Tag: republicans

Wyoming GOP Gov. Mark Gordon Whines About ‘Aggressive, Unexpected’ DOJ Election Monitors – Orders Investigation

Wyoming Republican Gov. Mark Gordon is complaining about federal election monitors sent to observe last week’s primary elections.

Gordon is also ordering an investigation after Justice Department officials attempted to examine voting procedures in the state.

Two DOJ monitors arrived at a polling location in Cheyenne last Tuesday as part of a federal effort to ensure elections comply with voting and civil-rights laws.

According to Laramie County Clerk Debra Lee, the monitors asked questions about election procedures, sought to speak with voters and requested access to voting equipment.

Local officials refused some of those requests, and Gordon was less than pleased.

“It was aggressive, unexpected, disruptive and certainly didn’t seem to show respect for the state,” Gordon moaned.

“We’re going to get to the bottom of it as best we can.”

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Hope Florida grand jury finds Medicaid money ‘misused for political purposes’

A state grand jury investigating the Hope Florida scandal found that key members of the DeSantis administration wrongly engaged in a “sophisticated scheme” to divert $10 million of a Medicaid settlement into political activities and the Republican Party of Florida, according to a copy of the grand jury’s report obtained by CBS News Miami.

The report concluded the $10 million in taxpayer money was “plainly used for political purposes” but also said the grand jury could not find enough evidence to charge anyone with a crime because no one would “take responsibility” for deciding to divert the money to Hope Florida “or had any memory” of who made the decision.

It noted that most of those involved were lawyers who “acted on the advice of other lawyers” making it hard to determine who was to blame.

“We recognize that this would be an impediment to criminal prosecution,” the report said. “While we can’t prove who is responsible, we can plainly see that taxpayer money was misused for political purposes and we would like to see changes made to prevent this from happening again.”

Despite a lack of criminal charges, the report pointed fingers at key DeSantis officials who had been at the center of a scandal that centered on Hope Florida, a charity championed by First Lady Casey DeSantis. It became embroiled in controversy last year, once it became public that the charity had served as conduit for the $10 million that landed in political committees but should have paid for medical expenses for needy Floridians.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who was then Gov. Ron DeSantis’ chief of staff, was “in a position of authority” and at the heart of a scheme that sent money to political committees fighting passage of an amendment to legalize marijuana in 2024, the grand jury found.

“Testimony identified (Uthmeier) as having involvement in directing the money after it went to Hope Florida,” the report said. “Testimony also revealed that Mr. Uthmeier’s Keep Florida Clean, a political action committee, was the prime recipient of the majority of the $10 million taxpayer funds.”

The report also found that U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, who was attorney general at the time, knew of the scheme and authorized her chief deputy at the time, John Guard, to sign the settlement agreement, CBS News reported. Guard signed the settlement, despite his reservations, and “without conducting his due diligence to ensure the proper appropriation of taxpayer funds,” the report said.

Both Uthmeier and Moody were appointed by DeSantis to their current positions and are running for election to those offices in November. Their Democratic opponents called for their resignation after CBS posted its story.

DeSantis appointed Guard to serve as a judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeal in January.

The $10 million was part of a $67 million settlement with the Centene Corporation, a Medicaid provider that overcharged the state. The $10 million was peeled off to Hope Florida, then within a matter of days transferred to two nonprofit political organizations that in quick succession gave the money to a political committee chaired by Uthmeier and set up to defeat the marijuana amendment.

The grand jury was convened in October 2025 by Leon County State Attorney Jack Campbell to investigate the circumstances surrounding the distribution of the $10 million, part of a larger $67 million settlement with the Centene Corporation, a Medicaid vendor that had overcharged the state for prescription medicines.

The investigation followed months of news reports about the scheme, after Rep. Alex Andrade held committee hearings questioning state officials and Hope Florida board members about the transfer. The grand jury concluded its work in January, and its report was sealed.

Neither DeSantis, Uthmeier or Moody were called to testify before the grand jury.

Uthmeier has defended his actions in public, and his office told CBS News on Wednesday said the only crime was releasing the grand jury report. Moody has ducked reporters’ questions about her involvement in the Hope Florida scandal.

DeSantis has characterized the Hope Florida scandal as a “hoax.” During a news conference Wednesday, CBS News reported, he said he wasn’t involved in the settlement agreement, “but was very happy with how everything was done.”

The grand jury report concludes with two recommendations — that the Legislature should pass a law to prevent something like this from occurring again, and pass “clear laws setting requirements” for how nonprofits like the Hope Florida Foundation can use taxapyer funds, making sure those funds are monitored and providing penalties for violating any new laws.

