Free Republic

Former President Donald Trump began his 2024 presidential campaign just as he ended his presidency in 2021: with a whole lot of inaccuracy. Like many of Trump’s speeches as president, his announcement speech at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Tuesday was filled with false claims about a variety of topics – from his record in office to his Democratic opponents to the economy, the environment and foreign policy. Here is a fact check of 20 false or misleading things he said. This is not a comprehensive list. Afghanistan withdrawal Trump claimed Tuesday evening that the US left $85 billion worth...

Joe Biden is no more or less capable a president than he was two months ago. His staff is no more or less competent. But suddenly, images of Biden as a feeble septuagenarian atop a mismanaged White House have given way to those of an experienced leader, smiling behind aviator sunglasses, whose battle-tested team has delivered on a range of national priorities. A winning streak does that for you. It has not happened because of a strategy shift or staff shakeup, though at low points allies wanted him to take those ritual steps. It’s been a combination of good luck,...

A Washington, DC, police officer has corroborated to the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021, details regarding a heated exchange former President Donald Trump had with his Secret Service detail when he was told he could not go to the US Capitol after his rally, a source familiar with the matter tells CNN. The officer with the Metropolitan Police Department was in the motorcade with the Secret Service for Trump on January 6 and recounted what was seen to committee investigators, according to the source. A spokesperson for the committee declined to comment. A spokesperson for Metropolitan Police Department...

White House officials are losing confidence that Ukraine will ever be able to take back all of the land it has lost to Russia over the past four months of war, US officials told CNN, even with the heavier and more sophisticated weaponry the US and its allies plan to send. Advisers to President Joe Biden have begun debating internally how and whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky should shift his definition of a Ukrainian “victory” – adjusting for the possibility that his country has shrunk irreversibly.

Joe Walsh is a washed-up Illinois politician and a chameleon. He's gone from being a liberal Republican to a hardcore Tea Partier and ardent Trump supporter, to becoming so fiercely anti-Trump that in addition to voting for Joe Biden in 2020, Walsh even announced, as our Tim Graham has noted, that he would vote for a "socialist" over Trump. So why does CNN regularly invite this loudmouth non-entity onto its air? Because he can be counted on to trash Republicans. On this morning's New Day, co-host Brianna Keilar interviewed Walsh regarding a controversial TV ad from Eric Greitens, who is...

CNN contributor Carl Bernstein said Friday on CNN’s “The Lead” that Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, was involved in a conspiracy with former President Donald Trump and his attorney John Eastman to attempt a coup. Anchor Jake Tapper said, “Let’s just focus on the Ginni Thomas part of this. What do you think is going on there?”

Dr. Simone Gold, a Beverly Hills woman known for spreading debunked claims about Covid-19 was sentenced on Thursday to 60 days in prison for illegally entering and remaining in the US Capitol during the January 6 insurrection. Gold, founder of the group America’s Frontline Doctors, was also ordered to pay a $9,500 fine – the largest fine imposed to date among the almost 200 rioters who have been sentenced. “Your organization is leaving people with the misimpression that this is a political prosecution or that it’s about free speech,” district Judge Christopher Cooper said as he imposed the sentence, slamming...

CNN anchor Jake Tapper said Thursday on his network’s special coverage of the hearing held by the House Select Committee investigating January 6 that Ginni Thomas behaved irresponsibly and inappropriately around the 2020 presidential election. Tapper said, “Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has long been known as a very conservative activist. If you follow her Facebook feed, you’ll see that she dabbles in some of the more unhinged memes and allegations out there and has been for some time. But the idea that she played a role in trying to get people to come to...

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel forcefully condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine in her first public speech since leaving office in December of last year. Premising her comments by saying that she did not want to give advice from the sidelines, Merkel described Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a “barbaric war of aggression” which constituted a “far-reaching turning point” and the most “glaring breach of international law” in Europe since the Second World War.

The Biden administration is preparing to step up the kind of weaponry it is offering Ukraine by sending advanced, long-range rocket systems that are now the top request from Ukrainian officials, multiple officials say. The administration is leaning toward sending the systems as part of a larger package of military and security assistance to Ukraine, which could be announced as soon as next week.

