Trump news – live: Ex-president blasts Fox over Ron DeSantis support ahead of Ohio visit

Donald Trump has hit out at Fox News on his Truth Social app over its favourable coverage of Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who has been widely tipped to run against Mr Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

“I call Fox News the RINO Network, and their DOWN BIG Ratings accurately reflect the name,” he fumed, using a common conservative acronym meaning “Republican in Name Only.”

Meanwhile, Mr Trump is set to visit the town of East Palestine, Ohio, on Wednesday – site of a major freight train derailment earlier this month that resulted in a massive chemcial spill and forced residents to evacuate their homes.

That follows Georgia grand jury foreperson Emily Kohrs revealing that the panel has recommended indictments against several individuals on multiple charges over the investigation into Mr Trump’s 2020 election meddling in the Peach State and his boasting of having had a “very good relationship” with Vladimir Putin on Monday, just hours after his successor Joe Biden made a historic visit to Ukraine to mark the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion.

Speaking at a rally in Florida on President’s Day, Mr Trump once again baselessly claimed that the war would never have happened on his watch, declaring: “Putin never, ever would have gone into Ukraine if I were president.”

Key points

• Trump labels Fox ‘RINO’ network over favourable DeSantis coverage

• Ex-president to visit site of Ohio train derailment today

• Georgia grand jury recommended multiple charges in Donald Trump probe

• Trump boasts about ‘very good relationship’ with Putin

Trump says ‘anybody’ running for president should take mental and physical tests after Haley jab

11:45 , Joe Sommerlad

Mr Trump has said that “anybody” running for president should take mental and physical tests after Nikki Haley took a swing at both himself and President Biden when she suggested that mental competency tests should be conducted for politicians over the age of 75.

Gustaf Kilander has more:

Trump says ‘anybody’ running for president should take mental and physical tests

Nikki Haley hits back at Don Lemon over ‘not in her prime’ comment

11:15 , Joe Sommerlad

Speaking of the Republican presidential candidate, she has hit back at Don Lemon after the CNN host said that the former South Carolina governor was not “in her prime.”

Ms Haley, who announced her candidacy for the Republican nomination for president last week, responded to Mr Lemon’s remarks on Friday on Fox News.

“This is something that I have faced all of my life. It was Don Lemon yesterday, it was Whoopi Goldberg the day before,” she said.

“There will be somebody else tomorrow. I have always made the liberals’ heads explode. They can’t stand the fact that a minority conservative female would not be on the Democratic side, because they know I pull independents, they know I pull suburban women, they know I pull minorities over to what we are trying to do.”

Ms Haley’s announcement of her plan to run makes her the first candidate to challenge Donald Trump for the nomination in 2024.

Prior to that, she won two terms as governor of South Carolina before Mr Trump nominated her to serve as the US ambassador to the United Nations.

Read more:

Nikki Haley fires back at Don Lemon after CNN host claims she’s not in her ‘prime’

Ex-Trump supporter tells Daily Show criticism of Ron DeSantis turned him off, not ‘kids in cages’

10:45 , Joe Sommerlad

The Comedy Central show’s correspondent Jordan Klepper has been out meeting more members of the public, this time attending an early Nikki Haley rally in South Carolina.

One gentleman’s take on why he walked away from Donald Trump is… interesting!

It wasn’t the dual impeachments, the Capitol riot or the cruel treatment of migrants at the Mexican border that bothered him.

His opinion, however, appears to be shared by Donald Tapia, who served as US ambassador to Jamaica under Mr Trump from 2019 to 2021, who has told Politico that he now supports the Florida governor too and says of his old boss: “The name-calling has turned a lot of people off. Let me tell you, we don’t like that.”

Mr Trump has dubbed Mr DeSantis “Ron DeSanctimonious” and, even better, “Meatball Ron”, although he has since distanced himself

Trump labels Fox ‘RINO’ network over favourable DeSantis coverage

10:17 , Joe Sommerlad

The 45th president again ripped into Fox News, once a vital media ally, on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday over its friendly coverage of Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who has been widely tipped to run against Mr Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

“So interesting to watch Fox News cover the small and unenthusiastic 139 person crowd in Staten Island for DeSantis, but stay as far away as possible from coverage of the thousands of people, many unable to get in, at the Club 47 event in West Palm Beach, Florida,” Trump wrote.

“I call Fox News the RINO Network, and their DOWN BIG Ratings accurately reflect the name,” he said, using a common conservative acronym meaning “Republican in Name Only.”

“If FAKE NEWS CNN was smart, which they’re not, they’d go Conservative & ‘All Trump, All the Time,’ like in 2016, and become a Ratings Juggernaut.”

