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The head of the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee warned Wednesday that Russia is interfering in the French election just as it did in the US presidential campaign last year.Senator Richard Burr, who has access to some of the most highly classified US intelligence, said Moscow has shown a clear will and ability to disrupt elections in Western democracies. “What we might assess was a very covert effort in 2016 in the United States, is a very overt effort, as well as covert, in Germany and France,” he told reporters. …

Just breaking per Senator Richard Burr (R-NC)and Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) say so.

John McCain has been hammering rival Barack Obama for being little more than a vapid "celebrity" and "elitist." But The Nation has obtained a photo revealing just how star-struck a straight-talking maverick can become when offered the chance to celebrate his birthday aboard a yacht filled with celebrities--even if one of those celebrity types turns out to be an A-list con man. The photograph substantiates reports that in late August, 2006, McCain celebrated his 70th birthday aboard a yacht, the Celine Ashley, rented by A-list con man Raffaello Follieri and his then-movie star girlfriend Anne Hathaway. In the current edition...

North Carolina's senior U.S. Senator, Richard Burr, says the state should make changes to the controversial new law known as House Bill 2.... "It's now time," Burr told ABC11 after a Raleigh event, "for the General Assembly to take the opportunity that if we can roll this back, that it's probably in the best interests of North Carolina."...

They’re coming for your home. Right now. I suggest you save it. I can guide you, but you must do exactly as I say. Except, this isn’t The Matrix. You’re no actor, like Keanu Reeves, playing a distraught programmer-hacker named “Neo.” Nor am I an actor, like Laurence Fishburne, playing your guide “Morpheus.” This is real life, baby. Your home or apartment—and the neighborhood in which you live—is under siege. “Agents”—sans black glasses and black business suits—who work for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have written a new regulation called “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” (AFFH) that...

Burr calls NC GOP governor 'off base' for seeking congressional action North Carolina's senior senator said his state's Gov. Pat McCrory is "off base" in calling for congressional intervention to resolve a state dispute over restroom access for transgender people. "I've never seen Congress get involved in judicial matters and this is turned over to the court system now," Republican Sen. Richard M. Burr said Tuesday. "So, I think the governor's off base."... Burr said he would rather see the issue remain in the courts. "That's where they chose to put it,” he said. “I would have preferred that they...

PPP's first general election poll for the US Senate race in North Carolina shows the way Donald Trump could make life harder for other Republican candidates down ballot this fall. The Senate race is tight, with Richard Burr holding just a 5 point lead over Deborah Ross at 40/35, with Libertarian candidate Sean Haugh pulling 7%. To put the current state of the race in perspective Elizabeth Dole led Kay Hagan by 5 points on our first poll after the primary in 2008 too, so Ross is starting her upset bid in a very similar place to where Hagan started...

The Senate voted 49-40 Monday evening to confirm John B. King Jr., President Barack Obama’s nominee, as secretary of education. A total of 11 senators did not vote on King’s confirmation, while those who voted against him cited his loyalty to the system and support for Common Core education standards. King, 41, has been the acting secretary of the Department of Education since January, after Arne Duncan stepped down from the Cabinet post at the end of last year. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., secretary of education under President George H.W. Bush, spoke in support of King on the Senate floor....

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr on Thursday strongly denied a news report that said he had told people he would vote for Democrat Bernie Sanders over Republican Ted Cruz. Burr’s aides asked The Associated Press for a retraction. An AP spokesman said the news agency was sticking by its story. “I will support whoever the GOP nominee is,” Burr tweeted. “@AP is trying to create discord where there isn't discord by telling lies.”

North Carolina Republican Senator Richard Burr (Liberty Score® - F) recently said at a fundraiser for his tight re-election campaign that he would vote for Bernie Sanders in a Sanders vs. Cruz general election. This could send shockwaves through his primary campaign against Dr. Greg Brannon set for Tuesday, March 15. The establishment is so scared of Ted Cruz removing their access to power that they would line up and vote for the socialist Bernie Sanders. The Associated Press reported that Burr said: Still, Cruz has become such a pariah that one of his colleagues, Sen. Richard Burr of...

Establishment Accuses Ted Cruz of Releasing 'Classified Information' During GOP Debate, But There are Two Major Problems The fix is in. The RINOs are desperately trying to smear Ted Cruz.During the fifth GOP Debate on Tuesday night, during a heated exchange between Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, Rubio accused Cruz of inappropriately leaking classified information.Here’s how the exchange went, with the backdrop being Rubio trying to paint Cruz as being weak on national security because Cruz opposed Obama’s massive spying on all Americans without a search warrant: TED CRUZ: Well, you know, I would note that Marco knows what he’s...

