Free Republic

House Speaker Paul Ryan is rejecting President Donald Trump’s suggestion that the Justice Department shouldn’t prosecute two GOP congressmen because it will hurt the party’s election prospects in November. Ryan tells reporters Wednesday, “Justice is blind. Justice should be blind.” The Wisconsin Republican says political party should have no impact on how the department works. […] Ryan adds that “the process is working its way as it should.” …

Tuesday Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told reporters on Capitol Hill that he had “total confidence,” in his former U.S. Senate colleague Attorney General Jeff Sessions. McConnell said, “I have total confidence in the attorney general. I think he ought to stay exactly where he is.”

The Republican-controlled Senate on Thursday voted to pass an appropriations bill funding the Department of Health and Human Services that—if adopted by the House and signed by President Trump—will not only permit the continued federal funding of Planned Parenthood but will also allow the continued federal funding of scientific research that creates “humanized mice” using organs taken from aborted babies. After some maneuvering on Thursday afternoon, the leadership allowed a floor vote on an amendment offered by Sen. Rand Paul (R.-Ky.) that would have prohibited all federal funding of Planned Parenthood. That amendment was only brought up for a vote...

Bill Kristol, the former editor-in-chief of The Weekly Standard, is considering challenging President Donald Trump in the 2020 Republican primary. Kristol, who is consistently one of the most vocal anti-Trump Republicans, has been considering a run for months, a source familiar with Kristol’s thinking told The Daily Caller News Foundation. Kristol, who remains an editor-at-large for the Standard, said he has no plans to run but declined to rule it out when asked by TheDCNF. “No plans to run. But I’m randomly in Boston today, and happen to have had lunch with someone who does a lot of work in...

As the editors of The Weekly Standard suggested last week, Congress could pass a resolution of censure for the president’s conduct and his subsequent comments. Congress can also take steps with concrete consequences: • Pass legislation imposing new sanctions on Russia in the event of any future attacks on our democratic process. Dare President Trump to veto it. Override him if he does. • Hold hearings that would include in-depth testimony from the national security team on the Russian attacks, putting the case on the record (again), while putting pressure on members of the administration to correct the president’s comments....

Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) is saying that more members of the Republican Party need to be willing to stand up to President Trump. “It’s been pretty lonely out here," Kasich told The Guardian in an interview published on Friday, alluding to how he is one of the few members of the GOP to consistently criticize the president. “Not that I mind walking a lonely road, I’ve done it most of my career, but always would be good if you had more people who are willing to stand up and say that’s the wrong direction,” Kasich added.

Full tile.... Jeff Flake takes to Senate floor to suggest Trump committed TREASON by giving 'aid and comfort' to 'enemy' Russia ..... The Trump-Helsinki summit brought new accusations in Congress Thursday, as GOP Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona accused the president of providing 'aid and comfort' to the enemy. Flake's choice of words evoked the Constitution's definition of treason – at a time when President Trump is facing a new level of scrutiny for his refusal to forcefully condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin for election meddling during their summit meeting Monday in Finland. 'By choosing to reject objective reality in...

The federal government collected a record $1,305,490,000,000 in individual income taxes through the first nine months of fiscal 2018 (October 2017 through June 2018), according to the Monthly Treasury Statement released today. Despite the record individual income tax collections, the federal government still ran a deficit of $607,099,000,000 over those same nine months, according to the Treasury statement. The approximately $1,305,490,000,000 in individual income taxes that the Treasury collected in October through June of this fiscal year was $71,815,310,000 more (in constant June 2018 dollars) than the $1,233,674,690,000 (in constant June 2018 dollars) in individual income taxes that the Treasury...

GOP Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) on Friday said that if President Trump isn't prepared to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin "accountable" for aggression toward the U.S. then he should cancel their meeting next week. "President Trump must be willing to confront Putin from a position of strength and demonstrate that there will be a serious price to pay for his ongoing aggression towards the United States and democracies around the world. If President Trump is not prepared to hold Putin accountable, the summit in Helsinki should not move forward," McCain said in a statement.

Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) said on Sunday that any nominee for the Supreme Court that had demonstrated hostility to Roe V. Wade would not receiver her support. CNN host Jake Tapper asked Collins about how President Donald Trump expressed desire to nominate justices who may vote to overturn Roe V. Wade if offered the opportunity. Collins, who supports Roe V. Wade, is a key vote in the Senate, where Republicans only have a one vote majority in the chamber. "With all due respect, the Supreme Court, as we know, it overturns its own rulings all the time," Tapper said....

