Trump indictment – live: Trump road tests election lies defence at rally, as his CNN ‘Hitler’ lawsuit fails

Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump appeared to try out a defence for his expected indictment on charges over the January 6 riot and the election lies that fuelled it when he appeared at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania.

The former president told the crowd that the 2020 election had been stolen “in my opinion” – laying the ground to push back against accusations that he always knew he had lost to Joe Biden fair and square and arguing that he was entitled to claim the Democrats had cheated.

Earlier, his $475m defamation lawsuit against CNN was thrown out by a federal judge.

The former president made the assertion the news network’s description of his election fraud claims as the “big lie” connected him to Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany, Reuters noted.

US Judge Raag Singhal at the federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was nominated by Mr Trump in 2019. In a Friday night ruling, he said CNN’s statements were opinion and not fact, meaning that they cannot be the subject of a defamation claim.

Key points

Trump goes after Special Counsel Jack Smith

22:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Who's in, who's out: A look at which candidates have qualified for the 1st GOP presidential debate

21:30 , AP

With less than a month to go until the first Republican presidential debate of the 2024 campaign, seven candidates say they have met qualifications for a spot on stage in Milwaukee.

But that also means that about half the broad GOP field is running short on time to make the cut.

To qualify for the Aug. 23 debate, candidates needed to satisfy polling and donor requirements set by the Republican National Committee: at least 1% in three high-quality national polls or a mix of national and early-state polls, between July 1 and Aug. 21, and a minimum of 40,000 donors, with 200 in 20 or more states.

A look at who’s in, who’s (maybe) out and who’s still working on making it:

Who's in, who's out: A look at which candidates have qualified for the 1st GOP presidential debate

Trump attempts to link his legal woes to Hunter Biden

21:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Only four out of dozens of former Trump cabinet members say he should be re-elected

20:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Only four out of dozens of former Trump cabinet members say he should be re-elected in 2024.

NBC News contacted 44 of those who served in then-President Donald Trump’s cabinet between 2017 and 2021. While many declined to comment or didn’t answer, only four have publicly endorsed Mr Trump for the office he once held.

Several of them have been trying to remain as neutral as possible as the Republican primary plays out. There are those who oppose Mr Trump’s return to the presidency. Former Attorney General Bill Barr told NBC, “I have made clear that I strongly oppose Trump for the nomination and will not endorse Trump”.

Mr Barr was asked how he would cast his vote if the 2024 general election ended up being a rematch between Mr Trump and President Joe Biden.

“I’ll jump off that bridge when I get to it,” he said.

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Only four out of dozens of former Trump cabinet members say he should be re-elected

Trump rally attendees boo Mike Pence

20:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump returns to first impeachment roots by saying Ukraine aid should be linked to Biden probes

19:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump returned to the roots of his first impeachment when he suggested that aid to Ukraine should be conditioned on congressional investigations of President Joe Biden.

The former president called for Republicans in Congress to hold back on more support for Ukraine until the White House cooperates with their probes into the business dealings of Mr Biden and his son Hunter Biden.

The Saturday night tirade at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania echoed the conduct that led to Mr Trump’s first of his two impeachments when he used military aid to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to open an investigation into then-candidate Biden in 2019.

“Congress should refuse to authorize a single additional shipment of our depleted weapons stockpiles … to Ukraine until the FBI, DOJ and IRS hand over every scrap of evidence they have on the Biden Crime Family’s corrupt business dealings,” Mr Trump said on Saturday.

He argued that all Republicans who don’t join the efforts should be challenged in their primaries – Mr Trump endorsed challengers in the 2022 midterms of the Republicans who voted for his impeachment after the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

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Trump returns to impeachment by saying Ukraine aid should be linked to Biden probes

Trump threatens Republicans in Congress who refuse to go along with efforts to impeach Biden

19:00 , AP

At the rally — held in a former Democratic stronghold that Trump flipped in 2016, but Biden won narrowly in 2020 — Trump also threatened Republicans in Congress who refuse to go along with efforts to impeach Biden. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said this past week that Republican lawmakers may consider an impeachment inquiry into the president over unproven claims of financial misconduct.

Trump, who was impeached twice while in office, said Saturday that, “The biggest complaint that I get is that the Republicans find out this information and then they do nothing about it.”

“Any Republican that doesn’t act on Democrat fraud should be immediately primaries and get out — out!” he told the crowd to loud applause. “They have to play tough and ... if they’re not willing to do it, we got a lot of good, tough Republicans around ... and they’re going to get my endorsement every single time.”

VIDEO: Trump takes aim at Atlanta DA

18:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump PAC spent $40m on legal fees in six months

18:00 , AP

The investigations are sucking up enormous resources that are being diverted from the nuts and bolts of the campaign. The Washington Post first reported Saturday that Trump’s political action committee, Save America, will report Monday that it spent more than $40 million on legal fees during the first half of 2023 defending Trump and all of the current and former aides whose lawyers it is paying. The total is more than the campaign raised during the second quarter of the year.

“In order to combat these heinous actions by Joe Biden’s cronies and to protect these innocent people from financial ruin and prevent their lives from being completely destroyed, the leadership PAC contributed to their legal fees to ensure they have representation against unlawful harassment,” said Trump’s spokesman Steven Cheung.

