Free Republic

Vice President Harris’s ascendance as the likely Democratic nominee has sent a wave of excitement through environmental advocates and climate hawks in Congress, who point to her history of investigating the oil industry and support for the Green New Deal in the Senate. Environmental issues have not been a major part of Harris’s portfolio as vice president, but advocates see her as a figure who both has bona fides on the issue and is positioned to generate enthusiasm among younger and more progressive voters who were ambivalent about President Biden’s reelection bid. “I think she deserves more credit than she...

The U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of 2.8 percent in the second quarter of 2024, according to new Commerce Department data released Thursday. Economists had expected gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 1.9 percent in the three-month period between April and June, closer to the 1.4 percent growth posted in the first quarter of the year. The strong report comes as the Federal Reserve is set to meet next week to consider changing interest rates, which it has held steady since last July. The central bank has kept rates at a two-decade high, as inflation has remained...

President Biden’s decision to step aside as the expected Democratic nominee in November has “nothing to do with his health,” his top spokesperson said Wednesday ahead of his prime-time address to the nation. “It has nothing to do with his health. The president is going to speak to this directly to the American people in prime time,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters during a briefing. “In his letter he talked about the country, he talked about the party, he talked about the moment we’re in right now,” she continued. “It is not about his health. I can say no,...

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Tuedsay that attacks claiming Vice President Harris was hired as part of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives is “stupid.” “I would say, two attacks I’ve heard Republicans give that are totally stupid and dumb to do is the DEI attack, okay?” McCarthy said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press NOW.” “The other attack that I would not do is saying that the president has to resign,” he added. “That would be an advantage for Kamala.” Harris is likely to replace President Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, after the incumbent...

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre will appear on ABC’s “The View” on Tuesday, days after President Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race. The daytime table talk program will host Jean-Pierre for her first interview since Biden announced on Sunday his withdrawal and decision to back Vice President Harris as a potential replacement for the Democratic Party’s nominee. In the days leading to his exiting the race, Biden and his top White House aides faced intensifying questions about the president’s mental health and acuity following a shaky debate performance against former President Trump late last month....

Vice President Harris is racing to lock down support for her White House bid, just hours after President Biden announced that he would no longer seek reelection. Harris on Sunday spoke with the chairs of three key coalitions on Capitol Hill: Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.) of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Rep. Ann McLane Kuster (D-N.H.) of the New Democrat Coalition. All three have backed Harris for the nomination. She also spoke with Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) — ”She is ready to win in Wisconsin!!!” he said on the social platform...

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg weighed in on former President Trump’s decision to elevate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) to his 2024 running mate, comparing him to former Vice President Mike Pence. “I guess maybe not as a politician but as a human being what I’ll say is that I hope things work out a little bit better for JD Vance than they did for Mike Pence,” he said Friday evening on “Real Time with Bill Maher.”

The attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, which thankfully left him with only a small wound to his ear, horrified me and reminded me of two assassinations that changed my life in 1968 when I was only eight. I was shocked when my hero, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., was shot dead in Memphis in April. Crying myself to sleep and praying for his family, I promised myself I would devote my life to the Civil Rights Movement and to making America a more just and equitable society for everyone. Nothing I have done can compare with King’s...

Former President Trump on Monday received one of his biggest wins yet in fighting his criminal charges when a judge tossed his classified documents indictment. By ruling that special counsel Jack Smith was unlawfully appointed, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s decision sets aside Trump’s 40 criminal charges that accuse him of mishandling classified documents and obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve them from Mar-a-Lago. Here are five takeaways from Trump’s major win: First of Trump’s indictments dismissed Decision latches onto Thomas’s concurrence Jack Smith plans to appeal Ruling comes at start of GOP convention Ruling divides Democrats, GOP

Fox News analyst Brit Hume questioned former President Trump’s pick of Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) to be his vice presidential candidate, pointing to Vance’s past harsh criticisms of Trump. Hume posited that voters may come to question how Vance became the candidate over other top picks. “You think, well, is this person, how did he get the job? Did he get it because he was really the best qualified to be president?” Hume said. “Or did he get it because he sucked up effectively to the nominee? People will have questions about that.” Vance was a fierce critic of Trump...

It remains to be seen whether or not President Biden remains the Democrats’ nominee for president, amid growing calls to replace him atop the ticket. But at this moment, the race is frozen in place. Indeed, Donald Trump’s lead in national polling — now sitting at 3 points (47 percent to 44 percent) per the RealClearPolitics polling average — has remained remarkably consistent for months. This is true even after Biden’s disastrous debate performance and the discontent it engendered among Democrats. Since last November, the race has been stubbornly rangebound, with Trump’s lead over Biden consistently within a 1 to...

