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TIME Washington Correspondent Philip Elliott compared the Republican Party to the Soviets Wednesday, saying the GOP "disappeared" Liz Cheney, to the mockery of Twitter users.
"It’s not just the Soviets who are masters of disappearing someone," Elliott warned in a piece titled "The GOP Just Borrowed a Soviet Skill and Disappeared Liz Cheney." "Just look at Wyoming, where voters this week drubbed a former senior member of the Republican establishment out of office on orders from former President Donald Trump," he said.
The writer suggested in the article that Cheney, after losing by a massive margin in the Wyoming Republican primary, had somehow been erased from party history like somebody who had run afoul of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
Elliott recounted how Cheney, once a mainstay of conventional Republican politics had rebelled against the new direction of the party as she moved against its leader, Donald Trump. "Her performance made her a darling of liberals who not that long ago thought the Cheney clan to be some of the worst people in America," he said.
Soviet political leader Joseph Stalin, who led the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death in 1953. (AP)
Elliott suggested that the vote that finally ousted her from political office for the time being "was a disappearing that would have made the Cold War Soviets proud."
The TIME writer remarked on how Republicans who voted to impeach a sitting Republican president have been punished by the American electorate, suggesting that "it’s worth treating the current roster of Republicans like a politburo postcard. Of the 10 Republicans who voted for Trump’s second impeachment, eight will not be returning next year."
He noted further that "Trump worked aggressively against nine of them and has a near-perfect record. Almost everyone not standing with Comrade Donald was cut from the roster, erased from the picture."
Elliott offered praise for Cheney while also slamming the GOP for its current political trajectory.
The Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower and St. Basil's Cathedral are seen through the art object in Zaryadye park in Moscow, Russia March 15, 2022. ((REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo))
LAWMAKERS, PUNDITS REACT TO LIZ CHENEY'S LOSS IN WYOMING: ‘GIRL, BYE’
"Cheney shows bravery by fighting to stay in the frame, but she is likely to find it is nearly impossible to change a party without powerful allies on the inside to sponsor the effort," he wrote. "The open question is if Cheney can jam the gear with sufficient force to at least make it lurch, or if the machine will keep grinding her further and further from real power."
Twitter users skewered the piece for saying the Republican Party had used the "Soviet skill" of disappearing people to oust Cheney.
DC Examiner columnist T. Becket Adams commented with sarcasm, tweeting, "Losing by 38 points in a free and fair democratic election, rejected overwhelmingly by the people who elected you in the first place, just like in the Soviet Union."
He observed in a following tweet that "The people who say they love and respect democracy the most sure talk as if the voters have no agency or authority in the democratic process."
FILE - Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., speaks at the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds a hearing at the Capitol in Washington, June 28, 2022. ((AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File))
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Contributing editor for the Spectator Stephen L. Miller appeared to reply with similar sarcasm, saying, "The Soviet skill of private citizens quietly and politely casting votes in a primary election."
"'A Soviet skill'...lol..you mean...voting? Not sure we owe that one to the commies," said RedState deputy managing editor Kira Davis.
Podcast host Jesse Hawken wrote, "yes, the Soviet Union, famous for their... elections."
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Hawaiians made their voices heard Saturday when voters cast ballots to decide dozens of elections across the state.
Primaries for Democrats and Republicans were held to decide general election showdowns this November for governor, lieutenant governor, their two U.S. House of Representatives seats as well as state and local elections.
Hawaii Gov. David Ige served two four-year terms and was ineligible to run again, setting up an open ballot for his replacement.
Former Lt. Gov. James R. "Duke" Aiona was declared the winner of the Republican primary for Hawaii governor, a victory he later described as "a miracle."
HAWAII'S THREATENED SPECIES: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT PROTECTED WILDLIFE ON THE ISLANDS
Former Hawaii Lt. Gov. James R. "Duke" Aiona waves at passing cars while campaigning in Kailua, Hawaii on Aug. 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy)
He defeated former UFC champion and legend B.J. Penn and Honolulu City Councilperson Heidi Tsuneyoshi.
Aiona served as lieutenant governor under former Gov. Linda Lingle’ from 2002 to 2010.
Following his service in Lingle’s administration in 2010, he ran for governor and secured his party’s nomination but ultimately lost that year to Democrat Neil Abercrombie.
