Free Republic

"Trump, like Clinton, has not been implicated of wrongdoing, and the president has said he had a falling out with Epstein years ago."And with that brief observation by Politico on Friday by Hailey Fuchs in "DOJ announces full release of Epstein files," all their absurdly frenetic efforts last year to somehow implicate President Donald Trump via the Jeffrey Epstein files look like they came up empty. Millions of the Epstein files were released and as Politico sadly conceded, Trump was not implicated of wrongdoing (although for Clinton that might not be the case due to the Clintons refusing to testify...

The new lawsuit is part of a wave of litigation seeking fines for undocumented immigrants for failing to depart the country.The Trump administration sued a Virginia woman for almost $1 million as part of an escalating drive to get undocumented immigrants to leave the U.S. by levying court-imposed fines.The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Richmond, seeks $941,114 plus interest from Marta Alicia Ramirez Veliz for allegedly failing to leave the U.S. for more than three years after a Justice Department appeals panel ruled against her in an immigration case in 2022.Officials appear to have arrived at...

Few things better illustrate the laughably absurd levels of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has infected Politico than the accompanying screenshot (as of this writing) of three Politico magazine stories featured on the front page of that biased periodical.The screenshot reveals a trifecta of magazine stories reflecting negatively on President Donald Trump, "Trump’s Greenland Gambit Has Broken Brains Across Washington," "Europe Could Kick Trump Where It Hurts: The World Cup," and "‘They Have This Combination of Grandiosity, Narcissism and Sociopathy’."You don't have to go much further beyond the title of the first Politico Magazine story to see it is the work...

Most in the GOP are silent or backing the Trump administration, but a conspicuous few are speaking out. A small but growing number of Republicans are raising public concerns about the killing Saturday of a 37-year-old Minnesota man by federal agents.Hours after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti on a Minneapolis street, one House GOP chair called for the top ICE leader and other Trump administration officials to publicly answer lawmakers’ questions. GOP Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina called for independent probes into the shooting, with Cassidy arguing the integrity...

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said he doesn’t like banks and will scrap interest payments British lenders receive through the Bank of England’s quantitative easing program. The Reform Party included the proposal to end the practice of the U.K. central bank paying interest on the reserves placed with it by banks in its 2024 manifesto, which it claimed would bring in up to £40 billion for taxpayers. “We are going to do it. Some of the banks won’t like it. Well, I don’t like the banks very much because they debanked me, didn’t they?” Farage said in an interview with...

The administration’s arguments that offshore wind farms present a national security risk failed to convince judges in three separate courts. President Donald Trump’s long-running quest to demolish the U.S. offshore wind sector is facing some serious blowback in federal court. Three different judges — including one appointed by Trump — last week allowed construction to resume on multi-billion-dollar offshore wind projects off the coasts of New England, New York and Virginia that the Interior Department was trying to idle. After Congress shredded incentives for wind last year and the administration imposed new permitting roadblocks, the industry’s streak of victories this...

Many of the troops and ships once at the president’s disposal have shifted to the Caribbean.The Trump administration has insisted it has numerous military options to deploy against Iran if the regime uses force against demonstrators. But that menu is far more limited than it was even a year ago. The U.S. troops and ships that were once at the president’s disposal have shifted to the Caribbean. A major American defense system sent to the Middle East last year has returned to South Korea. And administration officials say there are no plans for the movement of major assets. The president...

Sen. Rand Paul expressed concerns Sunday over President Donald Trump’s threats to bomb Iran as the Middle Eastern country sees widespread protests continue. Speaking with ABC’s “This Week,” the Kentucky Republican said he is not sure striking Iran “will have the effects intended.” “We wish freedom and liberation the best around the world, but I don’t think it’s the job of the American government to be involved with every freedom movement around the world,” Paul said.Paul also expressed concerns over how the administration would distinguish between Iranian protesters and law enforcement if Trump were to approve military action in the...

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok restricted access to a much-criticized deepfake generator on social media platform X following a surge of users creating nonconsensual nude images. Grok now says that "image generation is currently limited to paying subscribers" as "this helps ensure responsible use while we continue refining things," citing "recent issues and improvements to safeguards." The chatbot has drawn scrutiny from regulators and politicians across Europe after it enabled users to manipulate pictures posted online into a series of deepfakes, including depictions of undressed minors and public figures. Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch was one of the latest...

Tim Walz wants a third term. Donald Trump and Mike Lindell want to beat him. Minnesota has been the white whale for Republicans in the Trump era. And 2026 could be the year they finally break through — if President Donald Trump and one of the most prolific peddlers of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election don’t sink their chances. Republicans are growing optimistic about their chances of unseating Democratic Gov. Tim Walz next year, as he seeks a historic third term. But Trump’s increasingly caustic attacks on Walz and disparagement of Minnesota’s Somali community — and MyPillow CEO Mike...

