Commentary: The ‘Republicans’ Supporting the ‘Prove It Act’ Lay the Groundwork for Crushing Carbon Tax on Americans

by Michael McKenna   Last Thursday, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works reported legislation (the Prove It Act) that sets the stage and lays the foundation to impose a carbon dioxide tax on American families, workers, and consumers. This new energy tax was voted out of committee 14-5, with four Republicans — Senator Kevin Cramer (from North Dakota, an energy producing state), Senator John Boozman (Arkansas), Senator Graham (South Carolina), and, most inexplicably, Senator Cynthia Lummis (from Wyoming, another state that produces energy) — joining ten Democrats to create this new tax. Five Republicans, led by Senator Capito from West Virginia, voted against the new energy tax. Like all energy taxes, this one will fall hardest on the poor, the elderly, those on fixed incomes, and local institutions that have limited budgets, like schools and hospitals. The legislation sponsors, which include Senator Cramer, have tried to disguise the actual intention of the legislation — which is to increase the price of energy and everything grown, made, or transported with energy in an attempt to address global warming — with propaganda about being tough on our trade competitors, including China. That charade is so embarrassingly thin that even Politico ignored it and declared in…

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Russia Issues Arrest Warrant for Senator Lindsey Graham

by Ailan Evans   Russia issued an arrest warrant for Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina Monday, following comments he made about the war in Ukraine. The warrant was issued by Russia’s Interior Ministry on Monday, with an additional announcement that a criminal investigation had been opened into Graham, according to Politico. It comes after Graham’s recent trip to Kyiv, where he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and made remarks that allegedly caused outrage in Russia. Graham said that “the Russians are dying” and claimed that U.S. military aid to Ukraine was “the best money we’ve ever spent,” per an edited video of his remarks with Zelenskyy circulating on social media, according to Reuters. The edited video, which suggests that Graham was pleased with Russian soldiers dying, sparked criticism from Russian government officials as well as the criminal proceedings. To know that my commitment to Ukraine has drawn the ire of Putin’s regime brings me immense joy. I will continue to stand with and for Ukraine’s freedom until every Russian soldier is expelled from Ukrainian territory. — Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) May 29, 2023 “I will wear the arrest warrant issued by Putin’s corrupt and immoral government as a Badge of Honor,” said Graham…

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Mexican Leaders Mount ‘Deception Campaign’ to Deny Fentanyl Involvement as GOP Seeks Cartel Crackdown

Mexico is running a “deception campaign” to deflect blame for America’s fentanyl epidemic as Republican lawmakers ramp up calls to target cartels, former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Operations Division chief Derek Maltz told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Top Mexican officials, including the country’s president Andres Manuel López Obrador, have in recent days attempted to shift the blame for fentanyl production in their country. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported seizing 11,000 pounds of fentanyl between October 2022 and February 2023 at the southern border.

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Poll: Most Voters Support Abortion Restrictions in Graham’s New Bill

Most voters support banning abortions at 15 weeks or earlier, a poll from WPA Intelligence found.

The poll comes after Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham introduced federal legislation that would ban abortions after 15 weeks with exceptions for for rape, incest and the life of the mother. A combined 62% of registered voters, including 48% of Democrats, believed abortion should only be allowed up to 15 weeks or earlier, the WPA Intelligence poll found.

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Court Temporarily Pauses Order Requiring Graham to Testify About 2020 Election in Georgia

Afederal appeals court temporarily paused an order Sunday that required Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to testify in front of an Atlanta-area grand jury about attempts to illegally influence Georgia’s 2020 election results.

The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals instructed the district court judge to consider whether the Fulton County grand jury subpoena of Graham should be modified to follow the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause, CNN reported.

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Three Republican Senators to Watch as Another Supreme Court Confirmation Approaches

For the first time since then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell lowered the threshold to confirm a Supreme Court nominee from 60 votes to a simple majority, Democrats have a Senate majority.

Despite Democrats’ advantage being as slim as it can be in the 50-50 split chamber, their majority means that there is little Republicans can do to block anybody whom President Joe Biden nominates, assuming his party votes unanimously to confirm. Biden has also vowed to nominate a black woman, meaning his pick will likely be the first to ever serve on the Supreme Court.

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Representative Waltz and Senator Graham Call on Biden to Designate the Taliban as Terrorists, Recognize Former Afghan Officials as Legitimate Government Reps

In the wake of the deadly terrorist attack in Kabul that killed 13 American service members and at least 170 Afghans, Rep Mike Waltz (R- Fla.) and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have called on Joe Biden to formally recognize former officials in Afghanistan as legitimate government representatives, and to designate the Taliban as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

The pair released the following statement on Friday after speaking with a number of Afghan government officials, including the former vice-president, who say they have established a safe zone for Americans and our afghan allies left behind in the now Taliban-controlled country.