This weekend, first lady Jill Biden is traveling in Eastern Europe, meeting with Ukrainian refugees, humanitarian aid workers and others impacted by Russia's war in Ukraine. As the Biden administration continues to express its unwavering support for Ukraine's battle to preserve its independence, the first lady's trip is another opportunity to demonstrate America's commitment to Ukraine. It also will serve as an important reminder to all American and NATO allies that US commitment to Ukraine will extend well into the postwar period -- whenever that might be. Jill Biden's first ladyship is a long way from cookie bake-offs and state...

(CNN) - Russian troops in the occupied city of Melitopol have stolen all the equipment from a farm equipment dealership -- and shipped it to Chechnya, according to a Ukrainian businessman in the area. But after a journey of more than 700 miles, the thieves were unable to use any of the equipment -- because it had been locked remotely.

A groundbreaking new study paid viewers of the Fox News Network to watch CNN for 30 days...The early impacts, after just three days, showed that the viewers were already starting to change.

The first warm, sunny days of spring in the southern Mykolaiv region are ushering in a grim new reality: the smell of the dead. As the frost melts and ground thaws, the bodies of Russian soldiers strewn across the landscape are becoming a problem. In his nightly video address on Saturday, Vitaly Kim, the region's governor, called on local residents to help collect the corpses and put them in bags, as temperatures rise to above freezing. "We're not beasts, are we?" he implored residents, who have already lost so many of their own in this war.

The US government has formally declared that members of the Russian armed forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Wednesday. The official US declaration that Moscow has violated the laws of conflict comes after Blinken, President Joe Biden and Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman all said it was their personal opinion that war crimes have taken place. "Today, I can announce that, based on information currently available, the US government assesses that members of Russia's forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine," Blinken said in a statement.

The sound of rockets launching in the distance breaks the silence of an otherwise quiet morning in Kyiv. "That's us, we're attacking Russian positions close to Hostomel," a Ukrainian soldier says, as the shots fire in a synchronized rhythm. In this particular instance, the rockets the Ukrainian military is using to target Moscow's invading troops are actually Russian. "Last night we sent the Ukrainian armed forces 24 Uragan missiles that were on their way here to fly over our cities," says Yuri Golodov, the deputy commander of one of Ukraine's Territorial Forces and a retired seaman from the Ukrainian Navy....

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday said the Russian military has sustained “unprecedented losses” and that some Russian units have been "80 to 90% destroyed." "Ukrainians have proven they can fight more professionally than an army that has been waging wars for decades in various regions and conditions. We respond with wisdom and courage to the great number of their equipment and soldiers sent to Ukraine," Zelensky said in a video message posted to social media. He then switched from speaking Ukrainian to Russian and said in areas where heavy fighting have taken place, the front line of defense is...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “New Day,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) stated that he would be surprised if oil companies weren’t engaging in profiteering on gas prices and Congress needs to “keep an eye on that and try to make sure that the oil companies don’t take advantage of the situation.” Co-host Brianna Keilar asked, “Oil prices, as you know, are falling. Gas prices, they’re not following yet, but they are expected too. And one of your colleagues, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, says that there is profiteering that is happening by oil companies. Do you agree with that?”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has given several explanations for his country's war on Ukraine, and some are more plausible than others. They include stopping NATO's advance towards Russia's borders, protecting fellow Russians from "genocide" or the baseless claim of "de-Nazifying" Ukraine. The top-ranking priest in the Russian Orthodox Church, meanwhile, has offered a very different reason for the invasion: gay pride parades. Patriarch Kirill said last week that the conflict is an extension of a fundamental culture clash between the wider Russian world and Western liberal values, exemplified by expressions of gay pride. Yet experts say that Kirill's comments offer...

[…]Singing gay love songs once killed the careers of artists like Patrick Haggerty, whose band Lavender Country in 1973 released what's widely considered the first country album recorded by an out gay performer. Even artists who came out decades later, like k.d. lang and Chely Wright, said their careers stalled after they made their sexuality public.Now, out queer people are some of the most celebrated country stars. Brandi Carlile and Lil Nas X are Grammy winners. T.J. Osborne, one half of the Brothers Osbourne, came out last year, the first out gay artist signed to a major country label. Trixie...