VIDEO: Trump notes China’s military buildup

17:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump turns indictments into core message to return to White House

17:00 , AP

Trump remains the dominant early frontrunner for the Republican nomination and has only seen his lead grow as the charges have mounted and as his rivals have struggled to respond. Their challenge was on display at a GOP gathering in Iowa Friday night, where they largely declined to go after Trump directly. The only one who did — accusing Trump of “running to stay out of prison” — was booed as he left the stage.

In the meantime, Trump has embraced his legal woes, turning them into the core message of his bid to return to the White House as he accuses Biden of using the Justice Department to maim his chief political rival. The White House has said repeatedly that the president has had no involvement in the cases.

At rallies — including Saturday’s — Trump has tried to frame the charges, which come with serious threats of jail time, as an attack not just on him, but those who support him.

“They’re not indicting me, they’re indicting you. I just happen to be standing in the way,” he told the arena crowd in Erie, adding that, “Every time the radical left Democrats, Marxists, communists and fascists indict me, I consider it actually a great badge of honor.... Because I’m being indicted for you.”

Trump uses ‘classic authoritarian discourse’ at PA rally

16:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump, amid legal perils, calls on GOP to rally around him as he threatens primary challenges

16:00 , Jill Colvin, AP

At a moment of growing legal peril, Donald Trump ramped up his calls for his GOP rivals to drop out of the 2024 presidential race as he threatened to primary Republican members of Congress who fail to focus on investigating Democratic President Joe Biden and urged them to halt Ukrainian military aid until the White House cooperates with their investigations into Biden and his family.

“Every dollar spent attacking me by Republicans is a dollar given straight to the Biden campaign,” Trump said at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Saturday night. The former president and GOP frontrunner said it was time for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and others he dismissed as “clowns” to clear the field, accusing them of “wasting hundreds of millions of dollars that Republicans should be using to build a massive vote-gathering operation” to take on Biden in November.

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Trump, amid legal perils, calls on GOP to rally around him as he threatens primary challenges

VIDEO: Trump calls Biden a ‘dumb son of a b****'

15:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump rehearses defence over possible election lies charges at Pennsylvania rally

15:00 , Eric Garcia

Former president Donald Trump floated his potential defence for the charges he may face for promoting lies about the election during a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania.

The already-twice-impeached and twice-indicted former president now faces a potential third indictment for spreading lies about the 2020 presidential election and the attack on the Capitol that was fuelled by them.

But speaking to the crowd in Pennsylvania, a state where he lost 43 lawsuits as he tried to dispute the 2020 presidential election results, Mr Trump pushed back on the potential accusations.

“Why didn’t the corrupt Marxist prosecutors bring these radical and unjustified charges against me two and a half years ago,” Mr Trump asked the crowd. “They had two and a half years. Two and a half years. Nobody even knew they were looking at it. I don’t think they were.”

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Trump rehearses defence over possible election lies charges at Pennsylvania rally

Video shows crowd size and Trump rally in Erie, Pennsylvania

14:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Is Donald Trump going to prison?

14:00 , Andrew Feinberg

Donald Trump has already been indicted twice. By the end of the summer, he may be the subject of as many as four criminal cases.

The latest episode in his legal peril appeared to be taking shape on Thursday 27 July, when the ex-president’s legal team met with the prosecution team led by Special Counsel Jack Smith in a last-ditch attempt to convince Mr Smith and his team from seeking another indictment against Mr Trump for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.

That same day, the special counsel’s team hit Mr Trump with superseding charges in federal court in Florida. Officials accused the former president and an employee at his Mar-a-Lago club of attempting to destroy security camera footage once Mr Trump learned he was under subpoena in the investigation over his handling of classified documents.

Earlier this month, Mr Trump said prosecutors notified him that he was also a target of Mr Smith’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the January 6 attack on the Capitol. The former president is understood to be facing the possibility of charges under three federal criminal statutes: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, deprivation of rights under colour of law, and witness tampering.

Read more:

Is Donald Trump going to prison?

‘They’re not indicting me. They’re indicting you,’ Trump says at Pennsylvania rally

13:30 , Gustaf Kilander

How a bombshell leaked tape landed Trump with his latest criminal charge

13:00 , Rachel Sharp

One day in the summer of 2021, Donald Trump sat down for an interview at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

His former chief of staff Mark Meadows was writing his memoir, The Chief’s Chief, and a writer and publisher for the book had come to meet with the former president.

During the recorded conversation that followed, he boasted about possessing “highly confidential” military documents about Iran as the group laughed at his jokes about his political rivals – in particular Hillary Clinton.

Little did Mr Trump know that leaked audio of this conversation might one day lead to his downfall.

Just over two years later, on 27 July 2023, this conversation landed the former president with one of the latest charges in a mounting criminal case over his handling of classified documents since leaving the White House.

Read more:

How a bombshell leaked tape landed Trump with his latest criminal charge

‘Poetic’: Trump takes stage in Iowa to song about going to prison

12:00 , Gustaf Kilander and Andrew Feinberg

Donald Trump took the stage at the Iowa Republican Dinner to a song that started out with the lyrics, “One could end up going to prison, one just might be president”.

The ironic moment came as the former president’s legal woes are mounting. Mr Trump has already been indicted twice. By the end of the summer, he may be the subject of as many as four criminal cases.

