The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who ran for the GOP presidential nomination this year, is speaking out on his decision not to endorse Donald Trump.
“I get asked a lot if I believe Trump is a threat to our democracy,” he writes in a USA Today op-ed. “I am not good at predicting the future, but we can learn from history and we should take heed when politicians tell us what they are going to do.”
Hutchinson says in the piece that he voted for Trump twice, but that insight gleaned from former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wy.) and the Department of Justice on the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol changed his mind.
“In terms of history, we all witnessed the violent attack on our national Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, by those wishing to overturn the last election,” he writes. “This was not an act of patriots as Trump likes to say, but it was a real threat to democracy.”
“With Donald Trump’s domination of the GOP primaries and the elimination of all primary opponents, including the party leadership and Republican elected officials are clicking their heels in obedience to the victor and presumptive nominee. I have not endorsed Donald Trump for president, and I will not do so,” he writes.
But Hutchinson says he can’t support Biden’s policies either.
“Another important point to make is that I also will not vote for President Joe Biden. Biden’s weak border policies, his poor economic record and his slow growth energy policy do not justify reelection.”
NEW YORK CITY (September 11, 2022) Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas lays flowers for USSS Master Special Officer Craig Miller and participates in the September 11th Anniversary Commemoration Ceremony at Ground Zero in New York City, NY. (DHS photo by Sydney Phoenix)
The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to impeach Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday evening.
Members voted 214-213 to approve a resolution that made Mayorkas the first Cabinet secretary to be impeached since 1876.
In response to his impeachment, leftist DHS spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg released a statement that made political attacks against House Republicans.
“House Republicans will be remembered by history for trampling on the Constitution for political gain rather than working to solve the serious challenges at our border,” the statement claimed. “While Secretary Mayorkas was helping a group of Republican and Democratic Senators develop bipartisan solutions to strengthen border security and get needed resources for enforcement, House Republicans have wasted months with this baseless, unconstitutional impeachment.”
“House Republicans have falsely smeared a dedicated public servant who has spent more than 20 years enforcing our laws and serving our country,” she claimed.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) opened an investigation into Mayorkas last year as the country has grappled with an explosion in illegal aliens flooding into the U.S. and Mexican drug cartels fueling deaths across the U.S. with fentanyl.
Democrats have largely panned the impeachment proceedings as a “political stunt.”
Florida state Sen. Ileana Garcia (R), a longtime supporter of former President Trump and co-founder of Latinas for Trump, is publicly criticizing the tone and tactics surrounding the administration’s latest immigration crackdown—warning that internal divisions and inflammatory rhetoric could cost Republicans in the midterms.
“I do think that he will lose the midterms because of Stephen Miller,” Garcia told The New York Times in an interview published Tuesday, referring to Trump’s White House deputy chief of staff and one of the architects of the administration’s hard-line immigration strategy.
Garcia, who has consistently supported strong border enforcement and backed Trump’s efforts to regain control of the southern border, stressed that her concern is not with securing the border itself, but with how the policy is being communicated and executed. She placed particular blame on Miller for what she described as unnecessarily aggressive rhetoric that risks alienating persuadable voters—including Hispanic Republicans who favor border security but reject what they see as dehumanizing language.
The comments follow a volatile weekend in Minneapolis, where federal agents shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti during a protest tied to the administration’s immigration actions. The incident came just weeks after another fatal shooting involving federal authorities in the same city, when ICE officers shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good earlier this month.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Pretti “attacked” federal law enforcement officers, while Miller went further, describing Pretti as “a would-be assassin” who “tried to murder federal law enforcement.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later sought to distance President Trump from Miller’s remarks, telling reporters Monday that she had not heard the president “characterize Mr. Pretti in that way” and emphasizing that the incident remains under investigation.
Garcia pushed back sharply on Miller’s framing in a post Monday on X.
“Distorting, politicizing, slandering – justifying what happened to Alex Pretti contradicts the American values the administration campaigned on. He was neither a domestic terrorist nor an assassin,” Garcia wrote.
“Allowing individuals like Stephen Miller, among others, who represent the government and make hard-line decisions, to make such comments will have long-term consequences. … This is not what I voted for!” she added.
Garcia’s criticism carries weight within Republican circles. She helped rally Latina voters for Trump during his 2016 campaign and later served in the Department of Homeland Security during his first term. While she has consistently supported deportations of criminal illegal immigrants and stronger border controls, she has previously warned against what she called “inhumane” tactics used to meet deportation quotas, arguing that they undermine public trust and conservative messaging on law and order.
Her remarks highlight a broader debate within the GOP as Republicans campaign on border security ahead of November’s high-stakes midterms. While voters continue to rank immigration and public safety among their top concerns, some party leaders are increasingly wary that overheated rhetoric—especially following deadly confrontations—could distract from Republicans’ core argument: restoring order at the border, enforcing the law, and keeping communities safe.
