Category: GOP

Gabbard Garners Key GOP Support, Senate Intel Committee Advances Confirmation

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 30: Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to be Director of National Intelligence, arrives to testify during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. Gabbard, a former Congresswoman from Hawaii who previously ran for president as a Democrat before joining the Republican Party and supporting President Trump, is facing criticism from Senators over her lack of intelligence experience and her opinions on domestic surveillance powers. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to be Director of National Intelligence, arrives to testify during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

OAN Staff Blake Wolf
11:50 AM – Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Tulsi Gabbard was able to secure support from GOP senators who were previously on the fence regarding her director of national intelligence nomination, surviving a crucial Senate Intelligence Committee vote on Tuesday.

The Senate Intelligence Committee sent Gabbard’s nomination to the full Senate by a vote of 9 to 8.

Republican Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) confirmed their support for Gabbard — after previously expressing skepticism.

“American intelligence officers around the globe deserve our respect and support. I appreciate Tulsi Gabbard’s engagement with me on a variety of issues to ensure that our intelligence professionals are supported and policymakers receive unbiased information under her leadership,” Young stated on Tuesday.

“I have done what the Framers envisioned for senators to do: use the consultative process to seek firm commitments, in this case commitments that will advance our national security, which is my top priority as a former Marine Corps intelligence officer,” Young continued. “Having now secured these commitments, I will support Tulsi’s nomination and look forward to working with her to protect our national security.”

Young’s comments of approval follow his prior concerns over Gabbard’s “dismissive” attitude towards whistleblower Edward Snowden while at her heating last week.

“I think it would benefit you, and be helpful to the way you are perceived by members of the intelligence community, if you would at least acknowledge that the greatest whistleblower in American history, so-called, harmed national security by breaking the laws of the land.”

Snowden, a former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, previously leaked classified documents in 2013, disclosing the massive illegal and unconstitutional global surveillance programs that the NSA was conducting, which included the mass surveillance of everyday Americans, among other illicit programs.

Meanwhile, Collins further confirmed her support for Gabbard on Monday, stating “After extensive consideration of her nomination, I will support Tulsi Gabbard to be the Director of National Intelligence.

Collins previously voted against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, showcasing her willingness to defy the GOP and President Donald Trump’s preferred candidates.

Collins added: “The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, however, has become far larger than it was designed to be, and Ms. Gabbard shares my vision of returning the agency to its intended size.”

Another point of contention was Gabbard’s previous opposition against Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702, which provides the federal intelligence apparatus to spy on non-Americans living abroad. Gabbard previously expressed concern that the program could violate the Fourth Amendment by “accidentally” collecting information on U.S. citizens.

However, after certain provisions were made that would disallow the possibility of these concerns to occur, Gabbard quickly changed her tune during the previous hearing.

“The national security capability that is provided by Section 702, that enables this foreign surveillance on non-U.S. persons overseas, is critical — period,” she affirmed during her hearing, calming one of Collins’ concerns.

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Ron DeSantis responds after GOP lawmakers scrap his special session

DeSantis Exposes Shady RINO Agenda to SABOTAGE Trump’s Deportations

Republicans in the Florida legislature are pushing back against Governor Ron DeSantis’ plan to support President Trump’s mass deportation plan. Instead, they’ve proposed the “TRUMP Act,” which DeSantis says is very misleadingly named: “They thought if they came in, gutted the enforcement of doing what we need to do, and just named it the “TRUMP Act,” that somehow, they would be able to get away with that.” Gov. DeSantis joins Glenn to argue that “RINOs” are trying to give immigration enforcement powers to the Commissioner of Agriculture, who will do the bidding of companies that want to use illegal immigrants for cheap farm labor: “That’s like the fox guarding the henhouse! They don’t want to enforce it. Are you kidding me?! … I don’t want to house the illegals. I want to DEPORT the illegals.”

Musk, Ramaswamy And Republican Officials Urge House GOP To Kill Johnson’s Federal Funding Bill

(Left-center) U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks to reporters. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) / (R-top) Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, Co-Chair of the newly announced Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) / (R-middle) Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Co-Chair of the newly announced Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) / (R-bottom) U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) arrives for the Senate Republican leadership elections at the U.S. Capitol. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
3:32 PM – Wednesday, December 18, 2024

The new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leaders in Trump’s incoming administration, Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk, blasted House GOP leadership on Wednesday, actively urging Republicans to kill a controversial stopgap measure to prevent a government shutdown.

“This bill should not pass,” Musk posted on his X platform.

“Ever seen a bigger piece of pork?” Musk continued, referencing an image showing the legislative text.

Ramaswamy also chimed in and explained why the new measure is unfavorable in his eyes.

“It’s full of excessive spending, special interest giveaways & pork barrel politics. If Congress wants to get serious about government efficiency, they should VOTE NO,” Ramaswamy posted on X.

“Congress has known about this deadline since they created it in late September. There’s no reason why this couldn’t have gone through the standard process, instead of being rushed to a vote right before Congressmen want to go home for the holidays. The urgency is 100% manufactured.”

