Free Republic

WASHINGTON — Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer backed the idea behind President Trump’s sweeping reciprocal tariffs Wednesday morning, but argued that levies should be “used like a scalpel.” Whitmer, seen by many as a possible contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination, told an audience in the nation’s capital that “I understand the motivation behind the tariffs,” the application of which has sent the stock market into free fall. “Here’s where President Trump and I do agree,” the 53-year-old said. “We do need to make more stuff in America. More cars and chips. More steel and ships. We do need...

At least one person is dead after a car was driven into a crowd of people in Mannheim, Germany. At least two dozen people were injured in the attack, as well. “So far, we can give no more information about the number and severity of the injuries,” the local police force said, per The Times. “During the manhunt, which was initiated immediately, we were able to identify and detain a suspect.” According to The Times, the driver is believed to be a German citizen and was taken to a hospital for treatment. There’s no information available yet about his motive....

New and emerging photos and details from the near-assassination of President Donald Trump don’t really make any sense, until you accept that the FBI is hopelessly corrupt; I’ve said this before and I’ll continue to say it, but the bureau is operating completely outside the authority delegated to the federal government by the Constitution, and the only lawful remedy is its complete abolition. Here’s the story, from an article by Glenn Thrush, published by The New York Times yesterday:Investigators — who performed an exhaustive search of his devices and online accounts — do not believe that Thomas Crooks, the would-be...

Donald Trump barely survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13—a fatal headshot was missed by millimeters. The would-be assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was perched on an unprotected rooftop less than 200 yards from the rally stage. Secret Service snipers killed him during the attack. What was his motive? We don’t know the official narrative from federal authorities, which is becoming a recurring conclusion of such investigations by the FBI. Yet, a social media clue might point us in the right direction. It's a platform that has a disreputable reputation for being a haven for neo-Nazis and...

Thomas Crooks’ phone has offered federal investigators no clear explanations about why the 20-year-old from suburban Pittsburgh tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump, law enforcement sources told The Post. Investigators have now turned their attention to the shooter’s laptop in the hopes of uncovering clues about his motive — a question that has proven still elusive two days after the shooting that rocked the nation. Investigators have been able to piece together some clues about Crooks’ movements in before the shooting at 6:11 p.m. on Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania. Earlier in the day, he bought 50 rounds of ammunition...

Michael Cohen said he was disappointed that Donald Trump didn't consider him for his Chief of Staff role in the White House. Trump didn't offer him the position, and Cohen even admitted he didn't "believe" the role was the right fit, but he just wanted his name included with other candidates. “I had other ideas for myself that I wanted but I wanted to be considered. It was more about my ego than anything," Cohen said.

The deadly shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ victory parade that killed one and injured nearly two dozen was the result of a personal dispute that exploded into violence — and cops have detained three people who may be at fault, authorities said Thursday. Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves emphasized that the Wednesday afternoon attack on the west side of the city’s landmark Union Station had nothing to do with homegrown terrorism or violent extremism. Instead, the shooting “appeared to be a dispute between several people that ended in gunfire,” Graves told reporters at a Thursday press conference. Two...

The White House said resident Joe Biden was just calling to check in on Hunter when he was on calls with his son's business associates. 'This is part of the right-wing's misinformation machine to try to confuse people about what the truth is,' White House spokesperson for oversight and investigations Ian Sams told CNN on Wednesday morning. 'The truth is that the president, as he said publicly for years, calls his family every day to check in. He calls his son every day to check in. He calls his other family members to check in to see how they are...

It has been almost three weeks since trans shooter Audrey Hale gunned down and murdered six innocent Christians, three of them very small children. At the time of the mass killing, police mentioned a manifesto along with a bunch of other guns … And as of now, they have yet to release the manifesto. Huh. Not to mention they’re still claiming Hale’s motive is ‘unclear,’ even with everything she left behind. Check this out from Byron York: Nashville mass killer Audrey Hale left behind 'cellphones and laptops, as well as a suicide note, three folders and 19 journals.' Instead of...

With police in Nashville now saying they won’t release details of the manifesto left behind by the transgender-identified individual who shot up a Christian school, the media now appears to be settling on the explanation that there is “no known motive” behind the attack.28-year-old Audrey Hale was shot dead by police after killing three children and three adults at The Covenant School, a private Christian school for students aged three to 11.With the media initially perplexed as to how to word their reporting of the story given that the culprit is transgender, they now appeared to have closed ranks on...

