Tag: republicans

Musk donates $276M to GOP in massive midterms push, marking largest political donation in U.S. history

Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and the wealthiest person in the world, has reportedly contributed $276 million to Republican political groups since July, according to a spokesperson.

America PAC is a political action committee founded by Musk in 2024 to support Republican candidates and conservative ballot initiatives. Powered by hundreds of millions of dollars in personal funding from Musk, the organization focuses primarily on large-scale voter canvassing and targeted digital media campaigns.

Ahead of the midterms, Musk is the largest known donor, contributing $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund this summer. The donation ranks among the largest political contributions in United States history, as first reported by The New York Times and later confirmed by Andrew Romeo, a spokesperson for Musk’s super PAC.

After pouring more than $76 million into America PAC this summer, Musk saw those funds directed into a sprawling canvassing program targeting hard-to-reach Republican voters.

  • $20 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund, the main super PAC for House Republicans
  • $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC, a group supporting Texas GOP Senate hopeful Ken Paxton (R-Texas.)
  • $10 million to the Republican Governors Association
  • $2 million to the Republican Attorneys General Association

The massive spending marks a sharp reversal from last May, when Musk said he planned to scale back his political contributions, stating, “I think I’ve done enough.”

The Tesla CEO’s substantial financial contributions exemplify his support for President Donald Trump and Republican candidates in the midterms. His super PAC has also confirmed plans to remain active in the 2028 presidential race, positioning Musk to continue playing a major role in Republican politics.

Musk’s massive donation follows President Trump awarding the National Medal of Science to Musk and other tech executives on Thursday.

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Mike Rogers Now Says He Welcomes AIPAC Support After Allies Previously Told Group To Butt Out

Republican Michigan Senate nominee Mike Rogers said during a Thursday debate that he welcomed support from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) after allies previously reportedly discouraged the group from spending in the race.

Rogers’ allies told AIPAC in August not to advertise on his behalf after his rival Abdul El-Sayed defeated his primary opponent, Democratic Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens, who received backing from AIPAC, Axios first reported. The Republican nominee said during the debate that he welcomed all the help he could get to defeat El-Sayed.

“Do you welcome AIPAC’s public support given that you do support many pro-Israeli positions?” moderator Rick Albin, a west Michigan-based WOOD TV8 political reporter, asked.

“Anybody that wants to help my campaign, stop a guy who can’t condemn terrorism in our own country because he’s so close to the people who are supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, I’ll take all of that help,” Rogers said.

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Ohio Journalist Goes on Trial for Sending Picture of ‘Shrek’s Penis’ to GOP Lawmaker — Faces Up to Six Months in Prison

An Ohio political blogger will go on trial Thursday for allegedly sending a state lawmaker a picture of Shrek with an erect penis.

D.J. Byrnes, 39, publisher of the Ohio political newsletter The Rooster, has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor telecommunications harassment over the bizarre exchange with Republican State Sen. Jerry Cirino.

The saga began after Cirino gave up his bid to become president of the Ohio Senate.

Byrnes, a committed leftist who nicknamed Cirino the “Young Mussolini,” allegedly sent him a taunting message celebrating his political setback.

“Good to see you finally made your humiliation public, Young Mussolini. THE PATRIOTS CAUCUS sends its regards!!!!!!!!!!!” Byrnes wrote, according to court filings.

“I don’t know who this is but I am certain you are a moron,” Cirino responded.

Byrnes allegedly sent the senator a digitally altered image depicting the famous green ogre fully nude with an exposed and erect penis.

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Burchett Plans to Block Socialist Chevalier from Congress over Flag Desecration Post

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) said he plans to block New York Democratic Socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier from being seated in Congress if she wins the Nov. 3 election, citing a resurfaced post in which she said she wiped her hand on an American flag.

Burchett told the New York Post he intends to make the move when the new Congress convenes in January, using a simple-majority vote to prevent newly elected lawmakers from being seated before they take the oath of office.

The Tennessee Republican argued the flag comment is disqualifying for anyone about to swear the oath.

“You take an oath to uphold the Constitution, and and [sic] you’re pretty much disavowing it right there. I just think we’ve lost our compass,” he said.

Burchett called the comment an affront to his own family’s military service. His father was a World War II Marine, and his maternal uncle, Roy Hicks, was wounded shortly after D-Day battling German forces in the Normandy hedgerows. The congressman keeps the flag that covered Hicks’ coffin in his Knoxville office.

