Free Republic

Former President Donald Trump's federal indictment amid other criminal investigations raises the possibility that the leading Republican for the 2024 presidential nomination could face time in prison. Trump faces a second indictment this year, this time on federal charges regarding his handling of classified documents, but there stands no barrier to running for president as a convicted felon or even behind a prison cell, as Eugene V. Debs did in 1920. All eyes are on the former president and how he will move forward after what House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) called a "dark day" for the United States. For...

The private consortium that reported election "misinformation" to tech platforms during the 2020 election season, in "consultation" with federal agencies, targeted several news organizations in its dragnet. Websites for Just the News, New York Post, Fox News, Washington Examiner, Washington Times, Epoch Times and Breitbart were identified among the 20 "most prominent domains across election integrity incidents" that were cited in tweets flagged by the Election Integrity Partnership and its collaborators. The Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the State Department, and liberal groups such as the Democratic National Committee, also flagged purported misinformation through the consortium.

Breitbart is facing widespread criticism after the far-right media outlet published the names of FBI agents who carried out the raid of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. The conservative outlet published a leaked version of the search warrant that allowed the FBI to execute the raid hours before the document was unsealed Friday evening. Breitbart released a version of the warrant that included the names of the FBI special agent and supervisor agent who signed off on the receipts detailing the documents taken from the Mar-a-Lago residence — prompting widespread criticism that the outlet put a target on the...

With news of the FBI raiding Mar-a-Lago, buzz quickly bubbled up Monday evening about whether former President Donald Trump could be disqualified from holding office again. The FBI search of the Florida resort was related to Trump's handling of presidential records, including classified documents, after leaving office, sources told CNN. The search warrant was connected to the National Archives, a senior government official told NBC News. Such reporting had Marc Elias, the top lawyer for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign who has drawn scrutiny for his role in pushing Trump-Russia collusion claims, pointing to U.S. Code Title 18, Section 2071....

Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s Tuesday testimony ought to ring the death knell for former President Donald Trump’s political career. Trump is unfit to be anywhere near power ever again. Hutchinson’s resume alone should establish her credibility. The 25-year-old had already worked at the highest levels of conservative Republican politics, including in the offices of Sen. Ted Cruz (TX) and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (LA), before becoming a top aide for former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows. In short, Hutchinson was a conservative Trumpist true believer and a tremendously credible one at that. She did not overstate...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has closed the gap significantly between himself and Donald Trump in a hypothetical matchup in 2024, bringing him within single digits of the former president. Among registered Republican voters, about 45% said they would vote for Trump compared to 36% who leaned toward DeSantis, according to the most recent YouGov/Yahoo News poll, a 9-point difference and the closest any challenger has ever gotten to the former president in a GOP primary poll. The most recent numbers tighten previous polls that showed DeSantis trailing by 16 points in February and 23 points the month before that.

Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney declared that Tuesday has been "a very, very bad day" for former President Donald Trump following the "explosive" House select Jan. 6 committee hearing. Mulvaney said he does not believe the star witness lied and highlighted five key takeaways on Twitter. "1) Trump knew the protesters had guns 2) He assaulted his own security team 3) There may be a line from Proud Boys to the WH 4) Top aides asked for pardons 5) The commission thinks they have evidence of witness tampering," he tweeted. "That is a very, very bad day...

Los Angeles County will pay for the funeral of a gang member who died in a police shootout after killing two officers, according to a mandate issued by beleaguered District Attorney George Gascon. Gascon, who has been sued by his own prosecutors and blasted by law enforcement due to policies seen as anti-victim, issued a directive on Dec. 7, 2020, that funds funerals, burials, and mental health services for “individuals killed by police” and others. “It is so far from my way of thinking [that] I can’t imagine such a concept,” former Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley told...

For the last year, we've heard one commentator after another tell us that American democracy is in crisis. The source of that crisis, we are told, is a hard core of the Republican Party that believes the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump and that Joe Biden, therefore, is not a legitimate president. It's true that a significant number of Americans do not accept the results of the election. But is that something new, as the Trump-focused analyses would have us believe? No, it is not. Yes, these days, it is Republicans who doubt the results of a presidential...

The Wisconsin Elections Commission held an emergency meeting and its members shot back after a county sheriff claimed that it violated state law during the 2020 election. A statement signed by five of the six commissioners, released Thursday after the meeting jumped immediately into a closed session, denied the WEC broke the law when it permitted nursing homes to allow staff instead of special voting deputies to assist residents with completing ballots because of the coronavirus pandemic. "We knew that for the protection of residents, only essential workers (which did not include SVDs) were being allowed into facilities across the...