Meanwhile, Johnson (R-La.) suggested that the two DOGE leaders should take into account his difficult predicament, even though both Musk and Ramaswamy chairs have widely criticized the spending patch that leadership revealed on Tuesday night.

“I was communicating with Elon last night. Elon and Vivek and I are on a text chain together, and I was explaining to them the background of this,” Johnson said on “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday regarding the controversial new measure.

“Vivek and I talked last night at almost midnight, and he said, 'Look, I get it. We understand you’re in an impossible position. Everybody knows that,’” Johnson claimed.

The government will shut down Friday night unless congressional leaders act to stop a lapse. The new resolution on Tuesday would provide government funding through March 14th, 2025.

However, the 1,547-page continuing resolution (CR) is reportedly jam-packed with a variety of add-ons, including $100 billion for disaster relief, a one-year extension of the farm bill, up to $2 billion for the reconstruction of Maryland’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed earlier this year after a cargo ship collided with it, and $10 billion for farmer assistance.

Additionally, Breitbart News reported that “The (CR) released Tuesday night — negotiated on the GOP side by Johnson — includes tens of billions of dollars in waste and includes funding for controversial items, including a pay raise for members of Congress as well as a one-year extension of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center (GEC), which funds organizations that censor conservative media.”

 GOP officials continued to post their thoughts on the new CR.

Republicans are openly opposing Johnson’s efforts, accusing him of trying to push the bill through before the 118th Congress ends and lawmakers go home for the holidays.

The measure has angered a slew of Republicans, especially Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, who argue that it should have been a clean CR and that many of the additional provisions should be discussed separately.

Legislators have also complained that they were not given enough time to read the lengthy document.

Johnson has been courting Musk and Ramaswamy since the 2024 election. Earlier this month, he invited them to the U.S. Capitol for talks with senators, he mingled with them both at Mar-a-Lago and again during one of President-elect Donald Trump’s UFC appearances.

“Remember, guys, we still have just a razor-thin margin of Republicans,” Johnson continued on “Fox & Friends.” “So any bill has to have Democrat votes. They understand the situation. They said, ‘It’s not directed at you, Mr. Speaker, but we don’t like the spending.’”

“We got to get this done because here’s the key: By doing this, we are clearing the decks and we are setting up for Trump to come roaring back with [the] America First agenda,” Johnson added.

At the beginning of next year, Congress will have a busy schedule as it must balance Trump’s plans with the unfinished business of federal funding for fiscal year 2025 before moving on to fiscal year 2026, which is due on October 1st, 2025.

Soon after the news broke, Trump logged on to his Truth Social platform and explained his thoughts on the matter.

“Congress is considering a spending bill that would give sweetheart provisions to government censors and for Liz Cheney. This bill would make it easier to hide the records of the corrupt January 6 committee—which accomplished nothing for the American people and hid the security failures that happened that day. The bill would also give Congress a pay increase while many Americans are struggling this Christmas. Increasing the debt ceiling is not great, but we’d rather do it on Biden’s watch. If Democrats won’t cooperate on the debt ceiling now, what makes anyone think they would do it in June during our administration? Let’s have this debate now. We should pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn’t give Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want. Republicans want to support our farmers, pay for disaster relief, and set our country up for success in 2025. The only way to do that is with a temporary funding bill WITHOUT DEMOCRAT GIVEAWAYS combined with an increase in the debt ceiling. Anything else is a betrayal of our country,” Trump stated.

 

 

 

 

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GOP Rep Clashes With Acting Secret Service Director, Accuses Him Of Endangering Officials For Political Gain

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 05: U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) gets into a heated exchange with U.S. Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr. during a hearing of the House Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump at the Rayburn House Office Building on December 05, 2024 in Washington, DC. The task force is investigating the assassination attempts on President-elect Donald J. Trump, in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, and West Palm Beach, Florida, on September 15, 2024. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) gets into a heated exchange with U.S. Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr. during a hearing of the House Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

OAN Staff Blake Wolf
11:17 AM – Thursday, December 5, 2024

Texas Rep. Pat Fallon engaged in a yelling match on Thursday with acting Secret Service director Ronald Rowe during a hearing regarding the U.S. Secret Services’ failures surrounding the two assassination attempts against President-elect Donald Trump.

The heated back-and-forth moment occurred after Fallon (R-Texas) first questioned Rowe’s positioning during the most recent 9/11 ceremony, showcasing a photo of President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and President-elect Donald Trump.

Fallon quickly accused Rowe of placing the Secret Service’s Special Agent in Charge (SAC) “out of position” in relation to his line of sight and shot, going against protocol, in order to get closer to Trump for a photo opportunity.

It is standard practice for the SAC to be near the president, which was not the case on this particular occasion, Fallon argued.

“Who is usually at an event like this closest to the President of the United States?” Fallon asked with the 9/11 ceremony photo behind him. “Were you the special agent in charge of the detail that day?”