“I’m looking at a 48-star flag that hung on my uncle’s casket and [he] died fighting the Nazis, and then see somebody going to get elected to Congress in New York who said they use that flag for a napkin,” he said.

Burchett said he will offer the motion whether Republicans hold the House or fall into the minority. The congressman flew with President Donald Trump on Air Force One to Tennessee last week.

Chevalier, who faces Republican Jomo M. Williams in the general election, made the comment in a December 2019 post on X that has since been deleted: “I forgot to get napkins so I just wiped my hand on the American flag behind me.” She later said she regretted it.

The 32-year-old Democratic Socialist upended five-term Rep. Adriano Espaillat in the primary for the 13th Congressional District, covering northern Manhattan and the western Bronx, after an endorsement from New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. She co-founded a group that once described itself as “fighting for the total eradication of Western civilization,” and maintained a deleted account that hyped communism and Marxism. Asked whether she is a communist, she said, “I’m not. I’m a democratic socialist.”

The plan faces long odds. GOP operative John Feehery, a former senior House leadership aide, said the chamber could not function under such a standard.

“If we refused to seat folks in Congress who said things that we strongly disagreed with, nobody in the House would be seated,” Feehery said.

The Constitution makes each chamber the judge of its members’ elections and qualifications. The Supreme Court ruled in 1969 that the House had exceeded its authority in excluding Rep. Adam Clayton Powell (D-NY), who had been duly elected and met the constitutional qualifications for office.

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Cotton fires back at Trump, says he won’t support making Daylight Saving Time permanent

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., fired back at President Trump criticizing him for blocking a bill to make Daylight Saving Time permanent in the U.S.

“No one likes changing the clock, me included, but Congress has enacted permanent Daylight Savings Time multiple times before and repealed it each time once Americans experienced absurdly late sunrises in the winter. Arkansans don’t want their kids going to school in the pitch dark, and I’ll always put Arkansas first,” Cotton wrote.

Trump posted on Truth Social about Cotton on Saturday, prompting Cotton to respond. 

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Former Congressman Sentenced To 10 Years In Federal Prison After Secretly Lobbying For Foreign Regime And Laundering Millions

A former U.S. congressman will now spend a full decade behind bars after being handed a 10-year federal prison sentence on Friday.

Former Florida politician David Rivera was slapped with the decade-long sentence after being convicted of secretly acting as an unregistered foreign agent for a hostile regime, failing to register under FARA rules, and conspiring to launder tens of millions of dollars tied to the illicit scheme.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported in May, Rivera and Nuhfer were found guilty by a federal jury following a trial that exposed the secret Venezuela-linked lobbying arrangement.

The previous Gateway Pundit report detailed prosecutors’ allegations that Rivera and Nuhfer accepted millions connected to the Maduro government while concealing the relationship and using Rivera’s political connections to pursue Venezuela’s interests in the United States.

Rivera had faced a statutory maximum of as much as 60 years behind bars following his conviction.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Melissa Damian handed down the 120-month sentence on October 2 following Rivera’s conviction on conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), violating FARA, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and four counts involving transactions in criminally derived property, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

Rivera, 61, represented Florida as a Republican in the U.S. House from 2011 to 2013.

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Schumer says he won’t quit as Dem Senate leader post-midterms, warns GOP may ‘steal the election’

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is adamant that he will remain in charge of upper chamber Democrats following next month’s midterms — and has issued an inflammatory warning that Republicans could attempt to “steal the election.”

“I am running for re-election for leader,” Schumer insisted to Politico in an interview published Wednesday. “Period.”

The Brooklyn native, 75, added that Democrats are “totally unified” and have the “edge” in their battle to regain the Senate after two years in the minority.

“It’s 50-50. We’re right on the edge of winning. Two things could have us lose. One, they steal the election,” Schumer told Semafor in a separate interview, also published Wednesday.

“The second thing is money. They have obscene amounts of money,” he continued. “All we need is enough to be able to answer the s— they’re going to throw at us, and we’re doing well there.”

A rep for Schumer did not immediately respond to a request to clarify the senator’s “steal the election” comment.

The Republican National Committee currently has about $126 million cash on hand, compared to the Democratic National Committee’s $16.9 million cash on hand and $17.6 million debt.

“Here’s how I sum up the election in one sentence: Can an enormous Republican advantage in dollars defeat an enormous Democratic advantage in candidates and in political climate?” Schumer added to Semafor. “I think we win.”

