CPAC 2023 – live: Jimmy Kimmel mocks Republican convention before Trump, Haley and Bolsonaro speak

The annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) opened on Wednesday for another round of Republican grandstanding, grievance-airing and MAGA merchandise.

The four-day event that bills itself as the “largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the world” returns to the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, for the first time in two years after relocating to Florida and then Texas to take advantage of those states’ more relaxed Covid-19 restrictions during the pandemic.

Joe Biden, the culture wars, Ukraine, border security and parents’ rights are likely to be recurrent themes between over the four-day run of a gathering that was once closely aligned with Ronald Reagan but is now predominantly a Donald Trump affair.

Mr Trump will be Saturday night’s headliner once again, seeking to re-establish his grip over the Republican Party in the wake of November’s disappointing midterm results and the emergence of Florida governor Ron DeSantis as a serious potential challenger for the GOP’s presidential nomination in 2024.

Mr DeSantis will not be there, however, nor will Mr Trump’s former vice president Mike Pence or newly-elected House speaker Kevin McCarthy but attendees will be addressed by the likes of Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo and Jair Bolsonaro, among others.

The conference this year does not appear to have coverage sponsorship from Fox News, while competing outlet Newsmax is listed as a presenting spnsor and far-right streaming service Real America’s Voice is named as one of four participating sponsors.

Meanwhile, American Conservative Union chair Matt Schlapp, whose organisation runs the conference and who has served as a key figure elevating the former president and his movement, faces accusations of sexual misconduct from a former Republican campaign aide.

Key Points

• Jimmy Kimmel ridicules CPAC as ‘Magalos’ convention

• Donald Trump to return to convention on Saturday night

• Poll shows Trump with big lead on DeSantis

• Poll shows former president with big lead over Ron DeSantis

• Trump fumes at Murdoch over bombshell Dominion lawsuit

The Covid denialist organisation sponsoring CPAC

12:00 , Joe Sommerlad

This year’s CPAC will be sponsored by an advocacy organisation once dubbed “among the top purveyors” of Covid-19 misinformation by a member of Congress.

The group, called America’s Frontline Doctors, passes itself as any other medical organisation, but public health experts and critics have called the group “the 21st century, digital version of snake-oil salesmen” that promoted pseudoscientific Covid cures like using horse dewormer, fostered anti-vaccine sentiment and abused donor funds.

Read more:

What is America’s Frontline Doctors, the Covid denial organisation sponsoring CPAC?

Democratic leaders in Congress tell Rupert Murdoch to halt ‘grave propaganda’ around 2020 election

11:30 , Joe Sommerlad

A letter from Senate majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries demands that Fox News hosts such as Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham “admit on the air that they were wrong to engage in such negligent behaviour” by providing a platform for a baseless narrative that the election was compromised.

Their letter followed bombshell court filings in a defamation case against the network, with internal messages and testimony from Fox personalities and executives revealing their private rejection of bogus election fraud conspiracy theories while serveral programmes continued to host the people who promoted them.

Read more:

Top Democrats tell Rupert Murdoch to end ‘grave propaganda’ around 2020 election

Cowboys for Trump co-founder not guilty of campaign finance charge

11:00 , Joe Sommerlad

Couy Griffin was found not guilty on Wednesday of a misdemeanour charge of failing to register the group as a political committee at a trial in southern New Mexico.

The verdict from a 12-member jury capped a two-day trial in Alamogordo, the community where Mr Griffin served as an Otero County commissioner until he was banished from office last year for his role in the Capitol riot of 6 January 2021.

Read more:

Trump cowboy found not guilty of campaign finance charge

Jimmy Kimmel ridicules CPAC as ‘Magalos’ convention after report Trump tried to silence him

10:30 , Joe Sommerlad

The late night show had some fun sending up the $295 per ticket Republican gathering in Maryland, suggesting it began with a “21-assault rifle salute” and a pledge of allegiance to Mr Trump and reeling off a list of real names of events taking place including: “No Chinese Balloons over Tennessee”, “Sacking the Woke Playbook”, “Parents with Pitchforks, “The Biden Crime Family” and “MySpeech” (featuring Mike Lindell, of course).