“Actually congressman, what you’re not seeing is the SAC of the detail out of the picture’s view. And that is the day where we remember the more than 3,000 people that have died on 9/11. I actually responded to ground zero. I was there going through the ashes of the world trade center,” Rowe responded.

Soon after, the exchange exploded further, with both Fallon and Rowe both yelling at each other while the chairman began to demand order.

“I’m not asking that, I’m asking you, if you were … were you the special agent in charge!?” Fallon shouted, cutting Rowe off.

“I was there to show respect for a Secret Service member that died on 9/11!” Rowe thundered back. “Do not invoke 9/11 for political purposes!”

“You are out of line congressman! Way out of line!” Rowe continued.

“Don’t try to bully me!” Fallon clapped back while pointing his finger at Rowe. “I am an elected member of congress and I’m asking you a serious question and you are playing politics.”

Fallon then accused Rowe of endangering Trump and President Biden in order to be “visible” for the photo, seemingly showing off and “auditioning” for Trump to appoint him as Secret Service director in his incoming administration.

“You know why you were there!? Because you wanted to be visible because you were auditioning for this job that you’re not gonna get on January 20th! You endangered President Biden’s life, Vice President Harris’s life because you put those agents out of position!” Fallon screamed.

Meanwhile, the recorded moment erupted online and soon became viral, prompting responses from social media users.

“That’s the most openly heated exchange in the hundreds of hours I’ve watched of hearings. What the agent’s job was in 2001 is irrelevant. He’s not fit to serve in 2024. Wrong temperament,” one user stated.

“Who the hell does this asshat think he is yelling at a seated congressman? This clown has no sense of decorum and no self control and HE’s running our Secret Service? This clown needs to be thrown out on his ear. No retirement and no pension. What a horrible representation of public servants,” another added.

Nevertheless, the meeting simmered down from that point on, and the discussion regarding the objective failure of the Secret Service to specifically protect Trump during the July Butler rally campaign event continued.

“The abject failure underscored critical gaps in Secret Service operations and I recognize that we did not meet the expectations of the American public, Congress and our protected and they rightly have that idea based on how we performed,” Rowe stated.

“When I traveled there, the day after I was named the acting director, and as I’m walking around and I’m up on the roof and I’m looking at the proximity of it to the site, I was taken aback that it was not secured,” Rowe added.

Rowe became the acting director of the Secret Service after Kimberly Cheatle resigned following the disastrous incompetence of the U.S. Secret Service being on full display at Trump’s Butler rally, which saw 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, the gunman, climb up on a roof and take multiple shots at Trump, almost taking his life.

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Pennsylvania Supreme Court Backs GOP In Mail-In Ballot Dispute

Applications to vote are available on a check-in table at a polling location where voters cast their ballots during Michigan's early voting period on October 29, 2024 in Dearborn, Michigan. Early voter turnout has been heavy in Michigan, a key battleground state with 14 electoral votes, with over 250,000 early votes being cast in just the first two days. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
Applications to vote are available at the check-in table at a polling location where voters cast their ballots during Michigan’s early voting period on October 29, 2024 in Dearborn, Michigan. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

OAN Staff Abril Elfi
4:00 PM – Saturday, November 2, 2024

SEE: https://www.oann.com/newsroom/pennsylvania-supreme-court-backs-gop-in-mail-in-ballot-dispute/; republished below in full, unedited, for informational, educational, & research purposes:

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has blocked an attempt to allow mail-in ballots without a handwritten date from being counted in the 2024 election.

Friday's decision reverses a previous Commonwealth Court ruling that had declared the requirement for a handwritten date on ballots unconstitutional. Following an appeal by the Pennsylvania GOP, the state Supreme Court’s ruling now ensures that undated mail-in ballots will not be counted in the upcoming election.

Justice Kevin Dougherty criticized the Commonwealth Court for its decision.

“‘This Court will neither impose nor countenance substantial alterations to existing laws and procedures during the pendency of an ongoing election.’ We said those carefully chosen words only weeks ago. Yet they apparently were not heard in the Commonwealth Court, the very court where the bulk of election litigation unfolds,” Dougherty wrote.

“Today’s order, which I join, rights the ship. It sends a loud message to all courts in this Commonwealth: in declaring we would not countenance substantial alterations to existing laws and procedures during the pendency of an ongoing election, we mean what we meant and meant what we say,” he continued.

Pennsylvania Republicans praised Friday’s ruling, claiming that Democrats have repeatedly attempted to undermine the requirement for a handwritten date on ballots.

State officials supporting the counting of undated ballots argue that this change would simplify the process for election workers. 

Prior to the court’s ruling, the Pennsylvania Department of State submitted a brief advocating for the change.

“The requirement that county boards set aside mail ballots with declaration-date errors — and particularly the requirement that they set aside mail ballot envelopes with ‘incorrect’ dates — imposed a significant burden on county boards. Election workers must manually review each ballot envelope to determine whether it has a ‘correct’ date,” the brief said, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.

Friday’s decision marks the second time this month that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has halted Democrat-supported attempts to remove the dating requirement.

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