Free Republic

Every Dem has his day. Hillary had her tour. Bernie had his. A number of Dem staffers and media people have done theirs. Now it's Ben Rhodes' turn to play Miss Obama. His documentary clips are everywhere. He's got a new gig with NBC. And he's churning out a stream of articles, editorials and excuses. As the Obama Whisperer, the manager of the echo chamber, he's back doing what he loves. Spinning. This time it's Obama on Syria. In an Atlantic piece, Obama's vizier blames the international community and Republicans. Obama had famously blamed the Euros. Rhodes goes easier on...

President Donald Trump on Thursday said he was considering a pardon for Martha Stewart. The president also said that he was considering commuting the sentence of disgraced former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. The president told reporters about his thinking while on a flight to Texas. The president earlier in the day announced that he would pardon conservative pundit Dinesh D'Souza. This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

Hillary Clinton is either the gift that keeps on giving or else like houseguests who overstayed their welcome, depending on your perspective. For Republicans, her continued presence in the public eye, whining and complaining about the election, providing a new excuse each week, is an electoral gift, as she is one of the faces of the modern Democratic Party. Along with Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi, these three are the witches of Macbeth, circled around a CNN microphone chanting, "Double, double, toil and trouble, Trump's a pig, stole the election, and should be impeached." Sorry for the non-rhyme; maybe Jesse...

Democrats mistakenly tweet 2014 pictures from Obama’s term showing children from the Border in steel cages. They thought it was recent pictures in order to make us look bad, but backfires. Dems must agree to Wall and new Border Protection for good of country...Bipartisan Bill! We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you! “This investigation involved far more surveillance than we ever had any idea...

Zullo: 52:40 The president demanded that the DOJ open up an investigation . That must have unnerved people that deal with this birth certificate issue because all of a sudden my email inbox started to blow up. I got emails from the Italian corporation that did the analysis for us that people were engaging then challenging the finding, trying to get the work product, the professional report that we have not released yet, get copies, people making contact with me challenging our finding and trying to make arrangements to meet with me was most incredible. They hit me with information...

Sources tell The Daily Caller several FBI agents want congressional subpoenas to testify about the agency’s problems. The sources claim there is a demand within the agency to prosecute former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe. They also say the bureau has become totally politicized. The subpoenas are desired by the FBI agents because it requires Congress to pay for their legal fees and protects them from agency retribution. Many agents in the FBI want Congress to subpoena them so they can reveal problems caused by former FBI Director James Comey and former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, three people in...

Newly-examined emails among high-ranking U.S. intel officials at the time—including then-Director James Comey and his chief of staff James Rybicki—reference a “sensitive matter team.” Based on the context of the emails, the “sensitive matter” appears to be the Trump-Russia narrative, and political opposition research funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. The research— known as the “Steele dossier”— was peddled to the press and secretly used, in part, to justify controversial FBI wiretaps against at least one Trump associate. The emails were first obtained by the Justice Department Inspector General and recently turned over to the...

s Trump won primary after primary in 2016, a rattled John Brennan started claiming to colleagues at the CIA that Estonia’s intelligence agency had alerted him to an intercepted phone call suggesting Putin was pouring money into the Trump campaign. The tip was bogus, but Brennan bit on it with opportunistic relish. Out of Brennan’s alarmist chatter about the bogus tip came an extraordinary leak to the BBC: that Brennan had used it, along with later half-baked tips from British intelligence, as the justification to form a multi-agency spy operation (given the Orwellian designation of an “inter-agency taskforce”) on the...

Former CIA chief faces the legal consequences of his dirty deeds. John Brennan, director of the CIA during the Obama administration, is running for cover. He could be facing criminal charges for his role in the Deep State cabal that sought to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and then to undermine the legitimacy of the duly elected president of the United States, Donald Trump. Acting in desperation as the noose tightens around him, Brennan tweeted a warning to House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, claiming they will "bear the majority of the responsibility of the harm done...

