Republicans

Never Trumpers make the best anti-Trump ads: A GOP group released a new ad Friday showing Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) previously praising former Vice President Joe Biden (D) and calling out President Trump. The ad, released by the coalition Republican Voters Against Trump, begins with footage of Graham appearing on CNN in 2015. Graham, who was running for president at …

The Fresno Bee reports: The attorney for Rep. Devin Nunes said on Friday that he is at a “dead end” in attempting to identify anonymous people who criticize the California Republican on Twitter as he asked a Virginia judge to hold the company responsible for social media criticism. Nunes, R-Tulare, filed a lawsuit against Twitter last year alleging he was …

Politico reports: Florida is sitting on more than 980,000 unused doses of hydroxychloroquine, a drug President Donald Trump touted as a “game changer” in the fight against the coronavirus, after only a handful of hospitals in the state asked for access to the medicine. Gov. Ron DeSantis said in April that the state was getting 1 million doses of the …

“A civilized society has to have rules and someone to enforce them. I don’t believe that the 18,000 police forces that we have in this country are endemically racist,” Kennedy said. “I think there are some racist cops and we need to weed them out. “And finally, to the governor and the mayor of Seattle, who I think are holding …

Yahoo News reports: Jacksonville, Florida, has been selected to host the celebration marking President Donald Trump’s acceptance of his party’s nomination for reelection, the Republican National Committee chairwoman said Thursday night. Ronna McDaniel made the announcement a day after saying that Jacksonville was a front-runner to hold the event. The governor of North Carolina, the official host of this summer’s …

Politico reports: A vote by the Republican National Committee to leave the party’s 2016 party platform unchanged ahead of the November election has infuriated grass-roots activists — including moderates who wanted to streamline its message and social conservatives who sought added language on emerging hot-button topics. The decision by the party’s executive panel Wednesday means the GOP will maintain positions …

Just in from the Democratic National Committee: While the RNC preposterously claims Trump has taken “unprecedented steps to protect the LGBTQ community,” they just re-endorsed an unpopular platform that advocates overturning hard-fought LGBTQ+ rights. The GOP’s 2020 platform “condemns” marriage equality, which has been legal across the United States for five years and is supported by two in three Americans. …

Fox News radio host Guy Benson: The book is called Dare to Fly. The author is my guest, U.S. Senator Martha McSally. The subhead is Simple Life Lessons in Never Giving Up. And on that subject, I do want to pivot to your Senate race. The last two polls have you down double digits. The Fox News poll that just …

Utah’s Deseret News reports: Former Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said Wednesday he’s tested positive for COVID-19. One of four Republican candidates for governor on the June 30 primary ballot, Huntsman tweeted he has “been experiencing classic symptoms … like so many others, my goal is to keep my family safe. Though isolated temporarily, we’ve never been more energized in this …

Thomas Balcerski writes for the Washington Post: Last week, the hashtag #LadyGraham exploded on social media in response to allegations made on Twitter by gay adult-film star Sean Harding against Sen. Lindsey O. Graham of South Carolina (the hashtag, along with the abbreviated form “Lady G,” purportedly refers to Graham’s nickname among male sex workers). What followed has been a …

The Washington Post reports: Seeking a city willing to allow a large-scale event amid the coronavirus pandemic, Republicans have tentatively settled on Jacksonville, Fla., as the new destination for the premier festivities of the Republican National Convention in August, according to three Republican officials briefed on the plans. The details of the arrangement are still in flux and RNC aides …

Axios reports: Republican senators on Tuesday largely avoided discussing President Trump’s tweet alleging without evidence that a 75-year-old Buffalo protester, who was seriously injured after being shoved by police, is an “antifa provocateur.” Our thought bubble: It’s the classic dodging mechanism, which we’ve grown accustomed to during the Trump presidency. Whenever senators and Trump advisers don’t want to weigh in …

The Associated Press reports: The lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs has fired former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, one of Washington’s most prominent lobbyists. The firm gave no reason for the Mississippi Republican’s sudden departure and declined to answer questions about it. Mark Ruehlmann, Squire Patton Boggs’ chairman and global chief executive, said only that the firm had “decided that …

Utah’s Deseret News reports: Sen. Mitt Romney marched in a faith-based demonstration in Washington, D.C. on Sunday organized by local pastors to protest the death of George Floyd. “We need a voice against racism, we need many voices against racism and against brutality. And we need to stand up and say that black lives matter,” Romney told a reporter at …

“If you have people who were nominated, and in the case of President Bush actually elected to be president by Republicans and they will no longer support the Republican nominee who went through the process and got elected, then I’m going to be not just unhappy, I’m going to be livid. “And some of them say, ‘But I don’t like …

Roll Call reports: Former Rep. Chris Collins, who was sentenced to more than two years in federal prison in January for insider trading, will have his surrender date pushed back yet again due to the coronavirus pandemic. The New York Republican is set to report to FPC Pensacola on Aug. 18 to serve his 26-month sentence. The facility is a …

South Carolina’s FITS News reports: Around the time most South Carolinians were sitting down to their evening meals on Thursday night, a gay porn star by the name of Sean Harding fired off a tweet that set tongues-a-wagging across the Palmetto State (and in the nation’s capital). “There is a homophobic republican senator who is no better than (Donald Trump) …

The Texas Tribune reports: Republican leaders in five Texas counties shared racist Facebook posts, some of which also floated conspiracy theories, leading Gov. Greg Abbott to call for two of them to resign. Abbott and other top Texas Republicans called for the resignation of the GOP chairs in Bexar and Nueces counties after they shared on social media a conspiracy …

NBC News reports: As Republicans scramble to reboot the GOP convention, one option gaining traction is a multistate affair with major speeches and rallies in a variety of cities, according to three people familiar with the discussions. Part of the appeal of the roadshow approach is that it could allow President Donald Trump to claim having commanded the highest-attended convention …

Charlotteville’s CBS News affiliate reports: A racist, homophobic video made by a campaign surrogate for Republican Fifth District Congressional candidate Bob Good is circulating on social media. The video has some Greene County Republicans calling on Good to condemn the video or withdraw from the race. In the video, former Greene County Supervisor Eddie Deane sounds off about protesters who …