Free Republic

A federal grand jury in Washington has approved the first criminal charges in the special counsel’s investigation into Russian election interference, two sources told NBC News, marking a significant milestone in an inquiry that has roiled Donald Trump’s presidency. Mueller's Office of the Special Counsel will make public an indictment on Monday, a U.S. official with firsthand knowledge of the process confirmed to NBC News, without disclosing the name of the target or the nature of the charges. The timing was confirmed by a second source familiar with the matter.

I’m a political junkie. Every day I read The Washington Post and The New York Times, among other media giants, with great interest and appreciation. Here in conservative rural America, Trump is ascendant. I was loafing in a booth at the coffee shop Saturday morning, and my friend Mark said something like, “Hey Bob, if you want to understand why rural conservatives like Trump, watch the speech he gave at the Values Voters Summit.” Doing my best to understand how my conservative friends might read Trump’s speech, I read. I contrasted Trump’s messaging with how rural conservatives often view Democratic...

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The U.S. Senate has confirmed a nominee for judge to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. Sens. James Lankford and Jim Inhofe say the Senate on Thursday voted 79-16 to confirm President Donald Trump's nomination of Scott Palk to the federal bench. Palk is currently the assistant dean of students and assistant general counsel at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. He was initially nominated by President Barack Obama in 2015, but the nomination was never voted on by the Senate and he was again nominated by President Trump.

President Trump made it official on Thursday that embattled IRS Commissioner John Koskinen will be out of a job next month. Trump tapped David Kautter, the Treasury Department’s assistant secretary for tax policy, to serve as interim IRS commissioner, beginning Nov. 13. Koskinen’s term ends on Nov. 12. He was eligible for reappointment, but Koskinen is fiercely opposed by congressional Republicans. Members of the House Freedom Caucus attempted but failed to impeach Koskinen last year, largely over his handling of the scandal involving former IRS official Lois Lerner. Prior to Koskinen’s tenure, Lerner was accused targeting conservative groups who applied...

The GOP are honing in on a legislative victory at last. Republicans are learning their lessons from the healthcare fight. They need a unified plan to achieve real, lasting tax reform. It has been a struggle just to get this far though. The September 27 tax framework released by the White House and GOP leaders included some clear goals, such as setting a corporate tax rate of 20 percent and cutting tax rates on businesses and individuals. However, it failed to offer answers to some looming questions, like where to set income brackets or which corporate tax breaks should be...

President Donald J. Trump announced via Twitter Saturday morning that he will release the long anticipated classified files surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.  Subject to the receipt of further information, I will be allowing, as President, the long blocked and classified JFK FILES to be opened.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 21, 2017 There are currently more than 3,000 classified documents in the National Archives regarding JFK’s death and the investigation into his killer, Lee Harvey Oswald. 25 years ago, Congress passed the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 which ordered the acting commander-in-chief...

House Republicans on Thursday narrowly adopted the Senate’s version of the 2018 budget resolution, overcoming a key hurdle for the party’s tax-reform plan. The budget will allow Republicans to pass a tax overhaul that adds up to $1.5 trillion to the deficit through a process known as reconciliation, which only requires 51 votes to pass in the Senate. Twenty Republicans voted against the budget in the 216-212 vote, more than the 18 who voted against the original House version earlier this month. Most of the 20 defectors were centrists hailing from populous states that could stand to lose from eliminating...

Towering walls will face a battery of tests over the next two-to-three months. Nearly a year after President Donald Trump's surprise electoral victory, the first step to fulfill the central pillar of his campaign—a promise to build a wall along the country's southern border—has taken shape along the perimeter between San Diego and Mexico. The construction of eight prototypes is complete, and they will now face a battery of tests to see how difficult they will be to climb or breach. Six contractors across the country have met their Oct. 26 deadline to finish work on eight 30-foot models for...

Agreement specifically blames Lois Lerner by name for failures The IRS admitted in court Wednesday that it wrongly targeted tea party and other conservative groups for intrusive scrutiny, placing specific blame on former senior executive Lois G. Lerner, and entered into a settlement designed to make sure that kind of political targeting never takes place again. The filing, made in federal court in Washington, D.C., amounts to a stunning apology from the Trump administration for actions taken under President Barack Obama, when hundreds of tea party and conservative groups were singled out for intrusive screening, forced to wait years for...

