Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) asked FBI Director James Comey on Monday whether reporters could be prosecuted for leaks — despite a longstanding tradition and court history of not prosecuting the press. “Is there an exception in the law for current or former U.S. officials requesting anonymity?” Gowdy asked Comey during testimony about Russia’s interference in Read More…
A large part of the House GOP plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare is predicated on the idea of giving states more flexibility to run their Medicaid programs. But with an $880 billion price tag estimated over 10 years, governors and state officials from both parties are pressing Congress to slow down. States play a Read More…
Former top officials for Hillary Clinton’s campaign vented their frustration with both FBI Director James Comey and congressional Republicans on Monday as he testified on Capitol Hill. Five months after Comey stepped into the 2016 election fray in the campaign’s closing days to talk about investigations into Clinton’s email use — which Clinton herself has Read More…
WikiLeaks will give technology companies access to information it has about the CIA’s hacking tools, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said Thursday. Assange said the organization will give details to let technology companies “develop fixes” before the information is published more widely. “We have decided to work with them,” Assange said during an online press conference Read More…
The shoe finally dropped for Cardinal George Pell. After an investigation that ran for almost two years, Australian prosecutors charged the Vatican’s chief of financial affairs with “historical sexual assault offenses” related to his time as a priest decades ago. Pell protested his innocence and declared that he will return to his native country to Read More…
This particular attack was prompted by a screw-up at CNN, a favorite punching-bag for President Donald J. Trump, but was quickly extended to the whole of the political press. It’s a timeworn strategy of authoritarian regimes. As Jill Lepore recounted in the June 5 issue of the The New Yorker, Edmund Taylor, writing in 1940 of Nazi strategy Read More…
The Washington Post ripped into Republican lawmakers for trying to push through a healthcare bill and said they should look at the delay in the Senate vote as an opportunity to work with Democrats on a compromise solution. “Republican senators are regrouping after Majority Leader Mitch McConnell put off a vote on his Obamacare repeal-and-replace Read More…
During a speech in Iowa last week, in the middle of his red-meat calls for a border wall and tougher immigration enforcement, President Trump called for something decidedly less sanguinary: “a total rewrite of our immigration system into a merit-based system.” Read Full Article »
As Americans cast their eyes beyond their shores, there is much that bids for their gaze: a dynamic China, steadily expanding its military reach in the South China Sea and beyond; U.S. forces in the Middle East, trying to try to deal a decisive blow to ISIS; a frayed Europe, struggling to keep its union Read More…
The Supreme Court’s decision to allow portions of President Trump’s travel ban to proceed is a much-needed victory for the administration. The high court ruled that those who lack any bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States could be denied entry into the U.S. The ban targets those from six Read More…
The constant drumbeat by the Left and the liberal media is really getting old. The never-ending push to link President Trump to Russia is not only absurd but even has many Democrats urging party leaders to stop talking about Russia. Let’s not forget how this really began. Just weeks ago, fired FBI Director James Comey admitted under Read More…
Donald Trump has a thing about Barack Obama. Trump is obsessed with Obama. Obama haunts Trump’s dreams. One of Trump’s primary motivators is the absolute erasure of Obama — were it possible — not only from the political landscape but also from the history books. Trump is president because of Obama, or more precisely, because Read More…
“It was kind of a week of WTF,” says Susan Rice. “Or two. Because it’s something made up out of whole cloth.” Rice is sitting in her office on the American University campus in the leafy neighborhood about four and a half miles northwest of the building — the White House — where, until five Read More…
Incoming elected administrations, especially the Obama transition team of 2008 in the case of Russia and Iran, seek contacts with foreign diplomats before formally entering office. Most presidential campaigns are staffed by at least a few free-lancing opportunists who see their candidate Read Full Article »
For CNN, June of 2017 may well be the worst month for the network in its 37-year history. And it’s not so much about making journalistic mistakes, but the way the network is going about the business of vetting stories. Big mistake #1: Earlier this month, FBI Director James Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Read More…