The latest episode in his legal peril appeared to be taking shape on Thursday 27 July, when the ex-president’s legal team met with the prosecution team led by Special Counsel Jack Smith in a last-ditch attempt to convince Mr Smith and his team from seeking another indictment against Mr Trump for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.

That same day, the special counsel’s team hit Mr Trump with superseding charges in federal court in Florida. Officials accused the former president and an employee at his Mar-a-Lago club of attempting to destroy security camera footage once Mr Trump learned he was under subpoena in the investigation over his handling of classified documents.

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‘Poetic’: Trump takes stage in Iowa to song about going to prison

GOP White House hopeful Will Hurd booed off stage for saying Trump is running to stay out of prison

11:00 , Andrea Blanco

GOP presidential candidate Will Hurd was booed by a crowd after he accused Donald Trump of running for office for a third time in a desperate attempt to avoid prison.

Mr Hurd made the anti-Trump remarks at the 2023 Lincoln Dinner hosted by the Iowa Republican Party on Friday. The 45-year-old former Texas representative and CIA officer became one of the few Republican presidential candidates to publicly criticize Mr Trump over the litany of legal troubles the former president is currently facing.

“Donald Trump is not running for president to make America great again, Donald Trump is not running to represent the people who voted for him in 2016 and 2020, Donald Trump is running to stay out of prison,” he told the 1,200-people crowd in Des Moine. “Listen, I know the truth is hard. But if we elect Donald Trump we are willingly giving Joe Biden four more years in the White House and America can’t handle that.”

Amid booing from the audience, Mr Hurd went on to wrap up his speech and get off stage. But despite the crowd’s audible reaction as evidence of Mr Trump’s hold on the Republican party, Mr Hurd has since doubled down on his stance.

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GOP White House hopeful Will Hurd booed off stage for anti-Trump remarks

Video: Donald Trump walks on stage to song lyrics about going to prison

10:00 , Benji Salmon

Trump attorney claims Trump is truthful because he’s named his social media platform ‘Truth Social'

09:00 , Gustaf Kilander

‘Two more coming, I guess?’

08:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Trump took to Truth Social on Saturday to slam the federal prosecutors investigating him in multiple probes.

“Why did the Radical Left Democrat Prosecutors wait so long to bring these ridiculous cases against me,” he asked. “They could have been brought years ago but no, they waited to bring them in the middle of my campaign for President because that way they could Interfere and disturb my run for the White House. Two more coming, I guess? What they didn’t count on is the fact that the people of America understand these thugs and lowlifes, and my poll numbers have only gone up!”

Trump takes aim at Will Hurd after ex-congressman blasts him at Iowa GOP dinner

07:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Former President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday: “In Iowa last night I noticed that a little known, failed former Congressman, Will Hurd, is ridiculously running for President.”

“He quit Congress because it would have been impossible for him to win in his district - he did a really bad job. Anyway, he got SERIOUSLY booed off the stage when he said I was running ‘to stay out of jail.’ Wrong, if I wasn’t running, or running and doing badly (like him & Christie!), with no chance to win, these prosecutions would never have been brought or happened!” he added.

Trump rally attendee makes bizarre claims about 2020 election in New York

06:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Man attends Trump rally in effort to ‘guarantee’ that ex-president returns to White House

05:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Ex-Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon joins push for third-party presidential bid as Democrats try to stop it

04:00 , Steve Peoples, AP

Former Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri is joining No Labels ‘ increasingly contentious effort to lay the groundwork for a moderate third-party presidential ticket in the 2024 election. He gives the embattled organization another prominent ally amid escalating concerns from Democratic officials that the No Labels campaign could unintentionally help Republican Donald Trump return to the White House.

Nixon, a 67-year-old lawyer, is stepping back into national politics for the first time since leaving office in 2017 and will serve as No Labels’ director of ballot integrity. He said in an interview that he was drawn to the role after learning that well-funded groups aligned with Democrats were working to stop No Labels from securing ballot access in key states.

He said that those seeking to block the group’s right to appear on the presidential ballot are attacking a pillar of American democracy.

“What do I say to those Democrats? I say, ‘You’re entitled to your opinion. But we are also entitled to use our constitutional and statutory rights to allow Americans to have another choice,’” Nixon told The Associated Press.

President Joe Biden and Trump have dominated the 2024 campaign conversation so far. But No Labels, a Washington-based group that promotes compromise, national unity and centrist policy solutions, has been preparing for the strongest third-party presidential bid at least since Texas businessman Ross Perot earned nearly 19% of the popular vote in 1992.

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Ex-Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon joins push for third-party presidential bid as Democrats try to stop it

Trump supporter says he likes ex-president’s ‘Christian values'

03:00 , Gustaf Kilander

VIDEO: GOP presidential hopeful booed off for claiming Trump is running to stay out of prison

02:15 , Benji Salmon

Trump rally attendees repeat 2020 election falsehoods

01:45 , Gustaf Kilander

Is Donald Trump going to prison?

01:15 , Andrew Feinberg

Donald Trump has already been indicted twice. By the end of the summer, he may be the subject of as many as four criminal cases.

The latest episode in his legal peril appeared to be taking shape on Thursday 27 July, when the ex-president’s legal team met with the prosecution team led by Special Counsel Jack Smith in a last-ditch attempt to convince Mr Smith and his team from seeking another indictment against Mr Trump for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.