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson shared on Monday the outcomes of investigations into three women who allegedly attempted to forge signatures on absentee ballots or ballot applications. “These cases highlight the scrutiny applications and ballots undergo throughout the election process, as well as the thorough investigative process that ensues when instances of attempted fraud are suspected,” Nessel said. Only one was caught after the election, which resulted in one double vote, while the others were caught before being counted or issued, Nessel's team said. “Our election system is secure, and today’s charges demonstrate...

Donald Trump wouldn't say whether he agrees with the Supreme Court ruling upholding a new Texas heartbeat law that bans abortion after six weeks – or when a fetal heartbeat can be detected. ... When asked if he supported the new ruling, Trump dodged the question – instead taking credit for a series of conservative rulings due to his appointment of three Supreme Court justices during his four years in office.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis never asked former President Donald Trump to postpone a rally in Sarasota scheduled for Saturday, his office told the Daily Caller News Foundation Wednesday. “Governor DeSantis is focusing on his duties as Governor and the tragedy in Surfside, and has never suggested or requested that events planned in different parts of Florida — from the Stanley Cup finals to President Trump’s rally — should be canceled,” DeSantis’ office said in the statement to the DCNF. “He wants all Floridians to enjoy the holiday weekend and celebrate Independence Day however they choose, while keeping the Surfside...

Former President Donald Trump is rejecting pleas from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to postpone a campaign-style rally this weekend some 200 miles from the Miami suburb where an international search-and-rescue mission is excavating bodies from the site of a collapsed seaside condominium. DeSantis’s office has "made a direct plea” to the former president’s team, calling on it to postpone the Saturday event in Sarasota. One Florida Republican bluntly said Trump and his team need to “read the room.” “The governor is getting tested here as to how far he's going to be pushed before he breaks ranks with President Trump....

A freelance CNN contributor reportedly tweeted praise for Hitler on Sunday amid the ongoing hostilities between Israel and Hamas. In a since-deleted post, Adeel Raja, a journalist based out of Pakistan, wrote, “the world today needs a Hitler,” the Washington Examiner reported. Raja has freelanced for CNN since 2013, according to his LinkedIn account, working on several stories for the network during that time, the report said. After learning of the post, CNN cut ties with Raja.

What Happened to Officer Brian Sicknick?No one should discount the idea that Democrats and the news media would intentionally promote a totally fabricated story to destroy Donald Trump and vilify his supporters.The claim is so pervasive as not to be questioned: Five people died as a result of the January 6 “insurrection” at the Capitol building, killed by blood-thirsty Trump voters at the president’s behest, out for revenge over a stolen election.Even though only one death—the shooting of Ashli Babbitt by a still-unidentified police officer—is provable by video evidence, the other fatalities nonetheless are accepted as an article of faith...

The supposedly-conservative Washington Examiner has published a shocking op-ed comparing Trump supporters to al Qaeda. The shocking article, essentially calling for war against the American people, was written by former CIA officer Kevin Carroll. "We defeated al Qaeda and can do the same to the fascist thugs who attacked our democracy last month,” the Examiner tweeted. The “fascist thugs” the article refers to are Trump supporters who protested and Republican lawmakers who have attempted to practice their Second Amendment right at the Capitol. Of course, Carroll wrote nothing similar about the Black Lives Matter rioters who terrorized cities across the...

When President Trump refused to concede the election to Joe Biden in the immediate aftermath of Nov. 3, we argued that he had the right to mount legal challenges if he believed there had been irregularities, mistakes, fraud, or all three. Democratic objections and outrage were as hypocritical as they were inevitable, coming as they did from a corps that refused to accept the 2016 election result not for days, weeks, or even months, but for four years. But although fair-minded people know there are legitimate procedures for litigation, and that these should be allowed to play out, there is...

Don’t believe some false media reports that I have “broken” with our great President @realDonaldTrump . I support him completely. We do NOT have a “president-elect” until electoral college votes December 14. I will discuss on “ @LouDobbs Tonight" Friday. 3:35 PM · Nov 11, 2020·Hootsuite Inc.

Casting doubts on suggestions by President Trump and Attorney General William Barr, the U.S. intelligence community said it is not aware of any evidence that a foreign adversary is trying to undermine the mail-in voting process.