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Bipartisan Call for Biden to Appoint New ‘Border Czar’ as Immigration Crisis Grows

U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., are asking President Joe Biden to appoint former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to a special executive position to manage the border crisis.

In a letter to Biden and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Cuellar and Graham wrote, “We write to you with a sense of urgency regarding the escalating situation at our southern border. In doing so, we hope to demonstrate that this bicameral concern is neither partisan nor political. To solve the growing problem, we request a special executive appointment for border issues to ensure sufficient federal resources are allocated to overburdened U.S. border communities and to recommend changes to our immigration policies as we work to regain control of the border.”

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Commentary: Republicans Will Defend Their Corporate Friends but Not Their Voters

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has so many problems to solve right now. A crime wave leaves hundreds of Americans dead and has turned our cities into war zones. A border crisis allows hundreds of thousands of illegals to enter our country. A domestic war on terror threatens basic civil liberties. 

But none of these crises have persuaded Graham to go to war. No, the civilizational question that demands his full zeal has to do with . . .  a fast-food chain. 

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Lindsey Graham Says VP Harris Could be Impeached if GOP Takes Back House

Lawyers for Donald Trump said it over and over: Impeaching and convicting the former president would set a terrible new precedent ripe for abuse.

Before the trial began, Trump lawyer Bruce Castor laid out his team’s arguments.

“We will argue that the entire proceeding is unconstitutional, bad public policy, and is setting a bad precedent for the nation,” Castor said. “We will argue that every person in the United States is entitled to due process of law, even if it is the president of the United States. And the president of the United States during the House impeachment was afforded no due process of law.”

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Commentary: The High Price of Dems’ False Hope

How much money did Democrats squander on hopeless campaigns based on the foolish expectation that Joe Biden would lead a “blue wave” landslide sweeping Republicans out of office at every level? While we must wait for final vote counts to know who won the presidency — this takes time, considering that some Biden voters have been dead for more than 30 years — we can begin to tabulate the cash total Democrats threw away on other campaigns that were inarguably doomed from the outset.

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Lindsey Graham Says He Will Be ‘Shocked’ if Durham Probe Doesn’t Lead to More Indictments

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday he will be “shocked” if a Justice Department probe into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation does not lead to more indictments.

In an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Graham also said that John Durham, the U.S. attorney leading the investigation, will release a report on his findings after the election.

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Sen. Marsha Blackburn Says James Comey Has ‘Memory Issues’ Because He Cannot Recall Details of Crossfire Hurricane Investigation

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) appeared on Fox Business’ Morning with Maria on Thursday and asked how former FBI director Jim Comey and others could have been so oblivious about details on Crossfire Hurricane.

Crossfire Hurricane refers to the FBI investigation of alleged collusion between President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign with Russia.

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Lindsey Graham: Memo Shows FBI Lied to Senate About Dossier Source

Sen. Lindsey Graham on Sunday released an FBI memo from 2018 that he says shows investigators lied to the Senate about statements that the primary source for the Steele dossier told the FBI regarding the salacious document.

“This document clearly shows that the FBI was continuing to mislead regarding the reliability of the Steele dossier,” Graham said in a statement announcing the release of an eight-page briefing document that the FBI provided to the Senate Intelligence Committee in February 2018.

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Senator Lindsey Graham Teases: The FBI ‘Lied Their Ass Off’ to Congress About the Steele Dossier

Sen. Lindsey Graham on Sunday teased the release of evidence showing that the FBI “lied their ass off” to Congress regarding the reliability of the Steele dossier, which the bureau used as part of its investigation of the Trump campaign.

“I will tell you next week what I found,” the South Carolina Republican said in an interview on “Fox Sunday Futures” with Maria Bartiromo.

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Sen. Graham: ‘No More Money For WHO’ Until They Have New Leadership

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday vowed to strip funding for the World Health Organization from the next appropriations bill because of its pro-China virus.

During an appearance on Fox News’ “The Story,” Graham agreed with President Trump’s view that W.H.O. under the current leadership has become “very China-centric” and unworthy of the United States’ funding.

