Free Republic

@MittRomneyI know Joe Scarborough. Joe is a friend of mine. I don't know T.J. Klausutis. Joe can weather vile, baseless accusations but T.J.? His heart is breaking. Enough already.

Former CIA operative and 2016 third-party presidential candidate Evan McMullin took to Twitter and CNN on Wednesday to defend rogue intelligence agents who break the law to leak classified information, saying President Donald Trump “presents a threat to the country.” In response to President Trump’s tweets earlier Wednesday, in which he alleged that elements of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and National Security Agency were engaged in “Russia”-style political operations, McMullin tweeted:

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) pushed back against President Trump’s claims that voting by mail disadvantages Republicans, noting that large numbers of voters in Utah, a Republican stronghold, vote by mail. "In my state, I'll bet 90 percent of us vote by mail. It works very, very well and it's a very Republican state," Romney told reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday, according to ABC News. Much of the Western U.S. has voted by mail for years, and a poll released Wednesday found residents of those states are among the demographics most likely to say they would prefer to vote by mail...

The chairman of Bain Capital, the infamous venture capital firm excoriated by Democrats during the 2012 election for outsourcing American jobs, is putting big money behind a Super PAC working to elect former Vice President Joe Biden. Joshua Bekenstein, who was one of the founders of the firm alongside Mitt Romney and now serves as its chairman, donated $250,000 to Unite the Country at the start of April, according to the Super PAC’s Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings. On the same day that donation was made, Bekenstein’s wife, Anita, contributed a further $250,000, raising the couple’s total to half a...

Jeb Bush Retweeted    What petty, stupid bulls***. How is this useful in any way? https://t.co/X31KrRAWfV— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) May 18, 2020 LOSER! pic.twitter.com/p5imhMJqS1— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2020

During President Trump's impeachment, former U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch testified before Congress [under oath] that she knew little beyond an initial briefing and "press reports" about Burisma Holdings, the Ukrainian natural gas firm that had hired Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter and was dogged by a corruption investigation. "It just wasn't a big deal," she testified under oath on October 11, 2019. But newly unearthed State Department memos obtained under the Freedom of Information Act [show otherwise].

Sen. Mitt Romney, the Utah Republican, forcefully criticized the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus during a Tuesday Senate hearing and accused a Health and Human Services official of misleading the public about the US's record with testing for the virus. Romney pointed to Adm. Brett Giroir's statement — which reflects those made by President Donald Trump — that the US has tested twice the number of people per capita than South Korea has. But the assertion that the US's testing abilities are more robust than South Korea's makes no sense, given that the Asian nation ramped up testing far...

Simple arithmetic seems to be lost on the politicians, and that error is perpetuating a needless and counterproductive policy destroying our country. Politicians like Mitt Romney don’t seem to understand that the fact that there are so many infections actually makes the fatality rate of the virus remarkably low – a fact that should guide our policies going forward. The politicians keep referring to widespread outbreaks in prisons, meatpacking plants, and other semi- or fully confined areas with predominantly young populations. Then they refer to a relatively small number of fatalities anecdotally, as if this is the bubonic plague or...

Sen. Mitt Romney has proposed raising the wages of restaurant employees and other essential workers by $12 an hour through July as a way of raising their compensation above what they could collect in unemployment benefits and other forms of relief. Under the Utah Republican’s Patriot Pay Plan, employers would eat $3 of the increase, with the rest generated from a federal tax credit. For employees earning no more than $50,000 on an annualized basis, employers would get a refundable tax credit equal to $9 an hour, up to a maximum of $1,440 a month per employee.

After weeks of negative comments on how President Trump is handling the coronavirus crisis, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee former Vice-President Joe Biden has finally said what he would have done if he had been in office when the pandemic arose. "In addition to doing everything Trump has done, only faster and harder, I would have lowered the flag to half mast in honor of all those who died," Biden boasted. "I would have banned travel from China before anyone in the US got the virus. Then I would have immediately canceled all mass gatherings at sporting events, churches, concerts, and...

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, proposed a pay raise for essential workers on Friday who are braving the front lines of the novel coronavirus outbreak. The temporary bonus, known as "Patriot Pay," would amount to an increase of $12 per hour in May, June, and July, according to a Senate press release. One-quarter of the bonus would be paid by employers, while the remaining three-quarters would be paid out by the federal government. The measure would be funded by a refundable payroll tax credit.

