Contributing Writers

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis cast himself as a pragmatic leader whose no-nonsense style could propel him to the White House, dismissing former President Trump’s recent criticisms as nothing more than “background noise” that isn’t worth engaging.  The comments came during a wide-ranging interview with Piers Morgan, another frequent target of Trump’s derision, that will air on Fox Nation this Thursday.

Former President Donald Trump lashed out at ABC News on Tuesday over what he said was a “fake” report that he “deliberately misled” his attorneys about his handling of the classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago home last year. “Shame on Fake News ABC for broadcasting ILLEGALLY LEAKED false allegations from a Never Trump, now former chief judge, against the Trump legal team.

Georgia Republican state senators approved a bill on Tuesday that restricts minors from getting gender transition treatments and threatens doctors who perform such actions with civil and criminal penalties. In a vote of 31-21, SB 140 was passed and is now heading to Gov. Brian Kemp, who is expected to sign the bill into law.

EXCLUSIVE – Former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan wants to bring the GOP back to the future. The former FBI agent, who later served 14 years in Congress and grabbed plenty of attention in the nation’s capital as chair of the House Intelligence Committee, says his latest mission to come up with “real solutions” to get the country back on track could lead to a campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

The American people might finally get a chance to see what the government knew about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic — which killed more than 1.1 million in the U.S. and millions more worldwide — after President Biden signed legislation into law that directs the federal government to declassify pertinent intelligence reports. What comes next, according to Sen. Josh Hawley, is to hold federal bureaucrats accountable.

President Biden on Monday signed a bill directing the federal government to declassify intelligence about the origins of COVID-19.  The bipartisan legislation allows the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to declassify intelligence related to China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology. The cites potential inks to research at the facility and the outbreak.

Two Republicans on the House Energy & Commerce Committee are making a push stop the Biden administration from banning gas stoves with legislation that has support from the committee chairman and could get a vote on the House floor this year. The bills from Reps. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., and Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., are a response to the two-pronged effort seen by the Biden administration to ban gas stoves this year.

Law enforcement officials met behind closed doors Monday to discuss the logistics of arraigning former President Trump following his possible indictment over hush-money payments made on his behalf during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Communities in rural Michigan are revolting against a decision to allow a Chinese-owned firm to build a battery plant in the area, according to footage of a recent Green Charter Township board meeting obtained by conservative outlet The Midwesterner.

The Kansas Court of Appeals on Friday reinstated a lawsuit that challenged provisions of a voting law enacted in 2021 that opponents argue is unconstitutional and limits voting rights. The lawsuit was filed in 2021 by Loud Light, the League of Women Voters of Kansas, the Topeka Independent Living Resource Center and the Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice.

A pilot program in Massachusetts offering universal school meals would be extended through the end of the 2023-2024 school year as part of a supplemental budget proposal filed Friday by Gov. Maura Healey. The $734 million proposed spending plan includes $171 million for the state-funded school meals program.

The Vermont Senate on Friday passed a bill that aims to protect health care workers from disciplinary action for providing abortions and gender-affirming health care, and change insurance premium charges related to such care. The legislation defines reproductive and gender-affirming health care as legally protected “health care activities.

The Republican-backed candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court announced his first television ad buy on Friday, just over two weeks before the election and after his Democratic-supported opponent has dominated the airwaves for weeks. Conservative candidate Dan Kelly’s first ad, which faults sentences handed down by opponent Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz, amounts to $70,000, according to AdImpact, which tracks spending on campaign ads.

A bill in the Florida legislature aims to make it easier for law enforcement to penalize drivers cruising in the left lane. Sponsored by Republican Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, House Bill 421 makes it punishable by fine to remain in the farthest left lane on any road, street or highway with two or more lanes heading in the same direction with a posted speed limit of at least 65 mph.

KEENE, N.H. – Former Vice President Mike Pence is highlighting his support for Ukraine and making clear that he firmly disagrees with former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on an issue that’s dividing the burgeoning Republican 2024 presidential nomination field. Pence, addressing the more than year-long Russian war against Ukraine, said on Thursday that “there is much debate about this even within our party and that’s healthy.

FIRST ON FOX: Progressive Democrat Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., joined his fellow Democrats this week in blaming a 2018 banking bill for the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) despite the fact that the company where his lobbyist wife works strongly advocated for the bill’s passage.

