Free Republic

A U.S. citizen known to have fought with pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine between 2014 and 2017 has been killed in Moscow-occupied Donetsk, Russian media reported Friday. Russia-installed authorities in eastern Ukraine had earlier this month reported the American — 64-year-old Russell Bentley — as missing. "Russell Bentley, known as 'Texas,' a real American, truly from Texas, was killed in Donetsk," the head of the pro-Kremlin RT network Margarita Simonyan said on social media. "He was fighting for our guys," she said. Simonyan gave no details on how he died. The Vostok battalion with which he fought confirmed his death, calling...

Russell Bentley, a self-described “Donbass Cowboy,” joined Russian forces soon after they created a proxy state in eastern Ukraine in 2014. He quickly became one of Russian propaganda’s favorite Americans, receiving a Russian passport and a gig with state-run Sputnik TV. On April 8, the 64-year-old Austin native better known under his call sign “Texas” was detained by Russian soldiers in the city of Donetsk, occupied by Russia for the past decade, according to his wife. Eleven days later, he turned up dead. He is the latest in a string of figures involved in Russia’s 2014 takeover of parts of...

Russell Bentley, 64, who fought alongside pro-Putin rebels in eastern Ukraine, was tortured and murdered by Russian servicemen, Kremlin investigators said on Friday. Bentley, a self-described communist from Dallas, Texas, went missing in the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk in April and was later found dead. Nicknamed “Texas”, he regularly appeared on pro-Kremlin social media channels, backing Moscow’s full-scale military offensive.

Former national security adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence, Olivia Troye, revealed that her biggest fear linked to another Trump administration is who he'll appoint to his cabinet. She worries about people like one-time White House strategist Steve Bannon and short-time Trump National Security Adviser Mike Flynn — both charged with crimes then pardoned by Trump — and Kash Patel, who has written a children's book about "King Trump." Trump learned from his first term that he can place people in "acting" positions without Senate confirmation, Troye warned in an MSNBC interview Saturday. Who knows what you will get...

Former Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel has come out against former President Trump’s promise to free the January 6 prisoners. McDaniel voiced her opposition during a Sunday interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” — the network where she is now a paid contributor. “I want to be very clear. The violence that happened on January 6 is unacceptable. It doesn’t represent our country. It certainly does not represent my party,” McDaniel told interviewer and co-worker Kristen Welker. “If you attacked our Capitol and you have been abused and you’ve been convicted, then that should stay,” McDaniel continued. McDaniel said...

Former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger describes himself as politically "homeless," at odds with a party he views as "anti-constitutionalist." He believes former President Donald Trump will be the 2024 Republican nominee — and if that's the case, Kinzinger intends to vote for President Biden. Kinzinger was one of two Republicans to serve on the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot that sought to derail congressional certification of Biden's victory. The other Republican on the committee was Liz Cheney, who says she's considering a third party bid for the White House, although she told CBS "Mornings"...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is not making any presidential campaign announcements before the end of his state's legislative session, but he is sure talking like he will be throwing his hat in the 2024 GOP presidential primary race. And, he told Newsmax in an exclusive interview Thursday night, you can forget about him working with former President Donald Trump. "I think I'm probably more of an executive guy," DeSantis told "Eric Bolling The Balance." "I think that you want to be able to do things. That's part of the reason I got into this job is because we have action....

This is hilarious. ‘CBS Mornings’ spent all day in Democrat precincts in Florida that Joe Biden ‘won’ in 2020 and they could not find one Charlie Crist supporter. Democrat grifter Charlie Crist is running against highly popular Republican incumbent Governor Ron DeSantis. Republicans boosted turnout in traditionally blue Miami-Dade.

Former Republican Rep. J.C. Watts has bucked the party to endorse Democrat Joy Hofmeister in her challenge to Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R). "I was a Republican then, and I'm a Republican now, and , friends, I'm voting for Joy Hofmeister," Watts says in a new ad. "All this scandal and corruption is just too much. Joy is a woman of faith and integrity. She'll always put Oklahoma first. I know Joy personally, and I trust her, and you can too," the former Oklahoma congressman said....