Hillary Clinton said, "Jesus Christ said, 'Suffer the little children unto me' not 'let the little children suffer.'" Three former first ladies — Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Michelle Obama — have stepped out their political retirement to condemn the Trump administration's practice of separating parents and children at the border while parents are prosecuted for illegally entering the country. Speaking at a women's group in New York City on Monday, Clinton called family separation "an affront to our values" and said she had warned Trump's immigration policy would lead to this during her 2016 presidential campaign against him. And...

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is calling on President Donald Trump to end the “heartless” policy of separating immigrant children from their parents at the U.S. border. “Children shouldn’t be used as a negotiating tool,” Bush tweeted on Monday. “@realDonaldTrump should end this heartless policy and Congress should get an immigration deal done that provides for asylum reform, border security and a path to citizenship for Dreamers.” The failed presidential candidate’s plea came in response to President Trump’s tweet in which he vowed to stop “some of the worst criminals on earth,” from using children to illegally enter the U.S....

House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy said that House Speaker Paul Ryan led a meeting with senior Justice Department and FBI officials Friday, and claimed he “made it very clear” the House will use “its full arsenal of constitutional weapons to gain compliance” on outstanding subpoenas. “I don’t want the drama,” Gowdy said , adding that contempt of Congress is on the table. “I want the documents.”

Mark Sanford blew up his marriage and became a national laughingstock when he sneaked off his job as South Carolina governor for a tryst with his Argentine lover. After he forsook his presidential ambitions and spent time in political purgatory, voters forgave Sanford’s trespass and, in 2013, elected him their representative in Congress. But on Tuesday, Sanford was tossed from office by his Republican constituents for committing a far graver sin: criticizing President Trump. With his bulldozing personality, Trump has transformed the GOP from a party of anti-communist cold warriors to one that coos over North Korea’s communist dictator, from...

New Hampshire’s Republican Gov. Chris Sununu signed into law on Friday a ban on gay conversion therapy for minors. Medical and mental health professionals — including the American Medical Association — say the practice to change a minor's sexual orientation or gender identity is proven to be ineffective and can cause psychological harm to LGBTQ youth. “Discrimination — in any form — is unacceptable and runs contrary to New Hampshire’s Live Free or Die Spirit,” Sununu said in a statement, as reported by WMUR. “If we really want to be the ‘Live Free or Die’ state, we must ensure that...

Republican Ohio Governor John Kasich is pushing Republican leadership to stand up to President Donald Trump on tariffs and immigration. […] Kasich urged Republicans in Congress “to do whatever they can do legislatively” to push back against Trump’s decisions to impose tariffs on several ally nations and end an Obama-era program to protect undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. …

Over the years I have read and watched Trey, unless there is an actual gun to his head, maybe not even then, I believe he would do the right thing. Sticking with my gut, hope I am right. Sez was on purpose!

Gowdy claimed that the FBI's use of spies against the Trump campaign was perfectly proper, but multiple reports indicate he never even saw the full records Congress subpoenaed on the matter. Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) recently suggested the FBI did nothing wrong when it used at least one government informant to secretly collect information on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Public reports indicate, however, that Gowdy never even reviewed the relevant documents on the matter subpoenaed by Congress. In fact, a spokeswoman for Gowdy told The Federalist that the congressman doesn’t even know what documents and records were subpoenaed by the...

Gowdy’s fire truck pulled into Fox News Tuesday night for an interview by Martha MacCallum. An able lawyer, the congressman is suddenly on a mission to protect the Justice Department and the FBI from further criticism. So, when Ms. MacCallum posed the question about FBI spying on the Trump campaign, Gowdy deftly changed the subject: Rather than address the campaign, he repeatedly insisted that Donald Trump personally was never the “target” of the FBI’s investigation. The only “target,” Gowdy maintains, was Russia. This is a dodge on at least two levels. First, to repeat, the question raised by the FBI’s...

Top-level people in the world of intelligence and independent journalism report that House Oversight chairman Trey Gowdy effectively blocked investigations into the FBI spying on the President Donald Trump campaign. This is not the first time Gowdy, who endorsed Marco Rubio in the presidential primaries, has shut down an investigation on behalf of the establishment. But the fact that many traditional conservative outlets carry water and run interference for Gowdy, painting him as a hero, makes it harder to call Gowdy out. Thomas Paine, who represents the team of connected pro-America journalists and operatives at True Pundit, revealed Gowdy’s nefariousness.