We heard earlier this week, courtesy of Rolling Stone, that Trump was so offended by Mr Kimmel’s jokes during his presidency he had aides call up Disney in an attempt to have his show censored.

The Lincoln Project has also been mocking the event using a classic clip from The Simpsons.

Below, John Bowden takes a look at the lineup of speakers at this year’s CPAC, which features Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo, Marjorie Taylor Greene,Ted Cruz and Jair Boslonaro, among many others.

Who is speaking at CPAC and when?

Biden mocks Marjorie Taylor Greene: ‘Isn’t she amazing?’

10:04 , Joe Sommerlad

Joe Biden has laughed off the latest provocation from MAGA populist congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene at an annual Democratic gathering in Baltimore, chuckling: “Isn’t she amazing?”

He was responding to the representative asking Michigan mother and conservative activist Rebecca Kiessling during a hearing at Capitol Hill whether she believed the two children she lost to fentanyl-related deaths in July 2020 would still be alive “if our government would secure our southern border”.

Ms Greene proudly tweeted a clip of the exchange, overlooking the fact that it was Mr Trump who was in the White House at the time the tragedy occurred, not Mr Biden.

“She was very specific — I shouldn’t digress, probably — I read, she was very specific recently saying that a mom, a poor mother who lost two kids to fentanyl, that I killed her sons,” the president said, addressing her comments in the hearing.

“Well, the interesting thing is, that fentanyl they took came during the last administration,” he said, before breaking off with a chuckle, according to The Hill.

“Look folks. Anyway, I don’t want to get started…”

Read more:

Biden leads laughter at Marjorie Taylor Greene after false fentanyl claims

Tireless Trump continues Fox News rant

09:35 , Joe Sommerlad

After slamming Fox over the Dominion revelations on Wednesday, denouncing its “MAGA Hating Globalist RINOS” and suggesting that anyone who does not believe the 2020 election was “Stollen” (a delicious German raisin bread?) should “get out of the News Business”, the swamp beast of Mar-a-Lago has been at it again.

This time he’s blaming former House speaker turned Fox board member Paul Ryan for being a bad influence and says he must resign or be fired:

This is what Mr Ryan himself has had to say about the crisis.

Paul Ryan ‘absolutely disagrees’ with Tucker Carlson as he defends role on Fox board

ICYMI: Mike Lindell thanks Rupert Murdoch for keeping his MyPillow ads on air despite support for bogus conspiracy theories

09:00 , Alex Woodward

Pillow salesman and prolific election fraud conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell has thanked the network’s Rupert Murdoch for keeping his MyPillow ads on air after the media mogul’s testimony in the Dominion defamation lawsuit revealed that he had no plans to cancel them.

MyPillow was the most prolific advertiser on Fox News, which ran 678 ads on the network between Election Day 2020 and 6 January 6, 2021, according to Media Matters.

In his sworn deposition in the case of Dominion Voting Systems, which is suing the network for promoting false election claims related to the voting machine company, Mr Murdoch said that Mr Lindell “pays us a lot of money” and has no plans to boot him from the lineup.

“At first you think it’s comic, and then you get bored and irritated,” Mr Murdoch said, according to court documents. “It is not red or blue, it is green.”

“Thank God that Mr Rupert Murdoch doesn’t cancel MyPillow ... because their president goes out there with his First Amendment right of free speech and talks about, tries to save our country,” Mr Lindell said on his The Lindell Report on 27 February.

“Is Fox supposed to be like the machine companies? ... ‘Mike Lindell, he’s saying those lies about Dominion.’ I’m not saying lies. It’s the truth,” he added.

Lawsuit documents allege that Fox executives grew anxious after Mr Lindell criticised the network during an interview with Newsmax.

Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott reportedly sent him a gift with a handwritten note, hoping to win him over.

