The Freedom Caucus

‘We Must Fight Them’: Trump Goes After Conservatives of Freedom Caucus New York Times By Glenn Thrush and Jonathan Martin March 30, 2017 -the Freedom Caucus would not discuss healthcare as part of a larger Republican agenda. “Stockholm Syndrome?” Representative Tom Garrett of Virginia asked on Twitter, suggesting that the president had become captive to the Republican establishment he attacked during the campaign.   /“It’s a swamp not a hot tub. We both came here to drain it. #SwampCare polls 17%. Sad!” wrote Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who often sides with the caucus on votes, mocking the president’s drain-the-swamp campaign pledge.

On October 30, 2017, Vanity Fair published an interview with former speaker Boehner, who said of the Freedom Caucus: “They can’t tell you what they’re for. They can tell you everything they’re against. They’re anarchists. They want total chaos. Tear it all down and start over. That’s where their mindset is.”

Chairs 

Jim Jordan Page–Ohio State University Sexual Abuse Scandal

Jim Jordan (OH-4), 2015–2017,[71] Vice Chair, 2017–present[72]

Members

Mark Meadows (NC-11), 2017–present [66][51], Andy Biggs of Arizona[52], Mo Brooks of Alabama[53], Ken Buck of Colorado[54], Ted Budd of North Carolina[55], Ben Cline of Virginia[56], Michael Cloud of Texas[56], Warren Davidson of Ohio[57], Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee[58], Jeff Duncan of South Carolina[59], Russ Fulcher of Idaho[56], Matt Gaetz of Florida[60][61], Louie Gohmert of Texas[62], Paul Gosar of Arizona[63], Mark E. Green of Tennessee[56], Morgan Griffith of Virginia[10], Andy Harris of Maryland[64], Jody Hice of Georgia[65], Jim Jordan of Ohio[66], Debbie Lesko of Arizona[67], Alex Mooney of West Virginia[64], Ralph Norman of South Carolina[68], Gary Palmer of Alabama[69], Scott Perry of Pennsylvania[64], Bill Posey of Florida[64], Denver Riggleman of Virginia[56], Chip Roy of Texas[56], David Schweikert of Arizona[54], Randy Weber of Texas[70], Ron Wright of Texas [56], Ted Yoho of Florida[70]

Former Members

“The Freedom Caucus, also known as the House Freedom Caucus, is a congressional caucus consisting of conservative and libertarian Republicanmembers of the United States House of Representatives.[1][3][2] It was formed in 2015 by what member Jim Jordan called a “smaller, more cohesive, more agile and more active” group of conservative congressmen,[13] and is currently chaired by Representative Mark Meadows of North Carolina. Many members are also part of the much larger Republican Study Committee.[13][14] The caucus is sympathetic to the Tea Party movement.[15] The Freedom Caucus is considered the furthest-right grouping within the House Republican Conference.[16][17] The caucus supports House candidates through its PAC, the House Freedom Fund.[18][19] The caucus originated at the mid–January 2015 Republican congressional retreat in Hershey, Pennsylvania.” Wikipedia

“The House Freedom Caucus was involved in the resignation of Boehner on September 25, 2015, and the ensuing leadership battle for the new speaker.[23] Members of the caucus who had voted against Boehner for speaker felt unfairly punished, accusing him of cutting them off from positions in the Republican Study Committee and depriving them of key committee assignments.[24][25] Boehner found it increasingly difficult to manage House Republicans with the fierce opposition of the Freedom Caucus, and he sparred with House Republican members in 2013 over their willingness to shut down the government in pursuit of goals such as repealing the Affordable Care Act. These members later created and became members of the Freedom Caucus when it was created in 2015.[21][26][27][28]

After Boehner resigned as speaker, Kevin McCarthy, the House majority leader, was initially the lead contender to succeed him, but the Freedom Caucus withheld its support.[29] However, McCarthy withdrew from the race on October 8, 2015, after appearing to suggest that the Benghazi investigation‘s purpose had been to lower the approval ratings of Hillary Clinton.[30][31] On the same day as McCarthy’s withdrawal, Reid Ribble resigned from the Freedom Caucus saying he had joined to promote certain policies and could not support the role that it was playing in the leadership race.[32]

On October 20, 2015, Paul Ryan announced that his bid for the speaker of the United States House of Representatives was contingent on an official endorsement by the Freedom Caucus.[33] While the group could not reach the 80% approval that was needed to give an official endorsement, on October 21, 2015, it announced that it had reached a supermajority support for Ryan.[34] On October 29, 2015, Ryan succeeded John Boehner as the speaker of the House.[35]

On October 30, 2017, Vanity Fair published an interview with former speaker Boehner, who said of the Freedom Caucus: “They can’t tell you what they’re for. They can tell you everything they’re against. They’re anarchists. They want total chaos. Tear it all down and start over. That’s where their mindset is.”[36]”Wikipedia

‘We Must Fight Them’: Trump Goes After Conservatives of Freedom Caucus New York Times By Glenn Thrush and Jonathan Martin March 30, 2017

July 25, 2018 House Resolution 1028 Impeaching Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney General of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.THE FREEDOM CAUCUS-Rep. Mark Meadows, Rep. Jim Jordan, Rep. Jody B. Hice-GA, Rep. Jeff Duncan-SC, Rep. Andy Biggs-AZ, Rep. Louie Gohmert-TX, Rep. Matt Gaetz-FL, Rep. Scott DesJarlais-TN, Mr. Paul Gosar-WY, Mr. Bill Posey-FL, and Mr. Scott Perry-PA, referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

House Freedom Caucus votes to condemn Amash’s impeachment comments The Hill BY JULIEGRACE BRUFKE – 05/20/19 “The conservative House Freedom Caucus took an official position condemning Rep. Justin Amash’s (R-Mich.) call for impeaching President Trump on Monday evening, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) told reporters. “We had a good discussion and every single member, I think now based on who was there and our board meeting was probably over 30 members, every single member disagrees and strongly with the position Justin took over the week, and we’re focused on the now,” he said. “I mean, look, we’re focused on the fact that what the FBI did was wrong. We think that [Attorney General William] Barr’s handled himself exactly the way the American people want the attorney general to handle themselves, and he’s going to get to bottom of all this.”

Freedom Caucus demands release of full Volker transcript  The Hill BY JULIEGRACE BRUFKE – 10/08/19 “Members of the House Freedom Caucus are calling for the release of the full transcript of former special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker’s testimony, arguing it would disprove allegations of a quid pro quo between President Trump and Ukraine’s government.“We are concerned that selectively shared information from the deposition fails to provide adequate context for those discussions, to the detriment of both public and Congressional understanding of the Trump Administration’s anti-corruption strategy in Ukraine,” Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) wrote on behalf of the group. Biggs went on to blast the process Democrats have used as they have accelerated their probe, arguing that a floor vote should have taken place to authorize the formal inquiry. “Furthermore, given that the deposition took place in the political context of an unauthorized impeachment inquiry, it is inappropriate as a matter of process and fairness that Members be asked to draw conclusions on such grave matters without access to complete information,” he wrote.  Biggs urged the chairmen to release the transcript by no later than Oct. 18.

The letter comes shortly after Democrats issued a subpoena for Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland to testify and release documents after he was blocked by the State Department from appearing before Congress on Tuesday.