom Act with some reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court. The Senate is expected to vote on a handful of amendments to the House bill as soon as Wednesday, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his allies hoping to prevent additional changes....

The Senate failed Thursday to override President Donald Trump’s veto of a bill that would curb his ability to take military action against Iran. The Senate came up short of the two-thirds majority, and it voted 49-44, with seven GOP senators joining Democrats. Seven Republicans broke with Trump: Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Mike Lee of Utah, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Todd Young of Indiana, and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) joined Democrats in February to pass the bill, but he did not vote Thursday. Trump on Wednesday night,...

EXCLUSIVE: Attorney General William Barr on Thursday denied reports that the Department of Justice is seeking new emergency powers for itself amid the coronavirus outbreak that would suspend certain rights in criminal matters and potentially detain people indefinitely without trial, saying, “It's cockamamie nonsense.” "It's a gross mischaracterization," Barr told Fox News during a telephone interview. The Justice Department has faced a backlash from some lawmakers after news reports first surfaced this week saying the department was seeking to suspend certain rights: Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., tweeted, “More power to the so-called Attorney General? PASS.” Some Republicans pushed back...

Republican Sens. Mitt Romney and Mike Lee on Sunday said they were going into self-quarantine after being exposed to Sen. Rand Paul, who tested positive for the coronavirus. Both Utah lawmakers said they had been advised by doctors to isolate because of the amount of time they spent in proximity to Paul, of Kentucky, who announced his diagnosis on Sunday. Romney’s office added that the senator “has no symptoms but will be tested.”

Thanks to Senators Rand Paul (R., Ken.) and Mike Lee (R., Utah), as well as an amen chorus of Trump loyalists in the House, the president seems poised to fulfill one of the fondest dreams of Clinton and Obama Democrats: Government policy that regards international terrorism as a mere crime, a law-enforcement issue to be managed by federal judges rather than a national-security threat from which the officials Americans elect must safeguard our country. I doubt the president realizes these ramifications of declining to reauthorize three PATRIOT Act security measures that are set to expire. Successfully camouflaging themselves as “FISA...

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) may use the Senate’s Unanimous Consent rule this week to pass his redrafted S.386 “country caps” bill, which rewards Indian graduates who take jobs from U.S. graduates, say a variety of lobbyists and advocates. Lee’s campaign is being quietly pushed by technology companies, from behind the cover of a noisy group of Indian workers who were imported into the United States by U.S. and Indian managers at many mainstream U.S. companies. The group, dubbed Immigration Voice, is loudly blaming Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) for blocking Lee’s bill, partly to obscure GOP senators’ concerns and the growing...

Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.)Sen. Bill Cassidy (La.)Sen. Susan Collins (Maine)Sen. Mike Lee (Utah) Sen. Jerry Moran (Kan.)Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska)Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.)Sen. Todd Young (Ind.)  

The Senate on Thursday voted to pass a resolution limiting President Trump’s power to order military strikes against Iran without the approval of Congress. The bipartisan 55 to 45 vote — in which eight Republicans joined all Democrats in approving the resolution — was seen as a rebuke of Trump’s opposition to consulting Congress when making foreign policy decisions. But the measure is largely symbolic as it has been slammed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Trump, and so is not likely to garner enough Republican support to override an expected presidential veto. That would require a two-thirds majority.

The U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to advance a War Powers resolution which would limit President Donald Trump’s ability to use military action against Iran without approval from Congress. The vote was bipartisan, 51-45, with eight Republicans voting with Democrats. The eight Republicans in favor of the resolution included Utah Sen. Mike Lee, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Maine Sen. Susan Collins, Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, and Indiana Sen. Todd Young.

SALT LAKE CITY — Reaction to Sen. Mitt Romney’s vote to remove President Donald Trump from office has ranged from outrage to praise across the country and in Utah. Those mixed emotions are reflected in a new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll with KSL showing 22% of Utahns are disappointed and 21% are proud to have Romney as their senator in light of his vote to convict Trump. The poll also found that 14% are encouraged, 13% are pleased, 11% are embarrassed and 8% are angry. Another 11% weren’t sure. Given those results, Utah voters overall reaction to Romney’s...

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said on Thursday that Republicans in Utah are not pleased with the state's other Republican senator, Mitt Romney, after he voted to convict President Trump for abuse of power in the Senate impeachment trial. “There will be some people who might be happy with it, and they might be called Democrats, for the most part. I think Republicans are very upset about it. And I, for one, disagree with it and disagree with it strongly,” Lee told Shannon Bream on “Fox News at Night.” ~snip~ Lee pushed back on Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., for praising Romney’s...

Mitt Romney is a good friend and an excellent Senator. We have disagreed about a lot in this trial. But he has my respect for the thoughtfulness, integrity, and guts he has shown throughout this process. Utah and the Senate are lucky to have him.— Mike Lee (@SenMikeLee) January 31, 2020