Free Republic

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.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said he laughs at the term “America first,” an increasingly common phrase heard in the Republican Party regarding U.S. foreign policy that he finds “disorienting.” Romney said during an interview with MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle” earlier this week that growing isolationism in the GOP is “unimaginable” considering its past leaders, like former Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, as well as former Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Romney argued the term, popularized by former President Trump, “flows” in from talk radio and TV, where “outrageous” things are embraced by the party’s...

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) told MSNBC on Wednesday there was “no question” that the economy under President Joe Biden was “strong” and “doing well.” After MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle asked Romney during an interview why he was so optimistic about the future of the country, Romney replied, “First of all, America is an extraordinarily resilient country.” He explained, “We just had this extraordinary pandemic, and yet our economy is strong, low levels of unemployment, it’s extraordinary, and it’s not because the president is pulling all the levers in the right way. No, it’s not. It’s because the American people are...

The US is "rushing ammunition, armoured vehicles, missiles [and] air defences" to Ukraine's front line, Anthony Blinken has said.During a trip to Ukraine, the US secretary of state announced that $2bn would be spent to speed up delivery. His comments came as Russian advances forced Ukrainian to retreat from several villages in the Kharkiv region. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has cancelled all his foreign trips to concentrate on the new incursion. Speaking in Kyiv on Wednesday, Mr Blinken said weapons would be rushed to the front lines to "protect soldier, to protect citizens". He said that the air defence systems,...

Paul Ryan must be very confused about what makes a person’s “character” good or bad; according to a new report, the former congressman will not be voting for Donald Trump, because “character is too important” and therefore, he can’t get behind a guy like Trump. Apparently, Ryan intends to write in another Republican candidate, which is obviously a throw away vote and therefore, one less vote against Joe Biden. Funny, because Ryan and all the other RINOs never say a word about Biden’s character, nor are they that critical of his policies. The goal with Ryan and others is to...

Kyle Becker @kylenabecker “I don’t regret anything I said... I haven’t taken anything I said then back." Mitch McConnell stands by remarks that former President Trump is "practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of January 6" and should potentially be held "criminally responsible"

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday blamed Tucker Carlson for turning some Republicans against the idea of providing military aid for Ukraine by demonizing the war-torn country. The top Republican in the Senate argued that Carlson’s outspoken stance against US support for Ukraine was one of the primary reasons why approving more than $60 billion in emergency spending for the former Soviet state took so long to achieve. “I think the demonization of Ukraine began by Tucker Carlson, who in my opinion ended up where he should have been all along, which was interviewing Vladimir Putin,” McConnell said during...

The departure of Rep. Mike Gallagher shaves off yet another Republican from the already razor-thin GOP House majority, further weakening the GOP's already loose grip on power. With Gallagher's resignation, House Republicans can only afford to lose a single Republican vote to get legislation passed along party lines. If they lose more than a single GOP vote, Republicans will need Democrat support to pass any legislation. As it stands, there are 217 Republicans and 213 Democrats and five vacancies in the House. This means if two Republicans vote with Democrats the vote would be 215 - 215, and a tie...

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) raged at Republicans lawmakers on the House floor for opposing an aid package to Ukraine before Saturday’s vote. The House passed a $61 billion aid bill for Ukraine amid the country’s current war with Russia. Lawmakers also passed other bills providing assistance to Taiwan and other U.S. allies. Hardline conservative lawmakers opposed the bipartisan legislation by arguing the money should have gone towards security at the U.S. southern border. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) worked with Democratic lawmakers to bring the aid bills to the floor and ensured it’s passage. Connolly responded to those complaints by noting...

The inside story of how House Speaker Mike Johnson was flip-flopped on Ukraine aid starts with his top policy adviser, a former lobbyist whose clients include a number of major companies who have issued corporate statements indicating some kind of interest in the war. The Speaker intends to set up a Saturday evening vote in the House of Representatives on the plan that completely abandons border security and instead pushes to funnel tens of billions of more U.S. tax dollars to foreign countries like Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. In a string of recent betrayals by the Speaker–the recent government funding...

