Free Republic

Dozens of House Democrats urged President Biden and his administration to revoke the diplomatic visa that former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is using to stay in the U.S. amid the recent riots in his country’s capital. In a letter sent Thursday, the lawmakers expressed concern about Sunday’s riots in Brasilia, noting the similarities between them and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol, with Bolsonaro and his administration touting false stolen elections claims and misinformation after he lost his reelection bid to current Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in October.

Retiring Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said in an interview that too many politicians in Washington “don’t care” about the country, only about their “political ambitions.” In an interview with The Associated Press published Wednesday, Leahy said when he first joined the Senate in 1975, senators found ways to get things done regardless of differing views. Leahy, 82, the Senate Appropriations Committee chairman, has spent the last 48 years in the Senate and serves as the chamber’s president pro tempore and is third in line to the presidency. “I think then, most of [the senators] knew there were basic things the...

Conservative pundit Meghan McCain says that Tuesday’s disappointing midterm election results for Republicans might have put the “final nail in the coffin” for former President Trump’s political career. In an op-ed published by the Daily Mail Wednesday, McCain, a former panelist on ABC’s daytime talk show “The View,” wrote that Republicans “are waking up this morning outraged and confused” because the GOP has so far failed to gain majority control of the House and Senate despite “the highest inflation rate in decades, crime that is “up everywhere” and President Biden’s low approval ratings.

Even for a guy like Elon Musk, $44 billion is quite a chunk of money to spend on anything, even for the most valuable and influential social media platform in the world. As often happens in the business world, cost-cutting measures are typically deployed upon acquiring a new business. According to a bombshell Bloomberg report Wednesday night, it appears the first money-saving cuts could come Friday in the way of firing roughly half of Twitter’s entire workforce. That would be about 3,700 jobs, according to the report. Musk is also set to require a majority of whichever workers are left...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) topped former President Trump in a new poll asking GOP voters who they trust to guide the party into the future. The ABC News/Ipsos poll, published on Sunday, found that 72 percent of registered Republicans believe that DeSantis, a former U.S. congressman, should have a great or good deal of influence in the future direction of the GOP, while 64 percent of respondents said the same of Trump.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a member of the House select committee investigating the Jan 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol, said on Sunday that he believes the Department of Justice (DOJ) should investigate former President Trump for his actions on that day. “If the department were now to take the position that you can’t investigate or indict a former president, then a president becomes above the law. That’s a very dangerous idea that the founders would have never subscribed to,” Schiff said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “Even more dangerous, I think in the case of Donald Trump. Donald Trump...

Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.) in an interview broadcast on Sunday said he would consider supporting former President Trump again if Trump apologies for the Jan 6, 2021 attack at the Capitol. “There’s no way you can support [Trump] again?” co-host Jonathan Karl asked Rice, one of the ten Republican lawmakers who voted to impeach the former president for his role in the insurrection, on ABC’s “This Week.” “No, there’s one way…if he apologized,” Rice told Karl. “So if he came out and said, ‘I’m sorry,’ I mean, all that goes out?” Karl asked Rice. “If he came out and said,...

A 2009 settlement agreement between deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Virginia Giuffre, who alleges she was abused by Epstein and forced to have sex with Prince Andrew when she was under 18 years old, will be made public next week, Reuters reported. U.S. District Judges Lewis Kaplan and Loretta Preska on Wednesday ordered that the agreement be released on or around Jan. 3, saying they found no reason to keep it sealed, per the wire service. Giuffre has brought a lawsuit against Andrew, saying that she was forced to have sexual contact with the Duke of York when she...

Former President Trump on Tuesday announced his endorsement of Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin (R) in the state’s gubernatorial race against current Gov. Brad Little (R). “Lt. Governor Janice McGeachin has been a true supporter of MAGA since the very beginning,” Trump said in his statement on Tuesday. “She is brave and not afraid to stand up for the issues that matter most to the people of Idaho, a beautiful State that I won by 30.8%.” Trump said he is supporting McGeachin due to her stance on election integrity, the Second Amendment, American manufacturing, school choice and her support of...

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm (D) said Sunday that President Biden is considering tapping into the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve amid rising crude oil prices. During an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Granholm told host Dana Bash that Biden is looking at every tool at his disposal to address high gas prices in the U.S. Granholm noted that Biden had already asked the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase supply, but it declined.

Massachusetts high school investigates reports of racial slurs during football game © Thinkstock A Boston Roman Catholic high school has suspended football activities amid an investigation into reports of one of its players using racial slurs toward an opposing player during a game last weekend, The Associated Press reported. In a statement posted on St. John Paul II website, Cathedral High School players told their coaches about St. John Paul II players’ using racial epithets toward them during the contest. Cathedral coaches reported the incident to St. John Paul administrators and have open an investigation into the allegations, according to...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Tuesday sought to bar state agencies from assisting the Biden administration with its immigration efforts, including the transportation of migrants. “Except as otherwise required by federal or state law, no Executive Agency under the direction of the Governor shall provide support or resources to, or in any way assist, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, or any other federal department or agency, federal contractor, or non-governmental organization, in transporting to the State of Florida any aliens apprehended at the Southwest Border,” DeSantis wrote. According to DeSantis’s order, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and...

The attorney for the Capitol rioter known as “QAnon Shaman” said that his client will plead guilty to charges stemming from the deadly insurrection, HuffPost reported. Attorney Albert Watkins said that Jacob Chansley, also known as QAnon Shaman, has reached a plea deal with prosecutors in his case. Chansley is facing multiple federal charges, including a felony count of obstructing an official proceeding and a felony charge of civil disorder, according to HuffPost. Watkins said that Chansely doesn’t want to be associated with QAnon anymore, saying his client experienced “pain, depression, solitary confinement,” among other mental health issues after participating...

North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer (R) clashed with a radio caller demanding to know the identity of the officer who shot Ashli Babbitt, one of the supporters of former President Trump who forced their way into the Capitol on Jan. 6. During an appearance on WDAY's "The Jay Thomas Show" on Tuesday, Cramer was answering questions from various callers when one asked about the identity of the officer who killed Babbitt. Cramer replied that even he doesn’t know the person's identity, but the caller argued that since he’s a “citizen of the United States,” he has the right to know...