Tennessee Congressman Chuck Fleischmann At Scene of Wednesday’s Shooting But Unhurt

Tennessee congressman Chuck Fleischmann was at the park early Wednesday morning in Alexandria, Virginia, where a man opened fire on a top GOP lawmaker and others who were there to play baseball. Rep. Steve Scalise, a Republican from Louisiana who is House Majority Whip, was injured in the attack. A congressional staffer and two congressional police officers were also wounded. Fleischmann was not harmed. The shooter was killed by police. Fleischmann, who represents Tennessee’s 3rd congressional district and is based out of Chattanooga, told CNN: I’m shook up. Thank God. I’m a little bit bloodied from jumping in the dugout when we were under fire, but there were several other people shot and hurt a lot worse. Just a horrible, horrible morning for us all and a sad day for America. The fear factor was horrific because by the time I got into the dugout, I saw several other members bleeding. I saw one gentleman who had been shot in the leg. There was blood all over and it was horrible, but we did not know when it was going to end. It’s my understanding that the Capitol Police only had pistols at that time, so the calls for help went…

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Rand Paul on Being Targeted By Shooter at Republican Baseball Practice: ‘Do We Lay Here, Stay Low and Hope He Doesn’t Hit Us?’

Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, said he was in the batting cage Wednesday when he heard an isolated shot and then a rapid succession of five or 10 shots at the congressional baseball practice in Virginia. Mr. Scalise was in the field, “shot but moving, and he’s trying to drag himself through the dirt out into…

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Gunman Targets Republican Congressmen Practicing for Annual Baseball Game: House Majority Whip Scalise Shot, In Critical Condition

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana) was shot on Wednesday morning. In addition to the House Majority Whip, early reports indicate a Capitol police officer and an aide to Scalise may have been shot. They were attacked during a practice for the upcoming congressional baseball game in Alexandria, Virginia. “Shooting at Congressional baseball practice. Scalise hit. Other staffers…

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Franklin Resident Jay Sekulow Joins President Trump’s Legal Team

  Attorney Jay Sekulow has joined President Trump’s legal team, reports WORLD magazine. Sekulow, who divides his time between homes in Franklin and Washington, D.C., is chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) and a radio broadcaster. He is known for his defense of religious liberty and has argued 12 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump’s legal team is defending the president amid accusations of Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 election and Trump’s possible knowledge of it. In an opinion piece published Friday by Fox News, Sekulow said that fired FBI director James Comey’s case against Trump “collapsed like a house of a cards” when Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee last week on the matter. “Not only did Comey’s testimony clear President Trump – admitting under oath that the President was not under any investigation – his testimony unmasked Comey’s real motivation in all of this,” Sekulow wrote. Comey’s admission that he leaked privileged documents “is the most compelling evidence yet that Comey was anything but independent in his position at the FBI,” Sekulow said, describing the leaking as an effort to damage Trump. Sekulow continued, “There’s no question about it. Comey craves the spotlight.…

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Commentary: AG Sessions Before The Senate Intelligence Committee Is A Hearing About Nothing

Tennessee Star

  George Rasley, ConservativeHQ.com Editor Those familiar with pop culture will recall that as comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s eponymous television show began to wind down and run out of plot lines the script writers came up with the idea of having a television show about making a television show. The show about making a show was pitched as “a show about nothing.” So it is with today’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing featuring Attorney General Jeff Sessions as the principal witness: It’s a hearing about nothing. Sessions was asked to testify before the Committee after former FBI Director James Comey – now a documented liar, leaker and potentially an indictable perjurer – implied that Sessions had previously undisclosed contacts with the Russian ambassador. Almost immediately after being sworn in, Sessions consulted with career ethics attorneys at the Department of Justice, and shortly thereafter recused himself from the Russia investigation only because of his participation in President Trump’s campaign. Since the day he submitted his recusal, the attorney general has not been briefed on or participated in any investigation within the scope of his recusal. Plus, since March 2, 2017 DOJ spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores has consistently denied the existence of any “third…

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EXCLUSIVE: Judd Matheny Says ‘I’m 100 Percent in the Race for Tennessee’s 6th Congressional District’

Tennessee Star

“I’m 100 percent in the race for Tennessee’s 6th Congressional District,” State Rep. Judd Matheny (R-Tullahoma) told The Tennessee Star in an exclusive interview on Tuesday. “I’m not making a formal announcement until Diane Black announces for governor,” Matheny added. Rep. Diane Black (R-TN), who currently represents the 6th Congressional District, is considered likely to enter the race for the Republican nomination for governor in 2018. Rumors abound as to when that might happen, but the consensus is that if she decides to run, she will need to make the announcement some time between July and September. If Black chooses to run for re-election to Congress Matheny told The Star he will change his plans. “If Diane Black does not run for governor, I will not run for the 6th Congressional district seat, and will instead for re-election to the Tennessee House of Representatives,” Matheny said. First elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 2002, Matheny has long been a champion of conservative causes in the Tennessee General Assembly Matheny was one of 35 Republican members of the House of Representatives who voted against Governor’ Haslam’s gas tax increase in the critical House vote in April where the bill passed by…

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Donald Trump Accuses Loretta Lynch of Making Illegal Decisions While Attorney General

President Trump slammed former Attorney General Loretta Lynch Tuesday on Twitter for making ‘illegal’ decisions while acting as a legal authority. “A.G. Lynch made law enforcement decisions for political purposes…gave Hillary Clinton a free pass and protection. Totally illegal!” Mr. Trump tweeted. He also continued claims of “fake news” stories and that the media should apologize…

