Republicans

The Orlando Sentinel reports: Florida spent $60,000 on new highway welcome signs that feature a campaign slogan used by Gov. Ron DeSantis in speeches and on merchandise. Signs welcoming visitors to “The Free State of Florida” now stand at 24 locations along highways and at two welcome centers, said Michael Williams, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Transportation, in …

Newsweek reports: Representative Matt Gaetz’s appearance at the Republican National Convention is sparking a flood of jokes and memes. Gaetz spoke at the convention in Milwaukee on Wednesday night, reaffirming his loyalties to GOP nominee and former President Donald Trump and harshly criticizing President Joe Biden. But spectators seemed more focused on how the congressman looked, questioning his unmoving forehead …

Reuters reports: Russia is ready to work with any U.S. leader willing to engage in “equitable, mutually respectful dialogue,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday, while welcoming the stance on Ukraine of Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance. Vance, chosen this week by Donald Trump as his running mate, wants to cut American military support for Ukraine in its …

Peter Montgomery reports at Right Wing Watch: After a rough year of scandal, electoral defeats, and effective counter-organizing, the anti-LGBTQ, book-banning Moms for Liberty put on a show of force at the Republican National Convention. A Moms for Liberty town hall Tuesday afternoon drew two governors, three members of Congress, and three state attorneys general. The event started with a …

From the Justice Department: A federal grand jury returned an indictment yesterday charging a former Las Vegas city councilwoman and current Nye County, Nevada, justice of the peace for her alleged scheme to defraud donors to a charity to memorialize police officers who lost their lives in the line of duty. According to the indictment, Michele Fiore, 53, of Pahrump, …

The Hill reports: Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) appeared to call Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) a “little b‑‑‑‑” after an awkward exchange with former Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) at the Republican National Convention. Gaetz taunted McCarthy on the floor of the convention Tuesday night, telling the former Speaker that he would “get booed off the stage” if he were to …

Media Matters reports: New reporting from ProPublica and Documented revealed that Trump’s vice presidential pick, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, praised far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones as a truth teller during a closed-door meeting with the Project 2025 partner organization the Teneo Network in 2021. Meanwhile, Jones said today that he was in a meeting with Vance “a month ago.” The …

“Let’s talk about the words of the Democrats and Joe Biden that have also labeled Trump as a fascist, labeled all of us as Nazis and Hitler, completely lied, demonizing him so much so that a young man, a 20 year old, which is hard to imagine, actually climbed onto a roof and tried to murder President Trump. “No, no. …

Politico reports: House Speaker Mike Johnson is joining calls for the Secret Service director to resign. “I think it’s inexcusable. Just beyond the classified parts, the things that we all understand, her explanation to the media that there was a slant on the roof so there were safety concerns — come on. I mean, it doesn’t wash,” Johnson said. “I …

“I’ve been very outspoken, in terms of the people on that stage — I’ve probably said this ten times now — the people on that stage love him. They would take a bullet for him. And they demonstrated that. “One of the females on the stage, she’s with me for three years. I know every thing about her. She would …

The Arizona Mirror reports: “Americans are waking up to the truth about disastrous Democrat policies,” Lake said. She called Gallego “Biden’s favorite congressman” and accused Gallego and other Democrats of handing over the control of Arizona’s border to drug cartels and blamed them for the fentanyl overdose deaths of young people in the Grand Canyon State. “The solutions, guys, are …

Axios reports: House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) is set to subpoena Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to appear at the panel’s July 22 hearing, a committee spokesperson tells Axios. The spokesperson characterized Comer’s move as a bid to head off any attempt by Cheatle to backtrack on her appearance at the hearing, which will examine federal law enforcement’s …

Politico reports: Running mate shortlister Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) was the last elected official to speak on Tuesday night. And he focused his speech on American greatness and Donald Trump’s leadership. “By giving voice to every day Americans,” he said, “President Trump has not just changed our party — he has inspired a movement.” He praised Trump for expanding the …

Florida Politics reports: Ron DeSantis, who ran a challenge to Donald Trump from the right before endorsing the former President in January, addressed the RNC crowd Tuesday, directly after his fellow challenger and Primary rival, Nikki Haley. “Let’s send Joe Biden back to his basement and let’s send Donald Trump back to the White House,” DeSantis said to cheers, eliciting …

The Washington Post reports: “We should acknowledge that there are some Americans who don’t agree with Donald Trump one hundred percent of the time, I happen to know some of them and I want to speak to them tonight,” Haley said. “My message to them is simple: You don’t have to agree with Trump 100 percent of the time to …

Little Rock’s ABC affiliate reports: Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders spoke at the Republican National Convention Tuesday night. She praised Trump, saying she had never been prouder to stand with him. “Not even an assassin’s bullet could stop him,” Sanders said. She said America and the world were safer when Trump was president. “God Almighty intervened because America is one …

Rolling Stone reports: U.S. Concealed Carry Association, founded in 2003, is based in Wisconsin and claims a membership of 800,000. USCCA pitches itself as a concealed carry advocacy group, encouraging self-defense with firearms. The gun violence publication The Trace has highlighted USCCA as one of many groups “scrambling to fill the NRA’s void,” with that beleaguered gun rights group raising …

Mediaite reports: Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) crashed an interview by Kevin McCarthy at the Republican National Convention to taunt the former House Speaker. “What night are you speaking? Are you speaking tonight?” Gaetz said, getting in McCarthy’s face. As the California Republican, who is at the RNC but not slated to speak, seemed to ignore his former colleague in the …

Florida Politics reports: During a contentious interview on CNN, U.S. Rep. Cory Mills said an investigation into the assassination attempt on Donald Trump must consider whether any security failures allowed the 20-year-old shooter to get into a building near a Pennsylvania rally and fire off multiple shots. But Mills went further. “The amount of negligence, the amount of mistakes that …

The Independent reports: The father of 20-year-old would-be Donald Trump assassin Thomas Crooks was previously identified by the former president’s campaign as one of the voters in his area most likely to respond favorably to pro-gun messaging. That’s according to confidential data obtained by Britain’s Channel 4 News, which said 53-year-old Matthew Crooks—who legally purchased the AR-15 rifle used by …