Republicans

Politico reports: On Wednesday, a conservative backbencher in the House issued an explosive request to Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham: Subpoena the phone records of House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff. On Thursday, Graham had a succinct response: “We’re not going to do that.” President Donald Trump has joined in as well, tweeting on Thursday that he wants to call Schiff, …

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports: In an interview with the Union-Tribune editorial board, former Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican insider who once chaired the powerful House oversight committee, talked seriously about presidential clemency should Hunter be sentenced to prison on March 17. “It’s not my decision. It’s the president’s decision,” Issa said when asked about a pardon. “But I would …

Roll Call reports: The House Ethics Committee notified Rep. Duncan Hunter that his recent guilty plea means he should no longer cast votes in the House. The instruction is not mandatory, but the panel threatened action against him if he continues to vote. Hunter last voted on Wednesday, in favor of a measure to crack down on robocalls. He did …

Politico reports: Rep. Tom Graves announced Thursday he will not seek reelection in 2020, joining the growing ranks of House Republicans heading for the exits in the current election cycle. Citing “a new season in life,” Graves said he will join his family members “in their new and unique journeys” as his wife nears retirement and his three children enter …

Knoxville’s ABC News affiliate reports: Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee says if residents pray to God to favor the state, God will answer those prayers. Lee said he prays that Tennessee does not experience a school shooting, that the state’s opioid epidemic will diminish and that Tennessee’s educational outcomes improve. If thousands of people offer similar prayers, he believes God will …

Louisville’s NPR affiliate reports: Matt Bevin lost to Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear last month by a little more than 5,000 votes. During an interview on 55KRC in Cincinnati, Bevin said that the election was a “surprise” that defies logic. “The left, those who think of a different ideological bent, they are getting so good at harvesting votes in the …

Politico reports: Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) is showing no signs of stepping down from office despite his guilty plea Tuesday on a felony campaign finance charge in federal court. When asked Wednesday about whether and when he intended to resign, Hunter blew off the question. “Good talk,” Hunter told a POLITICO reporter. Former Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), who pleaded guilty …

Kansas City’s ABC News affiliate reports: A Kansas congressman is tangled in voter fraud and perjury allegations for what he calls a mistake. It all has to do with U.S. Rep. Steve Watkins and a UPS store in Topeka, Kansas. The Shawnee County district attorney is asking the sheriff’s office to investigate whether Watkins committed fraud. Watkins is the freshman …

From the right wing Washington Examiner: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff spied on the top Republican on his panel by obtaining his phone records and publishing them in an impeachment report, Minority Whip Steve Scalise said Wednesday. “It raises a lot of serious questions,” the Louisiana Republican said. “I want to know all the people Adam Schiff is spying …

Politico reports: “Lindsey was good company, he was funny, he was self-deprecating,” the former Secretary of State told Howard Stern on his morning radio show. “He also believed in climate change back in those days,” she continued, taking aim at the Republican for toeing party lines in recent years. “I saw him as somebody who, you know, had been working …

Axios reports: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to name Kelly Loeffler as interim U.S. senator has generated lots of political buzz, due to some Trump loyalists claiming betrayal. The intra-GOP skirmish has obscured the big business story, in that Loeffler will become one of precious few senators with a working knowledge of technology and, in particular, blockchain technology. Loeffler is …

The Tampa Bay Times reports: A fundraising letter sent last week by the campaign of George Buck, a Republican running for Congress in St. Petersburg, suggested a member of the House of Representatives and other Democrats should be executed. The lengthy email dated Nov. 26 repeated an unsupported accusation that U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Somali-born Democrat representing Minnesota, secretly …

Uh oh. We might see a Trump cultist catfight. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on Tuesday said he is “1,000% confident” that Russia, not Ukraine, meddled in the 2016 US presidential election, breaking from President Donald Trump and others in his party who have pushed the discredited conspiracy theory. “It was the Russians. I’m 1,000% confident that the hack of the …

McClatchy reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has reached out to Sheldon Adelson, the Republican Party’s largest donor, in recent weeks to “gauge interest” in his potential run for an open Senate seat in Kansas next year, three sources familiar with the matter told McClatchy. It is the latest evidence of Pompeo’s outreach campaign to rally donor support around a …

From the right wing Washington Examiner: Rep. Devin Nunes, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, has filed a $435 million defamation suit against CNN over a story that alleged Nunes met with a fired Ukrainian prosecutor in an effort to dig up dirt on Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. The story — “Giuliani associate willing to tell Congress …

The Week reports: The Democrats’ House Intelligence Committee impeachment report is out and a familiar face makes an appearance among its contents. In one of the report’s only examples of brand new information, call logs showed Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the top ranking Republican on the committee, made contact with President Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and his now-indicted associate, …

Axios reports: Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) broke with some of his Republican colleagues on Tuesday, telling reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday he has seen “no evidence” Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election. “I saw no evidence from our intelligence community, nor from the representatives today from the Department of State, that there is any evidence of any kind that suggests …

The Independent reports: Georgia Republicans announced today that Donald Trump would be the only name to appear on the GOP primary ballot in the state. The decision comes even as former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) and former governor Bill Weld (R-MA) submitted their names to the Georgia Republican Party to appear on the ballot. Trump was the only candidate with …

“They don’t even want to hear from a conservative or conservatives that without whose help Kemp doesn’t become the governor. I guess, I don’t know the way the president has weighed in but my sources have told me he’s apoplectic about it. “No experience, he’s like why are you bringing this person to meet me, one of my sources told …

San Diego’s KUSI-TV reports: In an exclusive interview with KUSI’s Steve Bosh, Congressman Duncan D. Hunter announced that he will plead guilty to one count of misuse of campaign funds in Tuesday’s court appearance.  Hunter’s announcement was updated on the U.S. District Court docket Monday morning. His change of plea hearing is set for December 3, 2019 at 10:00 AM …