President Biden fired back at former President Trump's repeated assertions that he was behind the criminal charges his predecessor faces. In an interview with Nexstar correspondent Reshad Hudson, Biden was asked about the comments made by Trump, whose trial in New York City started this week on the charges brought by Democratic District Attorney Alvin Bragg pertaining to his 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. "He directly blames you, President Biden, as being responsible behind those prosecutions. How do you respond to that?" Hudson asked. "His lack of ethics has nothing to do with me," Biden responded.

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that former President Donald Trump had “simple-minded ideas about how the world works.” Bolton said, “I think it’s important to understand, and this is especially important for Trump critics to understand, he doesn’t have a philosophy. He doesn’t think in policy terms, as that’s conventionally understood in Washington. He thinks in anecdotal, ad hoc, transactional terms, seeing through the prism of how does this benefit Donald Trump.”

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said Sunday that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will be blamed if the U.S. fails to provide aid to Ukraine and it loses its war against Russia. “Now, he has to think about his conscience, because I got to tell you, if Ukraine loses this fight, he will be the guy in the history books that are written about why Ukraine lost this fight,” Kinzinger said in an interview on CNN. “They won’t necessarily say that he’s the one that pulled the aid, but he’s the one that could have done something which changed it.” “We...

Former Vice President Mike Pence blasted former President Trump on Monday for embracing the position that abortion policy should be determined by states and avoiding taking a stance on whether the federal government should enforce a national ban at a certain cutoff point. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Pence — who was Trump’s running mate in 2016 and 2020 —said Trump’s newly announced position on abortion was a “slap in the face” to opponents of abortion rights who voted for their ticket. “President Trump’s retreat on the Right to Life is a slap in the face to the...

Gordon Sondland, the former ambassador to the European Union who testified against former President Donald Trump during the Democrats’ first impeachment attempt, has registered as a foreign agent of Ukraine.During the impeachment hearings, Sondland gave contradictory testimony about a White House meeting in exchange for investigations of 2016 election interference and Burisma Holdings, a company tied to the Biden family business.It is unclear what specific work Sondland produces for Ukraine. His registration leaves blank for what “purpose” he works for the embattled county and only notes he works for a “Foreign Principal.” It also does not specify any compensation.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) passed a massive $1.2 trillion government funding plan despite the objections of the majority of House Republicans, violating the Hastert Rule and crossing the Rubicon into dangerous territory for the future of his speakership. House Republicans enacted the longstanding rule to prohibit Republican Speakers from colluding with Democrats to pass legislation. But Johnson sent the bill to the Senate despite the objections of 112 Republican colleagues, with only 101 Republican votes in favor, although Johnson and his leadership team applied significant pressure. Johnson also broke a House rule intended to give lawmakers time to review legislation...

Russian President Vladimir Putin was spotted on Capitol Hill ahead of Wednesday’s House impeachment inquiry hearing — sort of. Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) donned a Putin mask ahead of the House Oversight Committee hearing on allegations about the first family’s business dealings overseas in a swipe at Republicans leading the inquiry. “I just came to thank [Oversight Committee Chairman] James Comer for taking all of our intelligence and using it in the committee,” Moskowitz, 43, told reporters as “Putin.” “Maybe he can come see the technology in the grocery stores,” the Democrat added in a reference to conservative pundit Tucker...

Democrat Sen. Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is warning that U.S. forces could be “in combat” if Congress fails to pass $61 billion in aid to Ukraine."Ukrainians in two years have been really remarkable," Warner said on a press call Thursday. "They've literally destroyed 87%. Russia's pre-existing ground forces have either been killed or wounded or are basically out of the conflict, and now the world is waiting to see whether the United States is going to honor its commitment to Ukraine."The Virginia lawmaker said he "fears" that if the U.S. doesn't pass additional war funding for...

Mike Pence says he will not endorse Donald Trump in 2024

In the classroom, the boardroom, and at the speaker’s dais, the former chair of the joint chiefs cashes in. SINCE RETIRING FROM the military last year, former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley has become a senior adviser to JPMorgan Chase bank, joined the faculties of Princeton and Georgetown, and embraced the lucrative paid speaking circuit. From military pay of $204,000 a year, Milley is sure to skyrocket to compensation in the millions, especially because he is represented by the same high-powered speakers’ agency as Hillary Clinton, who faced criticism in 2016 for her paid...