Republicans

Axios reports: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), in a letter Friday to the Justice and Treasury departments, is calling for a criminal investigation of Twitter over allegations the company is violating U.S. sanctions against Iran. The big picture: Twitter is already under fire from the Trump administration over its decision to put a fact-checking label on two of the president’s tweets. …

“This may be attractive from a distance to some at any given moment, but it’s a very dangerous, slippery slope to start opening the door to having the government regulate these platforms. Governments have force as their only real weapon. You don’t want force deciding the art of persuasion or deciding the art of communication with social media. “You don’t …

Topeka’s CBS News affiliate reports: Former Secretary of State Kris Kobach filed his paperwork for candidacy in the Senate primary this afternoon at the Secretary of State’s Office. Kobach said he believes a “proven conservative voice” is needed in Kansas, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kobach also said the U.S. should lessen their dependency on China and reassess their relationship …

Tucson Weekly reports: Retired astronaut Mark Kelly holds a 10-percentage-point lead over appointed U.S. Sen. Martha McSally, according to a new survey by one of the state’s most respected political consulting firms, Highground Public Affairs Consultants. More than half the voters surveyed, 51.3 percent, supported Kelly in the poll, while McSally had the support of just 41.3 percent. Kelly, who …

ABC News reports: Wading into a politically charged issue, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday preached the importance of wearing masks in public as the nation’s economy reopens from the “cataclysmic” damage inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic. During a tour of hospitals this week in his home state of Kentucky, the Republican leader has stressed wearing masks in public …

The Washington Post reports: Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey O. Graham on Thursday urged federal judges who are in their mid-to-late 60s to step aside so that Republicans, increasingly nervous about holding the Senate majority in the November election as they eye President Trump’s poll numbers, can fill the vacancies now. Graham made the comments in an interview with conservative …

USA Today reports: Rejecting claims raised by state Democrats, the Texas Supreme Court ruled late Wednesday that a lack of immunity to the coronavirus does not entitle voters to a mail-in ballot under state law. Texas election law limits mail-in ballots to specific categories of voters, such as those with a disability that prevents them from safely traveling to a …

Spotlight Pennsylvania reports: A Republican state lawmaker from Central Pennsylvania confirmed Wednesday that he tested positive for the coronavirus earlier this month, leading at least one of his House colleagues to self-quarantine. The admission immediately ignited outrage among Democrats in the chamber who said they were recklessly left in the dark for nearly a week about the lawmaker’s condition. State …

The Hill reports: Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on Wednesday separately announced they were both working on legislation to strip Twitter of federal protections that ensure the company is not held liable for what is posted on its platform. The lawmakers began work on legislation following Twitter’s decision to add warnings to two tweets by President …

Right winger Erick Erickson writes: I don’t really care what you think about Joe Scarborough, but no American deserves to have the President of the United States targeting him with accusations of murder. No American deserves the President of the United States tweeting out salacious and unproven accusations suggesting murder and conspiracy. The deceased’s family does not deserve it. Her …

The Guardian reports: A powerful new conservative organization fighting to restrict voting in the 2020 presidential election is really just a rebranded group that is part of a dark money network already helping Donald Trump’s unprecedented effort to remake the US federal judiciary, the Guardian and OpenSecrets reveal. The organization, which calls itself the Honest Elections Project, seemed to emerge …

The New York Daily News reports: Mitt Romney weighed in Wednesday on President Donald Trump’s insinuation that Joe Scarborough murdered a former aide – condemning the accusations ‘vile’ and ‘baseless.’ The public rebuke from the Utah senator and Republican Party’s 2012 nominee came on a morning when the president once again put forth unproven suggestions about the conspiracy theory, despite …

USA Today reports: With a global pandemic threatening to hit the United States earlier this year, U.S. Rep. Phil Roe made hundreds of financial transactions, buying stocks in companies now working on vaccines and selling other shares before a historic market plunge in March. While it’s unclear if the stock trades were based on information unavailable to the public, Roe’s …

USA Today reports: A group of Republican lawmakers is planning to file a lawsuit against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the chamber’s new proxy voting system, according to House GOP leadership aides, a challenge to the rule set to be used for the first time on Wednesday. The House developed and passed its new — and historic — proxy voting …

The Daily Beast reports: The Justice Department will not file insider trading charges against Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. DOJ informed lawyers for Loeffler and two other senators scrutinized for their coronavirus-era stock trades that they are closing their investigations into the matters. A DOJ investigation into Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) remains ongoing, the …

The New York Post reports: Katie Miller, the spokeswoman for Vice President Mike Pence and the White House coronavirus task force, announced on Twitter Tuesday that she returned to work after a bout of COVID-19 and that she is pregnant. “Back at work today after three NEGATIVE COVID tests. Thank you to all my amazing doctors and everyone who reached …

USA Today reports: Is the only good Democrat a dead Democrat? That’s what Otero County’s District 2 Commissioner Couy Griffin alleged at a May 17 gathering in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. “I’ve come to a place where I’ve come to the conclusion that the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat,” he said to a crowd gathered in Sierra …

Florida Politics reports: The Republican National Convention may or may not be up for a move, but the Governor is vying for it nonetheless. Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday he would welcome the Republican National Convention, if it actually is moved from Charlotte to Florida. He then extended the same courtesy to the Democratic National Convention. “Florida would love to …

The Austin Statesman reports: Texas Republican Party Chair James Dickey said today that the state would gladly host the Republican National Convention in August if North Carolina can’t guarantee full occupancy, according to the Austin American-Statesman. “Texas would welcome President Trump and the RNC Convention,” Dickey told the American-Statesman. “Until then, based upon Gov. Abbott’s progress in opening Texas, we …

Atlanta’s NBC News affiliate reports: With doubts surrounding if the Republican National Convention can happen in North Carolina, Gov. Brian Kemp has offered Georgia as an alternative site. Right now, the RNC is scheduled to be held in Charlotte Aug. 24-27. But President Donald Trump tweeted the party “will be reluctantly forced” to find another site if Gov. Roy Cooper …