That same day, the special counsel’s team hit Mr Trump with superseding charges in federal court in Florida. Officials accused the former president and an employee at his Mar-a-Lago club of attempting to destroy security camera footage once Mr Trump learned he was under subpoena in the investigation over his handling of classified documents.

Earlier this month, Mr Trump said prosecutors notified him that he was also a target of Mr Smith’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the January 6 attack on the Capitol. The former president is understood to be facing the possibility of charges under three federal criminal statutes: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, deprivation of rights under colour of law, and witness tampering.

Read more:

Is Donald Trump going to prison?

Woman at Trump rally claims China is taking over US: ‘We’ve been sold off'

Sunday 30 July 2023 00:45 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump pushes back on imminent charges at rally

13:15 , Phil Thomas

Donald Trump floated his potential defence for the potential charges he faces for promoting lies about the election during a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania.

The already-twice-impeached-twice-indicted former president now faces potential a potential third indictment for spreading lies about the 2020 presidential election.

But speaking to the crowd in Pennsylvania, a state where he lost 43 lawsuits as he tried to dispute the 2020 presidential election results, Mr Trump pushed back on the potential accusations.

Eric Garcia has the full story:

Trump rehearses defence over possible election lies charges at Pennsylvania rally

Chris Christie slams Trump’s casino business record: ‘Thought the house always wins'

Sunday 30 July 2023 00:15 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump rally attendee says she supports ‘King Jesus and King Trump'

Saturday 29 July 2023 23:45 , Gustaf Kilander

Most of Florida work group behind controversial new guidelines on African American history did not agree, report says

Saturday 29 July 2023 23:15 , Gustaf Kilander

Most of the members taking part in the working group developing new standards for teaching African American history in Florida reportedly didn’t agree to the parts of the controversial measure which has drawn strong rebukes.

Three members of the group have told NBC News that this includes the policy that middle school students should be taught that enslaved people developed “skills” that they were able to use for their “personal benefit”.

The members, who chose to remain anonymous, told the network that most of the working group didn’t want the inclusion of language stating that high school students should be taught about violence carried out “by African Americans” during lessons about issues such as the race massacres in Ocoee and Tulsa.

“Most of us did not want that language,” one of the members told NBC, noting that two out of the group’s 13 members pushed for the inclusion of those two items.

The work group’s standards were unanimously approved by the Florida Board of Education on 19 July. They are now set to be instituted in teaching kindergarten through 12th grade. The standards have been slammed as propaganda and pushing a sanitized version of US history.

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Report: Florida work group on new African American history guidelines did not agree

The latest charges against Trump answer one question and raise several more

Saturday 29 July 2023 22:45 , Andrew Feinberg

The new allegations revealed in the Justice Department’s superseding indictment of former president Donald Trump show that Special Counsel Jack Smith and his team have built a far stronger case than previously thought.

On Thursday, the department announced that it had filed the updated charging document, which added several new counts against Mr Trump and Walt Nauta, his longtime valet and co-defendant.

But what got most of the media attention after the early-evening document filing was the addition of yet another co-defendant in the case, Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira.

Mr De Oliveira, who had been previously identified in the first indictment against Mr Trump and Mr Nauta as a Mar-a-Lago employee who had participated in moving boxes containing classified documents around the Palm Beach mansion turned social club, is charged along with Mr Trump and Mr Nauta with conspiring to obstruct justice.

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The latest charges against Trump answer one question and raise several more

Donald Trump’s $475m ‘Hitler’ defamation lawsuit against CNN thrown out by federal judge

Saturday 29 July 2023 22:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump’s $475m defamation lawsuit against CNN has been thrown out by a federal judge.

The former president made the assertion the news network’s description of his election fraud claims as the “big lie” connected him to Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany, Reuters noted.

US Judge Raag Singhal at the federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was nominated by Mr Trump in 2019. In a Friday night ruling, he said CNN’s statements were opinion and not fact, meaning that they cannot be the subject of a defamation claim.

“CNN’s statements while repugnant, were not, as a matter of law, defamatory,” he wrote.

A Trump spokesperson told Reuters: “We agree with the highly respected judge’s findings that CNN’s statements about President Trump are repugnant. CNN will be held responsible for their wrongful mistreatment of President Trump and his supporters.”

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Trump’s $475m ‘Hitler’ defamation lawsuit against CNN thrown out by federal judge

DeSantis car crash revealed misuse of government vehicles for 2024 campaign, report claims

Saturday 29 July 2023 22:15 , Gustaf Kilander

The Tennesse car crash involving four vehicles in Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s motorcade has revealed that his campaign has misused government vehicles by using cars owned by the state of Florida in his presidential run, a report claims.

The crash that took place on Tuesday as the campaign team was travelling to fundraisers in three cities in the state shows how the campaign is using state resources, but it remains almost impossible to discover who’s funding it after a new law passed by the Florida legislature to shield Mr DeSantis’s travel records from the public, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

The research director for nonprofit government watchdog Integrity Florida, Ben Wilcox, told the paper: “The legislature has enabled him to hide his travel records so we don’t know and have no way to hold him accountable if he is using state resources in his campaign or if that is even the case”.

Orlando Democratic state representative Anna Eskamani told the paper that “It’s absurd that he’s using public resources and public infrastructure to campaign. He’s using state resources to boost himself politically”.

