Republicans

Fox News reports: A likely announcement by gubernatorial candidate Vernon Jones that he’s dropping out of Georgia’s GOP primary could come as early as Friday. Two Republican sources familiar with the situation told Fox News on Wednesday that after meeting last week with Donald Trump and being offered the former president’s backing if he instead runs for Congress or another …

Miami’s ABC News affiliate reports: Despite the security at Haley Sofge Towers, a Miami-Dade public housing building, people with clipboards and Republican Party of Florida caps were in the hallways, door knocking. It made registered NPA Armando Selva suspicious. “They said, “We’re doing the renewals on the voter registration, would you like to renew?” Selva recalled. Resident Juan Carlos Salazar …

Politico reports: The Jan. 6 select committee has subpoenaed the phone records of Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward and her husband, Michael Ward, who both signed documents falsely claiming to be among their state’s presidential electors in 2020. The Wards filed suit Tuesday against the House panel in federal court in Arizona seeking to block the couple’s phone provider, T-Mobile, …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Rudy Giuliani was unmasked as an exiting costumed contestant in last week’s taping of the first Season 7 episode of Fox’s popular primetime series The Masked Singer. Deadline hears that as soon as they saw Giuliani, judges Ken Jeong and Robin Thicke quickly left the stage in protest. The show is known for its jaw-dropping surprises when …

Media Matters has the transcript: Here’s my provocative take: the people of Montana should say you’re not welcome here. Don’t bring your values and your Berkeley worldview to this untouched slice of God’s country. They’re going to destroy Montana. They will. They’re good at it. The activist groups will infiltrate, the racial groups will, in fact — now thankfully, there’s …

Tallahassee’s Fox News affiliate reports: Florida Republicans advanced a voting law package that would establish a police unit for election crimes, embracing a proposal pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The Senate Committee on Ethics and Elections approved the bill after hours of debate. Democrats questioned the need for the election police force and said the bill imposes needless new rules …

The Insider reports: Rep. Adam Kinzinger blasted Sen. Josh Hawley on Wednesday after the senator criticized President Joe Biden for ordering troops to Europe as Russia ramps up its preparations for a potential new invasion of Ukraine, while calling on the White House to block Ukraine from joining the NATO alliance. “I hate to be so personal, but Hawley is …

The Washingtonian reports: The DC health department officially shut down H Street bar and burger joint the Big Board Tuesday night, days after its liquor license was suspended for repeated violations of DC’s indoor mask and vaccine mandates. Stripped of its ability to sell alcohol, the business had continued operating with only food. Four Republican members of Congress—Rand Paul, Thomas …

The Hill reports: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Wednesday defended his stance against offering pardons to Jan. 6, 2021, defendants a day after former President Trump called him a “RINO,” an acronym that means “Republican In Name Only.” “I stand with the police officers who protect our streets, federal courthouses, and the United States Capitol against rioters. They deserve our …

The Associated Press reports: Justice Neil Gorsuch is speaking this weekend to the conservative legal group that boosted his Supreme Court candidacy, in a session at a Florida resort that is closed to news coverage. Gorsuch is billed as the banquet speaker Friday at the Florida chapter of the Federalist Society’s annual meeting, which is being held at the Walt …

CNN reports: Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, has twice in the past three days promoted a fictional online rumor that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau fled to the United States because of a protest in Ottawa by a group of truck drivers and others opposed to vaccine mandates, Covid-19 restrictions and Trudeau himself. Roy’s tweets appeared to have been …

Salon reports: A Tennessee state legislator introduced a joint resolution to “reprimand” the Associated Press (AP) for publishing an article highlighting racism within the military’s ranks, saying the outlet “engaged in the lowest form of yellow journalism.” The bill was proposed by Republican state Rep. Bud Hulsey, who objected to an AP story that ran back in May, entitled “Deep-rooted …

Austin’s CBS News affiliate reports: Despite spending the past few months asserting his confidence the power grid won’t fail and the power will stay on in any weather event, Gov. Greg Abbott backtracked from his normal confident boasts Tuesday when discussing whether or not he expects anyone to have their electricity cut off during this week’s forecasted winter weather across …

Mediaite reports: “On Saturday at the rally, you talked about the potential – if it’s appropriate – of pardoning some of the January sixers,” said Newsmax host Rob Schmitt. “Lindsey Graham said a couple days later, he thinks that’s inappropriate. What do you think?” Trump hit back at Graham, who has been among his most ardent supporters. “Well, Lindsey Graham’s …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Lawyers for former President Donald Trump and two of his adult children argued Tuesday that the New York state attorney general’s office had targeted them unfairly in its civil-fraud investigation and subpoenaed information that could be improperly used in a separate criminal probe. The arguments came in a dispute over subpoenas New York Attorney General …

Politico reports: Republican senators are unmoved by Tucker Carlson’s relentless warpath against support for Ukraine — even as it widens an existing rift in their party. In recent days, Carlson has attacked Republicans who are pushing for a stronger response to Moscow’s aggression — slamming Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) as “ignorant” and Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) as “a moron masquerading …

Hemant Mehta reports at Only Sky: A newly proposed bill in Oklahoma from State Senator Rob Standridge would punish any public school teacher who promotes any position “in opposition to closely held religious beliefs of students.” Which — let’s face it — means the bill would punish any public school teacher. Senate Bill 1470 was prefiled this week by Standridge, …

NBC News reports: A Michigan Republican candidate for governor recently said that rape victims who become pregnant shouldn’t get abortions, according to a video of the comment that went viral Monday. Garrett Soldano made the remark on the right-wing podcast “Face the Facts with April Moss,” and a liberal news site, Heartland Signal, tweeted a video of the conversation Monday. …

“Well, I can speak for myself. The election of 2020 was decided December the 14th of 2020 when the Electoral College certified the winner of the election. “What we saw here on January 6th was an effort to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to another, which had never happened before in our country. “165 people have …

Florida Politics reports: The House State Affairs Committee voted 16-8 Tuesday, along party lines, to advance a bill (HB 7) targeting class lessons and corporate trainings that teach cultural guilt, teachings proponents say insert ideology into history lessons. The legislation, filed in part at Gov. Ron DeSantis’ urging, is Florida Republicans’ effort to quell classroom or corporate training discussions they …