Free Republic

On Wednesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) reacted to new reporting about then-President Joe Biden’s fitness by saying, “I don’t think it’s a new story that Joe Biden is a seasoned senior leader of our country, it was probably the most covered story of 2024, questions about his age.” Coons said, “I was surprised by what I saw the night of the debate. I hadn’t had a previous experience like that with President Biden. Ultimately, several weeks later, he decided to drop out. And, frankly, rather than looking back and re-litigating the timing...

State Farm is evidently not satisfied with an emergency 17% rate hike for homeowners in California, and intends to ask for 11% more, adding up to a total of nearly 30% — despite failing its obligations to consumers. As Breitbart News reported earlier this month, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara granted State Farm’s requested rate hike, despite protests from residents affected by the recent California wildfires. Victims of both the Eaton and Palisades Fires have complained that State Farm engages in “lowballing” estimates of compensation for damages — a practice that, Sen Josh Hawley (R-MO) reported last week, the company...

MSNBC contributor Claire McCaskill said Monday on “Deadline” that American voters were “not smart enough” to keep President Donald Trump away from the presidency. McCaskill said, “There’s a huge swath of Americans that don’t know about that because their algorithms are purposely not feeding them politics because they don’t want to hear about it. But you know what they’re all going to know about? They’re all going to know about higher prices. They’re all going to know that they’re spending more at Walmart than they spent this time last year. They’re all going to know that their 401Ks are down....

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has refused to bail out Los Angeles, which is facing a $1 billion deficit, in his latest budget proposal, as the state itself faces a massive $12 billion deficit. The Los Angeles Times reports: Deeper in the budget proposal, no salvation was found for L.A. And at a news conference Wednesday, Newsom said flatly that he did not plan to provide cash to help dig the city out of its budget hole. The city is facing a $1-billion shortfall due to inflated personnel costs, higher than ever liability lawsuit payouts and below-expected revenues. “The state’s...

WASHINGTON — President Trump again said Tuesday he wanted Canada to be America’s 51st state — but was rebuffed by newly-elected Prime Minister Mark Carney in a tense exchange in the Oval Office. “I still believe that, but, you know, it takes two to tango,” Trump told reporters — saying too that Carney could offer nothing to change his mind about new tariffs on America’s northern neighbor. Trump later gave more extensive commentary on a possible North American political union, calling the US-Canada border an “artificial line” and saying it would lead to a “massive tax cut” for them. “When...

Former first lady Michelle Obama is frightened by President Donald Trump’s deportation policy, she discussed during an episode of the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast. Obama and her brother, Craig Robinson, discussed fears they had growing up dealing with race issues, when she was asked to identify the “hardest recent test of that fear.” “In this current climate, for me it’s, you know, what’s happening to immigrants,” the former first lady replied, explaining that she is no longer fearful for herself — due to her celebrity status — but is instead fearful for illegal immigrants.

Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that the Trump administration was showing it did “not care about the rule of law.” Partial transcript as follows: FORMER RNC CHAIR REINCE PRIEBUS: They’ve got no — well, he said they’ve got no message. They’ve got no movement. They’ve got no leader. I mean, it doesn’t get any worse than that. I mean, you’re defending Harvard. You’re traveling to El Salvador for MS-13 gang members. But here’s the point. KARL: Alleged. PRIEBUS: You’re taking $20 million, if I’m looking at someone, my vice chair, the RNC...

While President Donald Trump met with Angel Mom Patty Morin, whose 37-year-old daughter Rachel Morin was murdered by an illegal alien MS-13 gang member in Maryland, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) met in El Salvador with a deported illegal alien accused of being an MS-13 gang member, domestic abuser, and human trafficker. Trump met with Patty Morin this week in the Oval Office as she also took to the White House press secretary podium to tell the establishment media of the brutal rape and murder her daughter, a mother of five, suffered at the hands of an illegal alien MS-13...

Governor Janet Mills (D-ME) said Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that President Donald Trump is not the law and his administration’s actions were “not rational” while discussing their transgender athletes dispute. Mills said, “Very unexpectedly the president called on me to answer a question that was unrelated to the topic at hand. I’ve been to the White House and talked to President Trump before, President Biden, President Obama, several presidents, always been a good conversation, exchange of ideas. This was different, very different, and when he said, ‘I am the law,’ basically, ‘we are the law,’ my jaw dropped, and...

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) announced on Friday morning that she will not seek reelection in 2026. In a video posted on social media, Gov. Reynolds told voters, “Serving as your governor has been the greatest honor of my life — an opportunity that, not so long ago, I never could have imagined.” The politician expressed gratitude for the trust fellow Iowans placed in her before saying that she wanted to share a “personal decision” with her constituents.