Prosecutors and FBI reportedly clashed over search of Trump residence

08:00 , Alex Woodward

Top FBI officials reportedly pushed back on plans from the Justice Department to seek a warrant authorising a search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home because they feared scrutiny from internal watchdogs and congressional committees.

Prosecutors and FBI clashed over search of Trump residence, report says

The biggest revelations from the Dominion defamation lawsuit against Fox News

07:00 , Alex Woodward

Despite the network’s top officials and presenters privately acknowledging that then-president Trump and his allies were lying about the 2020 election, Fox News continued to bring them on air to amplify those claims, which also energised competing right-wing media networks that appeared to threaten Fox viewership, according to court documents.

Here is a brief overview of some of the claims outlined in Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6bn case, which collects sworn depositions and internal messages from prominent Fox News personalities like Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham and owner Rupert Murdoch discussing coverage of the 2020 election’s aftermath.

Fox News, the Murdochs and backstage Trump whispers: The damning Dominion revelations

Three things we’re watching at this year’s CPAC

04:00 , Alex Woodward

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is the elephant not in the room at this year’s CPAC. How will the crowd take it?

How will CPAC handle sexual misconduct allegations facing its chief organised chair Matt Schlapp? And what will far-right activists and GOP officials tell their supporters about their agenda targeting LGBT+ people, school censorship and voting rights?

Three things we’re keeping an eye on at CPAC this week

Donald Trump looms large over CPAC’s 2023 summit. What will he have to say?

03:00 , Alex Woodward

The annual Conservative Political Action Conference is back for another round of Republican grandstanding, grievance-airing and MAGA merchandise as the party and right-wing groups strategise ahead of critical 2024 races.

The four-day event that bills itself as the “largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the world” will feature a headlining address from Donald Trump on Saturday.

So, what might the twice-impeached president, currently under criminal investigation, have to say this time?

Is Donald Trump speaking at CPAC?

CPAC panelists will target transgender healthcare, voting rights and ‘the woke playbook'

02:00 , Alex Woodward

Between the headlining speeches from prominent Republican elected officials at this year’s CPAC are several panels and roundtable talks on a host of issues – largely revolving around transgender people, election conspiracy theories, anti-abortion activism, attacks on schools and libraries, and a so-called “woke playbook”, issues that will likely dominate the stage over the next few days as well as upcoming campaigns in 2024.

Guest panelists include far-right commentator and “Pizzagate” proponent Jack Posobiec, anti-LGBT+ social media influencer Chaya Raichik of Libs of Tik Tok, and Terry Schilling with the American Principles Project, an organisation that promotes state legislation to end gender-affirming healthcare for all transgender people, regardless of their age.

CPAC will also hear from anti-abortion activists and activists involved in a coordinated right-wing effort to undermine public schools – a campaign fuelled by outrage over Covid-19 guidance and a “groomer” panic that has consumed school boards and debates over library contents across the US.

One panel – “Sacking the Woke Playbook” – will feature former college football coach turned US Senator Tommy Tuberville. Arizona attorney general candidate Abe Hamadeh, among so-called “election deniers” who ran and lost statewide races for positions that would have critical oversight of American elections, will join a panel called “They Stole it From Us Legally”.

Jamie Raskin hits back at Lauren Boebert over Covid-19 claims with Trump’s own words

01:00 , Alex Woodward

Democratic US Rep Jamie Raskin corrected Republican Lauren Boebert following her attempts to rewrite the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic.

Ms Boebert criticised pandemic-era mask and vaccine mandates as she claimed that Covid-19 was “released from a lab in China” during a House Oversight Committee on Tuesday. But she failed to note that Trump repeatedly praised Xi’s response and that one of Trump’s chief advisers blamed his policies on the loss of lives.

“So, if there’s a problem with the Chinese government unleashing a virus – which has not been proven anywhere, but it certainly could be true – you would have to pin that on your favourite president, Donald Trump, not on Joe Biden,” Mr Raskin said.

Democrat Jamie Raskin hits back at Lauren Boebert with Trump quotes

Chris Christie explains why he believes Trump will be indicted

00:00 , Alex Woodward

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said that he thinks Trump will be indicted in connection to at least one of the numerous investigations of which he’s at the centre.