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CONFIRMED: Obama Had His Own ‘Back Channel’ To Moscow

Tennessee Star

The Obama administration had a “back channel” to communicate with Russian officials, according to a new report detailing Moscow’s efforts to delegitimize the U.S. presidential election results. The news comes after Trump White House aide Jared Kushner was criticized for allegedly trying to open a back channel line of communications with Russian officials during the transition…

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Gubernatorial Candidate Mae Beavers on the Gas Tax Increasing IMPROVE Act: ‘The Joke Is On The People Who Put the Plan Together’

MOUNT JULIET, Tennessee — Gubernatorial candidate Sen. Mae Beavers at an Americans For Prosperity Town Hall meeting Monday evening honoring her and Rep. Mark Pody for voting against the gas tax, said “I think the joke is on the people who put the plan together.”  Sen. Beavers was referring to the IMPROVE Act, 4 cent gas and 6 cent diesel tax increases set to go into effect July 1 and then an additional 1 cent and 2 cents, respectively, on July 1, 2018, just before the state primaries are held on August 2, 2018. Given the results of the recent Tennessee Star poll where 48.1 percent of likely Republican primary voters responded that they were more likely to support a gubernatorial candidate who promises to repeal, Sen. Beavers may be right about the impact to State House and Senate incumbents who voted for the gas tax. Sen. Beavers is the only one of three declared gubernatorial candidates who is making the repeal of the gas tax a major topic of her campaign platform. “Most of you know, I was around for the state income tax fight, and this was completely different,” said Beavers of the IMPROVE Act.  “It seems like…

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EXCLUSIVE: Scottie Nell Hughes Says ‘There’s a Strong Possibility’ She Will Run for 6th Congressional District Seat if Diane Black Runs for Governor

  Scottie Nell Hughes told The Tennessee Star in an exclusive interview Tuesday night “there’s a strong possibility” she will run for the 6th Congressional District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives currently held by Congressman Diane Black. Hughes, a native Tennessean and graduate of the University of Tennessee at Martin, gained national prominence during the 2016 campaign as a surrogate for the Trump campaign and frequent CNN contributor. “The domino first falls with Congressman Black,” Hughes told The Star. “I’m proud to have her be the first female chair of the House Budget Committee,” Hughes added. “I’m absolutely not going to make a decision until Congressman Black decides on whether she will run for governor. If she choose to run for governor, there’s a strong possibility I will run for the 6th Congressional District seat, and that’s only because of the people who’ve approached me and the support I’ve received from 6th District grassroots groups,” Hughes said. Though she is waiting on Congressman Black’s decision on running for governor to make her own decision on running for Congress, Hughes is maintaining a busy speaking schedule along the I-40 corridor that runs from suburban Nashville to Cookeville within the 6th Congressional District. “I’m…

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Fmr. FBI Asst. Director: Mueller Has ‘Huge Conflict of Interest’

Former FBI Assistant Director James Kallstrom said special counsel Robert Mueller’s 15-year friendship with fired former FBI Director James Comey is “a huge conflict of interest,” during an interview Tuesday on “The Laura Ingraham Show.” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller to continue the probe into Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election…

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Richard Viguerie Commentary: The Democrats’ War To Drive Christians Out Of Government

  by Richard A Viguerie ConservativeHQ.com Chairman When the Democratic Party scrubbed the mention of God from its platform and delegates to the Democratic National Convention booed any mention of God it was clear to most movement conservatives that Democrats had become the official party of the anti-religious Left. What was not clear then, but is crystal clear now, is just how vicious and deeply personal the Democrats’ war on professing Christians, Christian values and Christianity in general would become.* The clearest evidence of this Democratic Party war on Christianity is the very well-organized campaign now going on to prevent professing Christians from serving in the federal government or holding Senate-confirmed federal appointments. This campaign has already claimed one victim: Dr. Mark Green, a West Point grad, decorated Army flight surgeon and Tennessee State Senator, who was widely assumed to be the frontrunner to be the next Governor of Tennessee, but who suspended his campaign for Governor when President Donald Trump tapped him to be the next Secretary of the Army. My friends at the Tennessee Star did a great job of documenting the lies and smears leveled at state Senator Green, but the most interesting fact revealed in their…

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Bob Corker Takes Two Cheap Shots at President Trump, Conservatives in Tennessee Respond by Smacking Down Our Junior Senator

Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) took another two cheap shots at President Trump this week, and this time conservatives in Tennessee responded by smacking down the junior senator who is up for re-election in 2018. On Monday, Corker joined several Democratic senators in undermining President Trump’s foreign policy on Russia. “Senior senators in both parties on Monday night reached a bipartisan deal to add new sanctions on Russia and allow Congress to disapprove of any attempt by President Donald Trump to ease penalties on Moscow, the most significant GOP-backed constraint on the White House so far this year,” Politico reported: Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) assured reporters earlier Monday that the Russia deal would provide for congressional review of any future rollbacks of Russia sanctions, a plan pushed by Schumer as well as Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). The review language would be structured “much like we did in other places,” such as the 2015 legislation that required former President Barack Obama to submit his administration’s nuclear pact with Iran to Congress, Corker said. . . Asked about the prospects of a veto threat from Trump, the Foreign Relations panel’s top Democrat, Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin, told…

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