Free Republic

Trump administration officials fired more than 300 staffers Thursday night at the National Nuclear Security Administration — the agency tasked with managing the nation’s nuclear stockpile — as part of broader Energy Department layoffs, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. Sources told CNN the officials did not seem to know this agency oversees America’s nuclear weapons. An Energy Department spokesperson disputed the number of personnel affected, telling CNN that “less than 50 people” were “dismissed” from NNSA, and that the dismissed staffers “held primarily administrative and clerical roles.” The agency began rescinding the terminations Friday morning. Some...

NATO’s Secretary-General Mark Rutte hailed newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump’s warning on Wednesday that Russia could expect more tariffs and sanctions if it did not end the war in Ukraine. “I was very, very happy with the position of Trump to put more sanctions on Russia. We know that the Russian economy is doing terribly bad[ly], and the sanctions will help,” he told CNBC on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.” He expressed hopes that Europe will now also “step up” with sanctions in a bid to “choke off the Russian economy” and lessen Moscow’s...

US President Donald Trump on Monday called for Russian President Vladimir Putin to strike a deal to end the nearly three-year war in Ukraine, specifying that Russia will be in "big trouble" if the conflict continues. "He should make a deal. I think he's destroying Russia by not making a deal," Trump said upon his return to the Oval Office. "I think Russia's going to be in big trouble." Trump expressed his willingness to meet with Putin, mentioning their prior summit during his first term. "I got along with him great. I would hope he wants to make a deal,"...

President-elect Donald J. Trump’s support for Pete Hegseth, who he announced as his nominee for defense secretary shortly after Election Day, is wobbling after a crush of controversy over a rape allegation and a 2018 email from Mr. Hegseth’s mother accusing him of a pattern of abuse toward women. How Mr. Hegseth fares through a series of tests on Wednesday will be critical for his chances. He is set to continue his meetings with key senators, including Joni Ernst of Iowa, a combat veteran who has spoken about being sexually assaulted herself, and his mother is expected to sit for...

In his future policies, including those on the Russian track US President-elect Donald Trump will rely on the commitments to the forces that brought him to power, rather than on election pledges, Russian presidential aide Nikolay Patrushev told the daily Kommersant in an interview. "The election campaign is over," Patrushev noted. "To achieve success in the election, Donald Trump relied on certain forces to which he has corresponding obligations. As a responsible person, he will be obliged to fulfill them." He agreed that Trump, when he was still a candidate, "made many statements critical of the destructive foreign and domestic...

Former President Trump on Saturday revealed that he is selling $100 “Trump Coins” with his face on them, calling the items a “true symbol of American greatness.” The coins are now the latest product to be sold by Trump as he seeks a second term in the White House, following the launch of Trump Sneakers and “God Bless the USA” Bibles earlier this year. “Trump Coins are designed by me and minted right here in the U.S.A. This beautiful, limited-edition coin commemorates our movement, our fight for freedom, prosperity and putting America first, we always put America first,” Trump said...

President Biden managed to gain ground on former President Donald Trump in key battleground states and trails by only 2% — even after his disastrous debate performance last week, a new poll shows. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, leads Democrat Biden 47% to 45%, in the crucial states needed to win the November election, according to a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult tracking poll released Saturday. It’s the smallest gap since the poll began in October. Although Biden is losing in Pennsylvania, the state where he grew up, he now leads Trump in Michigan and Wisconsin. He’s also within the poll’s...

Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is under active consideration by Donald Trump's campaign to be his running mate, news site Axios reported on Saturday, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation. Trump could pick Haley if he were convinced she could help him win the presidency, avoid a potential prison sentence and cover tens of millions in legal bills if he loses, the report said. Haley, the former South Carolina governor and a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, ended her log-shot challenge to Republican presidential frontrunner Trump in March. She said it was likely Trump - who...

With seven months to go until November's presidential election and the majority of polls showing the presumptive presidential candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden are basically neck-and-neck, the pair both need every vote they can to secure the keys to the White House. But Trump, the Republican former president, may be hampering his chances at success because of his standing with one key demographic in the adult voting population: women. Polls show that the proportion of women who plan to vote for Trump in November is less than the proportion who voted for him in the 2020 election. Meanwhile, experts...

For many months, President Biden has been rallying global leaders to provide more military aid to Ukraine and pressing Congress to pass a multibillion-dollar aid package to help the country beat back Russian aggression. Former President Donald J. Trump has been undermining that effort, pressing Republicans to thwart it. But on Wednesday, Mr. Trump tried to flip the script, suggesting that he would do more to protect Ukraine than Mr. Biden, who he said would effectively cede Ukraine as a gift to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Speaking at a campaign event in North Charleston, S.C., Mr. Trump said...