As fallout from the Minnesota shootings continues, political observers warn that how Republicans handle immigration enforcement—and how they talk about it—may prove just as important as the policies themselves in determining control of Congress this fall.
Date: 03-26-2024
Location: Bldg 30 MCC, FCR-1, Bldg 9N
Subject: Texas Governor Gregg Abbott tour of JSC on March 26
Photo Credit: NASA/James Blair
Another Democrat is calling it quits and backing Donald Trump for President…
A Texas state lawmaker from the Houston area announced Friday that she is leaving the “almost unrecognizable” Democratic Party.
In an announcement Friday, State Rep. Shawn Tierry explained that she made the switch because the Democratic Party has “veered so far left, so deep into the progressive abyss, that it now champions policies that I cannot, in good conscience, support,” the Texas Tribune reported.
“As a woman, a mother, and a lawmaker, I have dedicated my life to championing the values that fortify our families and uplift our communities. After much reflection, prayer, and soul-searching, I have come to a decision that aligns with my core values and the best interests of our beloved country,” Tierry further explained in an X post.
“For my entire adult life, I have voted as a Democrat. I was raised in a household with my amazing parents who believed the Democratic Party was the party of the people—a beacon of justice and opportunity for all,” she continued. “But as the years have passed, I have watched with dismay as the party I once knew has drifted far from its roots. It has become almost unrecognizable—radicalized and increasingly out of touch with the values that millions of everyday Americans hold dear.”
Thierry also noted how the left stifles debate, silences dissent, and demands “blind allegiance to ideology.”
The former Democrat received a standing ovation on Friday night when she formally announced her decision at a Moms For Liberty event.
“The Democratic Party has moved so far back, so deep into the progressive abyss, that it now champions policies that I cannot, in good conscience, support. Policies like promoting sex changes for vulnerable children, dismantling Title IX protections for women and girls in sports. This is not the party that I grew up with,” Thierry explained.
“And so it’s today, at such a time as this, that I am officially announcing that I am leaving the race and the life of the Democratic Party.”
Thierry was recently defeated in a primary election after she voted to ban gender reassignment surgeries for children and bar biological men from competing in women’s sports.
President Joe Biden delivers remarks in National Statuary Hall on the one-year anniversary of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Thursday, January 6, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Cameron Smith)
ANALYSIS – Joe Biden has made a bizarre habit of awkwardly and abruptly walking away from important events, often leaving other world leaders and important figures alone waiting for a handshake or photo.
Sometimes Biden also shakes hands with people who aren’t there or walks around dazed and confused.
But now he did this disrespectful walking away schtick at the White House to an elderly Vietnam War hero, Army Captain Larry L. Taylor, to whom Biden had just presented the Medal of Honor.
The heroic Taylor earned the medal by braving intense ground fire for 45 minutes while making low-level attack runs, strafing the enemy with bullets and aerial rockets while flying an AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter as a mass of Vietnamese insurgents surrounded a small U.S. Army patrol on the ground.
Running low on fuel and ammunition, Taylor eventually decided to extract the four men on his own with his two-man-only chopper.
As The Blaze reported: “Immediately after setting the Medal of Honor around Taylor’s neck and giving the tearful veteran a handshake, Biden abruptly bolted out of the East Room as if to beat the traffic.”
Biden abruptly walks out of the Medal of Honor ceremony, even before the closing benediction pic.twitter.com/Ck0i8EIf8Q
In the video of the ceremony, one reporter can be seen with a look of bewilderment at the sight of Biden hurrying out since the event was far from over.
Left standing alone next to the American flag, the uniformed 81-year-old Taylor remained stoically at his post, waiting for the closing benediction.
Referring to Biden, former Navy SEAL Shawn Ryan wrote on X, “Pardon my French… But what a f***ing idiot.”
Pardon my French… But what a f*cking idiot.
The continuous lack of respect Biden has for anyone is appalling.
Taylor, originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee, flew over 2,000 combat missions in UH-1 and Cobra helicopters, was engaged by enemy fire 340 times, and was forced down five times in Vietnam, according to the Army.
He had already received at least 50 combat decorations, including 43 Air Medals, a Bronze Star, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, and the Silver Star, before being awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest recognition for bravery in the U.S. military.
The actions that earned Taylor the award were courageous indeed. On the evening of June 18, 1968, a four-man Army long-range patrol (LRP) team was trapped and surrounded by a large Viet Cong force.
The team desperately called for fire support. And that’s when Taylor came to the rescue. The Blaze reported that Lt. Col. Ann Hughes detailed Taylor’s brave deeds near the village of Ap Go Cong, prior to Biden’s sudden departure from the stage:
Then-1st Lt. Taylor heard the call and came powering over at the command of a light fire team comprising two [two-man] Cobra helicopter gunships.
