Republicans

CNN reports: As Texas begins restoring power after a devastating week of freezing temperatures and winter storms, the state is confronting a new crisis: overwhelmed water systems that could extend misery for much of the population. Leaks caused by frozen pipes have pushed the water supply to the brink. About 13 million Texans, nearly half the state’s population, remained under …

The Associated Press reports: U.S. Sen. John Thune on Thursday criticized Republican activists and party leaders for engaging in “cancel culture” by rushing to censure GOP senators who found former President Donald Trump guilty of inciting an insurrection. In his first interview since he voted to acquit Trump, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican defended fellow Republicans who sided with Democrats …

Houston’s CBS News affiliate reports: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is taking heat after flying to Cancun as his home state suffers through a deadly winter storm crisis. He arrived back in Houston Thursday to a political storm. A handful of protesters with signs were waiting to greet Cruz outside his Houston home. He was roasted on social media once photos …

The Daily Beast reports: South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg will, in fact, be criminally prosecuted for killing a man with his car last fall. But the top law-enforcement official in the state ducked more serious felony charges in connection with the fatal crash. On Thursday, a Hyde County prosecutor broke more than five months of silence after the Sept. …

The Texas Tribune reports: Texas’ power grid was “seconds and minutes” away from a catastrophic failure that could have left Texans in the dark for months, officials with the entity that operates the grid said Thursday. As millions of customers throughout the state begin to have power restored after days of massive blackouts, officials with the Electric Reliability Council of …

Politico reports: Nikki Haley reached out to former President Donald Trump on Wednesday to request a sit-down at Mar-a-Lago, but a source familiar tells Playbook that he turned her down. The two haven’t spoken since the insurrection on Jan. 6, when Haley blasted Trump for inciting his supporters to storm the Capitol. The snub comes on the heels of Tim …

The Hill reports: Freshman Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) responded to criticism of her gun storage in her Zoom background during a House Natural Resources Committee meeting. During the committee’s organizing meeting held over Zoom, the Republican appeared to have several guns including rifles and a hand gun propped up behind her on a book shelf. Her background was immediately spotted …

Totally as everybody predicted: In a statement, the Texas Republican said he flew with his daughters on Wednesday and would be returning Thursday amid an uproar over the family trip.“With school cancelled for the week, our girls asked to take a trip with friends. Wanting to be a good dad, I flew down with them last night and am flying …

The New York Times reports: Ivanka Trump will not run for the U.S. Senate from Florida in 2022, according to people close to her as well as an aide to Senator Marco Rubio, who holds the seat. Since the final days of former President Trump’s term in office, speculation has been growing that Ms. Trump, his eldest daughter, might try …

The Washington Post reports: The Texas Democratic Party is calling on Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) to resign after unverified photos surfaced on social media purportedly showing him traveling to Cancun, Mexico, as millions of Texas residents were without power amid blackouts from the freezing weather. “Texans are dying and you’re on a flight to Cancun,” the Texas Democrats said in …

Axios reports: Former Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole, 97, announced Thursday that he has been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. The big picture: Dole served in the U.S. Senate for 27 years, including 11 years as as GOP leader, before retiring in 1996. He unsuccessfully ran for vice president on President Gerald Ford’s ticket in 1976, and for president …

Fox News reports: Sen. Ted Cruz flew to Cancun, Mexico, with his family this week as Texas dealt with a winter storm that left millions without power, Fox News has confirmed. Photographs of Cruz, R-Texas, at an airport began circulating on social media late Wednesday, with people alleging that the senator had left the state for Cancun amid a major …

The Associated Press reports: Power outages in Texas dropped below 1 million on Thursday morning for the first time in four days, but many people remained without electricity or safe drinking water after winter storms wreaked havoc on the state’s power grid and utilities. But Texas’ grid manager, under fire for its response to the winter storm, has warned that …

From Nikki Haley’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal: Where does the Republican Party go from here? The party that abolished slavery, won the right to vote for women, and beat Soviet communism must continue to be strong and principled to move America forward. But the liberal media doesn’t care about that. It wants to stoke a nonstop Republican civil …

Mediaite reports: Talk about throwing out political red meat. Congresswoman and gun rights activist Lauren Boebert (R- CO) tweeted out an image of a steak on Tuesday, taunting Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to “come and take it,” in response to his call for widespread adoption of lab-created beef. But the rib steak image she so proudly tweeted out with the …

The Huffington Post reports: The U.S. Capitol Police are investigating two incidents related to the new metal detectors set up outside the House chamber: one involving a member of Congress potentially assaulting a police officer and the other involving a lawmaker trying to bring a gun onto the House floor. HuffPost personally observed and publicly reported on both incidents over …

The Texas Tribune reports: As millions of Texans continue struggling through a dayslong winter storm without power or potable water, Gov. Greg Abbott provided few details Wednesday on when they can expect their situations to improve. As of Wednesday night, 2.7 million households didn’t have power. And nearly 12 million Texans are facing water disruptions after enduring multiple days of …

San Antonio’s ABC News affiliate reports: Photos circulating on Twitter late Wednesday purport to show Texas Senator Ted Cruz on a flight to Cancun, Mexico, during the state‘s historic disaster. One sleuth cited clues from a photo that puts Cruz inside the Houston International Airport near the terminal for a United flight to Cancun at 4:10 p.m. Less than an …

CNN reports: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had an instant reaction when seeing the lengthy attack he endured from former President Donald Trump. He laughed about it, according to a source familiar with the matter. The reaction underscores how McConnell plans to navigate the post-Trump era: Focus squarely on winning back the Senate majority — while ignoring the former President …

Fox News reports: The Republican National Committee is launching a new panel on election integrity that it says is dedicated to restoring transparency and confidence to future elections. The RNC announced their new Committee on Election Integrity on Wednesday, sharing the news first with Fox News. The RNC says the new committee will work closely with state parties and other …