All I can say to Trump’s pick for his vice president: Good luck. The real story is why anyone would want to follow Mike Pence’s fate. After Pence refused to overturn the 2020 election, Trump incited a mob to storm the U.S. Capitol that began chanting, “Hang Mike Pence.” The same chilling question applies to all the people auditioning for Cabinet positions by speaking at this week’s GOP convention. To the men and women trying to move up in the GOP ranks by agreeing to fawn over Trump on stage in Milwaukee this week, and telling lies about a stolen...

Former President Trump has presumptive immunity for pressuring then-Vice President Mike Pence to subvert the results of the presidential election in his favor by certifying slates of so-called “fake electors” on Jan. 6, 2021, the Supreme Court ruled Monday. The determination came within the justices’ highly anticipated opinion on presidential immunity, in which they ruled that core presidential powers are immune from criminal prosecution. The decision returns Trump’s federal election interference case back to a lower court to decide whether his actions leading up to Jan. 6 merit the protection.

The number of foreign nationals in the U.S. currently eligible for naturalization outnumbers the 2020 presidential margin of victory in five battleground states. A report released by the American Immigration Council (AIC) on Thursday concluded that if some or all of the country’s 7.4 million not-yet-naturalized-but-eligible residents got their citizenship before November, they could swing the 2024 election. That’s unlikely to happen, as the naturalization process for eligible foreign nationals takes roughly eight months from application to receiving a certificate of citizenship. But the report highlights the disconnect between the size of immigrant communities, their economic impact and their political...

Israeli forces on Friday conducted an attack on tent camps holding displaced Palestinians in Gaza, leaving at least 25 people dead and another 50 wounded, according to emergency and health workers in Gaza. The attack occurred near Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, close by to a Red Cross field hospital, which received at least 22 deceased individuals and 45 others who were wounded, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Friday.

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) on Tuesday said they will be introducing legislation in response to the increased ethics concerns related to the Supreme Court. Ocasio-Cortez and Raskin, who serve as the ranking and vice-ranking members, respectively, on the House Oversight Committee, were part of a committee roundtable Tuesday regarding these concerns. They explored various “avenues” for holding Supreme Court justices accountable, they told MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes. “And so, it is not a question…of if Congress has jurisdiction and power over the Supreme Court. It is, what power are we going to exercise in order to...

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) called Hunter Biden’s conviction on federal gun charges “kinda dumb” in a post on the social platform X, minutes after the verdict was announced. Hunter Biden — the second-oldest son of President Biden — was convicted Tuesday afternoon on three federal gun charges. The felony charges alleged President Biden’s son lied about his sobriety when obtaining a gun in 2018, and illegally possessed the gun for 11 days. Hunter Biden’s verdict comes just two weeks after former President Trump was found guilty on all 34 felony counts in his New York hush money trial. Gaetz called...

The Biden administration recently floated the idea of resettling a limited number of Palestinian refugees from Gaza to the United States. As a nation, it’s the least we can do. The reported proposal would bring Palestinians with immediate family ties in the U.S. to our shores. It is unclear how many Palestinians would qualify, but it would likely remain far below the need. Sounds straightforward, right? Wrong. The history of the Palestinian refugee question is fraught, as Palestinians have called for the “right to return” for refugees to their homeland, which is now part of Israel or claimed by Israel....

Controversial progressive pundit Briahna Joy Gray has been fired from The Hill after she appeared to roll her eyes as she interviewed the sister of an Israeli woman taken hostage by Hamas. 'It finally happened. The Hill has fired me,' Gray said on X on Thursday alongside an image of her notice of termination from the outlet. She added: 'There should be no doubt that @RisingHill has a clear pattern of suppressing speech — particularly when it’s critical of the state of Israel.'

A political commentator who’s repeatedly displayed antisemitic attitudes was finally fired from her gig on Thursday. Upon being fired, commentator Briahna Joy Gray, a left-winger, blamed censorship for her termination from The Hill. “It finally happened. The Hill has fired me,” she tweeted. “There should be no doubt that @RisingTheHill has a clear pattern of suppressing speech — particularly when it’s critical of the state of Israel.” Her termination came two days after she rolled her eyes at the family member of an Israeli who’s currently being held hostage by Hamas. The family member, Yarden Gonen, had simply asked at...