Chris Christie explains why he believes Trump will be indicted

The allegations against CPAC’s Matt Schlapp

Wednesday 1 March 2023 23:00 , Alex Woodward

A male GOP campaign operative accused the head of the organisation that runs CPAC of making unwanted sexual advances during the closing days of Georgia’s Senate runoff election.

What are the allegations against CPAC head Matt Schlapp?

Three things we’re keeping an eye on at CPAC this week

Wednesday 1 March 2023 22:30 , Alex Woodward

The Independent’s Eric Garcia previews what we’ll be watching at this year’s CPAC: The elephant not in the room, allegations facing Matt Schlapp, and a GOP agenda targeting LGBT+ people and discussion of race and gender in schools, among other apparent priorities on the American right:

Three things we’re keeping an eye on at CPAC this week

Mike Lindell thanks Rupert Murdoch for keeping his MyPillow ads on air despite support for bogus conspiracy theories

Wednesday 1 March 2023 22:00 , Alex Woodward

Pillow salesman and prolific election fraud conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell has thanked the network’s Rupert Murdoch for keeping his MyPillow ads on air after the media mogul’s testimony in the Dominion defamation lawsuit revealed that he had no plans to cancel them.

MyPillow was the most prolific advertiser on Fox News, which ran 678 ads on the network between Election Day 2020 and 6 January 6, 2021, according to Media Matters.

In his sworn deposition in the case of Dominion Voting Systems, which is suing the network for promoting false election claims related to the voting machine company, Mr Murdoch said that Mr Lindell “pays us a lot of money” and has no plans to boot him from the lineup.

“At first you think it’s comic, and then you get bored and irritated,” Mr Murdoch said, according to court documents. “It is not red or blue, it is green.”

“Thank God that Mr Rupert Murdoch doesn’t cancel MyPillow ... because their president goes out there with his First Amendment right of free speech and talks about, tries to save our country,” Mr Lindell said on his The Lindell Report on 27 February.

“Is Fox supposed to be like the machine companies? ... ‘Mike Lindell, he’s saying those lies about Dominion.’ I’m not saying lies. It’s the truth,” he added.

Lawsuit documents allege that Fox executives grew anxious after Mr Lindell criticised the network during an interview with Newsmax.

Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott reportedly sent him a gift with a handwritten note, hoping to win him over.

White House calls senior Republican ‘despicable’ for wishing Biden’s dead son had been prosecuted

Wednesday 1 March 2023 21:30 , Alex Woodward

The Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee was admonished by the White House after he complained that President Joe Biden’s late son Beau Biden was not prosecuted in connection to an investigation into illegal contributions involving the president’s 2008 campaign.

The comments from Kentucky congressman James Comer – who will join a CPAC panel titled “The Biden Crime Family” on Friday – were “completely inappropriate,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday.

“It says a lot about the chairman, which is not good, by the way,” she said. “To make the statement that he did is incredibly ugly and inappropriate.”

White House calls senior Republican ‘despicable’ for Beau Biden prosecution wish

Garland discusses special counsel probe into Trump classified documents case

Wednesday 1 March 2023 21:00 , Alex Woodward

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, US Attorney General Merrick Garland was asked to explain why he appointed two special counsels to look into both Trump and Biden’s retention of classified documents.

“With respect to President Trump,” Mr Garland said, “he had announced that he was a candidate for president, and President Biden had indicated that he would be a candidate.”

Mr Garland believed “that’s an extraordinary circumstance and ... fitting within the regulations to provide a level of independence and accountability that fit within the purpose of the special counsel regulations,” he said.

Prosecutors and FBI clashed over search of Trump residence, report says

Wednesday 1 March 2023 20:30 , Alex Woodward

Top FBI officials reportedly pushed back on plans from the Justice Department to seek a warrant authorising a search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home because they feared scrutiny from internal watchdogs and congressional committees.

