Free Republic

A high-flying Texas judge overseeing a number of significant criminal trials has mysteriously been missing from the courtroom for nearly a month amid concerns of manic behavior and a police interaction, according to a report. Judge Kelli Johnson, one of Harris County’s longest-serving current jurists, hasn’t been seen at the 178th District Courthouse in Houston since May 1 — with no explanation on where she has gone or when she’s set to return, ABC13 reported. A court spokesperson has so far only confirmed “Johnson is out for personal matters” after initially refusing to address the judge’s unexplained absence. But an...

Whistleblowers have informed top Republican senators that former President Barack Obama’s State Department blocked the FBI from executing arrest warrants against illegal aliens in the U.S. who were financially backing Iran’s efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction. Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Ron Johnson (R-WI) said that for nearly 20 years, Republican and Democrat administrations imposed sanctions on “Iranian individuals, companies, and organizations for involvement in nuclear proliferation, ballistic missile development, support for terrorist groups, and human rights abuses.” They noted that even one of Obama’s executive orders and a law passed during the Obama-era, the Iran Nuclear Agreement...

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Wednesday appeared to back allowing Ukraine to use American-provided weapons to strike Russia or Russian-controlled territory. One reporter asked Johnson about a House Intelligence Committee letter calling on the Biden administration to allow Ukraine to strike Russia with American-supplied weapons. The letter stipulates that this would allow Ukraine to strike “Russian-controlled territory” as well as Russian territory and represents a significant escalation in America’s seemingly endless proxy war against Russia.

Three of House Speaker Mike Johnson’s top staffers have abruptly resigned. Brittan Specht, Jason Yaworske, and Preston Hill will depart Mike Johnson’s office at the end of May.

Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) decision to appear this week at former President Trump’s hush money trial in Manhattan is sparking new blowback from some House Republicans, who are questioning why he would inject himself so prominently in a case involving an alleged affair with a porn star. These Republicans, who requested to speak anonymously to discuss the sensitive topic, are accusing Johnson — a devout Southern Baptist who built a career around the fight for Christian values and moral conservatism — of undermining the party’s family values image simply to ingratiate himself with Trump, the party’s presumptive presidential nominee.

Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) criticized Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) for showing up to former President Trump’s criminal hush money trial in New York on Tuesday. “Have to admit I’m surprised that @SpeakerJohnson wants to be in the ‘I cheated on my wife with a porn star’ club,” Cheney posted on the social platform X. “I guess he’s not that concerned with teaching morality to our young people after all.” Johnson appeared with other Republican lawmakers at the Manhattan courthouse where Trump is on trial for falsifying business records connected to an alleged affair with porn actress Stormy Daniels. In...

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is expected to attend the Manhattan courthouse on Tuesday for former President Trump's ongoing New York criminal trial, the latest high-profile GOP lawmaker to flock to New York.

At least 21 people were shot, three of them fatally, during the weekend in Mayor Brandon Johnson’s (D) Chicago. Breitbart News reported that 16 people were shot in Chicago, two of them fatally, Friday into Saturday evening alone. One shooting fatality occurred Friday shortly before 7:30 p.m. and the second at 4:30 a.m. Saturday. Another fatal shooting occurred Saturday morning about 3:16 a.m. “in the 6200-block of South Campbell Avenue,” ABC 7 / Chicago Sun-Times noted. A man in his 30s or 40s was shot twice in the back and killed.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) praised House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) in an interview with Politico, saying that he and the Democrat leader have “more in common than people might think.” Johnson said about Jeffries: I have. Hakeem is a good man. We’ve worked well together. We have a lot more in common than people might think. You know, he’s from New York and I’m from Louisiana. While we have lots of disagreements on policies and the fine points of policy, I think you can appreciate people for who they are as a person. I think that’s what we’re called...

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) granted an interview to establishment media only “a few hours after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) attempt to oust him” to trash Donald Trump — the man Johnson conveniently clung to when his speakership hung in the balance. Johnson sat down for an extensive “deep dive” interview Wednesday night with Politico so quickly after the vote to end his speakership that Johnson claimed he was not even aware which eleven Republicans voted against him. In what Politico called an “SNL-worthy” send up, Johnson used the interview to caricature Trump praising Johnson: Johnson was impersonating Donald Trump...

