Free Republic

Sen. Thom Tillis said Friday that he will oppose President Donald Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh as Federal Reserve chair until the criminal probe of the current Chair Jerome Powell is “fully” resolved. “Protecting the independence of the Federal Reserve from political interference or legal intimidation is non-negotiable,” the North Carolina Republican said in a statement on X. Tillis, who is set to retire, vowed earlier this month to oppose any new nominee for the Fed until the Department of Justice’s controversial investigation of Powell is completed. Tillis is a member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee,...

Gold and silver prices plunged on Friday, as President Donald Trump’s nomination for the next chair of the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh, appeared to relieve concerns about the central bank’s independence. By 7:12 a.m. ET, spot silver was down 10.6% to settle at around $103.81 an ounce, paring back earlier losses. In the early hours of the morning, the metal had plummeted as much as 16% and dipped below the $100 milestone.

Thom Tillis has always said that he hates the camera. Then he announced his retirement last year. Now, the moderate Republican from North Carolina cannot stop making headlines. In a fiery floor speech earlier this year, Tillis said he was leaving the Senate to remove himself from any “boundaries I should have in expressing my concern and creating complications for my campaign” and Senate Republicans maintaining the majority. His retirement, which he announced last June, allows him to “speak truth” to President Donald Trump about White House policies and advice from Trump’s staff, he said earlier this month. But, the...

@RandPaul 🧵If H.R. 260 becomes law, $631M meant for Afghanistan reconstruction will be clawed back to the Treasury. After twenty years of war and failure, not another dollar should ever reach the Taliban. H.R. 260 finally ends Washington’s blind commitment to relocate Afghans without adequate safeguards. We’ve already seen the cost. One National Guardsman is dead at the hands of a terrorist who entered through resettlement. We must put security first. No country or NGO that props up the Taliban should ever receive U.S. tax dollars. This amendment makes that principle law. America must not bankroll those who side with...

@RepThomasMassie After rampant fraud was uncovered at daycare centers in Minnesota and elsewhere, a judge blocked President Trump’s effort to put guardrails on those programs. I’ve offered this amendment to circumvent the judge’s ruling and empower the President to withhold fraudulent funds.

@SenRandPaul Just read the minibus Congress plans to pass this year. An unbelievable over $5 billion is going toward refugee welfare programs. I am going to fight like hell to get this removed. In the meantime, call your Senators and tell them to vote NO, and to put an end to the refugee rip-off.

"They ought to take it to court," the Kentucky senator said.Making an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience Tuesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R–Ky.) expressed his frustration that the Trump administration has failed to refer Anthony Fauci for criminal prosecution for lying to Congress. Paul told Rogan that he believes Fauci's blanket pardon—issued by former President Joe Biden during the waning hours of his presidency—should be challenged in court. Paul said he has provided Attorney General Pam Bondi with evidence that Fauci misled Congress about gain-of-function research and also instructed his deputies to destroy public records in order to stymie scrutiny....

@SenRandPaul I just introduced the End Welfare for Non-Citizens Act to ensure taxpayer-funded benefits are reserved for Americans. This bill ends federal funding for programs like TANF, Medicaid, and SNAP for illegal immigrants, refugees, asylees, and new entrants. A recent massive fraud scheme—estimated by federal prosecutors to reach $9 billion, shows exactly why we must do more to protect American taxpayers from theft and abuse. Safeguarding public funds is more urgent than ever. The fraud involved dozens of individuals—many from Minnesota’s Somali community, who set up businesses and non-profits claiming to provide housing, food, or healthcare assistance, then billed federally...

Did President Trump seek authority from Congress to attack Venezuela? The short answer is no. There is no indication that Donald Trump sought or received advance authorization from Congress before ordering the strikes. Last month, Trump publicly stated that he did not believe congressional approval was required to launch attacks against targets in Venezuela, including strikes on land. He said he might brief Congress but would not seek formal legal authorization. In December, Republicans, joined by a small number of Democrats, voted down two separate War Powers resolutions in the House of Representatives that would have required congressional approval for...

In an early sign of congressional concern about the U.S. operation, Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah questioned President Trump's authority to use the military in Venezuela without authorization from Congress. "I look forward to learning what, if anything, might constitutionally justify this action in the absence of a declaration of war or authorization for the use of military force," he said in a social-media post.