Driving the Day FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: SERGIO’S HOBBY — Sergio Gor, Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) prominent communications director, is helping out Fox News’ Eric Bolling with PR for his new book, “The Swamp: Washington’s Murky Pool of Corruption and Cronyism and How Trump Can Drain It.” Gor has been helping coordinate interviews with Bolling and Read More…
A trip to Poland by U.S. President Donald Trump next week may feel like a diplomatic coup for the right-wing government, but western European nations are uneasy it will encourage Warsaw’s defiance towards Brussels. Trump visits Poland for one day – en route to a G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany – to take part in Read More…
President Donald Trump was whisked a few blocks from the White House to the Trump hotel on Wednesday night for his first re-election fundraiser, where he raised an estimated $10 million behind closed doors. Some 40 months ahead of the 2020 election, the president held court for about two hours at a $35,000-per-plate donor event Read More…
he year 2016 marked a dramatic change of political course for the English-speaking world, with Britain voting for independence from Europe and the United States electing a president promising a revived American nationalism. Critics see both events as representing a dangerous turn toward “illiberalism” and deplore the apparent departure from “liberal principles” or “liberal democracy,” Read More…
President Donald Trump held his first re-election fundraiser in the nation’s capital Wednesday night, and White House staffers left reporters waiting outside with many questions. Independent Journal Review writes that no president has ever held a fundraiser for himself this early into his first term, as Trump was inaugurated in January. The White House would Read More…
NBC News host Chuck Todd lashed out at the Trump administration Wednesday for waging a “war on the truth.” “I’m obsessed with the White House’s war on the press and on media,” Todd said on his show, “MTP Daily.” “Let’s be clear about this, that war is nothing less than a war on the truth.” Read More…
To cleanse the palate, a late-night reminder via Remy and Reason that any opposition to more regulation is proof of homicidal intent. No wonder 73 percent of Democrats say they’d give up booze if it meant Trump would be impeached. Would you really want to get blitzed if it meant people will die? [embedded content]
Monday evening the administration issued a warning to Syria. In essence, it said ‘we know you are planning a chemical strike and it will be painful if you carry through on that idea.’ Now, Secretary of Defense James Mattis has said that not only was the evidence real but the attack was cancelled because of Read More…
CNN political analyst David Gergen on Wednesday questioned the focus of President Donald Trump, who held a re-election fundraiser at his hotel near the White House one day after the GOP healthcare bill seemingly collapsed on the Senate floor. “You would think tonight that the President would be scrambling, doing everything he could, to rescue Read More…
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., on Wednesday told reporters a tax break for high earners in the GOP healthcare bill was a mistake, The Hill reported. The tax cuts include a repeal of a 3.8 percent investment tax and a 0.9 percent Medicare payroll tax, both of which apply to individuals earning $200,000 or more a Read More…
A frustrated Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reportedly blew his cool over staffing and information leaks – unloading on the head of the presidential personnel office in front of top White House aides including Reince Priebus and Jared Kushner. According to Politico, the outburst aimed at Johnny DeStefano stunned the White House officials gathered at Read More…
This caught my attention not only for the topline result but because it makes for a fascinating contrast with a similar — but not quite identical — poll taken by the same company, YouGov, back in April. Here’s what YouGov found two months ago when it asked “Do you favor or oppose expanding Medicare to Read More…
It has been nearly two weeks since the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, USS Fitzgerald, was rammed by the container ship ACX Crystal near Fitzgerald’s homeport of Yokosuka, Japan. The Fitzgerald was extensively damaged–probably putting it out of service for at least a year–and seven sailors were killed. Initial reports based on tracking data from ACX Crystal Read More…
Congressman Jason Chaffetz closes out his career in Congress this Friday Starting next month, he will be working at Fox News. Chaffetz gave an interview to his new employer today in which he once again claimed his decision was about his family. “There comes a point where you gotta get off the crazy train,” Chaffetz Read More…