BJ Penn poses with all five of his UFC championship belts and several of his fight posters at his family's home on May 30, 2015, in Hilo, Hawaii. (Hollyn Johnson/Hawaii Tribune-Herald via AP, File)
Since leaving office and following the failed campaign, Aiona resumed his private law practice. He has also hosted the 808 State Update Talk Radio and served as university adjunct faculty.
HAWAII SCHOOL NAMED AFTER FORMER US PRESIDENT MCKINLEY FACES CONTROVERSY REGARDING NAME
On the Democratic ticket, current Lt. Gov. Josh Green won his party’s primary for Hawaii governor, defeating U.S. Rep. Kaiali’i Kahele and former Hawaii first lady Vicky Cayetano.
Green, who has served under Hawaii Gov. David Ige for the past four years, was previously a state senator, representative, and physician.
Hawaii Lt. Gov. Josh Green, left, and his wife, Jamie, greet passing cars while campaigning in Honolulu on Aug. 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy)
Aiona is the son of a Portuguese-Hawaiian father and a first-generation Chinese mother while Green was born in Kingston, New York, and was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The two lieutenant governors will square off in November, where Green is already considered a favorite to win the general election as Hawaii is a liberal state.
HAWAII COUPLE ACCUSED OF STEALING DEAD BABIES' IDENTITIES MAY HAVE BEEN KGB SPIES, PROSECUTORS SAY
In their respective primaries, Green garnered just over 136,000 votes while Aiona received a comparatively smaller 29,000.
In the U.S. Senate race, incumbent Brian Schatz won the Democratic primary with 94 percent of the vote.
Republican state Rep. Bob McDermott won his party’s nomination for U.S. Senate, beating five other challengers, Hawaii News Now reported.
In the 1st Congressional District, incumbent U.S. Rep. Ed Case easily defeated a challenge from attorney and political newcomer Sergio Alcubilla in the Democratic primary, News Now reported.
A general view shows Waikiki and Honolulu, Hawaii, from the Diamond Head crater on February 20, 2022. (DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)
Among Republicans, Conrad Kress held a comfortable lead with 48 percent over Arturo Reyes (30 percent) and Patrick Largey (24 percent), per the report.
After Kaiali’i Kahele vacated his position representing Hawaii’s 2nd Congressional District in a bid to become the state’s next governor, six Democrats and three Republicans stepped up to take his place.
HAWAII’S HIDDEN TREASURES INCLUDE THESE HISTORIC WAR MONUMENTS IN OAHU
On Saturday evening, former state Sen. Jill Tokuda secured the Democratic primary win, News Now reported.
An aerial view from the window of a plane shows Diamond Head crater in Oahu, Hawaii on February 23, 2022. (DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)
Tokuda, a well-known politician, initially ran for lieutenant governor before joining the congressional race after Kahele announced he was not seeking re-election. She defeated state Rep. Patrick Pihana Branco.
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In the Republican primary, former U.S. Air Force intelligence analyst and businessman Joe Akana won his party’s primary, defeating business owner Joseph Webster.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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An Oklahoma man pleaded guilty on Wednesday to stalking and threatening a U.S. Representative from his state.
Keith Eisenberger, 39, of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, pleaded guilty to cyberstalking and threatening to kidnap and assault Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., and threatening to kidnap and assault his spouse, the Justice Department said.
"The U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners will not tolerate online threats of violence meant to intimidate elected officials or members of our community. Keith Eisenberger now understands there are legal repercussions to committing these criminal acts," U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson said in a press release on Wednesday.
Hern represents Oklahoma’s first congressional district.
REP. HERN BILL WOULD TAX WIRE TRANSFERS OUT OF US TO FUND BORDER EFFORTS, TACKLE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
Rep. Kevin Stern, R-Okla., speaks during a town hall event hosted by House Republicans on March 1, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
In a statement, FBI Oklahoma City Special Agent in Charge Edward J. Gray clarified that the First Amendment does not protect individuals who threaten violence.
"While the First Amendment gives us the right to express our own opinions, it does not protect those who cross the line of making violent criminal threats," Gray said. "The FBI will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to ensure elected officials can perform the duties of their office safely."