Prosecutors and FBI clashed over search of Trump residence, report says

Paul Ryan ‘absolutely disagrees’ with Tucker Carlson as he defends role on Fox News board

Wednesday 1 March 2023 20:00 , Alex Woodward

Former Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan is responding to a wave of criticism aimed at him and other Fox News and Fox Corporation executives after testimony and other evidence revealed during the course of Dominion’s lawsuit against the company showed that top personalities on the network spread Donald Trump’s election lies while trashing them in private.

The former speaker, who sits on the board of directors of the Fox Corporation, was asked directly in a recent interview if he has a responsibility to stand up to the kind of misinformation amplified by Fox News.

“I do,” Mr Ryan responded. “I have a responsibility to offer my opinion and perspective and I do that, but I don’t go on TV and do it, right? So I offer my perspective, my opinion, often. I’ll just leave it at that.”

Paul Ryan ‘absolutely disagrees’ with Tucker Carlson as he defends role on Fox board

Full story: Marjorie Taylor Greene berates Georgia election official with false claims that Trump won the state in 2020

Wednesday 1 March 2023 19:30 , Alex Woodward

Far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene berated a Georgia election official while spreading conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election during a hearing on Tuesday.

The Independent’s Eric Garcia has more:

Marjorie Taylor Greene berates state election official: ‘Trump Won Georgia!’

Just in: GOP senator’s account suspended after he threatens Japan over US serviceman

Wednesday 1 March 2023 19:20 , Alex Woodward

Twitter has suspended the personal account of US Senator Mike Lee after the Utah Republican appeared to threaten the prime minister of Japan over a detained US Navy serviceman.

GOP Senator Mike Lee’s Twitter suspended after he threatens Japan over US serviceman

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s office tells CNN to ‘f*** off’

Wednesday 1 March 2023 19:00 , Alex Woodward

CNN correspondent Daniel Dale asked Marjorie Taylor Greene’s office about her claims that the Biden administration was responsible for fentanyl-related deaths in 2020 during the Trump administration.

Her congressional spokesperson Nick Dyer replied asking whether he believed families that have lost people to drugs since Biden took office “give a f*** about your bull**** fact checking.”

Dale also followed up with her office to ask about her ongoing lies around the 2020 presidential election, including the false claim that Trump won the state of Georgia, which several recounts have shown Biden winning definitively.

Dyer’s response: “F*** off.”

Trump takes lead over DeSantis in four key polls as ex-president returns to CPAC

Wednesday 1 March 2023 18:30 , Alex Woodward

Four new polls heading into CPAC show Donald Trump holding a commanding lead over a field of potential Republican primary challengers as 2024 elections for president approach.

Trump takes lead over DeSantis in four key polls as ex-president returns to CPAC

How a Trump-appointed judge could revoke access to a commonly used abortion drug

Wednesday 1 March 2023 18:00 , Alex Woodward

The future of abortion access for the most common form of abortion care is in the hands of a federal judge appointed by Donald Trump.

A right-wing group that has supported anti-abortion litigation across the US, including the landmark US Supreme Court case that overturned Roe v Wade last year, is challenging the US Food and Drug Administration to reverse its approval of a commonly used abortion drug.

An imminent decision from US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk that would block access to mifepristone, even temporarily, could significantly disrupt access to medication abortion nationwide.

How a Trump-appointed judge could revoke access to a commonly used abortion drug

Full story: Top Democrats tell Rupert Murdoch to halt ‘grave propaganda’ around 2020 election

Wednesday 1 March 2023 17:45 , Alex Woodward

A letter from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries demanded that Fox News hosts such as Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham “admit on the air that they were wrong to engage in such negligent behavior” by providing a platform for a baseless narrative that the election was compromised.

Their letter followed bombshell court filings in a defamation case against the network, with internal messages and testimony from Fox personalities and executives revealing their private rejection of bogus election fraud conspiracy theories while serveral programmes continued to host the people who promoted them.