It has become sort of a joke that no one in Washington, D.C. will admit to having met Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak despite documentary evidence. While the anti-Trumpers like to harp on Jeff Sessions, there are others. For instance, Nancy Pelosi. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Friday that she’s never met with the Read More…
The good news, Democratic version: A plurality of Democratic voters want Nancy Pelosi to remain the party’s leader despite a four-cycle losing streak. The good news, Republican version: Er … pretty much the same thing. Politico and Morning Consult partnered on a poll of registered voters to test out Pelosi’s standing after a fifth straight special-election Read More…
Late Monday evening, the Trump administration took an unprecedented step of warning Syria’s Assad that they knew he was planning a chemical strike and that he should best think two or three times before going ahead with it. And it warned Russia and Iran that they would be held jointly responsible if the attack took Read More…
deputy White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders listened to a question during a briefing with reporters on Wednesday. (Photo by Evan Vucci/AP) For the second day in a row on Wednesday, a briefing scheduled to be led by White House press secretary Sean Spicer was run instead by deputy secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. And for Read More…
With the GOP bill to repeal Obamacare in trouble, there’s talk of bipartisanship for healthcare reform legislation – but it’ll likely require the “public death” of an Obamacare repeal, The New York Times reported. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate health committee, has said he’d like to draft legislation to stabilize the marketplaces Read More…
Ari Fleischer and Mike McCurry, each a former press secretary, say yes. I don’t get it. So, what to do differently? First, we recommend that President-elect Trump keep the press briefing, but no longer make it a live televised event. The briefing today has become an occasion for too much posturing on both sides of Read More…
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Yesterday, James O’Keefe and Project Veritas released another of their undercover videos in which a CNN producer is quoted on the Russia probe investigation as saying, “it’s mostly bullsh** right now.” And he goes on to say that Jeff Zucker, head of CNN, is pushing Russia because it is a perceived ratings draw. Really? After Read More…
Last week I wrote about Jane Sanders’ decision to hire an attorney to defend herself in an ongoing FBI investigation. Mrs. Sanders is being investigated for her role in turning a struggling liberal arts college in Vermont, Burlington College, into a debt-ridden mess which collapsed five years after she was pushed out as its president. Read More…
Once a darling of the Dems, Debbie is enduring a demonstrable downturn. As a Florida resident it has been with long standing dismay that I watched the ascendency of Debbie Wasserman Schultz through the ranks of the Democrat party. She fully embodies that political concept of an individual who fails upward. Last summer she approached Read More…
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., joked Wednesday that constructing a new GOP healthcare bill by Friday would happen “if pigs fly,” NBC News reports. Senate staff, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said they would work up a new bill to shore up support for the legislation after a Congressional Budget Office analysis dealt it Read More…
President Donald Trump on Wednesday ripped Democrats on Twitter for attacking the Senate’s healthcare bill for cutting funds for Medicaid, arguing that support “actually goes up.” Trump’s tweet included a chart from the Congressional Budget Office’s report on the proposed legislation: Democrats purposely misstated Medicaid under new Senate bill – actually goes up. pic.twitter.com/necCt4K6UH — Donald Read More…
Significant, or a nothingburger? Paul Manafort and Richard Gates completed their submissions to the Department of Justice to retroactively register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), a move prompted in part from revelations about his work in Ukraine on behalf of a pro-Russian political party. The Washington Post’s report on the belated registration suggests that Read More…
Yes, the Trump administration rescinded an Obama-era policy that made school bathrooms and locker rooms sexual free-for-alls, in order to give so-called transgendered students more consideration than the other 99 percent of the student body. That hasn’t stopped the current Department of Justice from celebrating depravity. On Wednesday, the DOJ held a special event to Read More…
Robert Barnes, writing at the Washington Post, published an early review of the performance of Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch (six words which I swear to you I will never get tired of writing) this week. As with many reviews from the WaPo of people or ideas which lean in a conservative direction, one Read More…