Read more:

DeSantis car crash revealed misuse of government vehicles for 2024 campaign

The latest charges against Trump answer one question and raise several more

Saturday 29 July 2023 21:45 , Andrew Feinberg

The new allegations revealed in the Justice Department’s superseding indictment of former president Donald Trump show that Special Counsel Jack Smith and his team have built a far stronger case than previously thought.

On Thursday, the department announced that it had filed the updated charging document, which added several new counts against Mr Trump and Walt Nauta, his longtime valet and co-defendant.

But what got most of the media attention after the early-evening document filing was the addition of yet another co-defendant in the case, Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira.

Mr De Oliveira, who had been previously identified in the first indictment against Mr Trump and Mr Nauta as a Mar-a-Lago employee who had participated in moving boxes containing classified documents around the Palm Beach mansion turned social club, is charged along with Mr Trump and Mr Nauta with conspiring to obstruct justice.

Read more:

The latest charges against Trump answer one question and raise several more

Mystery Mar-a-Lago employee referenced in superseding Trump indictment is identified

Saturday 29 July 2023 21:15 , Kelly Rissman

The unnamed “Trump employee 4” mentioned in the superseding federal indictment against former President Donald Trump has been identified as Yuscil Taveras, the director of information technology at Mar-a-Lago.

CNN and NBC News revealed the name on Friday. The reports said that Mr Taveras oversaw the surveillance camera footage at the property.

He had a conversation with the third co-defendant named in the superseding indictment – Carlos De Oliveira – who was a maintenance supervisor at Mar-a-Lago. He suggested their chat “remain between the two of them,” the indictment states. Mr De Oliveira asked to have a private discussion in an “audio closet.”

Mr De Oliveira then asked how long the server retained footage, to which Mr Taveras responded that he believed it was approximately 45 days. Mr De Oliveira then said “the boss” wanted the footage deleted.

Read more:

Mystery Mar-a-Lago employee referenced in superseding Trump indictment is identified

VIDEO: Will Hurd booed off stage for criticising Trump

Saturday 29 July 2023 20:45 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump goes on all-caps rant against Jack Smith and Georgia prosecutor

Saturday 29 July 2023 20:29 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump walks onto stage at Iowa event to song lyrics about going to prison

Saturday 29 July 2023 20:15 , Gustaf Kilander

GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie calls Trump a ‘one man crime wave’

Saturday 29 July 2023 19:45 , Graig Graziosi

Former New Jersey governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie offered his opinion on Donald Trump‘s likely third indictment during a podcast interview on Thursday.

On Thursday, Mr Trump’s lawyers were told that a third indictment related to Special Council Jack Smith’s investigation into the Capitol riot and the former president’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election was likely imminent.

Mr Christie appeared on Thursday’s episode of Pod Save America to discuss the 2024 election and the implications of Mr Trump’s various criminal cases.

Host Jon Lovett asked Mr Christie if he had ever heard of someone “facing between four and six trials within a few months for different legal issues,” referring to Mr Trump.

“No. No. Usually, folks like this commit discrete crimes and wind up having one trial,” Mr Christie quipped. “This guy has been a one man crime wave. Look, he’s earned every one of them. If you look at it, every one of these is self-inflicted. And that’s why, you know, do I think that prosecutors exercise prosecutorial judgment in discretion in some respects that are questionable? Yeah – and they always have. But what I say to people all the time is whether you agree or disagree with the prosecutors, look at the underlying conduct.”

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GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie calls Trump a ‘one man crime wave’

Donald Trump appeals judge's decision to keep hush-money case in New York state court

Saturday 29 July 2023 19:15 , Michael R. Sisak, AP

Donald Trump asked a federal appeals court Friday to reverse a federal judge’s decision to keep his hush-money criminal case in a New York state court that the former president claims is “very unfair” to him.

Trump’s lawyers filed a notice of appeal with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan after U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein last week rejected his bid to move the case to federal court, where his lawyers were primed to argue he was immune from prosecution.

U.S. law allows criminal prosecutions to be moved from state to federal court if they involve actions taken by federal government officials as part of their official duties, but Hellerstein ruled that the hush-money case involved a personal matter, not presidential duties.

Trump’s appeal notice came at the end of another busy week of legal action for the twice-indicted Republican as he seeks a return to the White House in next year’s election. On Thursday, he was indicted on new criminal charges in a separate case in federal court in Florida involving allegations that he illegally hoarded classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which is prosecuting the hush-money case and fought to keep it in state court, declined to comment on Trump’s appeal.

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Donald Trump appeals judge's decision to keep hush-money case in New York state court

McCarthy dodges Trump indictment questions by pointing finger at Biden

Saturday 29 July 2023 18:45 , Kelly Rissman

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy avoided answering questions about the additional charges filed in the superseding indictment against former President Donald Trump and instead redirected the conversation to President Joe Biden.

“What concerns me is you have a sitting president that has a situation like this, but even worse, that had documents, but nothing’s happened,” Mr McCarthy told a CNN reporter.

He continued, turning to President Biden’s time in Congress: “The president, when he was a senator, he took a document. How many years is that and there’s been no prosecution?”

The House speaker was referring to the Biden classified documents, some of which were dated to the president’s time in the Senate, Mr Biden’s lawyer said in January.

According to CNN, the California Republican added, “This is why everybody sits back and says, ‘What are these two, two tiers of justice right?’ And then you look, anything when it comes to the Biden Inc. family, they get a whole different treatment.”

