Politics

“They are breaking and violating the law by funding abortion tourism with tax dollars. When agencies do that, the Congress has to stand up and push back against it. Our recruiting is in the absolute gutter now, and you’re funding abortion tourism? Is that really something helping to protect this country? So we need to fight back against it and …

Politico reports: “So other than your mama, is there any special lady in your life?” asked Republican Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird at the Faith and Freedom Coalition in Des Moines, where a number of GOP presidential hopefuls participated in a town hall. Scott, telling the crowd “yes,” quipped that it’s been “one of the more asked questions recently,” and …

The Hill reports: An armed man impersonating a U.S. marshal was arrested at a Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. campaign event on Friday. Kennedy said a man with two holstered weapons carrying a U.S. Marshals badge and federal ID approached him at a Los Angeles campaign event on Friday. The man claimed to be part of Kennedy’s security detail. Kennedy said …

Politico reports: GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has vowed to “gut” the system for H-1B temporary worker visas if he wins the White House. It’s the very system he’s used in the past to hire high-skilled foreign workers for the pharma company that built much of his wealth. From 2018 through 2023, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services approved 29 applications for …

The Christian Post reports: DeSantis, a candidate for the Republican nomination for president in 2024, addressed the crowd at the Family Research Council’s Pray, Vote, Stand Summit Friday, where he discussed his faith in God and outlined how he would protect religious liberty if elected president. “I don’t know how you could be a leader without having faith in God,” …

Arizona Central reports: A federal judge dismantled new state laws on Thursday that required voters to prove their citizenship, agreeing in her ruling to allow rights groups to probe legislative leaders’ intentions in creating the laws. Former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey signed the two laws, which ban certain people from voting by mail or in state elections, last year after …

Politico reports: In the high-stakes fight that is threatening to shut down the federal government next month — and tear House Republicans apart — Ron DeSantis is taking sides. The Florida governor spent about 30 minutes on the phone Wednesday with conservative Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Bob Good of Virginia — leaders of the …

The Hill reports: Sen. Mitt Romney’s (R-Utah) decision to not seek reelection is setting off a scramble among Utah Republicans to fill his seat in 2024. Utah GOP Chairman Robert Axson told The Hill that roughly 30 people have expressed interest over the last few months in running for Romney’s seat. Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs has already declared his candidacy, …

The Associated Press reports: Republican David McCormick is expected to announce his second bid for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, according to people familiar with his plans, taking on Democratic Sen. Bob Casey after narrowly losing an expensive and bruising GOP primary last year to a Donald Trump-endorsed rival. McCormick, 58, has strong support from the party establishment. With his deep …

Axios reports: Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy on Wednesday became the first GOP presidential candidate to join TikTok, a Chinese-owned app he described as “digital fentanyl” as recently as last week. Ramaswamy, 38, said Wednesday that he changed his stance on using TikTok after a conversation with social media star Jake Paul. “Yes, kids under age 16 shouldn’t be using it, but …

News Nation host Leland Vittert: “One of the things that has been said about how you conduct your personal life is you will not eat alone or meet alone with a woman. One of the hallmarks of your presidency, and one of the things that was reported on a lot, was your private lunches one-on-one with Donald Trump. How would …

Melissa McCollister: Good evening, vice president. I am an LGBTQ member and I have trans individuals in my family. Recent anti-LGBTQ bills have been signed into law all around this United States, including here in Iowa. So far, in 2023, 15 transgender individuals and gender nonconforming people have been murdered. The vast majority of those people have been Black and …

The Hill reports: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and the state’s surgeon general are advising against the use of updated COVID-19 vaccines for anyone under the age of 65, a move that counters a new recommendation from the CDC. “I will not stand by and let the FDA and CDC use healthy Floridians as guinea pigs for new booster shots …

The Washington Post reports: Sen. Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012 and the only member of his party to twice vote to convict former president Donald Trump in politically charged impeachment trials, announced Wednesday that he will not seek a second term in the Senate representing Utah, saying in an interview that it is time for a new …

“You have to identify them as being hostile. I mean, if there’s a woman with a baby, they are not a cartel member. There’s not going to be authorization to just shoot somebody like that. But when somebody’s got a backpack on and they’re breaking through the wall, you know that that’s hostile intent, and you have every right to …

Axios reports: Republican Vivek Ramaswamy says he wants to cut a million civilian employees from the federal government — more than a third of the non-military federal workforce — if he’s elected president in 2024. It’s the latest proposal from the political novice that tacks far to the right of every other Republican in the presidential race — in this …

“I put some lube on and got him on his knees. And I began to slide into him from behind. I pulled out of him and kissed him while he masturbated. He asked me to turn over while he slipped a condom on himself. This was my ass, and I was struggling to imagine someone inside me. He got on …

The Hill reports: Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) says he plans to give Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and House Republicans plenty of space to pursue an impeachment inquiry against President Biden, after saying last month that “impeachment ought to be rare” and “is not good for our country.” Despite making clear his qualms about pursuing an impeachment inquiry against …

Via email from hate group leader Tony Perkins: On Monday, Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.) along with 14 other senators and congressmen sent a letter to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) demanding that it deny the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) request to reschedule marijuana as a lower-risk Schedule III drug. The letter comes as a growing chorus of …

The Washington Post reports: In June, as Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) began to get a little momentum in the presidential primary, a person working on behalf of one of Scott’s Republican opponents messaged me, asking to chat. “Have you seen the video,” he asked over the phone, conspiratorially, “where he says he has a girlfriend?” The Republican operative who called …