BOISE, Idaho — Four University of Idaho students found dead in an off-campus home were targeted, and the killer or killers used a knife or other “edged weapon” in the attack, police said Tuesday. The Moscow Police Department made the announcement in a news release, adding that investigators were working to establish a timeline to recreate the victims' activities before they were found dead Sunday. Police said the killings likely occurred in the early morning hours, and the bodies were found around noon. The students' deaths were considered to be “an isolated, targeted attack and there is no imminent threat...

CBS News, a far-left propaganda outlet that spreads lies and conspiracy theories, is deliberately deceiving its readers about the reported motive behind the hit-and-run murder of an 18-year-old North Dakota man. In the immediate wake of His Fraudulency Joe Biden declaring 65 million Trump supporters threats to America, 41-year-old Shannon Brandt deliberately ran down teenager Cayler Ellingson over a “political argument,” according to police reports. Police add that on the 911 call, Brandt accused the teenager of being “part of a Republican extremist group and [Brandt claimed] that he was afraid they were ‘coming to get him.'”

Cybersecurity experts who held lucrative Pentagon and homeland security contracts and high-level security clearances are under investigation for potentially abusing their government privileges to aid a 2016 Clinton campaign plot to falsely link Donald Trump to Russia and trigger an FBI investigation of him and his campaign, according to several sources familiar with the work of Special Counsel John Durham. Durham is investigating whether they were involved in a scheme to misuse sensitive, nonpublic Internet data, which they had access to through their government contracts, to dredge up derogatory information on Trump on behalf of the Clinton campaign in 2016...

Subheading: Policy could be paired with proposal to ban menthols; FDA must decide whether to pursue menthol ban by April 29 The Biden administration is considering requiring tobacco companies to reduce the nicotine levels in all cigarettes sold in the U.S. to levels at which they are no longer addictive, according to people familiar with the matter. Administration officials are considering the policy as they approach a deadline for declaring the administration’s intentions on another tobacco question: whether or not to ban menthol cigarettes. .... Nicotine itself doesn’t cause cancer, heart disease or lung disease, according to the FDA. But...

The man who rammed a car into two officers at a barricade outside the U.S. Capitol, killing one of them before he was shot to death by police, had been suffering from delusions, paranoia and suicidal thoughts, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on Saturday. Investigators believe it was an isolated incident from a disturbed young man. ... Investigators are increasingly focused on Green's mental health as they work to identify any motive for the attack, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about an ongoing investigation and spoke to The AP on condition of anonymity....

Commenting on the mass shooting in Nova Scotia on Saturday, in which at least 18 people were killed along with the alleged shooter, Rev. Franklin Graham said Canada "has some of the strictest gun laws in the world" but "criminals don't obey" gun control laws. Graham also noted that London's gun laws apparently do not deter criminals because in recent years there has been an increase in knife attacks. Now, policy-makers want to impose tougher "knife control" laws, he said.

A man wielding a knife stabbed and killed four officers at the police headquarters in the heart of central Paris on Thursday, before being shot dead. ... Sources told AFP the attacker was shot dead by police in the courtyard of the building, where he was employed. The man worked in an administrative capacity but it was not immediately clear what his precise work role was. .... There was no immediate indication of the possible motives of the attacker. ....

A high-stakes gambler who rained a hail of gunfire down on a crowd of country music fans, killing 58, took any specific motive for the 2017 attack to his grave, the FBI said Tuesday as it concluded the investigation into the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. The agency found no "single or clear motivating factor" to explain why Stephen Paddock carried out the attack from his suite in a high-rise casino hotel. The 64-year-old fatally shot himself as police closed in. "It wasn't about MGM, Mandalay Bay or a specific casino or venue," Aaron Rouse, the agent in...

The FBI has concluded its investigation into the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history without determining a motive. The FBI makes the conclusion in a report given to The Associated Press on Tuesday. After nearly 16 months, the agency says it can't determine why gunman Stephen Paddock killed 58 people and injured nearly 900 others in October 2017. Aaron Rouse is the special agent in charge of the FBI's Las Vegas office. He says Paddock acted alone when he planned and carried out the attack. The 64-year-old fatally shot himself after opening fire from his hotel suite. Rouse says...

More than a year after the bureau began digging into the slaughter of 58 people -- and the wounding of scores of others -- at a Las Vegas country concert, the FBI said Tuesday it hadn't concluded anything more about Stephen Paddock's mysterious motive for the attack than it had the day after the shooting stopped. The FBI's conclusions on the mass murder, which Paddock undertook from a sniper's perch in the Mandalay Resort and Casino in October 2017, were unveiled Tuesday by the Associated Press. The attack at the Route 91 Harvest Festival was the deadliest mass shooting in...