Free Republic

Trump considered replacing Pete Hegseth with Ron Desnatos as Defense Secretary: President-elect Donald Trump is considering replacing Pete Hegseth, his controversial pick to lead the Pentagon, with one-time 2024 rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, people familiar with the discussions told The Wall Street Journal Tuesday. The move comes as Hegseth, a 44-year-old Army veteran and former Fox News personality, faces increasing scrutiny over allegations of sexual misconduct and financial mismanagement. Trump is reportedly weighing Ron DeSantis as secretary of defense. REUTERS Trump is reportedly weighing Ron DeSantis as secretary of defense. REUTERS Pete Hegseth has become embattled with controversy and...

Daniel McCarthy is right that President-elect Donald Trump has rewritten the electoral map, but he is incorrect in saying that it was Trump who turned Florida into a reliably red bastion (“A New Political Map,” Post­Opinion, Nov. 26). In Trump’s first midterm, 2018, Republicans won the governorship by less than one percentage point. Four years later, in 2022, Gov. Ron DeSantis was re-elected by about 20 points. That happened while Trump was out of office and MAGA candidates were losing elsewhere. It is DeSantis, the most effective and principled governor in America, who turned Florida reliably red. He did so...

Kevin McCarthy could lead a new house soon, The Post has learned. The ousted former speaker of the House of Representatives is widely seen as a top contender to be former President Donald Trump’s first chief of staff if he retakes the White House following the Nov. 5 election, according to sources familiar with the deliberations. No final decision has been made and there is no sign that McCarthy is campaigning for the coveted role — though one person said the Californian has shown openness to being part of a second Trump administration in some capacity. “[McCarthy] knows DC better...

Republican activists in swing states say they have seen little sign of the teams tasked with knocking on doors and turning out infrequent voters on behalf of Donald Trump, raising concerns about the party’s presidential nominee relying on outside groups for an important part of his campaign operations. Trump and the Republican National Committee he controls opted to share get-out-the-vote duties in key parts of the most competitive states this year with groups such as America PAC, the organization supported by billionaire Elon Musk. It is difficult to demonstrate that something is not happening. But with fewer than 50 days...

Former President Donald Trump indicated that he likely wouldn’t run in 2028 if he loses the Nov. 5 election against Vice President Kamala Harris. “No, I don’t. I think … that will be it. I don’t see that at all,” the 78-year-old told “Full Measure” with Sharyl Attkisson in an interview that aired Sunday when asked about vying again in 2028 if he loses this cycle. “Hopefully, we’re gonna be successful.

As president, I will restore American strength on the world stage and focus our attention and resources on deterring Xi’s Chinese Communist Party — the greatest economic and security threat facing America today. My goal is straightforward: We win, and they lose. My treasury and commerce secretaries will focus on American interests, not Wall Street’s access to Chinese markets. I will create an Office of Economic Security and Competition to prioritize reshoring and friendshoring critical production, protecting technologies and reducing reliance on adversaries. I will defend American workers and innovators from illicit technology transfer and intellectual-property theft. I will align...

Floyd’s death during a police chokehold on May 25, 2020, ignited nationwide protests to reform police procedures. “It doesn’t get any worse than that,” President Donald Trump said of Floyd’s death. Within three weeks, he signed an executive order establishing an abuse-of-force database and called for improved police practices. Fast forward to Feb. 22, 2024, when Georgia nursing student Laken Riley was bludgeoned to death, allegedly at the hands of an illegal migrant, Jose Ibarra, who is a member of the notorious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday he would not consider being Donald Trump’s running mate one day after the former president confirmed the former 2024 rival was on his “short list” — with DeSantis revealing that he was looking at other prospects, including another White House bid in four years. “People were mentioning me [as a potential vice president]. I am not doing that,” DeSantis told Republicans his presidential campaign had recruited to be delegates to this summer’s nominating convention during a thank-you call, audio of which was shared exclusively with The Post. The 45-year-old also went in-depth about who...

The European Union is good at coming up with inoffensive-sounding terminology to talk about unpleasant things. For example, the phrase “strategic autonomy” is a nice way of saying, “We don’t trust the Americans” — and, with Donald Trump leading the polls and boasting about encouraging Vladimir Putin to invade European countries, it is impossible to blame them. It is important to get the context of Trump’s remarks straight: Trump says he told an unidentified NATO counterpart whose country hadn’t met the organization’s target for defense spending, “No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage [Russia] to do...

The purported value of Ivanka Trump’s Park Avenue penthouse came under scrutiny this week during testimony at trial in the New York attorney general’s $250 million civil fraud case against the former president. Donald Bender, a former accountant for Donald Trump at the accounting firm Mazars USA, testified in Manhattan Supreme Court on Monday that he saw errors between the value listed for the posh pad on financial documents and its potential sale price. Bender explained from the witness stand that, while he wasn’t in charge of auditing the company financials, he “from time to time” would tell Trump Organization...