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McCarthy dodges Trump indictment questions by pointing finger at Biden

Election disinformation campaigns targeted voters of color in 2020. Experts expect 2024 to be worse

Saturday 29 July 2023 18:15 , Christine Fernando, AP

Leading up to the 2020 election, Facebook ads targeting Latino and Asian American voters described Joe Biden as a communist. A local station claimed a Black Lives Matter co-founder practiced witchcraft. Doctored images showed dogs urinating on Donald Trump campaign posters.

None of these claims was true, but they scorched through social media sites that advocates say have fueled election misinformation in communities of color.

As the 2024 election approaches, community organizations are preparing for what they expect to be a worsening onslaught of disinformation targeting communities of color and immigrant communities. They say the tailored campaigns challenge assumptions of what kinds of voters are susceptible to election conspiracies and distrust in voting systems.

“They’re getting more complex, more sophisticated and spreading like wildfire,” said Sarah Shah, director of policy and community engagement at the advocacy group Indian American Impact, which runs the fact-checking site Desifacts.org. “ What we saw in 2020, unfortunately, will probably be fairly mild in comparison to what we will see in the months leading up to 2024.”

Read more:

Election disinformation campaigns targeted voters of color in 2020. Experts expect 2024 to be worse

Fresh charges tie Trump even more closely to coverup effort. That could deepen his legal woes

Saturday 29 July 2023 17:45 , Eric Tucker, Alanna Durkin Richer, AP

It’s a stunning new allegation in an already serious case: Former President Donald Trump sought to delete Mar-a-Lago surveillance footage to obstruct the Justice Department’s investigation into his handling of classified documents.

The latest criminal charges unsealed Thursday deepen Trump’s legal jeopardy, alleging a more central role for the former president than previously known in a cover-up that prosecutors say was meant to prevent them from recovering top-secret documents he took with him after he left the White House. Coming as Trump braces for possible additional indictments related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election, the new allegations strengthen special counsel Jack Smith’s already powerful case against Trump while undercutting potential defenses floated by the former president, experts say.

“Before these new charges, you could maybe try some sort of defense that ‘this was all a mistake, it was my staff’ or confusion about what documents he actually had,” said former federal prosecutor Randall Eliason, a George Washington University law professor.

“But especially now, when you’re trying to destroy video footage,” he added, “that’s kind of the final nail in the coffin. I don’t see much in the way of a defense, not a real defense. All he can do is claim he’s being persecuted and hope for a holdout juror or something.”

Read more:

Fresh charges tie Trump even more closely to coverup effort. That could deepen his legal woes

Elon Musk’s Twitter bans ad showing Republican interrupting couple in bedroom

Saturday 29 July 2023 17:15 , Kelly Rissman

An ad launched by Progress Action Fund launched, showing an elderly Republican congressman interrupting a couple in the bedroom, has now been banned on X, formerly known as Twitter.

According to the Progress Action Fund, which aims to defeat Republicans in red states, the platform “has censored” its account as well as the ad, called “Keep Republicans Out Of Your Bedroom.” In addition, the platform has “placed a ‘Search Ban’ and a ‘Search Suggestion Ban’ on the account.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, the account did not show up on the social media platform, yet the ad could still be seen on X through retweets from other accounts.

The Progress Action Fund said it contacted the platform’s legal department and “appealed the decision, which was denied.”

Joe Jacobson, Founder and Executive Director of Progress Action Fund, took a stab at X’s owner: “Elon Musk loves free speech, but only when it’s convenient for him and his far-right political agenda.”

Read more:

Elon Musk’s Twitter bans ad showing Republican interrupting couple in bedroom

A new challenger has emerged to Trump – and his extreme anti-woke message is working

Saturday 29 July 2023 16:45 , Andrew Feinberg

He’s never spent a day in public office. He’s never even run for public office before, and he’s a 37-year-old practicing Hindu who is vying for presidential primary votes from a Republican electorate that is overwhelmingly old, white, and Christian.

So why does Vivek Ramaswamy’s unlikely presidential campaign seem to be catching on?

Over the last week, a succession of polls show the former biotech entrepreneur turned anti-woke author and asset manager turned political neophyte garnering support from as much as ten per cent of GOP primary voters.

Read more:

Is this the man who could block Trump’s run for the White House?

GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie calls Trump a ‘one man crime wave’

Saturday 29 July 2023 16:15 , Graig Graziosi

Former New Jersey governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie offered his opinion on Donald Trump‘s likely third indictment during a podcast interview on Thursday.

On Thursday, Mr Trump’s lawyers were told that a third indictment related to Special Council Jack Smith’s investigation into the Capitol riot and the former president’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election was likely imminent.

Mr Christie appeared on Thursday’s episode of Pod Save America to discuss the 2024 election and the implications of Mr Trump’s various criminal cases.

Host Jon Lovett asked Mr Christie if he had ever heard of someone “facing between four and six trials within a few months for different legal issues,” referring to Mr Trump.

“No. No. Usually, folks like this commit discrete crimes and wind up having one trial,” Mr Christie quipped. “This guy has been a one man crime wave. Look, he’s earned every one of them. If you look at it, every one of these is self-inflicted. And that’s why, you know, do I think that prosecutors exercise prosecutorial judgment in discretion in some respects that are questionable? Yeah – and they always have. But what I say to people all the time is whether you agree or disagree with the prosecutors, look at the underlying conduct.”