“Make no mistake, the blame behind the skyrocketing health care costs millions are facing today is squarely at the feet of House Republicans, and the American people know it,” DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) said in a statement. “Instead of putting forth a serious proposal to address spiking health care costs, House Republicans chose to focus on delivering massive tax breaks for the wealthiest few — never even allowing a floor vote to save the tax credits before their expiration.”It is true no vote took place before the expiration, but jitters about an electoral backlash prompted a handful of House...

We have quickly gone through the stages of the typical Democrat's response to the Somali fraud story: It's not happening. It's happening, but not much. It's happening, but it's a good thing. Except now, POLITICO's Josh Gerstein has thrown in a new step ... Man, why are so many people on the Left so violent? Not to mention ignorant of gun laws? Note, we realize we're being facetious here. Josh Gerstein @joshgerstein At some point, the amateur effort to knock on doors of home daycares intersects with robust stand-your-ground laws 11:48 PM · Dec 29, 2025 Is he really saying...

At least six career staff were placed on leave after DHS opened an investigation into whether they misled the agency’s acting director, Madhu Gottumukkala, into taking the test. At least six career staffers at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency were suspended with pay this summer after organizing a polygraph test that the agency’s acting director, Madhu Gottumukkala, failed. The Department of Homeland Security opened an investigation into whether the staff provided “false information” about the need for the test — which was scheduled after Gottumukkala sought access to certain highly sensitive cyber intelligence shared with the agency. This article...

Members of the MAGA faithful gathered here Thursday to kick off Turning Point USA’s America Fest, the largest meeting for the organization since its founder, Charlie Kirk, was shot to death on a Utah college campus in September. Despite that somber backdrop, the event quickly devolved into a spectacle of MAGA infighting.

President Donald Trump doubled down on a statement he issued on social media in response to actor-director Rob Reiner’s death, pointing out that he “wasn’t a fan of his at all.”While taking questions from the press on Monday, Trump was asked about a Truth Social post he made in which he stated Reiner had a “crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.” Trump’s post came after the news broke that Reiner — who directed The Princess Bride, and When Harry Met Sally, and his wife, Michele, were found dead inside their Brentwood home.“Mr. President, a number of Republicans have denounced...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Sunday that partisan gerrymandering will “lead to more civil tension and possibly more violence in our country,” urging restraint in the ongoing redistricting wars playing out in more than a dozen states. “I think there is the potential that when people have no representation, that they feel disenfranchised, that it can lead, it might lead to violence in our country,” Paul said in an interview with Kristen Welker on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Paul’s warning comes as state lawmakers across the country consider redrawing congressional lines at the insistence of President Donald Trump, with Democratic-led...

VIDEOIs Dasha Burns of Politico planning on doing what many non-narrative journalists have already done and go independent? The question has to be asked because during her newly released interview with President Donald Trump she AGREED with him on immigration, specifically on the stark contrast between Trump shutting down the border versus Third World immigrants that continue to flood Europe. It was so surprising to hear her agreeing with Trump on this that upon first hearing this I thought it was due to a wax buildup in my ears that I have an upcoming clinic appointment to get flushed out.How...

Epstein fever appears to have mercifully broken at Politico. Yes, although as recently as this past summer when Politico went full frenzy by publishing SIX Jeffrey Epstein stories in a 24 hour period in the apparent belief that the Epstein files would provide salvation from the Trumpocalypse, brutal reality appears to have set in.It isn't that they are any less hostile to Trump but even Trump-hating analyst Ankush Khardori recently admitted the sad truth that the release of those files is unlikely to unlikely to harm Trump.As a result, Politico has been forced to do something very unusual when it...

Belgium? Really? Of all the places in the world you would not expect to be a cesspool of nearly open corruption, Belgium pretty much tops the list. But there it is. Belgium is basically a narco-state, a top Antwerp judge has warned.https://t.co/zH0fSm2mfR— POLITICOEurope (@POLITICOEurope) October 27, 2025Like so many things that sound insane when you say them, the claim that Belgium is now more akin to Mexico than a land of peace and chocolates is easy to dismiss as the fever dream of a cranky conspiracy theorist than a reflection of reality. But, according to an Antwerp judge, who published...

Donald Trump’s drive to secure peace in Ukraine must not let Vladimir Putin off the hook for war crimes committed by Russian forces, a top EU official has warned, effectively setting a new red line for a deal. In an interview with POLITICO, Michael McGrath, the European commissioner for justice and democracy, said negotiators must ensure the push for a ceasefire does not result in Russia escaping prosecution. His comments reflect concerns widely held in European capitals that the original American blueprint for a deal included the promise of a “full amnesty for actions committed during the war,” alongside plans...