46 HOUSE REPUBLICANS CALL ON MAYORKAS TO RESIGN OVER ‘COMPLETE FAILURE’ TO LEAD DHS
In the deal, Eisenberger admitted to sending "concerning statements" between Nov. 27, 2018, and May 11, 2022, including a message that said he was going to kidnap Hern and his wife, the Justice Department said.
Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., speaks during a House Small Business Committee hearing on July 17, 2020 in Washington, D.C. (Erin Scott-Pool/Getty Images)
Eisenberger now faces up to a maximum felony sentence of 25 years in prison.
NYPD SHOOTS MAN WHO THREATENED TO KILL GOV. KATHY HOCHUL, POLICE COMMISSIONER: REPORT
The deal came amid a years-long investigation into Eisenberger, who frequented political events in his state to meet with lawmakers. The uninvited admiration then swiftly turned into harassment, the Justice Department said.
After Hern won the general election in 2018 and was sworn in in January 2019, Eisenberger traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet the lawmaker.
Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla., arrives for the House Republican leadership elections at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, November 17, 2020. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Once there, he demanded Hern resign. During the incident, Eisenberger reportedly told Capitol Police that he bought a one-way ticket and would not leave until Hern vacated his position.
In 2020, Eisenberger took to social media to call for Hern to be "federally executed." He also said Hern should face resignation, death or expulsion. In another post that same year, he threatened to assault the Republican lawmaker.
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The Justice Department also said Eisenberger continued his harassment in 2021, in a social media post where he threatened to kidnap Hern and his wife, Tammy Hern.
The FBI conducted the investigation and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Nassar is prosecuting the case.
GRANGER, Ind. -- The funeral for Indiana Republican U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski will be held Thursday in her home state of Indiana, where she and three other people were killed in a head-on highway crash.
The funeral is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. at Granger Community Church, Palmer Funeral Homes said on its website.
Walorski, who was 58, was in an SUV with two members of her staff on Aug. 3 when it crossed the median of a northern Indiana highway for unknown reasons and collided with an oncoming vehicle near the town of Wakarusa, the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office said.
Walorski, her 27-year-old staffer Zachery Potts of Mishawaka, who was driving, and her 28-year-old communications director, Emma Thomson of Washington, D.C., all died, as did the woman who was driving the vehicle struck by their SUV.
Potts was Walorski’s district director and the Republican chairman for northern Indiana’s St. Joseph County.
Walorski was first elected to represent northern Indiana’s 2nd Congressional District in 2012 and was seeking reelection this year in the solidly Republican district.
Walorski's husband, Dean Swihart, said in a statement Wednesday that he was "touched by the support and kindness" the family has received since her death.
“Her loss leaves a massive void in our family, our community and in Congress,” Swihart said. “Our family remains focused solely on celebrating Jackie’s memory and mourning her loss as she returns home to be with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb has set a special election to fill the remainder of Walorski's current term running through the rest of this year for the same date as the Nov. 8 general election.
Under Indiana law, it will be up to local Republican officials to decide nominations for the special election and to replace Walorski on the ballot for the full two-year term. The state Republican Party has scheduled an Aug. 20 caucus meeting for those selections. No Republican candidates have yet announced for the seat.
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FIRST ON FOX: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), a national group working to elect Democratic candidates to the House, insists Republicans are putting their midterm election chances at risk as they tie "themselves into knots defending" former President Donald Trump after his Mar-a-Lago estate was raided by the FBI on Monday.
In a statement shared first with Fox News Digital, Chris Taylor, a spokesperson for the DCCC, insisted that "voters will see the difference" between Republicans' defense of Trump and the agenda Democrats have prioritized in recent days.
"This week House Democrats are lowering prescription drug costs, tackling climate change, protecting our veterans, and expanding American manufacturing," Taylor said. "Republicans are tying themselves into knots defending a president who allegedly stole classified information from the White House. Voters will see the difference."
Aside from the DCCC, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) have remained largely silent on the raid of Trump's estate as they attempt to keep Americans' focus on what they consider to be legislative victories for the party and the Biden administration.