Newly revealed e-mails show that former Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI) deputy director Andrew McCabe was keenly aware of CNN’s internal understanding of a secret briefing about the infamous Steele dossier, days before CNN published any stories on the matter. The e-mails, which were obtained by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), also reveal that top officials used coded language to refer to the salacious and unverified allegations made by Steele. Former FBI director James Comey briefed then-President-Elect Donald Trump on January 6, 2017, on at least one unproven allegation contained in Steele’s dossier, which was jointly funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign...

A highly anticipated report from the Justice Department’s internal watchdog reportedly is expected to hit FBI leaders for moving too slowly to review a batch of Hillary Clinton emails discovered toward the end of the 2016 presidential campaign. Offering a glimpse at the contents of the closely held inspector general review, The Associated Press cited people familiar with the findings in reporting Monday that the investigation would criticize the bureau for its handling of that incident. It’s just one piece of the comprehensive report that Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz has compiled looking into the FBI and DOJ’s conduct...

ABC News has learned President Trump will meet today at the White House with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray. The meeting is scheduled for 3pm. I'm told this "demand" will be a topic of discussion ...

President Trump will meet with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray on Monday afternoon amid a burgeoning dispute with federal law enforcement over the Russia probe. A White House official called the meeting "routine" but also said that Trump's demand for a federal investigation into whether the FBI improperly infiltrated his campaign will likely come up. Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats will also attend the meeting at the White House.

Video at link.

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says President Trump's call for the Justice Department to find out if the FBI spied on his campaign is "not good for the country." Video at link...

Many have laughed at Trump's concerns, but on Sunday, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein gave momentum to President Trump's belief that the FBI may have spied on his 2016 presidential campaign for political reasons. Rosenstein did so by ordering the Justice Department's inspector general to investigate whether there has been "impropriety or political motivation" in the FBI's Trump-related investigations. Trump had called for just this kind of investigation earlier on Sunday with the following tweet: I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the...

Somehow the former commander-in-chief is largely absent from the political spying drama. President Donald Trump tweets today: “Reports are there was indeed at least one FBI representative implanted, for political purposes, into my campaign for president. It took place very early on, and long before the phony Russia Hoax became a ‘hot’ Fake News story. If true - all time biggest political scandal!” And what does the man who was serving at the time as the FBI’s ultimate boss have to say about all this? Perhaps it’s a good moment to get the whole story from our 44th President. He...

Four years ago, the Observer published my first article entitled All the President’s Muses. It was triggered by this picture, taken in the White House after the Benghazi murders. My concern was that President Barack Obama surrounded himself with former federal prosecutors who would do anything to win. . . . And, here they are again. This triumvirate of cover-up experts is central to the Obama White House arm of the conspiracy to surveil the Trump campaign, the phony FISA warrant, “unmaskings” of Americans in the Trump campaign and denials of information to the incoming president of the United States....

Loretta Lynch’s Justice Department and James Comey’s FBI worked together with the Hillary Clinton campaign to entrap Donald Trump and associates — including his eldest son — prior to the 2016 presidential election, according to records and testimony of federal law enforcement insiders. One high ranking official in the Justice Department called it a sweeping “highly illegal” scheme to ensure Hillary Clinton’s election to the White House. “This was clearly a scheme using Justice (Department) resources and State (Department) resources to get the Russian lawyer into the United States,” one Justice Department insider said. “Who has the power to do...

It has been quite some time since I have reported on John and Tony Podesta. Tony Podesta has literally disappeared from public view. As far as John Podesta, he does tweet now and again. Judicial Watch has received access to new emails coming from John Podesta. The emails prove John Podesta lied when he said he was not affiliated with the Podesta Group. There are documents from the U.S. Department of State showing the Podesta Group working on behalf of the pro-Russia Ukrainian political group “Party of Regions.” The documents also reveal then Obama White House Counsel John Podesta lobbying...