Jeff Flake no longer wants to be a senator. On Tuesday, the Republican senator and frequent Donald Trump critic delivered a grandstanding speech on why he decided to throw in the towel on campaigning for another term in office. "There are times where we must risk our careers in favor of our principles," Flake declared. "Now is such a time." [Snip] His speech was typical of his recent commentary on the president - the now-retiring senator even wrote a whole book about how his principled conservative self couldn't stand Trump. But to several liberal journalists, Flake's speech was one of...

The U.S. National Park Service almost spent nearly $100,000 of taxpayer dollars to honor the Black Panther Party, a group whose leadership killed law enforcement officers, and a group that the FBI acknowledged wanted to use violence and guerilla tactics to overthrow the United States Government.

So much media coverage centers on four Republican Trump critics — one retired, two retiring and one facing a deadly, possibly career- or life-ending cancer: George W. Bush, Sen. Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker (Tenn.) and Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain (Ariz.). Lost in this: President Trump enjoys public support (despite private gripes) from most of the 49 other Senate Republicans and 239 House Republicans, including every person in elected leadership. Trump got standing ovations from Senate Republicans, with Corker in the room. This flows from his strong, sustained support of GOP voters. Corker is...

"As I contemplate the Trump presidency, I cannot help but think of Joseph Welch," Flake wrote. "The moral power of Welch’s words ended McCarthy’s rampage on American values, and effectively his career as well." Flake said that, thanks to President Trump, America has reached a similar point in its history.

President Trump visited with Senate Republicans today at the Capitol. Here's what he said about taxes, immigration, drugs and foreign policy, according to a source in the room. Shoutouts: Trump thanked Lamar Alexander for his work on healthcare, said positive about things Rand Paul and thanked Thad Cochran for his vote (Cochran was ill and came back to the Senate to support the budget.) What wasn't said: Senators McCain and Corker, with whom Trump has been feuding, were silent during the meeting. Trump also didn't talk about the NFL or Gold Star families. Trump wants the Senate to work all...

Bill Nye “the Science Guy” said his efforts to convince the public of the dangers of global warming have failed, largely due to a misinformation campaign by the fossil fuel industry.“I am a failure,” Nye told Salon in an interview ahead of a documentary on the Science Guy’s rise to fame.“The United States has now got the head of the EPA who wants to close the EPA,” Nye said, adding his decades-long effort to convince people of the dangers of man-made global warming has been “completely ineffective.”Earlier this year, Nye aired a documentary series on Netflix aimed at adults. The...

RUSH: All right. Let me lead off by telling you this Corker stuff doesn’t matter. It’s good theater, but it doesn’t matter. (interruption) What? How do you think it matters? What do you think…? (interruption) No, no. Folks, I’m serious here. I’m using intelligence guided by experience. This is a repeat process of something that’s been happening ever since Trump was inaugurated. Hell, ever since Trump announced his candidacy! There’s the pattern here. Greetings. Great to have you. Rush Limbaugh, your guiding light, America’s Real Anchorman, soothing and calming a chaotic nation with dulcet tones — rhetoric and resonance spreading...

Sen. Corker is the incompetent head of the Foreign Relations Committee, & look how poorly the U.S. has done. He doesn't have a clue as..... ...the entire World WAS laughing and taking advantage of us. People like liddle' Bob Corker have set the U.S. way back. Now we move forward!

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Conservatives are increasingly frustrated over the slow pace of the Senate’s confirming President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees, and are calling for swift action from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Per Article II of the Constitution, every federal judge must be nominated by the president and then confirmed by the Senate. Nine months into the president’s term, a Senate controlled by the president’s party has confirmed only seven nominees out of 56, including one Supreme Court nomination.

One Democrat has become so concerned with Donald Trump's mental health that she has reached out to the psychologist behind a political group calling for the president to be removed from office. California Representative Jackie Speier, has contacted John Gartner, a former assistant professor at Johns Hopkins medical school and founder of Duty to Warn, her office confirmed to Newsweek Tuesday. A collection of mental health professionals, the political action committee has advocated for Trump’s removal under the 25th Amendment. 

A week of More Liesfrom the Left..and ignoring the truth Meeting with advisors(10-17-17) POTUS and McConnel working lunch and presser(10-17-17) Pres Trump and other Admin officials visit "radio row" at WH, giving brief interviews to invited radio hosts. (10-17-17) Welcome all you deplorables to this week's edition of the Dose! This is EVERYTHING TRUMP. Administration, family, frustrations, joys, winning! We welcome your research, your commentary, your personal OT sharing and your presence. Even if you do not share a lot, just check in and say hi. Lurkers are welcome. Cretin of the week (above)– Fredricka Wilson – congresswoman from...