The past several years, I have heard and/or read of how bad a businessman President Donald Trump is and has been during his life. I went online to look for examples and it seems the stories that he is a bad businessman are from leftist outlets - CNN, NPR, MSNBC, the New Yorker, NYT, and so on. (Side note - does Forbes swing to the left?) So I need assistance from my fellow Freepers and from Freeperland. Is there an unbiased source of information concerning President Trump's wealth, how he obtained it, how he has grown his wealth, etc? Thank...

Three women who worked in former President Donald Trump’s administration bleakly warned voters against returning him to the White House in 2024. They cautioned that he poses a grave threat to American democracy and some even mused about backing the Democrat option should Trump lock down the GOP nod. “Everyone who was in the West Wing, and frankly, a lot of Cabinet secretaries, they know how dangerous Trump is,” former White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah Griffin told ABC’s “This Week.” “This is not about politics. It’s not about policy. It is about the character of the man.” Griffin was...

In his latest gaffe-laden speech, Donald Trump appeared to suggest former President Barack Obama was running in 2024 as he warned that “cognitively impaired” President Joe Biden could lead the country into “World War Two” if he wins re-election.During his remarks at the Washington DC Pray Vote Stand Summit on Friday, the former president said: “We have a man who is totally corrupt and the worst president in the history of our country, who is cognitively impaired, in no condition to lead, and is now in charge of dealing with Russia and possible nuclear war.” “Just think of it. We...

A New York state judge on Wednesday rejected Donald Trump's bid to delay a scheduled Oct. 2 trial in state Attorney General Letitia James' civil fraud lawsuit accusing him, family members and his business of overvaluing assets by billions of dollars. Trump and the other defendants had said the trial should be "briefly" delayed until three weeks after Justice Arthur Engoron ruled on both sides' requests for summary judgments, which seek victory on various legal issues without the need for a trial. In a Tuesday night court filing, Trump accused James of "callous disregard" of a June 27 appeals court...

The director of information technology at Mar-a-Lago has agreed to cooperate with special counsel Jack Smith in a deal that will allow him to avoid criminal charges in the federal case over former President Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents, a new court filing shows. The witness — described in a Justice Department court filing dated Tuesday as “Trump Employee 4” and identified by several media outlets as Yuscil Taveras — had previously recanted “false testimony” in the classified documents case, after switching lawyers and learning that he had left himself exposed to possible perjury charges. The special counsel’s...

When former president Donald Trump’s media start-up announced in October 2021 that it planned to merge with a Miami-based company called Digital World Acquisition, the deal was an instant stock-market hit. *** With the $300 million Digital World had already raised from investors, Trump Media & Technology Group, creator of the pro-Trump social network Truth Social, pledged then that the merger would create a tech titan worth $875 million at the start and, depending on the stock’s performance, up to $1.7 billion later. *** “Everyone asks me why doesn’t someone stand up to Big Tech? Well, we will be soon!”...

Roughly three-quarters of the individuals who contributed $50,000 or more to the previous Trump super PACs have not donated so far to super PACs supporting any individual Republican candidates – underscoring how much the GOP presidential primary remains frozen in place. Some of the wealthy people who once supported Trump remain reluctant to back his third bid for White House as the former president confronts three criminal indictments. But they also haven’t committed to another GOP contender at this stage in the campaign. “People like to give their money to winners,” said Eric Levine, a GOP fundraiser in New York...

For the past month, a media narrative has taken hold that something must be done to reform, simplify, streamline, and democratize the delegate selection system of the Republican presidential nomination process. Is our GOP presidential primary system rigged, meaning it is corrupt because it favors the establishment? Is it convoluted, arbitrary, arcane...and too often "voteless"? Is it wrong to allow "Trojan horse" delegates to change their vote on the second ballot of the national convention? Why do we have a separate election for delegates after we vote for candidates? The system is not rigged, convoluted, arbitrary, arcane, or voteless. It...

NYT, Examiner, Washington Post, others. Several stories at link. This one is unusual. Didn't know how to post.

CASPER, Wyo. (Reuters) - Republican U.S. presidential hopeful Ted Cruz is expected to win most of the 14 delegates up for grabs on Saturday in Wyoming, likely besting rival Donald Trump, who made little effort to win the rural state, and further narrowing the gap in the race for the party's nomination. Cruz is trying to prevent Trump from obtaining the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the Republican nomination at the July convention in Cleveland. By continuing to rack up small wins, Cruz is gaining ground on the New York real estate mogul, who has thus far failed to shift...