Free Republic

Upon learning the bombshell news that Attorney General Jeff Sessions was out on Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer quickly warned of a constitutional crisis. A new attorney general must not interfere with the investigation from special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign, the New York Democrat warned. Schumer was handed a paper informing him of the Sessions news during a press conference and he told reporters that any tampering the Mueller probe would amount to a "constitutional crisis." "Protecting Mueller and his investigation is paramount," he said it...

The Justice Department stated Wednesday that acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker will overtake supervision of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. President Donald Trump fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions Wednesday afternoon and replaced him with Whitaker, Sessions’ chief of staff. We are pleased to announce that Matthew G. Whitaker, Chief of Staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the Department of Justice, will become our new Acting Attorney General of the United States. He will serve our Country well…. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2018 Sessions recused himself from the Russia probe...

For nearly as long as FBI special counsel Robert Mueller has been investigating Russian election meddling, activists have been planning mass protests. Hundreds of protests across the US, organized by MoveOn and other progressive groups, are planned to begin if Trump fires Mueller or deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, who appointed him. They would also begin if the president prevents the investigation from being “conducted freely,” MoveOn says. Today, those fears may have been realized when Trump asked attorney general Jeff Sessions for his resignation. Sessions, who had recused himself from the investigation, will be replaced by Matt Whitaker, a...

Pop quiz: What do Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin have in common? Hint: It's the same thing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Senate Conservatives Action have in common with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). The answer is they all back state Sen. Joni Ernst (R) in Iowa's U.S. Senate race. Tea party and establishment Republicans with a history of butting heads have coalesced behind Ernst's candidacy with less than a week to go until the June 3 primary. In an election cycle when tensions have been on full display in numerous races, Iowa is one of a handful of places...

HIAWATHA, Iowa (AP) — Behind Texas Gov. Rick Perry's visit to Iowa this week to campaign for local politicians is a careful effort to remake his image from the 2012 Republican presidential candidate who couldn't remember a key message during a debate, to a more polished and prepared contender. While he denies it is a dress rehearsal for a second presidential run, Perry is studying policy, traveling and meeting with key activists as he campaigns for Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and U.S. Senate candidate Matt Whitaker in the state expected to host the first presidential caucus of 2016. "This hasn't...

Is it possible to be the anti-establishment candidate in a Republican primary for the U.S. Senate and be the choice of the Republican establishment in your state at the same time? By definition, this would seem impossible. Yet, State Senator Joni Ernst has managed to be the establishment backed, anti-establishment candidate in Iowa’s Republican U.S. Senate primary. Iowa’s Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds was an early endorser of Ernst’s campaign, and Governor Terry Branstad has reportedly been helpful behind the scenes, especially in the fundraising department. Ernst has also been backed by national Republican establishment figures like Mitt Romney, Sen. John...

One day after her “Squeal” TV brought her national attention, Joni Ernst picks up the endorsement of Sarah Palin. The former Alaska governor, 2008 vice-presidential nominee and conservative firebrand calls Ernst a “champion for life, small government, and lower taxes.” Here is what Palin had to say when announcing her support for Joni Ernst in Iowa’s U.S. Senate race: “If Nebraska’s Deb Fischer can see through the bull in Washington, then Iowa’s Joni Ernst can help her cut through the pork. Growing up on a hog farm in Southwest Iowa, Joni has taken her “pork cutting” skills to the Iowa...

The only Democrat running in the primary for the open Senate seat in Iowa made a spectacular gaffe before a roomfull of trial lawyers in Texas. Standing next to a table full of booze, Rep. Bruce Braley insulted farmers, praised lawyers, and belittled the second most popular political figure in Iowa. Iowa Rep. Bruce Braley, a Democrat running for Senate, was caught on videotape disparaging fellow Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley as “a farmer from Iowa who never went to law school” — comments that later drew an apology from the candidate. The video, posted online Tuesday afternoon by GOP opposition...

Mitt Romney waded into the crowded Iowa Senate race Wednesday, throwing his support behind state Sen. Joni Ernst (R) in the contested GOP primary. "As a mother, soldier and proven conservative, Joni has the kind of experience, skillset and discipline it will take to not only win this important seat, but to also take Iowa values to help turn around the mess in Washington," Romney wrote in a fundraising e-mail sent Wednesday morning... This is not Romney's first endorsement of the 2014 cycle. He is also backing Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), who faces tea party challenger Bryan Smith (R).

Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst (R) will run for retiring Sen. Tom Harkin's (D-Iowa) seat, she announced Wednesday afternoon. "As a mother, soldier, and a conservative, the values I hold dear, and have fought more than 20 years to protect, are being threatened by the failed policies of this president," she said in a statement on her new campaign website. "Washington has failed us. We need and deserve better leadership. And that's why I am running for U.S. Senate." Ernst, a lieutenant colonel in Iowa's national guard and first-term state lawmaker, has received encouragement from Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R)...

Rep. Bruce Braley, D, is running for Senate in Iowa, for the seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin, D. Braley, a trial lawyer before he came to Congress, needs votes from a lot of farmers and a lot of people who have never gone to law school, as well as people who also like Iowa’s other senator, Republican Chuck Grassley, currently the state’s most popular politician. So this America Rising video of Braley at a fundraiser for trial lawyers in South Texas is just priceless. He talks about Grassley as if the guy just came in from slopping...

Joni Ernst, a Republican candidate in the GOP Senate primary in Iowa, is touting her experience “castrating hogs on an Iowa farm” to underscore how emphatic she will be about ending pork barrel spending in the U.S. Senate. “I'm Joni Ernst. I grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm. So when I get to Washington, I'll know how to cut pork,” Ernst says in the ad, followed by the sound of a pig squealing. The ad, which was provided exclusively to Breitbart News, will appear in television spots in Iowa. Ernst ends the ad saying, “Washington's full of big...

Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, apologized for his critical comments of Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, that were posted online Tuesday by a Republican research group. Speaking at a fundraiser, Braley, who is running for the Hawkeye State’s open Senate seat, said the Senate could end up with “a farmer from Iowa who never went to law school, never practiced law, serving as the next chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee,” before identifying that person as Grassley. “I apologize to Senator Grassley and anyone I may have offended,” Braley said in a statement released a couple of hours after the video...

Iowa Rep. Bruce Braley, a Democrat running for Senate, was caught on videotape disparaging fellow Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley as “a farmer from Iowa who never went to law school” — comments that later drew an apology from the candidate. The video, posted online Tuesday afternoon by GOP opposition research firm America Rising, shows Braley speaking to what the group described as a group of lawyers at a fundraiser in Texas. “If you help me win this race, you may have someone with your background, your experience, your voice — someone who’s been literally fighting tort reform for 30 years...

The party has an outside chance of winning the five or six seats it needs to retake control, but needs to find top-tier recruits in several states and is running out of time to do so. ....Here are five states where the party needs to land strong candidates to broaden the battleground and have a hope of winning back the Senate. Michigan Iowa Montana Arkansas New Hampshire