Free Republic

A California-based federal appeals court on Monday sided with the Trump administration in lawsuits brought by state and environmental groups brought challenging the U.S. government’s authority to expedite construction of barriers along the border with Mexico. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 ruling said the Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 gives the Department of Homeland Security broad authority to construct the border barriers and waive environmental laws in the process. The ruling affirms a district court's decision that allowed the federal government to construct wall "prototypes” in San Diego and replace primary fencing near...

Special counsel Robert Mueller on Friday is expected to file a bombshell report that describes how former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort eviscerated his plea agreement with federal prosecutors. The highly anticipated memo, slated for release as a court filing, will likely shed more light on Mueller’s investigation into whether President Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election. But just how much new information will be made public remains to be seen. Still, whatever information is disclosed is expected to be revelatory in terms of the content and nature of Manafort’s remarks to the special counsel’s...

The breaking down of Paul Manafort’s plea deal has dealt a blow to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. A witness to the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr., and a Russian lawyer predicated on damaging information about then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Manafort was seen as a valuable potential witness in Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow. The decision to call him out as a liar effectively takes his testimony off the table, removing a valuable asset for the government. It comes after a lengthy trial where prosecutors won guilty...

The jury in the criminal trial against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on Tuesday sent a note to the judge asking what they should do if they can't come to a consensus on a single count. The note suggests that the jury is having difficulty coming to a conclusion on at least one of the 18 counts facing Manafort, though it does not mean they have not come to conclusions on other counts. Federal District Judge T.S. Ellis III reconvened the court shortly before 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, saying that the jury had sent the note. The jurors asked what...

More than a 100 civil and human rights groups are urging senators to oppose Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s latest Supreme Court nominee. In a Tuesday letter, led by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the groups say Kavanaugh will be a fifth and decisive vote to undermine a host of core rights and legal protections, including economic security and access to healthcare, abortion, voting and labor rights. The groups, which include the NAACP, Lamba Legal and Demand Justice, also the rights of immigrants and persons with disabilities, LGBTQ equality, equal opportunity, affirmative action and environmental protections all could...

President Trump may never sit for an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller, but it’s looking more likely he’ll have to answer questions as part of a defamation lawsuit filed by a former contestant on “The Apprentice.” A ruling by a New York state judge this week said Trump can be deposed in the defamation lawsuit filed by Summer Zervos, the former contestant who has accused Trump of unwanted advances.Some see the legal fight, which has received less publicity than other cases, as the most dangerous to Trump because it could lead to testimony where he’d risk lying or making...