Last night, Becca Glover Watkins, communications director for Chairman Richard Burr of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, engaged in behavior that was unbefitting of her position. During the course of the GOP presidential debate, an unfortunate political smear was lobbed at Senator Ted Cruz by Senator Marco Rubio when Rubio falsely asserted that Senator Cruz had disclosed classified information. This lie was then disseminated by Glover Watkins, utilizing her United States Senate title and her official Twitter account. The fact that Senator Cruz has done nothing improper is underscored by the swift announcement of Senator Burr and...

After the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee said his staff was looking into whether Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) referenced classified information during Tuesday night's Republican debate on CNN, the committee issued a statement saying that is not the case.Sen. Richard Burr (R-North Carolina), the chairman, told reporters on Wednesday that he had asked his staff to explore whether Cruz's comments about the National Security Agency's surveillance program constitute disclosing classified data, The Hill reported."I'm having my staff look at the transcripts of the debate right now," Burr told reporters, according to The Hill. "Any time you deal with numbers...

The leaders of the Senate Intelligence committee said late Wednesday it is not investigating whether Texas Sen. Ted Cruz disclosed classified information during Tuesday night's GOP presidential debate.The panel released a statement a few hours after the chairman, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), had said they were checking Cruz's comments.Burr released a joint statement with Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the top Democrat on the committee, stating without explanation: "The committee is not investigating anything said during last night's Republican presidential debate."...Burr said that any time specific numbers are discussed, a question emerges as to whether it's classified or open source."The question had...

A leading Democratic senator will seek legislation requiring the ability to "pierce" through encryption. The potential bill would allow American law enforcement to read protected communications with a court order. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that she would seek a bill that would give police armed with a warrant based on probable cause the ability “to look into an encrypted Web." "I have concern about a PlayStation that my grandchildren might use," she said, "and a predator getting on the other end, and talking to them, and it's all encrypted. I think there really...

Kay Hagan, defeated senator from North Carolina, may be gearing up to make a run at Senior Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) in 2016. She narrowly defeated Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), and in turn was herself narrowly defeated by Thom Tillis (R) in 2014 in what wiki called “one of the toughest re-election bids in the country.” (2) The Hagan-Ruthven family combine of real estate development and solar energy projects in central Florida and NC, just keeps finding ways to feed at the public trough! After serving in the NC state senate, Hagan launched herself into the national political arena where...

Former North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan won’t run for Senate in 2016, disappointing Democrats counting on her to unseat Republican Richard Burr in what will be a major swing state race. Hagan was unseated by Republican Thom Tillis in 2014 after one term in the Senate, and has struggled in the polls since, but was the obvious pick to challenge Burr. She’s been calling donors and supporters to inform them she won’t run, reported Roll Call. Hagan performed relatively well in an election where Republicans secured big majorities in the House and Senate, and supporters figured she could unseat Burr...

It took just a few days after the stunning defeat of Obama's attempt to fast-track the Trans Pacific Partnership bill in the Senate at the hands of his own Democratic party, before everything returned back to normal and the TPP fast-track was promptly passed. Why? The simple answer: money. Or rather, even more money. Because while the actual contents of the TPP may be highly confidential, and their public dissemination may lead to prison time for the "perpetrator" of such illegal transparency .... fast-tracking the TPP, meaning its passage through Congress without having its contents available for debate or amendments,...

It took Republicans three tries to win control of the US Senate and consolidate Congress under their leadership. In the end, the landscape left by the 2008 Democratic triumph left them uniquely vulnerable in the sixth-year midterm of an unpopular presidency. The tables will turn in 2016, warns National Journal’s Charlie Cook, as the gains of 2010 will make Republicans highly vulnerable to losing control of the Senate once again: Today, The Cook Political Report puts two Republican-held seats in the “Toss Up” category—the open seat in Florida and Kirk in Illinois. That toss-up column will certainly grow as...

Forty-seven Senate Republicans are signaling in an open letter to Iran and the White House that a deal over Tehran’s nuclear program will be at risk once President Obama leaves office. “It has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system,” the senators wrote in the letter, which was first reported by Bloomberg. “Thus, we are writing to bring to your attention two features of our Constitution — the power to make binding international agreements and the different character of federal offices — which you should seriously...