HOUSE REPUBLICANS TO MEET WITH TRUMP AT BEDMINSTER, FOLLOWING MAR-A-LAGO FBI RAID
Former President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Hilton Anatole on August 06, 2022 in Dallas, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
On Tuesday, one day after the raid took place, the DNC promoted a clip from chairman Jaime Harrison's appearance on MSNBC's Zerlina on Peacock where he touted the party's "historic record" and the "Democrats’ tireless work to pass the Inflation Reduction Act."
Other DNC priorities on Tuesday, according to press releases from the committee's website, included the CHIPS bill being signed into law by President Biden, GOP South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott's new book, and Republicans who "voted to side with China over the American people" against the CHIPS bill.
The official Twitter account for the Democratic Party on Tuesday prioritized the Inflation Reduction Act and "landmark legislation" like the CHIPS and Science Act, with no mention of the raid.
Dozens of Trump supporters gather outside Mar-a-Lago to protest the FBI's raid. (Alon Skuy/Fox News Digital)
Similarly, an analysis across platforms operated by the DSCC, including the group's website and Twitter account, showed no mention of the raid and instead focused on a new election ad targeting Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, "lowering costs for working families," and President Biden's signing of the CHIPS Act on Tuesday.
"Democrats are putting the interests of working Americans first, and that’s exactly why voters will protect and expand our Senate majority in November," DSCC spokesperson Nora Keefe said in a statement following the signing of the CHIPS Act.
Fox News Digital reached out to the DNC and the DSCC for comment, but did not receive an immediate response.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed Tuesday that Biden "was not briefed" and "was not aware" of the raid before it took place.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks to reporters during the daily news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on August 09, 2022 (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
"No one at the White House was given a heads-up," she said.
Jean-Pierre added: "We are not going to comment from here, from this White House, on a criminal investigation that is currently happening."
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Multiple sources tell Fox News the FBI's raid of Mar-a-Lago is related to the materials Trump allegedly brought to his private residence after his presidency concluded. That matter was referred to the Justice Department by the National Archives and Records Administration, which said it found classified material in 15 boxes at the residence.
Federal law bars the removal of classified documents to unauthorized locations, though it is possible that Trump could try to argue that, as president, he was the ultimate declassification authority.
Fox News' Kelly Laco and Brooke Singman contributed to this article.
(File 1988) House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Stephen Buyer (R/IN) carries his research materials away at the conclusion of the impeachment proceedings December 12.
Reuters
WASHINGTON -- Former Indiana Republican Rep. Stephen Buyer has been charged with insider trading, using accounts owned by his wife and long-time mistress to hide some of the transactions, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced Monday.
Buyer, who left Congress in 2011, is accused of trading on non-public information he received as a consultant after he left office.
According to the civil complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, Buyer bought more than $1.5 million in stock in two separate companies, Sprint and Navigant Consulting, based on insider information over the span of two years.
He sold the shares of Sprint in 2018 after its merger with T-Mobile leaked, for a profit of at least $107,000 according to the SEC. He sold the Navigant shares in 2019 after news became public that Navigant would be acquired by Guidehouse LLP.
Buyer used several different accounts, including his wife Joni Buyer's brokerage account, to purchase the shares. Joni Buyer is not accused of any legal wrongdoing, but she is named in the charges because she technically benefitted from the ill-gotten gains in her investment account.
Buyer allegedly spread the stock purchases across 7 different accounts, including two separate IRA's belonging to him alone, an investment account belonging to his wife Joni Buyer; a joint account owned by the couple; a joint account Buyer shared with his son; a joint account Buyer shared with his cousin, and a 7th account owned by a woman identified only as "Friend-1."
According to the SEC complaint, Buyer began a romantic relationship with the unidentified woman in 2006. In 2018, Buyer used the woman's IRA account to purchase more than $12,000 worth of stock in Sprint. A year later, he allegedly used her account again to purchase $22,000 of stock in Navigant, shortly before both companies were acquired by Buyer's consulting clients.
"When insiders like Buyer – an attorney, a former prosecutor, and a retired Congressman – monetize their access to material, nonpublic information, as alleged in this case, they not only violate the federal securities laws, but also undermine public trust and confidence in the fairness of our markets," said Gurbir S. Grewal, Director of the SEC Enforcement Division, in the SEC press release.
A lawyer for Buyer could not immediately be identified for comment.
Buyer served in Congress from 1993-2011, where he represented Indiana's 4th congressional district, which was previously numbered as its 5th.