Upon arrival, Taylor “immediately requested illumination rounds and supporting artillery to assist with identifying the enemy positions,” even though the fulfillment of that order would make his aircraft similarly easier to see and target.
Hazarding “intense enemy groundfire” and flying “at a perilously low altitude,” Taylor fed the enemy encircling the patrol team a constant stream of hot lead and rockets, and he did so for 45 minutes.
As all good things come to an end, Taylor’s team began running low on ammunition. However, the Americans below were not yet out of harm’s way. The Tennessean appealed to light to stop the encroaching darkness in its tracks.
The outlet continued quoting Hughes, “using his chopper’s searchlight, Taylor began performing fake strafing runs on the enemy, thereby distracting them from the patrol team.”
Running low on fuel, Taylor and his wingman pushed the insurgents back using up their remaining minigun rounds, then “directed the patrol team to move 100 yards towards the extraction point, where First Lieutenant Taylor, still under enemy fire, landed his helicopter and instructed the patrol team to climb aboard anywhere they could.”
Lt. Col. Hughes stressed that an extraction on a Cobra gunship was a “feat never before accomplished.”
The narrow Cobra, an advanced version of which is still flown by the Marines, is a two-seat hotrod of a helicopter gunship made for fast attack, not troop carrying.
This is serious stuff, an award well deserved, but Biden just walked away after giving Taylor his medal.
Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas), an Army veteran who also flew helicopters, wrote, “At least he didn’t check his watch this time.”
California State Senator Dianne Feinstein delivers remarks at the 2021 Capitol Christmas Tree lighting ceremony in Washington DC, December 1, 2021. USDA Forest Service photo by Tanya E. Flores.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said on Monday she would not support a move by Senate Democrats to temporarily replace Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“I will not go along with Chuck Schumer’s plan to replace Senator Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee and pack the court with activist judges,” Blackburn said on Twitter on Monday. “Joe Biden wants the Senate to rubber stamp his unqualified and controversial judges to radically transform America.”
Feinstein, 89, has been away from the Senate while recovering at home from a shingles diagnosis. Last week, two House Democrats called for her to resign from the chamber. She has missed 60 of the 82 votes taken in the Senate this year.
“It’s one thing to take medical leave and come back. It’s another thing when you’re just not doing the job,” Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said to Fox News on Sunday. “The reality here is there’s this sense, ‘Well you need to have a deference to these senators who have served so long.’ How about a deference to the American people?”
Along with Blackburn, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) also signaled that he would not be supportive of the move to replace Feinstein on the panel.
“Republicans should not assist Democrats in confirming Joe Biden’s most radical nominees to the courts,” Cotton said on Twitter over the weekend.
The move to temporarily replace Feinstein would require Republican support, with 60 votes needed in the full chamber to confirm the replacement. When Feinstein called for the replacement, it was unclear whether GOP lawmakers would be supportive of a move that could help Democrats confirm more judges.
“If this goes on month after month after month, she will need to make a decision with her family and her friends about what the future holds. This isn’t just about California. It’s also about the nation. We just can’t, with a one-vote margin, expect every other person to be there every single time. It could become an issue as the months go by, but I’m taking her at her word that she’s going to return,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on ABC’s This Week on Sunday.
Feinstein has already said she will not seek another term for her Senate seat, which she was first elected to in 1992.
If the senior lawmaker does resign, it would mean Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) would get to appoint a replacement until an election is held for the seat.
The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
President Donald Trump is reportedly considering a pardon of Sean “Diddy” Combs after he was found guilty of prostitution charges earlier this month.
A jury found Combs guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. More importantly, he was found not guilty of the most serious charges of racketeering, conspiracy, and sex trafficking. Due to the fact that he likely avoided a lengthy prison sentence, the verdict was considered a major win for the defense.
Now, Combs’ team reportedly wants the president to do away with those lesser charges, as well. According to a Tuesday report from Deadline, sources from within the administration said Trump has given serious thought to pardoning the music mogul.
The report continued:
Nearly two months after Trump publicly entertained the notion of a Diddy pardon in an Oval Office gaggle, a comprehensive get out of jail card for Combs is being “seriously considered,” an administration source tells Deadline.
Additionally, as several associates of the much-accused and currently incarcerated “All About the Benjamins” performer have been pitching the White House, other insiders confirm the topic has leveled up from “just another Trump weave to an actionable event” since Combs was found partially guilty in the his NYC sex-trafficking trial earlier this month. Of course, as a number of parties attest, this being the roller coaster of Trumpworld, any decision on a Combs pardon is in flux until POTUS actually puts his signature on paper.
As the report stated, the idea of Trump pardoning Combs is not a new one. Back in May, fellow music executive Suge Knight predicted that the president would lend Combs a hand in the event that he was convicted.