'Tis the season for Senator Rand Paul to air his Festivus grievances about government waste! It's out, and it's spectacular! We're proud that--for the 7th year straight--the report features wasteful animal tests exposed by WCW, including: 🐶 $5.2M to inject beagles with cocaine and meth (NIH) 🐕 $13.8M for Dr. Fauci’s ongoing maximum pain tick bite experiments on beagles (NIH) 🦆☣️ $1M for a dangerous USDA-CCP bird flu gain-of-function collaboration (USDA) 🦭🐬 $77M for the Navy’s outdated Marine Mammal Program (DOD) 🐁🤰$2.8M to implant bone, liver, and thymus tissue from aborted human fetuses into lab animals to create “BLT mice”...

Majorities of Israelis oppose granting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a presidential pardon in his criminal trial…according to a new survey conducted for Zman Yisrael, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew-language sister site, this week. In response to the question, “Do you support or oppose Netanyahu’s request for a presidential pardon without admitting guilt or expressing remorse?” 53.2 percent of respondents said they oppose it, while 42.4% said they support it, and 4.4% said they don’t know. On the issue of ultra-Orthodox draft exemptions, the respondents were asked if they support or oppose the law proposed by MK Boaz Bismuth: 53.8% said...

Most Americans are not antisemitic, but concerns over Israel reflect “a real backlash to consensus view in American foreign policy,” United States Vice President JD Vance assessed in a Monday interview… The vice president said Fuentes serves as a “useful foil” for some pro-Israel conservatives, allowing them to avoid a substantive discussion about US policy toward Israel. Vance said that while he believes “Israel is an important ally... we’re also going to have very substantive disagreements with Israel – and that’s OK.”

Summary A few Republicans join Democrats in criticizing Epstein release as inadequate Justice Department missed deadline for full Epstein file disclosure Critics say redactions fuel conspiracy theories, erode Trump support The U.S. Justice Department released a partial, heavily redacted set of Epstein-related files on December 19-20, 2025, missing a congressional deadline for full disclosure under a bipartisan law signed by President Trump in November. The release included approximately 300,000 pages of documents, photos, and materials, with extensive redactions—including entirely blacked-out sections—and featured prominent references to former President Bill Clinton but few to Trump. Criticism came from both parties: Democrats accused...

President Donald Trump's announcement of the Patriot Games, a sporting event to celebrate 250 years of America, has sparked debate. Critics have likened the idea to The Hunger Games series, noting that in both, one boy and one girl are chosen to represent their region.

Ben, I’ve known you a long time, brother. You can’t handle the truth. Let’s face it, Ben Shapiro is the farthest thing from MAGA. Let’s be blunt. He is a hardcore never-Trumper. He’s a hardcore never-Trumper. In the spring of ’16, he tried to upend Breitbart. He walked off the job, made a big deal about some incident in Mar-a-Lago with Corey Lewandowski. He tried to turn it to Ted Cruz from Donald Trump because he hated Donald Trump. In the general election, he barely supported Donald Trump. The first sign of– when President Trump gets sent back to Mar-a-Lago,...

While we wait for the impending release of the federal government files on Jeffrey Epstein the files of the Epstein Estate released earlier raise questions about Epstein that go beyond sex abuse and sex trafficking. Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre wrote in her posthumous memoir published after her suicide that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked her to other men including one identified in versions published in countries with lenient libel laws: "a well-known former Prime Minister" Giuffre wrote of that former Prime Minister's brutal treatment of her. One former Prime Minister does figure prominently in relation to Epstein namely... In 2016 Jeffrey...

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...

One of the big fights coming this January is how to reform the failing Obamacare program, aka, the Unaffordable Care Act. Without massive COVID-era subsidies, users will pay a lot more in 2026. The program itself has so many problems, beginning with the fact that many well-off people qualify, and so much money goes to directly fund insurance companies, no questions asked. It is more than past time to just let this whole mess disappear. But many working people who don’t qualify for Medicaid need some options. Sen. Rand Paul has perhaps the simplest and most effective answer, one that...

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who voted with President Trump 98% of the time before her relationship with him fractured, accused the president in a recent interview with 60 Minutes of forsaking his base. The Georgia representative has recently split with the president on a number of issues, including affordability and foreign affairs. She said she believes he's failed to keep domestic policy as his top priority. In her resignation video, Greene said the president has forsaken the MAGA base, specifically pointing to his support of the crypto and pharmaceutical industries. "Those are the areas that are still getting everything they...