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Ramaswamy torches Dem rival over ‘outrageous’ COVID-19 claim: ‘Spewing lies’

Amy Acton, the Democratic nominee for governor of Ohio, is facing backlash from Republican rival Vivek Ramaswamy after claiming COVID-19 mortality rates had been as high as 50% in the early days of the 2020 pandemic.

Acton highlighted the figure as evidence of her effective leadership as director of the Ohio Department of Health on a podcast appearance in September.

“In those early days, the mortality rate was 50%. I started with that in March. By June, when we reopened, it was because we took swift, decisive action. The mortality rate had gone down to 5%. We learned how to save lives,” Acton said.

Acton’s retelling of the pandemic’s lethality comes as she defends her record as health director and amid an uphill bid to become the next governor of the Buckeye State.

COVID-19’s mortality rate was well below the 50% Acton described, resulting in 275,000 deaths nationwide in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

Of patients who contracted the virus, the death rate was just 15.9% when adjusted for age. And when filtered further for when COVID was the cause of death, that figure fell further to 11.3%.

When asked about the figure, Acton’s office said she had been referring to death rates in hospitals.

She also bashed Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, the founder of Roivant Sciences, a biotech pharmaceutical company that helped produce COVID treatments.

“While Dr. Acton was working hand in hand with Governor DeWine to keep Ohioans safe, Vivek Ramaswamy was calling for mandatory COVID-19 testing, making more than $2 billion off of the COVID vaccine and recommending segregating Ohioans based on biomarker status,” Addie Bullock, a spokesperson for Acton’s campaign, said.

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Palm Beach County REC Voting To Replace Indicted Candidate

Palm Beach County, Florida – The Republican Executive Committee (REC) of Palm Beach County is holding an emergency meeting this week to vote on a replacement candidate for Mike Caruso on the November 3 ballot. Caruso is the incumbent Clerk of the Court and Comptroller, but he was indicted last week for child abuse, and Governor DeSantis immediately suspended him from his position. Nevertheless, Caruso has refused to withdraw from his race for re-election.

Even if the REC nominates a replacement, Caruso’s name is highly likely to remain on the November ballot. Florida election rules make it extremely difficult for a substitute’s name to appear in time. The Supervisor of Elections requires the entire process to be completed by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, August 26. A similar situation occurred in 2006 with former Republican Congressman Mark Foley, who remained on the ballot after criminal charges related to a Congressional page and ultimately lost.

Republican voters in Palm Beach County now face a difficult predicament. Many fear Caruso’s presence on the ballot could drag down the entire Republican ticket in the County, and potentially hurt Byron Donalds’ gubernatorial campaign, which needs strong turnout from Palm Beach County’s roughly 300,000 Republican voters.

Caruso still retains strong allies on the REC Board, including State Committeeman Joe LaFauci, State Committeewoman Jodi Schwartz, Secretary Katina Maxwell and Treasurer Jane Pike. LaFauci is described as a close friend of Caruso; Caruso and his wife Tracy campaigned and raised funds vigorously for LaFauci in 2024. Rumors circulate that Tracy may seek to succeed her husband as Clerk of the Court and Comptroller.

REC Chairman Cascio is currently in Europe on vacation and has insisted on running tonight’s meeting via Zoom rather than allowing Vice Chairwoman Lonnie Weinberg—the only REC Board member widely viewed as having no ties to Caruso—to preside. Cascio has publicly stated that Caruso is “innocent until proven guilty.”

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James O’Keefe Drops Undercover Video of DMV Workers Contradicting Murkowski’s SAVE America Act Claims

The O’Keefe Media Group on Tuesday dropped another video exposing Senator Lisa Murkowski and Alaska’s voting laws.

Senator Murkowski says she opposes the SAVE America Act which would require voter ID.

Murkowski demonstrated that a person living on the small Alaska islands would not be able to vote if the SAVE America Act was passed because they would have to travel all the way to Anchorage to get an ID.

James O’Keefe went to a small Alaskan island called Unalaska and asked DMV workers if he had to travel 800 miles to Anchorage to get an ID.

“We don’t have to go to Anchorage to get an ID?” O’Keefe asked the DMV worker.

The employee responded, “No, you can come here.”

O’Keefe continued: An Unalaska resident confirmed voting takes place at City Hall and said residents “Don’t have to go to Anchorage [to register to vote or obtain ID].”

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El-Sayed Calls the GOP ‘Pedophile Protectors’ – Then Shares a Stage with a Cleric Who Married Off His 13-Year-Old Niece

A convention program tells you everything a stump speech tries to hide. This Labor Day weekend in Detroit, Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed will take the stage at the Islamic Society of North America’s 63rd annual convention – and the roster of fellow speakers reads less like a religious gathering than a roll call of radicals.

ISNA was founded as an American arm of the Muslim Brotherhood and named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism funding case. El-Sayed’s father-in-law, Tayeb Jukaku, has sat on ISNA’s founding committee since 2007 and funneled $300,000 into a PAC backing his son-in-law’s campaign. In case you’re wondering – yes, it’s exactly as cozy as it sounds.