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Trump Allowing Select US Firms to Supply Huawei Has Some in Congress Fuming

by Rob Garver   National security hawks who normally side with U.S. President Donald Trump on foreign policy issues are up in arms over his announcement on Saturday that he would indefinitely delay the imposition of tariffs on $300 billion of Chinese goods and relax restrictions on U.S. firms doing business with Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei. In a news conference Saturday that followed a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, Trump said: “U.S. companies can sell their equipment to Huawei. We’re talking about equipment where there’s no great national security problem with it. ‘Entity List’ This represents a sharp reversal by Trump, whose administration on May 16 added the company to the “Entity List” kept by the federal Commerce Department. Inclusion on that list is viewed as a sort of death penalty for foreign firms, because it prevents U.S. companies from doing business with them without express permission from the Commerce Department. In an announcement at the time, the department’s Bureau of Industry and Security said, “The U.S. Government has determined that there is reasonable cause to believe that Huawei has been involved in activities contrary to the national security…

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Sen. Graham: Democrats Face Political Peril if They Pursue Trump’s Impeachment

  A top U.S. Republican lawmaker predicted Sunday that if opposition Democrats in the House of Representatives try to impeach President Donald Trump, the president will be re-elected next year and Republicans will retake control of the House. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, an ally of Trump’s, told “Fox News Sunday” that if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the Democratic-controlled lower chamber, permits an impeachment inquiry to start, “it would be suicide for the Democratic Party.” Graham said Pelosi’s “job is very much on the line,” depending on whether she eventually relents on allowing an impeachment hearing to open. About three dozen Democrats and a lone Republican in the 435-member House have called for impeachment hearings to start against Trump, to consider whether he obstructed justice by trying to thwart special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian intrusion in the 2016 U.S. presidential election that Trump won. Even if the House were to impeach Trump, the Republican-controlled Senate is highly unlikely to remove him from office. So far, Pelosi has resisted calls to start an impeachment inquiry, instead opting to continue several House committee investigations of Trump’s finances, taxes and actions he took during his 28-month presidency to…

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Senator Lindsey Graham’s Immigration Bill Aims to Fix the Issues Fueling the Border Crisis

by Jason Hopkins   South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham introduced an immigration bill that addresses numerous issues law enforcement officials say is driving the U.S.-Mexico border crisis. Speaking at a Wednesday press conference, Graham outlined the four main points of his proposal, addressing the “broken and outdated” immigration laws that attracts illegal immigration from Central America. Overall, the bill calls for doubling the number of immigration judges, allowing those in ICE custody to be held for as long as 100 days, more readily deport unaccompanied children, and require those seeking asylum to do so in their home countries. “What I’m trying to do is explain how to stop the flow from Central America, to regain control of our border, and stop a humanitarian crisis that I think is just going to get worse over time,” Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said during the press conference. Migrant children, wether they arrive at the border alone or with a family, cannot be detained for longer than 20 days. Leaders within the Department of Homeland Security have long urged Congress to extend this timeline, claiming it forces them to release illegal migrants into the U.S. while their cases are process. An extension to…

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Attorney General Barr Tells Sen. Blackburn Mueller Team Investigated Trump ‘Exhaustively’ and Did Not Find Any Evidence of Collusion or Obstruction

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) questioned Attorney General William Barr on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday. Barr said the investigation was thorough and the allegations against President Donald Trump were proven false. Barr appeared before the committee to discuss Mueller’s report that showed Trump did not collude with the Russians in the 2016 elections or obstruct justice. Transcripts from Blackburn’s and Barr’s exchanges follow. Regarding the politicization of law enforcement agencies:  Blackburn: What seems to have happened at the FBI is that there is a seedy, cynical, political culture within a group that developed, and these individuals, collectively, seemed to think that they could work within the power of their jobs and their roles with the federal government. There was an elitism and an arrogance there and it speaks to a very unhealthy work culture. The video clip is available here.   The Special Counsel team’s investigation and findings: Blackburn: Are they meticulous investigators who will hunt down every witness and every piece of evidence? Barr: I think they are tenacious investigators. Blackburn: Are they devoted to finding the truth? Barr: Yes. Blackburn: Are they masters at taking down hardened criminals foreign…

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Former Sen. Hassan Aide Stole Gigabytes Of ‘High Value’ Data

by Luke Rosiak   A former IT aide to New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan mounted an “extraordinarily extensive data-theft scheme” against the office, the culprit’s plea agreement states. The plot included the installation of tiny “keylogging” devices that picked up every keystroke. Between July and October 2018, former IT aide Jackson Cosko worked with an unnamed accomplice, a then-current Hassan employee, who repeatedly lent him a key that he used to enter the office at night and who allegedly tried to destroy evidence for him. Cosko accepted responsibility for the events revealed by federal prosecutors in court Friday. A statement of facts that Cosko agreed to says that from July to October 2018, he “engaged in an extraordinarily extensive data-theft scheme, copying entire network drives, sorting and organizing sensitive data, and exploring ways to use that data to his benefit,” arranging it into folders such as “high value.” “The defendant gained access to Senator Hassan’s Office by unlawfully obtaining keys from a staffer who was (at the time) still employed in the Office” and using it to repeatedly burglarize the office. He placed small, unobtrusive devices on at least six Senate computers that captured every keystroke, including usernames and…

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