Top Democrats tell Rupert Murdoch to end ‘grave propaganda’ around 2020 election

Democratic leaders in Congress demand Fox News stop spreading ‘grave propaganda’ around 2020 election

Wednesday 1 March 2023 17:15 , Alex Woodward

The bogus narrative surrounding the 2020 presidential election is fuelling Donald Trump’s 2024 ambitions and will likely loom large at this year’s CPAC events.

After bombshell legal filings from a voting machine company suing Fox News for defamation revealed how network hosts and executives privately condemned those lies, top Democrats in Congress are calling on the network and Fox Corp chair Rupert Murdoch to end the “grave propaganda” and “conspiracy theories” that network hosts continue to “promote, spew and perpetuate.”

DeSantis speaks to The Times: The US needs ‘more energy’ in the White House

Wednesday 1 March 2023 16:45 , Alex Woodward

In a flattering profile from The Times, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis deflects when asked questions addressing speculation about his alleged presidential ambitions.

“I would flip it around and I think we look at the current incumbent,” he said, referring to 80-year-old Joe Biden. Mr DeSantis is 44.

“You know, don’t we need some more energy in the executive?” he said. “Don’t we need a little bit more vigour and a little bit more punch?”

When asked directly whether he wrote his book, the recently published The Courage to be Free, he replied: “What I would say is, I was well known. I was, you know, kind of a hot commodity. And I thought that the book would do well, I think it is doing well. I think you’re gonna see it’s going to do very well. We’ve had a great, great response.”

Fox News, the Murdochs and secret Trump messaging: Inside the Dominion lawsuit

Wednesday 1 March 2023 16:15 , Alex Woodward

Court documents present damning messages from Fox News network’s star anchors and executives surrounding coverage of Donald Trump’s false 2020 election fraud narrative, claims that continue to animate the GOP and several panels and speeches at this year’s CPAC.

Despite the network’s top officials and presenters privately acknowledging that then-president Trump and his allies were lying, the network continued to bring them on air to amplify those claims, which also energised competing right-wing media networks that appeared to threaten Fox viewership, according to court documents.

The Independent looks at some of the claims in court documents, which collect sworn depositions and internal messages from prominent Fox News personalities like Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham and owner Rupert Murdoch discussing coverage of the 2020 election’s aftermath.

Fox News, the Murdochs and backstage Trump whispers: The damning Dominion revelations

Just in: Trump doubles down on attacks on Murdoch and tells Fox News chef to ‘get out of the news business’

Wednesday 1 March 2023 16:10 , Alex Woodward

The former president took to Truth Social on Wednesday to once again push his baseless and debunked claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him as he bashed the Fox News chairman.

Trump attacks Murdoch, tells him to ‘get out of news’ over Fox Dominion testimony

The allegations facing Matt Schlapp

Wednesday 1 March 2023 16:00 , Alex Woodward

Matt Schlapp has denied claims in a new lawsuit that he groped a male Republican strategist working for Herschel Walker’s failed US Senate campaign in Georgia.

Mr Schlapp, who is a close ally of Donald Trump and the chairman of the American Conservative Union, which organises CPAC, was accused of fondling the man as they drove in his car towards an Atlanta-area hotel in October.

Charlie Spies, a lawyer for Mr Schlapp and his wife, former Trump administration aide Mercedes Schlapp, issued a denial on their behalf last month.

Conservative leader Matt Schlapp denies new lawsuit claims he groped GOP strategist

The CPAC speaker lineup

Wednesday 1 March 2023 15:30 , Alex Woodward

From Wednesday through Saturday, some of the nation’s most prominent Republicans will address audiences of young activists, party officials, and veteran operatives as they make their respective cases for their own personal brands of conservatism.

The Indepedent’s John Bowden takes a look at the lineup of speakers at this year’s CPAC, including Trump, Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Ted Cruz:

Who is speaking at CPAC and when?

Poll shows Trump with big lead on DeSantis as Florida governor and other GOP hopefuls skip CPAC

Wednesday 1 March 2023 15:15 , Alex Woodward

Trump holds a commanding lead over a field of potential Republican primary challengers as the 2024 campaign season approaches, with the former president garnering support from 55 per cent of self-identified GOP voters, a new Emerson College poll shows.