Lower performing students hardest hit BOSTON – As we approach the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the United States Department of Education in May, shocking trends in student performance should lead us to reconsider the federal role in education and whether the initiative for policymaking should be returned to local schools, communities, and states. Breaking with decades of slow improvement, U.S. reading and math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and other assessments have seen historic declines since most states implemented national Common Core English and math curriculum standards six years ago, according to a new...

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) offered a critical assessment of the federal government’s readiness for the novel coronavirus, describing it as not a “great moment in American leadership.” Romney mostly kept his criticisms broad, avoiding attacking President Trump directly, though he took a few swipes at the president’s management style during an event with Georgetown University students via video chat on Tuesday night. The speed of our response looked slow compared to other people. That first phase will not stand out as a great moment in American leadership,” Romney said, referring to the onset of the coronavirus outbreak, adding, “We didn’t...

Mitt Romney has slammed Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic mocking him as 'not the smartest guy in the room' and saying his initial response was not a 'great moment in American leadership'. The Republican Senator laid into the president while speaking live on the Georgetown Politics Forum Tuesday evening. As well as blasting Trump's leadership style, Romney also criticized his move to stop funding to the World Health Organization and said a more centralized approach from the federal government would have been 'more effective' in tackling the pandemic.

President Trump on Thursday hosted phone calls with dozens of bipartisan lawmakers, including every Republican senator -- except Mitt Romney. The president asked the lawmakers to serve on a panel to discuss how to move forward with reopening the economy, called the “Opening Up America Again Congressional Group.” “The president announced that he will soon provide guidance to America’s governors to determine their ability to reignite the economies in their respective states,” the White House said in a news release. “The dialogue between the president, senior administration officials and the bipartisan group of members of Congress also included a range...

Sen. Mitt Romney is among a bipartisan group of lawmakers demanding that President Donald Trump explain why he fired the intelligence community inspector general. The eight senators, led by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, say the explanation Trump gave for removing Michael Atkinson was insufficient and does not comply with the law. The president cited a lack of confidence in the intelligence community’s top watchdog. “Congressional intent is clear that an expression of lost confidence, without further explanation, is not sufficient to fulfill the requirements of the statute,” the senators wrote in a letter Thursday. “This is in large part because...

WASHINGTON - In his daily briefings on the coronavirus, President Donald Trump has brandished all the familiar tools in his rhetorical arsenal: belittling Democratic governors, demonizing the media, trading in innuendo and bulldozing over the guidance of experts. It’s the kind of performance the president relishes but one that has his advisers and Republican allies worried. As unemployment soars and the death toll skyrockets, and new polls show support for the president’s handling of the crisis sagging, White House allies and Republican lawmakers increasingly believe the briefings are hurting the president more than helping him. Many view the sessions as...

President Trump taunted Mitt Romney on Wednesday after the Utah senator tested negative for coronavirus, ostensibly cheering the news before going on to slam his record as a presidential candidate and member of Congress. “This is really great news! I am so happy I can barely speak. He may have been a terrible presidential candidate and an even worse U.S. Senator, but he is a RINO, and I like him a lot!” Trump tweeted early Wednesday. A “RINO,” as Trump called Romney, stands for “Republican In Name Only.”

President Donald Trump reacted to the news on Sunday that Sen. Mitt Romney was currently isolated after spending time with Sen. Rand Paul who tested positive for the virus. “Romney’s in isolation?” Trump asked. “Gee, that’s too bad.”When the reporter asked if the president was using a sarcastic tone, the president replied, “None whatsoever.”Romney’s office said Sunday the senator would self-quarantine after learning that Sen. Rand Paul had tested positive for the virus, noting that he had spent time with Paul and that the attending physician ordered him not to vote on the Senate floor.

Republican Sens. Mitt Romney and Mike Lee on Sunday said they were going into self-quarantine after being exposed to Sen. Rand Paul, who tested positive for the coronavirus. Both Utah lawmakers said they had been advised by doctors to isolate because of the amount of time they spent in proximity to Paul, of Kentucky, who announced his diagnosis on Sunday. Romney’s office added that the senator “has no symptoms but will be tested.”