Free Republic

With North Korean and US delegates scheduled to meet Thursday to negotiate the return of US war remains from the Korean War, the focus is now on whether the two sides can make progress on the issue. During their first summit last month in Singapore, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump committed to recovering US war remains, including the “immediate repatriation of those already identified.” North Korea holds about 200 sets of remains from among the some 5,300 US military personnel believed still lost in the country, according to Department of Defense estimates. There has been...

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has asked the offices of all 93 U.S. attorneys to each provide up to three federal prosecutors to assist the Justice Department in reviewing government records of President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, the New York Times reports, citing a letter it obtained. Why it matters: The Times notes that this is an unusual move because department attorneys are not typically responsible for carrying out such a task. "The production of documents could slow down a confirmation hearing that has already shaped up as a sharp partisan battle. Democratic lawmakers say they want to...

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) held a joint call Tuesday to announce their efforts to comply with a June 26 federal court ruling mandating children under five years old in HHS custody be “reunited” with parents if they were separated at the border. U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw, in response to an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit, set a July 10 deadline to reunite the families and refused to provide additional time for the government to use DNA testing to determine if the people in question are even the 102...

WASHINGTON — A former top Watergate prosecutor, expressing impatience with the pace of Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, says the Justice Department special counsel should move “promptly” to file a report on President Trump’s conduct and stop “letting this thing drag on.” “I think it’s in the national interest to move promptly to bring this matter to a head,” said Philip Lacovara, who served as senior counsel to Watergate special prosecutors Archibald Cox and Leon Jaworski, in an interview with the Yahoo News podcast “Skullduggery.” “I think the public deserves to know — to put a riff on President Nixon’s comments...

A new poll shows that voters in battleground states represented by vulnerable Senate Democrats decisively want President Donald Trump’s nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, to replace Anthony Kennedy in the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS)... The poll conducted by the Tarrance Group between July 5 and 8 revealed that voters agree by a decisive margin of at least 12 percent that their senators should confirm the SCOTUS appointment Trump announced Monday night. After explaining that the U.S. Senate will vote on the president’s appointment to replace Justice Kennedy, it asked voters, “Do you think Senator [Nelson, Donnelly, McCaskill, Heitkamp, or...

So much for all of the anticipated excitement in Washington today. We were all set for former FBI attorney and Team Mueller member Lisa Page to show up and testify before the House Judiciary Committee. While it was going to be a closed session, at least some of the details were likely to leak out and several of the members have quite a few questions about Page’s text messaging history with her illicit lover, Peter Strzok. But now that’s all been put on hold. Despite having been served with a subpoena to appear, Page’s lawyer announced last night that she...

Already preparing for the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo joined abortion activists this week to push for measures to protect abortion on demand. Cuomo, a Democrat who is up for re-election, signed an executive order Tuesday directing state agencies to make rules forcing health insurers to cover all forms of contraception, including those that may cause abortions, the Journal News reports. The governor also urged the state legislature to pass a radical pro-abortion bill that would keep abortion on demand legal if Roe is overturned. Surrounded by abortion activists Monday at a...

FULL TITLE: Pro-Life Groups Support Brett Kavanagh for Supreme Court: He Has a “Strong Record of Protecting Life” Pro-life leaders expressed strong hopes for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who has a strong record of upholding religious liberties and restrictions on abortion. President Donald Trump announced Kavanaugh as his choice to fill retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy’s seat on Monday evening. Kavanaugh has served on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for D.C. for more than a decade, where he developed an extensive record of protecting religious liberty and free speech and enforcing restrictions on abortion. Pro-life leaders believe he...

When I read the actual stories under those headlines, my reaction turned from dread to outrage. Jim Jordan isn’t being accused; he’s being railroaded. (snip) -- Like many Americans, when I saw last week’s headlines about my friend, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), I couldn’t believe them. The accusations did not describe the man of character and courage I’ve known for more than a decade. When I read the actual stories under those headlines, my reaction turned from dread to outrage. Jordan isn’t being accused; he’s being railroaded. Jordan, as you may know, was a two-time NCAA Division I national...

