Republicans

Wisconsin Politics reports: The state Ethics Commission alleges Donald Trump’s joint fundraising committee and GOP state Rep. Janel Brandtjen schemed to evade campaign finance limits as part of an effort that steered at least $40,000 to the 2022 primary challenge of Speaker Robin Vos. The commission this week recommended local district attorneys investigate and charge both, as well as the …

Axios reports: A group of top House Democrats is warning House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and other congressional leaders not to cave to the right-wing Freedom Caucus’ demands on government spending. More than a dozen Democrats, in a letter to congressional leaders, wrote that spending bills should be advanced “without harmful poison pill policy riders” that the GOP hardliners have …

“This might be an unpopular opinion and could hurt some feelings. There are many conservative Christian women, who are influencers or leaders, that are selling themselves short and not being good role models by conforming to the world’s sexualization of women. “If you are conservative and a Christian you know you don’t have to express yourself in sexual ways and …

NBC News reports: A wave of Donald Trump’s surrogates have been dispatched to South Carolina ahead of the state’s Republican primary on Saturday to highlight his policies and trash rival Nikki Haley, but there is one thing none will discuss: Alexei Navalny. “I don’t know,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., during a campaign stop for Trump in Greenville, S.C., …

Axios reports: A well-funded new super PAC to help former President Trump in the general election has been started by staunch allies in Florida — with Trump family insider Sergio Gor as CEO, Axios has learned. The first big donor to Right for America is billionaire Ike Perlmutter, former chairman of Marvel Entertainment, who’s friends with Trump and a Mar-a-Lago …

Florida Politics reports: Florida’s Republican-led Legislature passed a sweeping bill Thursday in Tallahassee that would ban all kids under 16 from using social media — even with a parent’s permission — and would require everyone else in the Sunshine State to prove they are adults to continue using their online accounts. The Senate voted 23-14 to pass the bill, a …

CNN reports: Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee has signed a bill that allows people in the state to refuse to “solemnize,” or perform, a marriage if they disagree with it. Last week, Tennessee state lawmakers passed HB 878, which states “a person shall not be required to solemnize a marriage.” In Tennessee, only certain people can “solemnize” the “rite of …

“They’ve got a lot of receipts with Hunter Biden, they’ve got a bunch of receipts with Jim Biden as well, but so far there’s nothing to connect all that to the president in any kind of way that looks like it’s illegal or even potentially unethical. How much long can this probe go on before the Republicans either have to …

The New Republic reports: Senator Tommy Tuberville took aim at Joe Biden’s physical capabilities during the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday—conveniently forgetting his own recent struggles. During an onstage interview, Tuberville claimed Biden has declined so much that “he doesn’t know what day it is.” “I don’t think he’ll make it,” Tuberville said. “Just watched him yesterday walking on …

Politico reports: If Republicans didn’t realize it when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, they sure understand now: The long tail of the Dobbs ruling just keeps whipping Republicans with thorny political consequences. The GOP’s latest nightmare scenario comes from Alabama, where the state’s high court found on Friday that the destruction of embryos constituted a crime under the …

“Well, first of all, I didn’t say that I agreed with the Alabama ruling. What the question that I was asked is, do I believe an embryo is a baby? I do think that if you look in the definition, an embryo is considered an unborn baby. And so, yes, I believe from my stance that that is. “The difference …

The New Republic reports: House Republicans quietly deleted a reference to their epic fail of an FBI informant in a letter to a potential witness in the somehow-still-ongoing impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden. The original letter, which was obtained by The New Republic, included a section explaining the reason for the Biden investigation, with a paragraph that described a credible, …

Florida Politics reports: The Senate continues to adjust a controversial ban on social media for Floridians under age 16. But legislation (HB 1) ready for a vote in the Senate still doesn’t allow parents final say whether kids can log into platforms. Sen. Erin Grall, a Fort Pierce Republican, said the state needs to treat access to addictive platforms the …

Mediaite has the transcript: KEN BUCK: My colleagues went out and talk to the public about how this was credible and how it was damning and how it proved President Biden’s – at the time Vice President Biden’s – complicity in receiving bribes. It appears to absolutely be false and to really undercut the nature of the charges. We’ve always …

Reuters reports: Lara Trump, who Donald Trump has endorsed to be the new co-chair of the Republican National Committee, said on Wednesday that the organization needed to raise $500 million for the 2024 general election and did not rule out using raised funds to pay her father-in-law’s mounting legal fees. “We gotta make sure that people understand when they donate …

NBC News reports: The National Association of Secretaries of State Winter Conference is usually a cordial affair. It’s one of two occasions every year in which top election officials from most states gather to commiserate and share nonpartisan advice. But at this year’s conference, West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner drew rare groans from the crowd. During the question-and-answer …

The Daily Beast reports: On Wednesday, the opening day for CPAC 2024, the Alexandria City Courthouse posted a batch of eye-popping new filings in the sexual battery and defamation lawsuit against Matt Schlapp — including a subpoena to a CPAC official alleged to have overseen document destruction days after the accusations were first publicly reported. Schlapp was on notice at …

The Daily Beast reports: Newsmax has joined the legions of conservative media outlets and figures who have trashed a pair of Florida GOP bills that ostensibly aim to curb so-called “liberal media” by loosening the definition of defamation. “Newsmax strongly opposes both bills and any proposed law that makes it easy to sue media companies,” Chris Ruddy, Newsmax’s CEO, said …

The Associated Press reports: Alabama is seeking to put a second inmate to death using nitrogen gas, a move that comes a month after the state carried out the first execution using the controversial new method. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office asked the Alabama Supreme Court on Wednesday to set an execution date for Alan Eugene Miller. The state …

NBC News reports: Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said Wednesday that frozen embryos created through in-vitro fertilization are “babies,” siding with a recent Alabama Supreme Court decision that raised concerns among doctors and patients about the future of the procedure. “Embryos, to me, are babies,” Haley told NBC News in an interview, adding that she used artificial insemination to have …