New York Attorney General Letitia James released a statement marking the first day of her trial agaisnt former President Donald Trump on Monday. Trump will appear before Judge Arthur Engoron in Manhattan on Monday. He faces charges of fraud relating to his business dealings. “For years, Donald Trump falsely inflated his net worth to enrich himself and cheat the system. We won the foundation of our case last week and proved that his purported net worth has long been rooted in incredible fraud. In this country, there are consequences for this type of persistent fraud, and we look forward to...

This is not the presidential portrait he wanted. A sheriff in Georgia said former President Donald Trump will likely have his mug shot taken if he is hit with a fourth indictment in that state. Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat anticipates authorities will adhere to “normal practices” if Trump receives an indictment for attempting to challenge the 2020 election results in the Peach State. “Unless somebody tells me differently, we are following our normal practices, and so it doesn’t matter your status,” Labat told reporters during a press conference Tuesday. “We’ll have a mug shot ready for you.”

Donald Trump on Sunday vehemently denied directing a staffer to delete security footage at Mar-a-Lago. Special Counsel Jack Smith had lodged three additional charges against the embattled former president Thursday night, including over Trump allegedly telling an underling to have surveillance footage scrubbed after the Justice Department subpoenaed for it last year. “MAR-A-LAGO SECURITY TAPES WERE NOT DELETED. THEY WERE VOLUNTARILY HANDED OVER TO THE THUGS, HEADED UP BY DERANGED JACK SMITH,” Trump wrote in all caps on Truth Social. “WE DID NOT EVEN GO TO COURT TO STOP THEM FROM GETTING THESE TAPES. I NEVER TOLD ANYBODY TO DELETE...

“We will defeat the cult of gender ideology, and we will reassert the timeless truth that God created two genders, male and female,” he said. “We will defend our culture. We will reassert the Judeo-Christian values of our nation’s founding.” But Trump’s actions in 2012 appeared to be in contrast to weekend statements when he overruled the rejection of Jenna Talackova, a transgender beauty queen who entered the Miss Universe Canada competition. Talackova, then 23, was originally denied because she was not born a biological female, according to a past report. She and her lawyer at the time, Gloria Allred,...

Perhaps the most moderate candidate in the field as of this moment is Donald Trump. If you want a Republican who won’t cut spending or start foreign wars, Trump is still your man. Added to this now is clearly a discomfort with the fight over abortion in the post-Roe environment. Trump’s main line of attack against Ron DeSantis is from the left. He’s hitting the Florida governor hard for his past support for reining in Social Security and Medicare. He’s also called the governor’s culture-war clash with Disney “so unnecessary” and “a political stunt,” while not entering the fray in...

Although the landmark 34-count criminal case against former President Donald Trump hinges on his alleged hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, the Manhattan DA’s investigation also deals with a less-familiar name – Karen McDougal. McDougal, a 52-year-old former Playboy Playmate, claims she had an affair with Trump over a decade ago. She also says she was silenced when Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney, and the leadership at American Media Inc. paid her for her story in the run-up to the 2016 election — and then buried it. *** In a Feb. 2018 report based on McDougal’s...

The Manhattan District Attorney’s case against Donald Trump centers around allegations the former president orchestrated illegal “catch and kill” payments in a scheme to suppress negative stories about him during the 2016 election that continued while he was in office, according to the indictment against him unsealed Thursday. Trump, 76, is facing a total of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, which each carry a maximum sentence of four years behind bars. Taken together, the ex-president faces a whopping 136 years behind bars, but if convicted at trial and actually sentenced to jail, the time...

Long-held values like patriotism, religion and community involvement are in retreat across America, according to a stunning poll released Monday. The Wall Street Journal/NORC survey found that just 38% of Americans say patriotism is “very important” to them, down from 70% who said the same in 1998. Slightly more Americans (39%) placed the same importance on religion, down from 62% who said faith was “very important” to them 25 years ago. ​The percentage of Americans who said raising children was “very important” fell to 30% in the new poll, down from 59% in 1998.

Former President Donald Trump has reportedly said he wants to be hauled into court in handcuffs if he’s slapped with unprecedented charges in the “hush money” case involving porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump, 76, told advisers of his plan, saying that if he has to go through the ordeal of getting arrested and arraigned, he’d prefer making it a “spectacle,” The Guardian said Wednesday, citing unidentified sources close to him. The ex-president — who’s seeking the Republican nomination for a third White House bid in 2024 — also wants to avoid any special treatment that could make him look weak,...

Former President Donald Trump has not been notified about whether charges will be filed against him by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for his alleged role in facilitating a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, sources told The Post. Sources also told The Post that it is still possible that Bragg decides not to indict the 76-year-old former president. Trump could be indicted as early as Wednesday, although he is not expected to appear in court until next week, law enforcement sources told The Post on Tuesday. According to Fox News, the Manhattan grand jury hearing evidence...