An elite team of Thai Navy SEALs and foreign rescue divers brought out the final four boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave near the Thai-Myanmar border, extracting the team through a labyrinth of tight passages after they spent two weeks trapped in darkness. The operation on Tuesday moved quickly, raising hopes that all 12 boys and their adult coach from the Wild Boars soccer team would be at the surface by the end of the day. "We are not sure if this is a miracle, a science, or what. All the thirteen Wild Boars are now out...

President Donald Trump defied advice from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in picking Judge Brett Kavanaugh to be the next Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, a move that resulted in a potential Justice who would have one of the most conservative records on the high court. Democrats, including former staff for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, are already seizing on McConnell’s advice to the president as a line of attack against Kavanaugh. McConnell, as Breitbart News and the New York Times reported on Saturday night, was pushing Trump to pick Judge Ray Kethledge–or Judge Tom Hardiman–since McConnell...

... Paul has told colleagues that he wouldn’t vote in favor of Kavanaugh if the judge is nominated, citing Kavanaugh’s role during the Bush administration on cases involving executive privilege and the disclosure of documents to Congress ...

Implying that Trump might be seeking out a justice who would have his back in the event that the Mueller investigation ever bore fruit, he made sure to mention a report that “Trump’s SCOTUS team has looked at Kavanaugh’s past comments on indicting a sitting president.”

Did Judge Brett Kavanaugh write the roadmap for saving ObamaCare? That question has dwelled at the center of passionate debate in the conservative legal community for days as Kavanaugh, a federal appeals judge in the District of Columbia, finds himself as one of President Trump’s four finalists for a place on the U.S. Supreme Court. The allegation from conservative critics is rooted in a 2011 ObamaCare case where Kavanaugh dissented against the ruling but acknowledged that the Affordable Care Act’s “individual mandate provision” could fit “comfortably within Congress’ Taxing Clause power.” Kavanaugh's detractors say that language helped provide the roadmap...

Dive teams in Thailand rescued four more boys from a flooded jungle cave Monday and were confident they will also be able to save the remaining four boys and their adult soccer coach still trapped in the cavern. Chiang Rai provincial Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn, speaking as the second day of the rescue mission got underway, predicted that all 12 of the boys on the soccer team and the coach will be safely brought out of the labyrinth where they went missing 17 days ago. "I insist that all 13 will be safe and sound," Osatanakorn said. Rescuers are hustling to...

North Korea's vitriolic criticism of the U.S. following a first round of nuclear negotiations went out of its way to spare one person: President Donald Trump. In a statement issued just hours after the two-day talks finished on Saturday, North Korea accused the U.S. side of a "unilateral and gangster-like demand for denuclearization," then added, "We still cherish our good faith in President Trump." On one level, the sheen of last month's Singapore summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, with broad smiles and handshakes, has yet to wear off. But on another, North Korea may be...

<p>SAN DIEGO (AP) - California will introduce group trials on Monday for people charged with entering the country illegally.</p> <p>Federal prosecutors in Arizona, Texas and New Mexico have long embraced these hearings, which critics call assembly-line justice. California was a lone holdout, and the Justice Department didn't seriously challenge its position until the arrival of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.</p>

#MAGA Pro-life, pro-family, pro-marriage rally and prayer vigil at the White House! (12pm - until?)

President Trump has already made a major, unprecedented impact in getting NATO allies to spend more on their own defense, U.S. NATO Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison told "Fox News Sunday." "I've worked for three presidents, all of whom have said the same thing," Hutchison said. "Now, I think for the first time, we are really seeing the Europeans start going in the same direction. Every ally is now increasing defense spending -- we've had the largest increase in defense spending since the Cold War." Trump departs Tuesday on a four-nation tour amid simmering disputes over trade and military spending with...

Brexit Secretary David Davis has resigned from the UK government. His resignation comes days after Theresa May secured the cabinet's backing for her Brexit plan despite claims from Brexiteers that it was too "soft". Mr. Davis was appointed Brexit secretary in 2016 and was responsible for negotiating the UK withdrawal from the EU. A Brexiteer hailed his resignation as a "principled and brave decision"...