His next closest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, only clocks in with support from a quarter of the hypothetical GOP primary electorate polled in the survey of 1,060 voters. That’s four percentage points lower than the 29 per cent who said they’d support the Florida governor in a similar survey last month.

Andrew Feinberg reports:

Trump takes lead over DeSantis in four key polls as ex-president returns to CPAC

DeSantis team accused of threatening Trump fans with police outside of book signing

Wednesday 1 March 2023 15:00 , Alex Woodward

Notably absent from CPAC’s lineup this year? Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

His team, meanwhile, has been accused of threatening to call the police on a group of Trump supporters who were demonstrating outside of a book signing event at a Florida mall on Tuesday.

Far-right activist and white nationalist conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer recorded the group’s interaction with police and posted a video to social media:

DeSantis team accused of threatening Trump fans with police outside of book signing

Jair Bolsonaro will speak at CPAC this week

Wednesday 1 March 2023 14:55 , Alex Woodward

Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro is among prominent right-wing officials delivering remarks to the CPAC crowd this year.

Pro-Trump former Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro will speak at CPAC this week

America’s Frontline Doctors, the Covid denialist organisation sponsoring CPAC

Wednesday 1 March 2023 14:50 , Alex Woodward

This year’s CPAC will be sponsored by an advocacy organisation once dubbed “among the top purveyors” of Covid-19 misinformation by a member of Congress.

The group, called America’s Frontline Doctors, passes itself as any other medical organisation, but public health experts and critics have called the group “the 21st century, digital version of snake-oil salesmen” that promoted pseudoscientific Covid cures like using horse dewormer, fostered anti-vaccine sentiment, and abused donor funds.

The Independent’s Josh Marcus reports:

What is America’s Frontline Doctors, the Covid denial organisation sponsoring CPAC?

Donald Trump returns to CPAC

Wednesday 1 March 2023 14:45 , Alex Woodward

The annual Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, returns today for another round of Republican grandstanding, grievance-airing and MAGA merchandise as the party and right-wing groups strategise ahead of critical 2024 races.

The four-day event that bills itself as the “largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the world” returns to the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, for the first time in two years after relocating to Florida and then Texas to take advantage of those states’ more relaxed Covid-19 restrictions during the pandemic.

So, what might the twice-impeached president, currently under criminal investigation, have to say this time?

Is Donald Trump speaking at CPAC?

Judge clears Trump Georgia grand jury foreperson over ‘media tour’

Wednesday 1 March 2023 14:30 , Joe Sommerlad

Members of the Fulton County, Georgia, special purpose grand jury that examined former president Donald Trump’s effort to overturn his 2020 election loss in the Peach State are free to discuss the contents of the grand jury’s final report so long as they avoid speaking about their own internal discussions.

Judge Robert McBurney told ABC News on Monday that the former grand jurors are free to “talk about the final report” but said it could be “problematic” if they inadvertently “synthesise the testimony” heard during the investigation and the internal discussions about that testimony, which under Georgia law cannot be disclosed.

He explained to the network that he spoke to grand jurors at a “farewell session” and “reminded them of their oath, which is a statutory obligation that they not discuss with anyone outside their group their deliberations – that’s the one word that’s in the oath”.

Read more:

Judge clears Trump Georgia grand jury foreperson over ‘media tour’

ICYMI: Fox News refuses to air advert revealing how stars rejected Trump election fraud claims: ‘They lied to you’

Wednesday 1 March 2023 14:00 , Joe Sommerlad

Fox News reportedly rejected a television advert from a progressive advocacy group and political action committee that highlighted recently uncovered reactions from the network’s top stars and executives to Donald Trump’s bogus election fraud claims and conspiracy theories surrounding a voting machine company that is suing the network for defamation.

The ad from MoveOn addresses viewers directly while quoting from text messages and emails uncovered in the lawsuit, which revealed how network personalities and Rupert Murdoch shared their behind-the-scenes irritation with false claims while the network continued to amplify them.