Read more:

GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie calls Trump a ‘one man crime wave’

Mystery Mar-a-Lago employee referenced in superseding Trump indictment is identified

Saturday 29 July 2023 15:45 , Kelly Rissman

The unnamed “Trump employee 4” mentioned in the superseding federal indictment against former President Donald Trump has been identified as Yuscil Taveras, the director of information technology at Mar-a-Lago.

CNN and NBC News revealed the name on Friday. The reports said that Mr Taveras oversaw the surveillance camera footage at the property.

He had a conversation with the third co-defendant named in the superseding indictment – Carlos De Oliveira – who was a maintenance supervisor at Mar-a-Lago. He suggested their chat “remain between the two of them,” the indictment states. Mr De Oliveira asked to have a private discussion in an “audio closet.”

Mr De Oliveira then asked how long the server retained footage, to which Mr Taveras responded that he believed it was approximately 45 days. Mr De Oliveira then said “the boss” wanted the footage deleted.

Read more:

Mystery Mar-a-Lago employee referenced in superseding Trump indictment is identified

Will Hurd booed off stage for criticising Trump

Saturday 29 July 2023 15:39 , Gustaf Kilander

Analysis: The latest charges against Trump answer one question and raise several more

Saturday 29 July 2023 15:15 , Oliver O'Connell

The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg writes:

The new charges revealed in the superseding indictment show the extent of Mr Trump’s efforts to conceal what he was doing from the government he once led, but it also makes clear that Mr Smith’s team has taken the investigation into the ex-president and his co-defendants up a notch from what was previously known.

Read more...

The latest charges against Trump answer one question and raise several more

Analysis: Will Trump’s history of lies finally catch up to him?

Saturday 29 July 2023 14:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Did Trump believe the “truth” of his claims? And how often was he told, by both his advisers and White House officials, that he was wrong?

Now federal prosecutors want to know, as Alex Woodward reports.

How Trump’s history of election lies could finally catch up with him

Trump claims he already won Jack Smith case at impeachment and rants about double-standards

Saturday 29 July 2023 14:15 , Oliver O'Connell

The former president was especially active on Truth Social on Friday, posting the following in the afternoon:

How can Deranged Jack Smith bring a case on January 6th., as ridiculous as it is anyway, when I have already won such a case, and been fully acquitted, in the U.S. Senate? In other words, I was Impeached on this, and WON!!! ELECTION INTERFERENCE & PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT, all rolled up as one. We are truly a Nation In Decline!

I expect NOTHING from the meeting with my lawyers and the Lunatics in the DOJ regarding January 6th. They just want to interfere with the Presidential Election on 2024. It is their new form of CHEATING, but we will WIN !!!

Further, he wrote:

Crazy Nancy Pelosi didn’t do an “Impeachment Inquiry” on me for making a PERFECT phone call, the Radical Left Lunatics just “Impeached.” Crooked Joe Biden stole Millions and Millions of Dollars from China, and many other countries, and Republicans in Congress just TALK - Nothing will happen. Some actually say they “have other things to do.” What a difference!

And then, in reference to the superseded indictment:

The Security Tapes that were VOLUNTARILY given to Deranged Jack Smith and the DOJ were not, I am told, deleted in any way, shape, or form. Prosecutorial Misconduct!

If convicted, Trump says he’ll run for president from jail

Saturday 29 July 2023 13:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Donald Trump said on Friday that he would run for president from prison in 2024 if he is convicted on any of the number of criminal charges he faces.

The former president and current Republican frontrunner made the comments during a radio interview with conservative host John Fredericks. During the exchange, Mr Trump denied new charges brought against him by federal prosecutors claiming that he instructed employees at his Mar-a-Lago resort to destroy security recordings.

Graig Graziosi reports.

Trump says he’ll run for president from jail if convicted on any indictments

Analysis: How a bombshell leaked tape landed Trump with his latest criminal charge

Saturday 29 July 2023 13:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Rachel Sharp explains how a recording of an interview Donald Trump sat for two years ago has come back to haunt him.

How a bombshell leaked tape landed Trump with his latest criminal charge

‘Election interference’: Trump slams Jack Smith’s superseding indictment

Saturday 29 July 2023 12:30 , Oliver O'Connell

In an interview on Thursday night, Donald Trump told Breitbart News that he considered Special Counsel Jack Smith’s superseding indictment levelled against him in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case “harassment” and “election interference”.

He also repeated his claim that the Presidential Records Act should protect him and lambasted the Department of Justice for not also going after President Joe Biden in his own classified documents case, even though Mr Biden willingly cooperated and returned the documents in his possession.

Read more...

Trump calls additional charges in Jack Smith’s superseding indictment ‘harassment’

Trump has one-in-three chance of facing judge he appointed

Saturday 29 July 2023 11:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Donald Trump is widely expected to be indicted imminently by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith over his efforts to overturn the 2020 US presidential election result and his role in inciting the Capitol riot of 6 January 2021.

Should that happen and he is brought to trial in Washington DC, Mr Trump would appear before a judge selected at random to oversee the case in accordance with the local rules.

However, since he was the 45th president of the United States, Mr Trump stands a one-in-three chance of coming up against a jurist he personally appointed.

Joe Sommerlad explains.

