Free Republic

McCarthy says he's not Speaker anymore because “one person a member of Congress wanted me to stop an ethics complaint because he slept with a 17 year old…”

Republican strategist Karl Rove urged Democrats to “go hard” at former President Trump’s rhetoric surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, calling the former president’s pledge to free imprisoned rioters a “critical mistake.” “If they were smart, they’d take the January 6 and go hard at it. And they would say, ‘He wants to pardon these people who attacked our Capitol,'” Rove said told MSNBC’s Ari Melber. “One of the critical mistakes made in this campaign is that Donald Trump has now said ‘I’m going to pardon those people because they’re hostages,'” Rove said in the interview, which...

The popular opinion among many on both sides of the aisle about why the 2022 red wave turned into a red trickle is that the overturning of Roe vs. Wade ruined it for the Republicans. To the surprise of no one who's been reading me for a while, I don't agree with the popular opinion. It was 40 years ago this spring that I first volunteered on a Republican campaign. I've seen a few elections. I cannot stress enough how one should never underestimate the ability of the GOP to blow an election simply because the party doesn't execute the...

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene aired speculative concerns regarding Speaker Mike Johnson’s recent political actions, suggesting a potential blackmail situation to explain what she perceives as a radical departure from his known conservative stances.It can be recalled that the Georgia Congresswoman filed a motion to vacate the chair and remove Mike Johnson as House Speaker thanks to his actions over the House Omnibus bill, which will fund the government until September 30.The legislation passed by a 286-134 vote, achieving the necessary 2/3 vote to avoid a government shutdown. Democrats bailed out Johnson after over 100 members of his caucus rebelled.During an...

Donald Trump suffered a blow in a number of primary votes on Tuesday, after thousands of Republicans refused to vote for him.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), 82, intends to remain in the U.S. Senate to oppose conservatives who support a truce between Russia and Ukraine, he said Monday. McConnell announced in February he would step down as Senate minority leader at the end of the cycle following health issues and incidents of freezing up during press conferences. He is the longest-serving party leader in Senate history. In an interview on WHAS, Terry Meiner asked McConnell what his “mindset” is “when your feet hit the floor in the morning?" "I’m not leaving the Senate,” McConnell said. “I’m particularly involved in actually fighting back...

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Sunday that he expects to move a package including aid for Ukraine with “some important innovations” when the House returns from recess. In an interview on “Sunday Night in America With Trey Gowdy,” Johnson stressed the difficult position he’s in, with a historically narrow House majority, but said he was working throughout the current work period to come up with a package and plans to put it on the floor when the House gavels back into session.

CNN’s Manu Raju reported over the weekend from Appomattox, Virginia on the effort inside the House GOP to oust one of its own, Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), who is the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. Raju both aired his report on CNN’s Inside Politics Sunday and published an article on CNN.com detailing the various House Republicans openly campaigning in support of Good’s GOP primary opponent, state Sen. John McGuire. Raju noted that campaigning openly against a House colleague is “a tactic long viewed as a serious breach of protocol but one that underscores the bad blood within the House...

As president, I will restore American strength on the world stage and focus our attention and resources on deterring Xi’s Chinese Communist Party — the greatest economic and security threat facing America today. My goal is straightforward: We win, and they lose. My treasury and commerce secretaries will focus on American interests, not Wall Street’s access to Chinese markets. I will create an Office of Economic Security and Competition to prioritize reshoring and friendshoring critical production, protecting technologies and reducing reliance on adversaries. I will defend American workers and innovators from illicit technology transfer and intellectual-property theft. I will align...

Former Trump Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Friday said he is not voting for his old boss but left the door open to voting for President Biden. “I’m not there yet,” Esper said after being asked by comedian Bill Maher on his HBO show, “Real Time with Bill Maher,” if he would vote for the current president. “I’m definitely not voting for [former President Trump], but I’m not there yet.” Trump announced that he fired Esper from his position as Defense Secretary back in November 2020, following Biden being projected to win the 2020 presidential race. He has since become...

The advocacy group Republican Voters Against Trump announced a new six-figure campaign highlighting former Vice President Mike Pence‘s refusal to endorse former President Donald Trump in his 2024 campaign. The 15-second digital ad is set to run in five battleground states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, while the billboard campaign will be featured in Phoenix, Atlanta, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Milwaukee. “This is someone who worked with Donald Trump all four years of his presidency. He saw Donald Trump up close and personal every single day,” said John Conway, the group’s director of strategy, in an...

The Uniparty is quietly scheming (again) to rig the system and prevent President Trump from ever becoming President. This scheme involves a two-part strategy: using a combination of strategically planned retirements of Republican House members, coupled with the passage of carefully tailored legislation to remove President Trump from the ballot on bogus Insurrection grounds that would likely pass muster with moderate justices on the Supreme Court, like John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett, who prefer to avoid deciding on “controversial” legal questions and risk being seen in a bad light by their liberal peers.

....Democrats could easily save Johnson, and many have named a vote on Ukraine aid as their price.... ...Some Democrats, conscious of that threat, had suggested that they would be interested in protecting Johnson from an ouster...

Within moments of widespread media reports that Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will retire when the current term ends this summer, the Washington parlor game of making a short list of judges President Joe Biden might consider to replace him began. ... There’s one major problem facing Biden’s prospects, though: he might not be able to win confirmation for the expected pick. [Snip] But the nuclear option can go into motion only if the Judiciary Committee reports the nomination to the floor, a procedural move that says whether a majority on the committee recommends the full Senate consider the pick....

The Chinese Communist Party has aggressively built up its military, expanding its arsenal of both conventional and nuclear capabilities. The growth was largely funded by its rival, the United States.That is one of the arguments made by James Fanell, a retired U.S. Navy captain, and Bradley Thayer, a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy, a Washington-based think tank, during a recent interview with EpochTV’s “American Though Leaders“ program.“The Chinese Navy now is over 150 naval combatants greater than the U.S. Navy. They are now the largest navy in terms of numbers of hulls and tonnage,” said Mr. Fanell,...

Republican Representative Mike Gallagher, who represents the 8th Congressional district of Wisconsin, announced earlier this year that he would be retiring from the House of Representatives after serving his current term in Office. On February 10th, 2024, Gallagher made the public announcement that he would not seek re-election to his position in 2024, further diminishing the slim majority Republicans currently hold in the House of Representatives. Gallagher joins the ranks of 14 other House Republicans who have also announced that they will not seek re-election heading into 2024. That list includes, Debbie Lesko (AZ-8) Kay Granger (TX-12) Brad Wenstrup (OH-2)...

"It's just insanity" that there could be another push to oust a House speaker over a budget disagreement, and there will be trouble for the Republican Party if such actions keep occurring, former Rep. Pete King said on Newsmax Sunday about Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's motion to vacate filed Friday against House Speaker Mike Johnson.

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...

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski has threatened to leave the Republican Party over the nomination of Donald Trump. Murkowski, who has long sought to undermine Trump and the wider conservative agenda, bemoaned the fact that he was once again the party’s nominee. “I wish that as Republicans, we had … a nominee that I could get behind,” Murkowski said in an interview with CNN. “I certainly can’t get behind Donald Trump.”

As turmoil continues within the House Republican caucus, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) appeared on Fox News Channel’s “Jesse Watters Primetime” and weighed in on that turmoil and the decisions his successor, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), is facing. According to the former California lawmaker, the beginning of the end for Republicans came when Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) led his ouster last year.