Republicans

Raw Story reports: House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke to “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker on Sunday, claiming he was being left out of all of the negotiations between the Democrats and Republicans over the border and military funding bills. CNN’s Capitol reporter Manu Raju posted on the social media site “X” that Republican Sen. James Lankford (OK) was “invited …

Axios reports: Florida is suing the Biden administration over a new policy limiting when states can remove children from public health insurance programs. The lawsuit challenges the implementation of a law requiring states to let kids remain eligible for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program for 12 straight months before reviewing their status, regardless of life changes that mean …

The Daily Beast reports: Add another ignoble credential to Rep. Nancy Mace’s résumé. As of Monday, according to three sources familiar with the matter, Mace’s entire D.C. staff has turned over since Nov. 1, 2023. That’s nine staffers in the span of a few short months—with all but one of those employees leaving on their own accord. The lone exception …

The New York Times reports: On official biographies on Instagram and X, she calls herself a “former IDF paratrooper,” invoking one of the Israeli military’s most vaunted combat roles. But, as Ms. Pilip herself has acknowledged, she was an armorer maintaining weapons in the paratrooper’s brigade, not a paratrooper or trained parachutist. She did not face combat. Ms. Pilip’s campaign …

Mediaite reports: In an interview on Inside Politics Sunday, CNN anchor Manu Raju asked Santos about the possibility he will take a plea deal on the 13-count federal indictment he’s facing. “You’ve been in talks over a possible plea agreement and the federal indictment you’re facing,” Raju said. “Do you expect you will reach a plea deal that will keep …

ABC News reports: Sen. JD Vance on Sunday defended Donald Trump as the former president faces a litany of legal issues amid his comeback campaign for the White House. In a contentious interview with ABC News “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos, Vance — a onetime Trump critic — also doubled down on his views of the 2020 election, saying the …

Politico reports: Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Sunday said that states can’t secede, backtracking from remarks she made last week. “According to the Constitution, they can’t,” she told host Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union.” On Wednesday, Haley had said, “If Texas decides they want to do that, they can do that. If that whole state says …

The Hill reports: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday dug into the timing of President Biden’s response to last week’s deadly drone strikes, arguing the U.S. gave Iraq and Syria a “weeks notice,” that only served to kill “some dumbass,” who did not know the counter-attack was coming. “If the goal is to deter Iran, you’re failing miserably. If the …

The Daily Beast reports: For the first few minutes of this week’s Saturday Night Live, it seemed like the show was going for a pretty standard cold open. James Austin Johnson started off with his familiar Donald Trump impression; he delivered some fun bits about Taylor Swift and the Super Bowl, but for the most part seemed to be staying …

From the Justice Department: Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, and Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office, announced today that Demetrio Trujillo pled guilty to conspiracy, two counts of interference with federally protected activities, using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, …

Roll Call reports: Speaker Mike Johnson told GOP lawmakers on Saturday that he’s preparing to bring a stand-alone, $17.6 billion supplemental funding package for Israel and U.S. troops in the Middle East to the House floor next week. The move comes as Republicans in that chamber seek to preempt the Senate’s push on a much broader war and border security …

The Associated Press reports: Facing a cash crunch and harsh criticism from a faction of far-right conservatives, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel on Friday called for the party to unite behind the goal of defeating Biden. McDaniel spoke at the RNC’s winter meeting in Las Vegas behind closed doors on Friday, addressing a gathering of state chairmen and other top party …

ABC News reports: In the two weeks since ending his 2024 presidential campaign, Ron DeSantis has returned to Florida and to the duties of his governorship, while still focusing on some of the culture war issues that helped him build a national profile. DeSantis began 2023 as the best positioned Republican candidate to challenge Trump for the party’s presidential nomination, …

Mother Jones reports: Christian Ziegler, the former chairman of the Florida Republican Party who got booted last month after being accused of raping a woman who had been sexually involved with him and his wife, is now claiming to be the victim of a crime in an effort to fend off the release of information from his cellphone. Ziegler’s lawyer, …

Breitbart pounces: The Republican who helped draft the Senate’s pending pro-migration border bill, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), is getting roasted online for a tweet that blamed the 9/11 atrocity on illegal immigrants. “All of the 9/11 attackers were present in the US illegally,” said the February 2 tweet from his office. “We shouldn’t wait until the next horrific terror attack …

Austin’s NBC affiliate reports: Texas has spent more than $124 million sending buses of migrants to sanctuary cities, according to records obtained by Nexstar. According to documents Nexstar obtained, Texas has paid $124,603,616.19 to bus more than 100,000 migrants from the state’s border communities to Washington D.C., New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver and Los Angeles as of Jan. 10. …

The Hill reports: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) criticized the Biden administration for what he called a slow response to the attack on a U.S. base in Jordan that killed three American service members, as Capitol Hill reacted Friday night to the first set of retaliatory U.S. strikes on Iranian-linked militia groups in the Middle East. “The tragic deaths of three …

CNN reports: Bernie Moreno, a Republican businessman running for the US Senate in Ohio, once said there was “no scenario” in which he would support Donald Trump. He’s called Trump a “fake Republican” who stokes “hatred and fear” and suggested that the former president’s popularity is the result of “ignorance in our society.” But Moreno has since come to praise …

“Lord, everyone who is here comes in accordance right now based on the power we have as Christians and we tie the hands of Satan and all his demons and send them under the feet of Jesus. We, in the name of Jesus, we declare that each person, regardless of their race, nationality, language will serve you and praise you …

Florida Politics reports: Gov. Ron DeSantis apparently isn’t worried about votes from vegetarians, given comments in Bowling Green in which he wove a preemptive defense of meat during an attack on environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG). “I know the Legislature is doing a bill to try to protect our meat. You need meat, OK? And we’re going to have …