Free Republic

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) has subpoenaed three key White House staffers who are allegedly shielding Joe Biden from media scrutiny and doing his job for him amid his cognitive difficulties. “I am issuing subpoenas today for White House staff Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, and Ashley Williams to appear for depositions,” Comer announced on X on Wednesday. Williams is the Special Assistant to the President and Deputy director of Oval Office Operations, Bernal, the Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to the First Lady, and Tomasini, the Deputy Chief of Staff. “The White House has shielded these...

The fireworks launched Thursday are expected to continue in at least one city — Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As Republican delegates descend on the site of the GOP convention this week, some have come ready for a fight. The news that Donald Trump’s team wants to “simplify” the 60-page platform isn’t sitting well with longtime conservatives who believe the document is the party’s anchor to core values. “Presidential candidates come and go,” Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) pointed out, but the platform “is foundational.” “There’s no reason to change it. Let’s stick with what got us here.” Veterans of the platform debate, including...

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan on Thursday requested an interview with Jay Bratt, who is a top prosecutor on former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago classified documents case. The request is Jordan's latest focus on investigating people who are prosecuting Trump, and focuses on three White House meetings Bratt has taken since President Joe Biden took office. Jordan has accused Bratt of raising the specter of impropriety by taking the meetings.Only one of the meetings, which was the final meeting, took place after the National Archives informed the Justice Department it was having issues recovering records from Trump’s presidency, according to...

Speaker Johnson, why don’t we rescind the Congressional subpoena for Steve Bannon and officially repudiate the J6 committee by a vote of Congress?

Some years ago, I was trying a denaturalization case of someone who aided the Nazis. As an aside, the judge mentioned that his dad had been distraught upon hearing of the Hitler-Stalin pact because he knew it meant there would be a world war. I felt much the same upon reading of the verdict in the New York case against President Trump. There have been a number of fine analyses of the case itself, and I have chosen one which I discuss below for its clarity, but I’m concentrating today on the aftermath of this ill-conceived political hit job. Destabilizing...

House GOP leaders and their allies retreated on Thursday, backing off efforts to punish conservative rebels who had bucked leadership on a trade vote. Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said he was reinstating Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) as a subcommittee chairman, just a week after he stripped him of his gavel for voting against leadership and failing to pay party dues. And hours earlier, House GOP freshmen balked at a plot to sack their class president, Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), for defying leaders amid complaints he’s been ineffective at his job. All the backpedaling was an embarrassment for GOP...

If ever there were a moment for Democrats to press their political advantage, this is it. Their message on many of the biggest national issues — taxes, guns, education spending, financial regulation — has widespread support, and they have increased their numbers in both houses of Congress. But after years of being out-yelled by strident right-wing ideologues, too many in the Democratic Party still have a case of nerves, afraid of bold action and forthright principles.

Third Party Watch reports that the Libertarian Party National Committee just unanimously passed a resolution, which reads, in part, "In the event that Republican primary voters select a candidate other than Congressman Paul in February of 2008, the Libertarian National Committee invites Congressman Paul to seek the presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party, to be decided in Denver, Colorado, during the Memorial Day weekend of 2008." Third Party Watch has an eyewitness reporter at this meeting, which has been going on this weekend in Charleston, South Carolina. The Paul resolution was authored by former Congressman Bob Barr.

The Republican myth about "spending control" and "limited government" was exposed yet again today, this time by John Stossel. It made the Top Ten as a myth (or lie). A fair and straight reporter like John Stossel (who receives many kind words from Free Republic members) exposed this unfortunate truth that many still will refuse to acknowledge, no matter how many times members right here have stated the same thing as Stossel did tonight. I hope this report emabarasses the hell out of the GOP leadership -- but it will not. I don't believe the GOP will ever claim to...