Former Vice President Harris made a surprise appearance at a leadership summit for Black women in California on Thursday, previewing her political future after losing the 2024 election to President Trump. “I’m not going anywhere,” Harris said during her nearly 8-minute speech at the Leading Women Defined gathering. Harris, who represented the Golden State in the Senate from 2017 until becoming vice president in 2021 under former President Biden, is widely thought to be mulling a run for California governor in 2026. She’s expected to make a formal decision by the end of the summer. Former Health and Human Services...

A defiant Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed that he will not step down from his leadership role any time soon while strenuously defending his decision to vote against blocking a GOP bill to avert a partial government shutdown. Schumer (D-NY), 74, who has been facing a progressive revolt over his shutdown vote earlier this month, reiterated that he “did this out of conviction” and fired back at detractors such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) “Look, I’m not stepping down,” Schumer told NBC’s “Meet the Press” in a pre-taped interview that aired Sunday. “I did it out of...

Pete Buttigieg is expected to announce Thursday that he will not run for Michigan’s open Senate seat — leaving the door open for a widely expected presidential run in 2028, according to a report. The former Transportation Secretary, who earlier said he was “looking” at a Senate campaign to replace retiring Democrat Gary Peters in one of the most competitive seats in the 2026 cycle, plans to announce that he’s now not running at some point on Thursday, a person briefed on his decision told Politico. His decision was framed by allies as a move to put him in the...

Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) claimed Tuesday on CNN’s “The Situation Room” that it is “disgusting” that President Donald Trump is not standing with democracies like Ukraine. Co-host Pamela Brown asked, “Is the United States on team Russia now?” Warner said, “This has been a, you know, a two week streak. Remember a week ago last Monday, for the first time ever, America in the United Nations voted with with Russia, Iran, North Korea, Nicaragua denying who started the war in Ukraine. The whole world knows Russia started it. Now you’ve got these this effort after the breakout in the White...

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky pushed back against President Donald Trump’s criticism that he isn’t ready for peace, insisting that only Russia is standing in the way of the ceasefire. President Zelensky appears to be undertaking a concerted effort to reset rhetoric around the Ukraine war, after he emerged from Friday’s failed attempt to create a new future relationship between Ukraine and the United States being accused of not truly being ready for peace at all. Attempting to turn that narrative on its head, Zelensky published several statements and made comments on Monday insisting that Ukraine is in fact absolutely ready...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) wondered what the federal government is “doing as they find a new COVID virus in China and we’re not part of the World Health Organization?” Co-host Boris Sanchez asked, “The argument from supporters of DOGE is that the federal government, as the president put it, is bloated and overgrown, that spending levels are unsustainable, that the country would go, de facto, bankrupt, as Elon Musk put it, without drastic changes to spending. Where do you think DOGE should focus then? Where should we see cuts?” Dingell answered, “

Keith Ellison is Minnesota’s incumbent Fifth District congressman, deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee and DFL candidate for Minnesota attorney general. He was a long-time apostle of hate on behalf of Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, though the local Minnesota media haven’t gotten around to revisiting the issue as Ellison seeks statewide office. Now he is an apostle of hate on behalf of the causes of the increasingly mainstream far left of the Democratic Party.h Speaking last week at a debate with GOP candidate Doug Wardlow, Ellison explained that he had operated under the impression that Farrakhan...

ROME — Jesuit Father James Martin has struck back at the “internet,” launching the disingenuous and counter-factual claim the Vatican “is not a walled city.” Father Martin, a gay rights activist, was responding to critics who have pointed out the obvious irony involved in Pope Francis’ harsh criticisms against U.S. immigration policy while the Vatican itself is the only walled sovereign territory in the world. The massive, 40-foot-high walls surrounding Vatican City State were built by Pope Leo IV, after Islamic Saracen troops sacked Old St. Peter’s Basilica in 846 AD. The original wall encompassed the entire Vatican hill, surrounding...

Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan earlier this month, pleaded not guilty on Monday to the state charges he is facing, including murder. Mangione’s not guilty plea comes after he was extradited late last week from Pennsylvania, where he was initially found and arrested, to New York, where the trial will be held. He is also facing four federal counts, including a charge of murder through use of a firearm, which could allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty. But while prosecutors have said the state and federal cases will progress on...

Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said Friday he will not return to Congress after resigning his House seat last week, despite having withdrawn from consideration to be President-elect Trump’s attorney general — but added he is “not going anywhere.” “I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch. I do not intend to join the 119th Congress,” Gaetz told conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, later adding it is a “pretty poetic time” to allow Florida’s 1st District to have new representation. There were questions about whether Gaetz may try to return to Capitol...