Embattled Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) acknowledged over the weekend that casting a vote for Democrat House candidate Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) may not be the best political decision in her race against Republican challenger Kelly Tshibaka. Murkowski, who was given her Senate seat by her father 21 years ago, announced Friday she would vote for Democrat Peltola over Republican challenger Sarah Palin to win support from Democrats. Alaska’s ranked choice voting system allows cross-party voting, which ultimately affords Democrat voters the opportunity to vote for Murkowski on the second and third ballots.

Florida Democratic gubernatorial nominee Charlie Crist said Sunday on CNN’s “Newsroom” that President Joe Biden was being “honest about what he feels in his heart and his soul” when calling “MAGA” Republicans “semi-fascist” during a speech last week. Brown asked, “When it comes to President Biden, you have said you wanted him to come campaign with you in Florida, so it does matter what the president says and how you view it. So, again, let me just ask you, what do you think about the president calling millions of Americans semi-fascist?”

The recall effort kicks off a flurry of legal questions, namely whether the recall will be focused on Priola’s current state Senate district or the one he will begin representing in January Agroup of Republicans on Wednesday initiated a recall against Colorado state Sen. Kevin Priola, two days after the Henderson lawmaker announced he was leaving the GOP to become a Democrat. The recall effort, backed by a deep-pocketed conservative nonprofit, kicks off a flurry of legal questions, namely whether the recall will be focused on Priola’s current state Senate district or the one he will begin representing in January....

The Republican National Committee (RNC) has recently sent out a press release calling Florida gubernatorial candidate, Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL) the “Joe Biden of Florida.” Rep.Crist, who has a longer political career than his Democratic primary opponent Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried (D-FL), is known by most as the establishment candidate. Crist also served as Governor of Florida (as a Republican) and has been in politics since becoming a state senator in 1993. President Joe Biden (D) has been in the public eye for a long time as well – 50 years in fact – after being elected to the...

The Democrat primary race for governor in Florida remains up in the air leading to the swiftly approaching election, as various polls send mixed signals; separate surveys this week show both Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL) and Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried (D) leading. The Sunshine State’s Democrat primary race, which takes place Tuesday, August 23, 2022, is widely believed to be between two main candidates — Crist and Fried. While Crist has been assumed throughout the primary to be the clear leader, a recent survey from the Public Opinion Research Lab (PORL) at the University of North Florida suggests otherwise.

Hutchinson commiserated with other targets of the probe about how little information she had about any wrongdoing on Jan. 6.Nearly 18 months of private chats between friends from the Trump White House show that Jan. 6 Committee star witness Cassidy Hutchinson dramatically changed her story about what she knew and how she felt about what she witnessed as a White House staffer.When Hutchinson testified in Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s Soviet-style show trial last month, the former White House aide to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said she “still struggle[s] to work through the emotions” of Jan. 6. “As...

Ana Cabrera @AnaCabrera JUST IN: Moderate House Republican Rep. Don Bacon tells CNN’s @mkraju that after watching the January 6th committee hearings he “will not be supporting” former President Donald Trump in the 2024 Republican primary if he announces he is running. 10:33 AM · Jun 22, 2022

The great American journalist and satirist PJ O’Rourke has died. He contributed a number of articles to The Spectator over the years.

Insiders have pointed to the involvement of Ivanka Trump and GOP establishment operative Ward Baker. Morgan Ortagus – a high-level Trump administration official mulling a run for Congress in Tennessee – pledged to “faithfully serve the Biden administration” in a goodbye email sent to State Department colleagues in an e-mail obtained exclusively by The National Pulse.

Last week, Florida Democrat gubernatorial hopeful Nikki Fried compared incumbent Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) to Adolf Hitler during an interview with Florida public radio. Fried received backlash for the remarks. However, her Democrat opponent, Rep. Charlie Crist (D-FL), is not renouncing Fried for those remarks.

Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) blasted President Joe Biden for his withdrawal of U.S. troops out of Afghanistan. Graham said Biden “doesn’t understand the nature of the war on terrorism,” adding that he was the “most incompetent president in my lifetime.” He said that giving the Taliban, which took over Afghanistan as a result of the bother withdrawal, aid “would be the ultimate betrayal” of those harmed by the Taliban.