The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Critics are calling for a Supreme Court justice to recuse himself from two cases involving former President Donald Trump, asserting that failing to do so will cause “irreparable damage” to the Court.
On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that another Jan. 6-aligned flag was seen flying at one of Justice Samuel Alito‘s residences, this time at his New Jersey vacation home. Last week, the paper published a report detailing how an upside-down American flag flew at the Alitos’ Northern Virginia home days after the U.S. Capitol riot.
In light of recent developments, some of the most vocal critics of Trump, such as Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), are calling for Justice Alito to recuse himself from the landmark Trump presidential immunity case. They are also requesting his recusal from a case involving a former Pennsylvania police officer and Jan. 6 participant, specifically regarding whether obstruction charges against him should stand.
"If Justice Alito does not recuse himself from the Trump immunity case and the Fischer January 6 case, he will do irreparable damage to the Supreme Court. And Chief Justice Roberts must step in." @RepDanGoldman on Alito's widening insurrectionist flag scandal pic.twitter.com/YQ1rt5VQR2
— Alex Wagner Tonight (@WagnerTonight) May 23, 2024
“If Justice Alito does not recuse himself from the Trump immunity case and the Fischer January 6 case, he will do irreparable damage to the Supreme Court. And Chief Justice Roberts must step in.” @RepDanGoldman on Alito’s widening insurrectionist flag scandal pic.twitter.com/YQ1rt5VQR2— Alex Wagner Tonight (@WagnerTonight) May 23, 2024
The calls don’t appear to be subsiding. So far, Alito has not responded. Surprisingly, former National Security Adviser John Bolton strongly defended the conservative justice on CNN, despite being a prominent critic of the 45th president himself.
“Absolutely not,” Bolton told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer when asked whether the recent reporting about the flag raised concerns about whether he can serve impartially on the Supreme Court.
“I think it is outrageous, outrageous and unacceptable, for people to take a flag from the American Revolution and say that because some January 6 protesters flew it, that it’s now unacceptable to fly that flag, and I’d like to hear a Democratic Party politician say that expressly,” added Bolton, who has frequently been critical of former President Trump and the risk he says Trump poses to the country’s national security.
An “Appeal to Heaven” flag – which has origins dating back to the Revolutionary War but is associated with Christian nationalism and “Stop the Steal” efforts today – was seen flying outside Alito’s New Jersey beach home in July and September 2023, the Times reported, around the same time a high-profile Jan. 6 case arrived at the Supreme Court.
The flag was also toted by rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“The January 6 people flew a lot of flags,” Bolton maintained. “They don’t have the right or the ability to expropriate a patriotic symbol of the United States, and then have everybody else say it belongs to them and condemn Sam Alito or anybody else for flying that flag.”
Bolton’s remarks are particularly notable as he took the opportunity with Blitzer to insult Nikki Haley for pledging her support to Trump.
Article Published With The Permission of American Liberty News.
In previousiterations of the survey of voters’ preferences in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, Trump has boasted leads in every single one of the battleground states.
However, the most recent poll reports that Biden has drawn even with Trump in Michigan (45%-45%) and Pennsylvania (45%-45%) and even pulled ahead of the presumptive Republican nominee in Wisconsin (46%-45%). Trump did retain leads in all of the other key states. He leads by five in Arizona, seven in Georgia, two in Nevada, and six in North Carolina.
In February, Bloomberg and Morning Consult reported that Trump was up by six points in Pennsylvania, four in Wisconsin, and two in Michigan.
Mediate reports that Trump performed worse in every single state except for Georgia in March as compared to February. In the Peach State, his margin of victory increased by a single point (+6 to +7). But he previously led by six in Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, nine in North Carolina, and four in Wisconsin.
📊 Bloomberg/Morning Consult of Trump vs Biden matchup in swing states:
Donald Trump is not sad to see the Republican National Committee’s top lawyer go.
“Great news for the Republican Party. RINO lawyer Charlie Spies is out as Chief Counsel of the RNC. I wish him well!” Trump posted late Sunday on Truth Social.
Officials confirmed Saturday that Spies was leaving his post as RNC chief counsel roughly two months after taking the job as part of a broader staffing overhaul once Trump became the presumptive GOP nominee for November.
There were reportedly tensions between Trump and Spies after Spies had criticized Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent and stolen.
“Charlie approached RNC Chief of Staff, Chris Lacivita, about potential time commitment conflicts and it was agreed that, while we appreciate and value Charlie’s expertise and professionalism, he cannot do this role full time and still maintain the obligations to his law firm that he has spent years successfully building,” RNC spokesperson Danielle Alvarez said in a statement to The Hill.
The RNC had announced in March it was hiring Spies, along with former One America News host Christina Bobb and former Trump administration attorney Bill McGinley to lead its legal efforts, with the latter two focusing on election integrity.