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“DO THEY THINK WE’RE STUPID?”: Mitch McConnell’s Chief of Staff Remains Smug When Pressed About The Senator’s Ability To Do His Job.

Senator Mitch McConnell’s Chief of Staff, Terry Carmack, was pressed by The Gateway Pundit reporter, Myles Morell, on the Senator’s health status and his cognitive abilities to do his job in the Senate.

Upon spotting Carmack, Morell asked him if he believed that pushing the Senator around in a wheelchair is a good look for both him and Carmack. Morell received no response.

Morell was then joined by independent journalists Aulden Nance and Anthony Pellegrino, with Nance questioning Carmack if he is concerned over the Senator’s legacy.

Pellegrino then asked if McConnell is able to talk and communicate clearly with Carmack “behind closed doors.” He received no response.

Morell and Nance continued to press Carmack on McConnell’s failure to give any public video statements since his extended absence from the Senate starting in June, while Pellegrino asked about what closed-door communications are like once again.

Morell ended the interaction by asking Carmack if he would address public concerns about the Senator’s ability to do his job properly, resulting in nothing but crickets once again.

Carmack refused to answer a single question and had a smug look on his face the entire time.

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Vance Fraud Task Force Condemned as ‘Smokescreen’ for Booting 700,000 More People Off Healthcare

The Trump administration is planning to boot more than 700,000 people from their Affordable Care Act coverage as part of a purported initiative to root out fraud in the program—an effort that campaigners said is nothing more than a pretext to kick more people off healthcare.

Vice President JD Vance, who is leading the White House’s “Task Force to Eliminate Fraud,” announced the planned ACA purge during a press conference on Tuesday alongside Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, whose agency has touted a right-wing think tank’s dubious claim that millions of ACA enrollees are on the program improperly.

Vance insisted during Tuesday’s press conference that the administration is putting itself “under an extraordinary burden of proof” to ensure its mass removal doesn’t impact people who are eligible for ACA coverage, but advocates were not convinced.

“Vance’s task force is a smokescreen for kicking people off coverage,” declared the advocacy group Protect Our Care. The organization’s president, Brad Woodhouse, said in a statement that Vance’s task force “is nothing more than a bullshit distraction—a political stunt designed to throw even more people off their coverage while pretending to save taxpayers’ money.”

“At a time when millions of Americans are already losing coverage and facing skyrocketing costs, Vance and this administration are making the crisis exponentially worse,” said Woodhouse. “They are piling on more red tape, more confusion, and more opportunities for people to lose the coverage they rely on. Families need coverage they can afford and count on when they get sick. Vance’s task force won’t accomplish that. It’s a smokescreen for an administration whose sole mission is to make it harder to get and stay covered but to shower billionaires with tax breaks instead.”

Millions of people have lost ACA and Medicaid coverage since the start of President Donald Trump’s second White House term, due in large part to a Republican budget law that cut Medicaid by more than $800 billion and did nothing to extend enhanced ACA subsidies, sending premiums soaring.

Trump administration officials have baselessly claimed that their anti-fraud efforts were the key driver of ACA enrollment declines this year.

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Lauren Boebert Strongly Denies Sworn Ethics Complaint Alleging Affairs With Two Female Staffers and One Male Staffer — Matt Gaetz Responds After His Name Is Dragged Into Allegations

Rep. Lauren Boebert is forcefully denying a sworn ethics complaint accusing her of engaging in sexual relationships with three congressional staffers, two women and one man.

The complaint was filed on September 17 by David B. Wheeler of American Muckrakers. It names Clarice Navarro, Boebert’s former district director; Raven Finegan, her current district chief of staff; and Jeffrey Small, her former chief of staff.

According to the complaint, Boebert’s alleged relationship with Navarro lasted from 2021 through January 2025. It further alleges that Navarro received approximately $30,650 in year-end bonuses from House funds, along with a $5,000 campaign payment listed as “fundraising consulting.”

The complaint also alleges that Boebert arranged an approximately $200,000 payment to Navarro in 2025 after Navarro allegedly threatened to file an ethics complaint of her own.

The payment is described by American Muckrakers as an alleged hush payment, though the claim has not been independently established.

Wheeler’s complaint argues that the alleged conduct violated House Rule XXIII, which prohibits Members from engaging in sexual relationships with employees under their supervision.

It asks the House Ethics Committee to open an investigation and refer possible campaign-finance and criminal violations to the Department of Justice and the Federal Election Commission.

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