“Texts show they lied to you about the 2020 election for profit,” the ad says.

Read more:

Fox News refuses to air ad with bombshell election fraud texts: ‘They lied to you’

What can we expect from Trump at CPAC this year?

Wednesday 1 March 2023 13:30 , Joe Sommerlad

Speaking of CPAC, Mr Trump is scheduled to cap off the four-day festival of anti-woke grievance airing with a Saturday speaking slot.

A number of high-profile Republicans, including Ron DeSantis and estranged former veep Mike Pence, are skipping the event this year, however.

So what we can we expect from Big Don – and will he be upstaged by Jair Bolsonaro?

Read more:

Is Donald Trump speaking at CPAC?

What’s happening at CPAC this year?

Wednesday 1 March 2023 13:00 , Joe Sommerlad

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is returning to the DC area as the 2024 primary contest begins to heat up with the announcements of Donald Trump and Nikki Haley, the first official contenders.

From Wednesday through Saturday, some of the nation’s most prominent Republicans will address audiences of young activists, party officials and veteran operatives as they make their respective cases for their own personal brands of conservatism.

Just as notable as those attending the event, however, is the list of those who declined invitations: Florida governor Ron DeSantis, thought to be one of the strongest potential 2024 GOP primary candidates, will not be attending while former US vice president Mike Pence, also thought to be readying a 2024 bid, has spurned the gathering.

John Bowden has this look at the most notable conservatives who will be there.

Who is speaking at CPAC and when?

Is Pete Buttigieg the worst transportation secretary in history?

Wednesday 1 March 2023 12:30 , Joe Sommerlad

Donald Trump would certainly say so and Mr Buttigieg certainly often divides opinion but transit experts say that the former South Bend mayor, who has little experience managing mass transit and has never held an elected office higher than leading that small city in Indiana, has done a solid job at the Department of Transport, overseeing an important agency with roughly 55,000 employees and a budget of nearly $90bn.

In the process, he’s elevated what’s normally considered a fairly staid cabinet position to put himself at the centre of both policymaking and surrogacy for the administration at large. Though, in doing so, Mr Buttigieg has also opened himself to unrelenting partisan attacks as the country experiences transit crisis after transit crisis, from chaos at airports to lengthy backlogs in the international supply chain.

Read more:

Is Pete Buttigieg the best – or worst – transportation secretary ever?

Trump launches attack on 'weak and totally ineffective' Pete Buttigieg over Ohio train derailment

Wednesday 1 March 2023 12:00 , Joe Sommerlad

In another recent Truth Social diatribe, the former commander-in-chief issues some rare praise for The Washington Post (he used to deride the legendary newspaper as “the Amazon Washington Post”) as a means of attacking US transport secretary Pete Buttigieg, whom his loathsome eldest son Don Jr recently suggested had been a “diversity hire” by the Biden administration because he is gay.

Of the beleaguered Mr Buttigieg, who arrived in East Palestine, Ohio, a day after Mr Trump last week to inspect the costly chemical cleanup after the freight train derailment of 3 February, he writes, somewhat confusingly:

Jury weighs whether Cowboys for Trump flouted campaign law

Wednesday 1 March 2023 11:30 , Joe Sommerlad

Cowboys for Trump co-founder Couy Griffin confronted a trial by jury on Tuesday on charges that he failed to register a political organisation without filing related public financial disclosures.

The two-day trial began yesterday with jury selection in state District Court at Alamogordo, the New Mexico community where Mr Griffin served as an Otero County commissioner until he was banished from office last year for his role in the Capitol riot.

In 2019, Mr Griffin forged a group of rodeo acquaintances into the promotional group called Cowboys for Trump, which staged horseback parades to spread the then-president’s conservative messages about gun rights, immigration controls and abortion restrictions.

But Mr Griffin has resisted pressure to register the group as a political committee, including filing an unsuccessful petition to the 10th District Court of Appeals.

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Jury weighs whether Cowboys for Trump flouted campaign law