Republicans

The Associated Press reports: Mississippi’s governor and two other top Republicans say a state lawmaker should resign if he punched his wife. Second-term Republican Rep. Doug McLeod of Lucedale was arrested last weekend and charged with misdemeanor domestic violence. George County sheriff’s deputies say McLeod bloodied his wife’s nose after she didn’t undress quickly enough when McLeod wanted to have …

Bil Browning reports at LGBTQ Nation: Totally-not-gay-at-all former Republican Congressman Aaron Schock was snapped poolside at the Standard Hotel in West Hollywood by a gay tourist visiting from New York. The loathed closet case was accompanied by an attractive speedo-clad young gay man who was on Scruff while they lounged by the pool. Later he was spotted chatting up and …

Fox News reports: Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., broke with his Republican colleagues Saturday when he claimed that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian election meddling showed President Trump engaging in “impeachable conduct.” Attorney General William Barr, Amash argued, “deliberately misrepresented” that report in not emphasizing clear evidence of obstruction on Trump’s part. Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel responded …

Axios reports: Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said he will fight any federal plans that include “dumping” hundreds of migrants in southern Florida from the U.S.-Mexico border — even if that means taking it to President Trump directly. The federal government has reached capacity for processing the thousands of migrants crossing the border, forcing officials to find other options while …

Michigan Live reports: State Rep. Larry Inman said he probably should have picked up the phone and called labor union representatives instead of sending texts that would later be part of a federal indictment alleging he solicited bribes. Inman, R-Traverse City, was indicted May 15 by federal prosecutors for attempted extortion, bribery and lying to an FBI agent. The indictment …

The Associated Press reports: Conservative lightning rod Roy Moore of Alabama, narrow loser of a turbulent special election for Senate in 2017, is considering a fresh run next year. National Republican leaders are signaling they’ll again try preventing their party from nominating the twice-removed state jurist whose campaign was battered by allegations of long-ago sexual harassment of teenagers. “The people …

The Associated Press reports: A now-dead Ohio State team doctor sexually abused at least 177 male students over nearly two decades, and university officials knew what he was doing and did little to stop him, according to an investigative report released by the school Friday. Dr. Richard Strauss committed the abuse from 1979 to 1997 — nearly his entire time …

The Washington Post reports: Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said Friday that she personally opposes provisions in the new Alabama law that outlaws virtually all abortions, even in cases of rape and incest, but defended the range of views on abortion within her party. “Personally, I would have the exceptions,” McDaniel said during an interview on CNN. “That’s my …

The Detroit Free Press reports: A state representative has been indicted by a federal grand jury, accused of trying to sell his vote on a measure to repeal Michigan’s prevailing wage law. Rep. Larry Inman, R-Traverse City, was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury in Grand Rapids, court records show. House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, called on Inman on …

Mediaite reports: Ted Cruz has a Twitter problem. According to the Texas senator, his Twitter moments are filled with leftists making fun of him. As proof of his claim, Cruz included the Twitter moment centered around his comments during a Congressional hearing this week. During that hearing, Cruz suggested a space force is needed to defend the country against “pirates.” …

The Hill reports: Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of Senate GOP leadership, said Wednesday that the chamber is unlikely to vote on any election security legislation, despite requests from a federal agency for more funding to improve election systems nationwide. Blunt made the remarks at a Senate Rules Committee hearing where Election Assistance Commission (EAC) officials highlighted what they …

USA Today reports: Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a near-total abortion ban Wednesday, putting in place one of the nation’s most restrictive laws on the procedure and all but guaranteeing legal challenges. The governor had been quiet about her intentions after the Alabama Senate gave final legislative approval to the bill Tuesday night. “To the bill’s many supporters, this legislation …

CNET reports: Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, alluded to space pirates in opening remarks for a hearing on “The Emerging Space Environment: Operational, Technical, and Policy Challenges” before the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation and Space. Cruz referenced how the ancient Greeks and subsequent nations have called on naval forces to “protect water-borne travel and commerce from bad actors.” …

The Charlotte Observer reports: State Sen. Dan Bishop easily won Tuesday’s 9th District Republican primary, three months after state officials took the unprecedented step of throwing out a 2018 election marred by fraud allegations. Bishop will face Democrat Dan McCready and two third-party candidates on Sept. 10 in what’s expected to be the nation’s most closely watched special election. In …

The New York Times reports: The Alabama Senate approved a measure on Tuesday that would outlaw almost all abortions in the state, setting up a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, the case that recognized a woman’s constitutional right to end a pregnancy. The legislation bans abortions at every stage of pregnancy and criminalizes the procedure for doctors, who could …

Josh Israel reports at Think Progress: Texas state Rep. Jeff Leach (R) said Tuesday that lawmakers had an obligation to ensure Chick-fil-A was able to have stores in every airport across the country. “People love Chick-fil-A. You can’t argue with Chick-fil-A’s food and I don’t think you should be able to argue with the organizations that Chick-fil-A chooses to support …

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports: The state Republican Party fell so far behind financially in recent months that it missed payments to insurers and racked up nearly $600 a month in interest on a maxed-out credit card, according to a draft of an internal report. The review, commissioned by U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and other top Wisconsin Republicans in the …

Reuters reports: He’s a billionaire who owns mines, farms and the swankiest resort in all of West Virginia. But how Jim Justice spends his time as the state’s 36th governor has largely been a mystery. Since he took office a little more than two years ago, Justice has been dogged by criticism that he’s rarely at the Statehouse. He’s been …

The Tampa Bay Times reports: Video unearthed Wednesday by an activist group shows U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio making the case for Attorney General Eric Holder to resign after he was found in contempt of Congress in 2012. “No one can be above the law, not even the Attorney General,” Rubio says in the clip. He added: “I think an attorney …

Josh Israel reports at Think Progress: The nickname stems from the 2018 West Virginia Republican Senate primary. In that race, coal baron Don Blankenship, the former Massey Energy CEO who served a one-year sentence in federal prison for conspiring to violate mine safety rules, ran ads promising to replace McConnell as the Senate’s GOP leader. The spots, which referred to …