But the real story is who else will be behind the microphone.

The company he keeps

Start with cleric Baqir Berry, who offered this during a June sermon:

From Fox News:

We pray to Allah to save our people in South Lebanon from the evil of these Zionists, to support the Muslims and the mujahideen on His path in the East and the West, especially our mujahideen in Palestine, Lebanon, and everywhere. Oh Allah, grant them a mighty victory.

Then there’s Hassan Qazwini, head of the Islamic Institute of America, who appealed to God to “grant victory to our brothers in Iran” – a U.S.-designated state sponsor of terrorism. Even Bernie Sanders’ 2020 campaign denounced Qazwini for pushing antisemitic conspiracy theories.

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Wary Of Backlash, Pro-Israel GOP Senate Hopeful Asks AIPAC Not To Spend On His Behalf

With Israel’s standing in the United States crumbling, America’s leading pro-Israel organization has become a focal point of anger among those who think the US government is putting Israel’s interests ahead of America’s. Political candidates have started seizing on this, attacking opponents who are backed by that group — AIPAC. So for, that’s largely been a phenomenon in the Democratic primaries, but now — in a jarring indication of AIPAC’s ballot-box toxicity — staunchly pro-Israel GOP Senate hopeful Mike Rogers has asked AIPAC not to spend money on his general election campaign.  

Rogers, a former US representative who chaired the House intelligence committee from 2011 to 2015, has been a stalwart backer of US aid to Israel, and was one of 12 federal legislators honored in 2015 by the US-Israel Security Alliance for his work to arm the Israel Defense Forces. 

Having won the Republican primary, Rogers faces Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed in the general election. El-Sayed is an outspoken critic of Israel and US support for Israel, which is why AIPAC blew through $30 million in a failed attempt to secure the Democratic nomination for the Israel-catering Haley Stevens. In that campaign, El-Sayed deftly portrayed Stevens as beholden to Israel. Stevens had given him all the ammo he needed; indeed, the El-Sayed campaign created a website that did nothing but show this cringy Stevens performance on a continuous loop.

When his primary victory was nearly in hand, El-Sayed taunted AIPAC, saying, “AIPAC, if you’re listening, come back and burn it again” in the general election. AIPAC was poised to start running an already-produced commercial for the November race when Rogers talked to AIPAC chair Michael Tuchin in Los Angeles last week, Axios reports. The next day, the commercial was put on ice. 

The extraordinary move by the Rogers campaign is a humiliation for AIPAC, which has long been nearly omnipotent in securing lopsided congressional votes on pro-Israel bills, and in installing pro-Israel legislators while ousting those who dare to offer even mild criticism of Israel. While AIPAC has hit “pause” on its effort in the Michigan Senate campaign, angry AIPAC officials want back in. 

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Israel is sponsoring ads on Ted Cruz’s podcast. Is that legal?

The Israeli government is running advertisements on a popular podcast hosted by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), raising questions about whether the staunchly pro-Israel lawmaker is indirectly receiving campaign funding from a foreign country.

Radio and podcast giant iHeartMedia has syndicated Cruz’s show, “Verdict with Ted Cruz,” since 2022. Because of lobbying-related restrictions, the company cannot legally pay the senator for ad revenue. But, it turns out, that’s not the only way to ensure the money benefits Cruz.

Under an unusual licensing deal, iHeartMedia agreed to donate revenue “associated with (the show’s) advertising sales” to the Truth and Courage PAC, a super PAC dedicated to “ensuring that Ted Cruz is re-elected to the United States Senate.” The company has given at least $1,738,000 of “digital revenue” to the Truth and Courage PAC since 2023, according to Federal Election Commission filings.

The agreement has drawn significant scrutiny from watchdog groups, some of which filed a complaint against Cruz with the FEC alleging he “brazenly violated” laws that bar candidates from receiving corporate donations. Though the senator admitted to having met with representatives from the company to discuss the acquisition of the show, the agency ruled in his favor, finding that there was “no available information to indicate that Cruz solicited, directed, received, transferred, or spent the funds iHeart paid to the PAC.”

“Cruz’s role was limited to hosting the Podcast and he does not appear to have been involved with the decision for iHeart to pay the PAC, meaning that he did not direct or solicit any funds,” the commission found.

The Israeli government-funded ad revenue appears to operate in a similar gray area. The advertisements, which are part of the $7 million “I am Israel” campaign launched in June, are geared toward encouraging Christians to visit the country and see biblical sites for themselves.

“Israel isn’t a destination; it’s a revelation, where every site you’ve studied, every scripture you’ve memorized, every sermon that ever moved you suddenly has an address, a landscape, a heartbeat,” Ben Ferguson, Cruz’s co-host, says in one ad. “This is the trip that changes not just how you see the Holy Land, but how you see everything.”

