Republicans

Courthouse News reports: The House Freedom Caucus, the lower chamber’s conservative voting bloc, said Friday that lawmakers should not consider any legislation that would fund the Key Bridge’s rebuild without first consulting other options. Laying out its position in a statement, the caucus argued that government should first seek “maximum liability” from the company that owns the Dali, the Singapore-flagged …

The Texas Tribune reports: Former Texas House Speaker Joe Straus said on Thursday that Midland oil magnate Tim Dunn, one of the state’s most powerful and influential GOP megadonors, once told him that only Christians should hold leadership positions in the lower chamber. Straus, a Republican who is Jewish, relayed the encounter in an interview with former Texas Tribune CEO …

CNN reports: Three months after Rep. Lauren Boebert apologized for disruptive conduct at a Denver theater, the Colorado Republican attended a glitzy Republican gala headlined by former President Donald Trump in Manhattan, where her behavior once again raised eyebrows. At the December soiree, which was the New York Young Republican Club’s annual gala, multiple witnesses saw a server tell Boebert …

Politico reports: Melania Trump, who has been largely absent from the campaign trail during her husband’s presidential run, is back on the GOP fundraising circuit. The former first lady is set to hold her first major political event of the year — a fundraiser for the Log Cabin Republicans on April 20 at Mar-a-Lago. The April event is the launch …

Florida Politics reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis isn’t holding back when it comes to initiatives that would legalize adult-use cannabis and would enshrine reproductive rights. “Once voters figure out how radical both of those are, they’re going to fail. They are very, very extreme,” DeSantis said in Davie. “Look at the weed one. For example, the weed one is not just …

Politico reports: Arizona investigators probing Republicans’ efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results have subpoenaed two members of Congress who were among Donald Trump’s closest Capitol Hill allies in the scheme. The subpoenas to Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar, which have not previously been reported, ordered the two Arizona Republicans to testify before a grand jury. There is …

Axios reports: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is facing new demands from Democrats to include humanitarian aid for a variety of global hot spots in a foreign aid package, Axios has learned. “He’s a bit boxed in,” one House Democrat said of Johnson. “He goes one way, he loses votes, he goes another way, he loses votes, and he’s got …

Reuters reports: The election campaign of former U.S. President Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee said on Wednesday they raised over $65.6 million in March, more than three times the amount raised in February. The March figures released by Trump and the RNC showed a rise in Trump’s fundraising after his last rival for the Republican nomination, former South …

“What those people did when they violently attacked the Capitol, in order to stop a constitutionally-mandated meeting of the Congress to accept the results of the Electoral College, is a stain on our history. And every one of those sons a bitches who did that, we oughta find them, try them, and send them to jail. “And one of the …

“Mike Johnson has has made a complete departure of who he is, and what he stands for, and to the point where people are literally asking, is he blackmailed? What is wrong with him because he’s completely disconnected with what we want? I can’t comprehend, Tucker, what radically changes a man. I mean, if we break down the the second …

NBC News reports: Nebraska legislators on Wednesday night blocked a late effort to change how the state allocates its Electoral College votes, despite public pressure from former President Donald Trump to shift to a winner-take-all system that would likely benefit him in the fall. The measure fell short, 8-36, in a procedural vote. While it’s possible supporters could take another …

Axios reports: Republican Senate candidates have flocked to Mar-a-Lago in recent months to raise funds for their campaigns, and the results have been lucrative, Axios has learned. Arizona Republican Kari Lake, a top Trump ally, raised $1 million at a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser on Wednesday, a source familiar with the event told Axios. Republican Bernie Moreno, who won a contentious GOP …

Bloomberg News reports: Donald Trump is being forced to turn to the rich and the elite as his rallies fail to whip up enough small-dollar donations to fund his campaign. A Saturday event in Palm Beach hosted by billionaire John Paulson is expected to generate $30 million for Trump from contributors writing six-figure checks. That’s likely to dwarf the haul …

CNN reports: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene bluntly warned Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday that moving ahead with an aid package for Ukraine would be one of “the most egregious things he could do” as she said she was “not backing off at all” over her threat to force a House vote seeking his ouster. In a phone interview with CNN, …

The Arizona Mirror reports: Every day, the House and Senate open their floor sessions with a prayer that is meant to be non-denominational, but Republicans who control both chambers have long only allowed Christians to speak. But Rep. Lupe Diaz (R-Benson), who is also a minister, went a step further in his opening prayer Monday, and spent nearly five minutes …

Semafor reports: Donald Trump and Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen endorsed legislation that would take Omaha’s potentially decisive electoral vote out of play for Democrats, hours after conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s Tuesday X post suggesting it. Five hours and 10 minutes later, Pillen put out a statement supporting a bill that would convert the state to a winner-take all system in …

“Andrew Weissman, a former prosecutor, is suggesting that Donald Trump could get jail time if he’s convicted, criminally, for falsifying business records in the Stormy Daniels hush money case. “That trial is slated to begin April 15th in Manhattan. Presumably, it’s gonna take a few weeks for it to go forward, and then, presumably, he will be convicted because this …

PBS NewsHour reports: One in 5 U.S. adults believe Americans may have to resort to violence to get their own country back on track, according to the latest PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll, an attitude that experts say puts the nation in “an incredibly dangerous place” in the months before the 2024 presidential election. Republicans were more likely than Democrats or independents …

“I often say that as much conflict as we have in the world as much pain and sorrow and people are suffering, it’s a great time to be alive because we’re seeing this take place and I think we’re going to see where the largest kind of a spiritual awakening in this country that people are realizing how much evil …

Colorado Public Radio reports: Congresswoman Lauren Boebert is recovering from unexpected surgery. Her campaign announced Tuesday night that she had an acute blood clot removed from her leg. Boebert went to UC Health in Loveland Monday afternoon with extreme swelling in her left leg, according to a statement from her campaign. She was diagnosed with May-Thurner syndrome, a rare form …