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) wasted little time after 163 Democrats voted to save his speakership to announce he would not use Congress’s constitutional power of the purse to stop special counsel Jack Smith’s “lawfare” against Donald Trump. The Speaker, in some of his earliest public comments after Democrats saved his gavel, refused to make any attempt to defund Smith’s office as it continues its prosecutions of Trump. “That’s not something you wave a wand and just eliminate the special counsel as a provision,” Johnson told Politico. “There is a necessity for a function like that, because sometimes the Department of...

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) convened Tuesday with a trio of Republicans calling for him to abandon his coalition government with Democrats and “come home” to the Republican Party that elevated him to the Speakership. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Paul Gosar (R) met in Johnson’s Capitol office for about an hour to continue a Monday discussion between Johnson, Green, and Massie. The group of conservatives continue moving closer to forcing a motion to vacate vote that could strip Johnson of his gavel. “These are very reasonable requests, especially given that we have a Republican majority,” Greene...

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) took a victory lap on CBS’s 60 Minutes on Sunday to brag about wrestling away control of the House from Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). Jeffries’ boast followed three startling Democrat victories in the Johnson-led House that delivered significant lifelines to President Joe Biden, desperate for legislative victories to tout as he continues struggling in the polls against former President Donald Trump. Johnson’s actions spurred Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to commit to force a vote this week to eject Johnson from the Speakership.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) supports retaliating against Republicans who oppose him, he reportedly told high-dollar donors at the swanky Four Seasons in Washington. Johnson signaled to the high-powered group at a fundraiser on Sunday that he would support kicking members who blocked his coalition government’s legislative agenda off committees. He also said he is in favor of changing House rules – such as rules on the motion to vacate – at the end of this Congress

Two years ago, sodium-ion battery pioneer Natron Energy was busy preparing its specially formulated sodium batteries for mass production. The company slipped a little past its 2023 kickoff plans, but it didn't fall too far behind as far as mass battery production goes. It officially commenced production of its rapid-charging, long-life lithium-free sodium batteries this week, bringing to market an intriguing new alternative in the energy storage game. Not only is sodium somewhere between 500 to 1,000 times more abundant than lithium on the planet we call Earth, sourcing it doesn't necessitate the same type of earth-scarring extraction. Even moving...

Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York claimed that Democrats were “governing as a majority” in the House of Representatives even with nominal Republican control during an interview that aired Sunday. Jeffries noted that Democrats provided over twice as many votes than Republicans in passing HR 8035, the Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act in April during the interview with Norah O’Donnell of CBS News that aired on “60 Minutes.” Jeffries boasted of Democratic successes in the GOP-controlled House during the interview, saying that Dems “get things done.”

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Monday said she supports Democrat efforts to keep Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) in power. Pelosi said she backs House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries’s plot to keep Johnson as the Speaker of the House. Pelosi said that they are backing Johnson to “support the integrity of the House of Representatives and will not let it be littered up by nonsense.” Pelosi defends Jeffries decision to protect Johnson. Says Democrats “support the integrity of the House of Representatives and will not let it be littered up by nonsense.” pic.twitter.com/aoyeFAu1RF — Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) May 6, 2024...

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) will meet with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Monday afternoon as the Georgia Republican vows to force a vote on the GOP leader’s ouster, two sources familiar with the matter told The Hill. The meeting is set to take place at 3:30 p.m. EDT, one source said. Greene requested the conversation, the source noted. Greene announced last week that she would move to force a vote on Johnson’s ouster this week, after dangling her motion to vacate resolution over his head for more than a month. Her effort, however, is all but sure to fail....

He teased his audience over who he would choose as his vice-presidential running mate and dished out praise to embattled House speaker Mike Johnson, ordering Republican critics to 'leave him alone'.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) joined Breitbart News Saturday on SiriusXM to discuss her effort, as expressed by host Matt Boyle, to “expose Speaker Mike Johnson’s power-sharing agreement with the Democrats.” Greene announced Wednesday she will force a vote on a motion to vacate on the floor after House Democrat leadership said that they would protect Johnson’s (R-LA) speakership.