Ferguson then urges listeners to “start planning your trip today” and tells them to follow “Visit Israel” accounts on social media. The ads do not disclose that Visit Israel is a public-facing entity of the Israeli ministry of tourism.

The campaign appears to exploit a loophole in election financing laws. Candidates and PACs are banned from receiving any funding “directly or indirectly” from foreign nationals, according to the FEC. But Cruz would only run afoul of campaign finance laws if Israel explicitly earmarked its contribution to go to the PAC, said Craig Holman, a leading expert on campaign finance laws and an ethics lobbyist at Public Citizen.

“Assuming there is no formal agreement, then the money is considered iHeartRadio funds, with which it can do as it pleases,” Holman said.

Holman blamed court decisions like Citizens United for opening the path to Cruz’s “surreptitious financial arrangement” with iHeartMedia.

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Iowa GOP Governor Candidate Slams Democrat in Ad For Massive Tax Hike Plot

Republican Iowa gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn released a campaign ad Thursday saying Democrat rival Rob Sand plans to raise the average Iowan’s taxes by $7,500 a year.

The 30-second spot was provided exclusively to Breitbart News ahead of its public release. Filmed on Lahn’s farm in Belle Plaine, it opens on rising costs before cutting to an attack on Sand, the state auditor and Democrat nominee for governor. The ad casts Sand as a billionaire out of touch with working families.

In it, Lahn ties the cost of gas and groceries to his opponent and delivers the central charge directly to camera.

“But Rob Sand wants to raise your taxes by $7,500 a year. You can look it up. He is a billionaire. He doesn’t get what regular folks go through. He’s opposed tax cuts his whole career,” Lahn says in the ad. “I’m going to do everything in my power to help Iowa families as governor, because I know how hard you work. Iowa First.”

Lahn’s campaign argued the attack is grounded in Sand’s personal wealth. In a statement, campaign spokesman Dan Capodilupo said Sand’s opposition to tax cuts is easier to understand given who covers his expenses.

“It’s easy for Rob Sand to oppose tax cuts for families when someone else is paying his bills,” Capodilupo said. “His entire lifestyle and political career have both been financed by his father-in-law’s chemical fortune.”

The campaign claimed Sand married into the Lauridsen Group, Inc. (LGI), a family-owned chemical company, and asserted that Sand’s family has bankrolled his campaigns “to the tune of $13 million, the most in Iowa history.” The campaign described Sand’s operation as “effectively the seventh wholly owned subsidiary of LGI.”

Sand’s documented tax positions include a higher tax on out-of-state landowners, a ban on hedge funds and LLCs buying Iowa farmland, and ending state tax breaks for data centers. He has said he would consider an increase in the state cigarette tax to address Iowa’s cancer rates.

Sand’s campaign has cast Lahn as the outsider in the race. Press secretary Maddie Moher said Sand “has spent his career working with Republicans, Democrats, and independents to hold government accountable, uncover misspent taxpayer dollars, and deliver results for Iowans,” and would do the same as governor.

“Zach Lahn is a career political operative, and his latest attacks are a distraction from his own record and frequent flights to Kansas,” Moher said, referring to Sand’s line of attack over Lahn’s ties to Wichita.

Sand, of Decorah, has served as state auditor since 2019 and is the only Democrat holding statewide office in Iowa. He built his profile prosecuting the Hot Lotto rigging scandal as an assistant attorney general and has centered his campaign on lowering costs for Iowa families.

The ad comes as Lahn, a venture firm owner and Make America Healthy Again supporter, tries to hold an open seat Republicans have held since 2011, with Gov. Kim Reynolds not seeking reelection. Lahn won the GOP primary in a June upset, edging Trump-endorsed Rep. Randy Feenstra by less than a point.

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James O’Keefe Offered Senator Lisa Murkowski’s Brother’s Ballot at Anchorage Polling Station with No ID Required – Murkowski Calls For O’Keefe to be Prosecuted!

James O’Keefe on Thursday released undercover video of an Anchorage, Alaska, poll worker offering him Senator Lisa Murkowski’s brother’s ballot.

Recall that RINO Murkowski was one of the Senators who opposed the SAVE America Act which would require voter ID.

An Anchorage poll worker also offered Lisa Murkowski’s State Director, Karina Waller’s ballot without an ID on Tuesday’s primary.

“I did not check in as Brian Murkowski, cast a ballot, or sign his name. We documented what happened when I gave his name, said I had no ID, and asked whether Brian could still vote,” James O’Keefe said.

“Would it be possible to vote without it [ID]?” O’Keefe asked the poll worker.

“Absolutely possible!” the poll worker said.

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