Free Republic

A U.S. Senate committee approved legislation on Wednesday that would help set the stage for the United States to confiscate Russian assets and hand them over to Ukraine for rebuilding after the destruction of the nearly two-year-long war. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 20 to 1 in favor of the unprecedented "Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity (REPO) for Ukrainians Act." If it were to pass the full Senate and House of Representatives and be signed into law by President Joe Biden, as expected, the act would pave the way for Washington's first-ever seizure of central bank assets from a...

Despite Israeli bombardment that has brought Gaza to the brink of a humanitarian meltdown, U.S. President Joe Biden is facing little pressure at home to rein in Israel's military retaliation for an unprecedented attack by Palestinian Hamas militants. Biden appears to have given Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a free hand, for now, to press his war against Hamas, though a threatened ground offensive - with the likelihood of a higher civilian death toll - could force the president to rethink that approach. As Biden vows rock-solid support for Israel, he has only faced scattered protest from the left wing...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Forty-nine of the 50 Republican U.S. senators said on Monday they will not back an emerging new nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, underscoring their party's opposition to attempts to revive a 2015 accord amid fears talks might collapse. They pledged to do everything in their power to reverse an agreement that does not "completely block" Iran's ability to develop a nuclear weapon, constrain its ballistic missile program and "confront Iran's support for terrorism." Tehran denies it has ever sought atomic bombs. Senator Rand Paul was the only Republican member of the Senate who did not sign...

WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - The congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol said on Tuesday it had issued subpoenas to six people who promoted false claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent and participated in, or encouraged, actions based on those false claims. The individuals subpoenaed included Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who advised former President Donald Trump, and Christina Bobb, a reporter for the far-right One America News Network who also worked part time for the Trump legal team, a statement from the panel said. Subpoenas also were sent to Trump campaign attorney...

When President Joe Biden appeared in the White House East Room on July 8 to stress that the U.S. pullout from Afghanistan was proceeding apace, he declared that a Taliban takeover of the country was not inevitable. Five weeks later, the Taliban is in charge, scenes of chaos at the Kabul airport from the evacuation of Americans and U.S.-aligned Afghan citizens has transfixed the world, and Biden is scrambling to defend himself from a series of miscalculations that have damaged U.S. credibility. While insisting that "the buck stops with me," Biden has doled out blame to others over America's humiliating...

President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett said on Tuesday at her U.S. Senate confirmation hearing she is not hostile to the Obamacare law, as Democrats have suggested, and declined to specify whether she believes landmark rulings legalizing abortion and gay marriage were properly decided. Barrett, a conservative federal appellate judge, answered questions from senators for the first time on the second day of her Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing. It gave Barrett a chance to respond to Democrats who have opposed her because of her potential as a justice to undermine the 2010 healthcare law and its protection...

The day before the Obama administration was due to slap new sanctions on Iran late last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif warned U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry the move could derail a prisoner deal the two sides had been negotiating in secret for months. Kerry and other top aides to President Barack Obama, who was vacationing in Hawaii, convened a series of conference calls and concluded they could not risk losing the chance to free Americans held by Tehran. At the last minute, the Obama administration officials decided to delay a package of limited and targeted sanctions intended...