Trump has one-in-three chance of facing judge he appointed in DC trial

As Trump faces his third of 2023, what is an indictment?

Saturday 29 July 2023 10:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Here’s a rundown of what all the legal terminology means and how we might see Mr Trump’s case progress through the criminal justice system.

What is an indictment? Donald Trump facing third of 2023 over Capitol riot

McConnell vows to serve out full Senate term following questions over his health

Saturday 29 July 2023 09:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will reportedly serve out the remainder of his term, a position his office made clear after a health scare earlier this week.

“Leader McConnell appreciates the continued support of his colleagues, and plans to serve his full term in the job they overwhelmingly elected him to do,” a spokesman for the senator told Politico.

Graig Graziosi has the story.

Profile: Jack Smith — The ex-war crimes prosecutor coming for Trump

Saturday 29 July 2023 08:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Jack Smith, the experienced war crimes prosecutor who unveiled an unprecedented federal indictment against former US president Donald Trump, is no stranger to high-profile probes of public figures.

Who is Jack Smith? The ex-war crimes prosecutor who indicted Trump

ICYMI: Trump lashes out at ‘crooked Joe Biden’ after being hit with fresh charges

Saturday 29 July 2023 07:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Donald Trump has lashed out at “crooked Joe Biden” in his latest Truth Social rant after he was hit with new charges over his handling of classified documents since leaving the White House.

Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith issued a superseding indictment on Thursday, bringing another three charges against the former president and adding a third defendant – Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira – to the federal criminal case.

Rachel Sharp reports.

Trump lashes out at ‘crooked Biden’ as he’s hit with new classified papers charges

Voices: The document charges show how Trump has hijacked the GOP

Saturday 29 July 2023 06:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Noah Berlatsky writes:

Former president Donald Trump has hijacked the Republican party. It is now his personal cash machine and propaganda network. In its spare time, the GOP still pushes for ultra-conservative policies, and it still tries to win elections. But whenever Trump decides to commit a crime, no matter how flagrant, gratuitous, or divorced from advancing Republican goals, the GOP drops everything to debase itself in the name of licking his boots.

Read on...

The document charges show how Trump has hijacked the GOP | Opinion

When Karl Rove needs to explain the ways in which RFK Jr is a ‘nut’, he brings a whiteboard

Saturday 29 July 2023 05:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Republican strategist Karl Rove used whiteboards to illustrate Robert F Kennedy’s conspiracy theories during a bizarre Fox News interview on Thursday.

After Florida governor Ron DeSantis said he would be prepared to “sic” RFK Jr onto the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mr Rove told Fox host Bill Hemmer it was a “nutty idea”.

Bevan Hurley reports.

Karl Rove brings whiteboard to Fox News to explain that RFK Jr is a ‘nut’

It’s what everyone wants to know...

Saturday 29 July 2023 04:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Is Donald Trump going to prison?

McCarthy and Swalwell’s heated exchange on House floor revealed

Saturday 29 July 2023 03:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Prepare for some really bro-ey adult language from the two California lawmakers...

Kevin McCarthy and Eric Swalwell’s heated exchange on House floor revealed

Trump says he’ll run for president from jail if convicted

Saturday 29 July 2023 02:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Donald Trump said on Friday that he would run for president from prison in 2024 if he is convicted on any of the number of criminal charges he faces.

The former president and current Republican frontrunner made the comments during a radio interview with conservative host John Fredericks. During the exchange, Mr Trump denied new charges brought against him by federal prosecutors claiming that he instructed employees at his Mar-a-Lago resort to destroy security recordings.

“These were security tapes. We handed them over to them. ... I’m not even sure what they’re saying,” Mr Trump insisted.

Graig Graziosi reports.

Trump says he’ll run for president from jail if convicted on any indictments

Mike Lindell: A man with a plan...

Saturday 29 July 2023 01:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Mike Lindell says he has been working 18 hours a day on his blockbuster event on 17 August to reveal his secret plan for our elections.

The founder of My Pillow says he just showed his plan to Michael Flynn: “He said it’s beautiful. He doesn’t see any holes in it. He actually added a couple of things.”

Mr Lindell has made such wild, grandiose claims in the past, including holding a three-day “Cyber Symposium” in August 2021, promising to present “irrefutable evidence” of election fraud in 2020. None was produced.

In January 2022, Mr Lindell claimed that he possessed “enough evidence to put everybody in prison for life, 300-some million people” for their part in the alleged 2020 election fraud.

At the time, that was approximately 90 per cent of the US population.

Trump wants Smith, Garland and Monaco thrown in jail

Saturday 29 July 2023 00:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Donald Trump rants on Truth Social that he wants Special Counsel Jack Smith, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco thrown in jail for weaponising the Department of Justice.

The former president has been especially active online this morning as more allegations of crimes catch up with him and more charges are added to his second criminal indictment.

They ought to throw Deranged Jack Smith and his Thug Prosecutors in jail, with Meritless Garland and Trump Hating Lisa Monaco. They have totally Weaponized the Department of Injustice. Whatever happened to the Crooked Joe Biden Boxes Case? Why was Hillary Clinton allowed to delete 33,000 emails, many of them Classified, AFTER getting a Subpoena from Congress? Why was Bill Clinton allowed to take tapes out of the W.H. in his socks? Why has no other President ever been charged? ELECTION FRAUD!

A third criminal indictment is expected in the near future.

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