Fourteen Republican lawmakers who have their pilot’s license are calling on President Biden to withdraw his nominee to lead the Federal Aviation Administration because he has “zero aviation experience.” “While Mr. Washington honorably served our nation in the Army, he did not serve in an aviation unit,” the lawmakers wrote in a Thursday letter to Biden.

A new video of a Trump-appointed federal judge getting heckled at Stanford University shows the associate dean of diversity, equity and inclusion at the law school appearing to smirk as she watches the protesters shout at the man.  Judge Kyle Duncan, who serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, was invited to speak at Stanford March 9 by the Federalist Society but was met with demonstrators holding signs and shouting at him.

President Biden’s basket of blunders continued overflowing through February and early March with more speaking gaffes, numerous trips and falls and even an out-of-place laugh that landed him in hot water. These follow what turned out to be a rough January for Biden, in which he averaged just under a half a gaffe per workday as he attempted to shift attention away from his classified document scandal and focus on other issues facing the country.

Utah became the latest state to enact an anti-abortion law on Wednesday after Gov. Spencer Cox signed legislation preventing abortion clinics from obtaining new licenses in the coming months. The law eliminates the procedure altogether at health clinics in 2024. The move comes amid a push by states to determine their own abortion laws after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

A new unit to help police improve coordination in handling missing and unidentified people cases has been proposed by Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey amid an ongoing search for a missing immigrant woman whose case advocates say demonstrates a lack of urgency on the part of investigators. The $300,000 Healey has proposed will help fund the unit, which she said will assist local police departments and standardize data collection and reporting in missing people cases statewide.

Fewer Americans now see Russia’s military power as a “critical threat” to the United States as its ongoing war with Ukraine passed the one-year mark late last month. According to a new Gallup poll released this week, just 51% of Americans viewed the Russian military as a “critical threat” compared to 59% who said the same in the weeks leading up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. GEN.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said Wednesday that he has vetoed two bills dealing with insurance because he thinks they would increase the cost of health care. “One is a bad idea, and I can’t see myself supporting it. One is a good idea that just includes some correctable mistakes,” the Republican governor said in a statement.

President Biden participated in a second reception this week for the Democratic National Committee in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he urged those in attendance to take climate change more seriously. Just one day after a fundraiser in Rancho Santa Fe, California, where Biden accidentally revealed a previously unknown detail about former President Jimmy Carter’s health, he made a number of off-the-cuff comments about climate change including one about the Colorado River drying up.

The U.S. Air Force this month launched an effort to hire a handful of senior-level diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) managers and is hoping to place these officials in posts across the country, from Washington, D.C., to Alaska. Each post pays at least $82,000 per year, and the top position at the Pentagon could pay more than $180,000 per year.

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom praised the Biden administration’s decision to bail out Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), but he failed to mention his ties to the now-defunct institution, which holds at least three of his wine companies and reportedly has other financial connections to his family.

Schools that experience a high number of crimes would have to hire police officers and station them in their buildings under a Republican-authored bill the state Assembly passed Tuesday. Under the bill, if a school has more than 100 incidents in a semester, and at least 25 of those result in an arrest, the school must hire an armed school resource officer to work at the school. The cost of hiring the officer would be partially reimbursed by the state using federal COVID-19 relief money.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said Tuesday that he’s planning a hearing on this week’s collapse of two multi-billion dollar banks. Silicon Valley Bank, the sixteenth-largest bank in the U.S., was shut down by regulators following a rush of investors withdrawing funds, driven by concerns over the bank’s solvency.

Sen. Ted Cruz took to social media to ask if the Chinese government influenced a speech former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave Sunday at the South by Southwest conference, where she urged the audience not to “go after China.” The comment came as the Democratic lawmaker was urging global cooperation to stop climate change during a series on the “Future of Democracy.” “Here’s the thing, you can’t just go after China with a cudgel.

Former Rep. Pat Schroeder, who was a pioneer for women’s and family rights in Congress, died Monday night, her former press secretary said. She was 82. She represented Colorado’s 1st Congressional district from 1973-1997. Andrea Camp, Schroeder’s former press secretary, said the former lawmaker suffered a stroke recently and died at a hospital in Celebration, Florida, where she has been living in recent years. “Pat Schroeder blazed the trail.