Read more:

Trump calls for CNN to ‘go conservative’ in an attack on ‘RINO network’ Fox News

Trump to visit site of Ohio train derailment today

09:45 , Joe Sommerlad

The former president will visit the small town of East Palestine in Ohio on Wednesday - site of a major freight train derailment earlier this month that caused a major chemical spill and forced local residents to have to temporarily leave their homes.

The accident occurred shortly after 9pm on Friday 3 February, when 38 Norfolk Southern carriages crashed off the rails as the result of what investigators later determined was a broken axle, 10 of which were transporting hazardous materials cross-country.

Fortunately, no one was harmed but more than 2,000 East Palestine residents out of approximately 4,800 had to be temporarily evacuated from the area due to health concerns arising from the spill.

As part of the clean up operation, five of the tankers containing vinyl chloride – a compound used to make plastic pipes, wires, cable coating, car parts and packaging but which can cause cancer – had to be intentionally breached by emergency crews, who diverted the substance into an excavated trench and carried out a controlled burn to prevent an explosion, sending noxious black clouds billowing into the atmosphere.

According to Fox News Digital, Mr Trump plans to meet local officials including mayor Trent Conaway and state senator JD Vance and members of the community on Wednesday and is set to donate thousands of gallons of cleaning supplies and more than a dozen pallets of water.

“President Trump is meeting with the citizens of East Palestine and will never forget them and what they are going through,” an advisor told Fox.

“Contrast that with Biden and the federal government who has failed them from the beginning.”

As if the atmosphere weren’t toxic enough already in East Palestine…

Tucker Carlson called Trump a ‘demonic force’, court filings reveal

09:15 , John Bowden

Tucker Carlson allegedly called former president Donald Trump a “demonic force” who could “destroy” him if he missteps, in his texts to his producer.

“He’s the undisputed world champion of that. He could easily destroy us if we play it wrong,” Carlson texted his Fox News producers, according to court filings in the Dominion defamation case. He called Mr Trump “a demonic force, a destroyer,” adding, “But he’s not going to destroy us.”

The $1.6bn defamation lawsuit against Fox News by Dominion Voting Systems over the network’s coverage of the 2020 presidential election has been termed as an assault on the First Amendment by the attorneys for the channel. So far, revelations from the lawsuit have been nothing short of embarassing for the conservative network.

Read more:

Tucker Carlson called Trump a ‘demonic force’, lawsuit reveals

Trump touts ‘very good relationship’ with Putin ahead of one-year anniversary of Russia’s war in Ukraine

08:15 , John Bowden

Donald Trump boasted about his “very good” relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

On Monday night, the former president also defended his previous claim that he trusted Mr Putin over US intelligence.

In 2018, during a summit with Mr Putin in Helsinki, Finland, Mr Trump was asked if he trusted the conclusion of US intelligence that Russia had interfered in the 2016 US election or if he believed Mr Putin’s rejection of those allegations.

In response, Mr Trump appeared to suggest that he believed Mr Putin.

Gustaf Kilander has more for The Independent:

Trump touts ‘very good relationship’ with Putin ahead of one-year anniversary of war

‘It’s not a short list’: Grand jury recommended multiple charges in Trump Georgia probe, foreperson reveals

07:15 , John Bowden

The Georgia special grand jury investigating the attempt by former President Donald Trump and his associates to overturn the 2020 election results in the state has recommended indictments against several individuals on multiple charges in its report, only parts of which have been released, the jury’s forewoman has said.

“It is not a short list,” Emily Kohrs told The New York Times. She said the jury appended eight pages of legal code “that we cited at various points in the report”.

She chose not to comment on who the grand jury has recommended for indictment as the judge chose to not release that information when publishing parts of the report last week.

Read more:

Grand jury recommended multiple charges in Trump Georgia probe

Trump attacks DeSantis in flurry of posts

06:15 , John Bowden

Donald Trump swiped at his presumed 2024 GOP primary rival, Ron DeSantis, in a pair of Truth Social posts late Tuesday morning.

In one, he took a shot at the size of a crowd Mr DeSantis was able to draw in New York this week as the Florida governor visited Staten Island.

“So interesting to watch FoxNews cover the small and unenthusiastic 139 person crowd in Staten Island for DeSantis, but stay as far away as possible from coverage of the thousands of people, many unable to get in, at the Club 47 event in West Palm Beach, Florida,” Mr Trump noted, referring to his own event.

In another, he criticised Mr DeSantis in a more direct manner: “Florida was doing GREAT long before Ron DeSanctus got there. People are fleeing from New York to Florida (and other places) because of high TAXES and out of control CRIME, not because of Governor (thank you President Trump!) DeSanctimonious. Rick Scott did great, and even Charlie Crist had very good numbers. SUNSHINE AND OCEAN, very alluring!!!”

James O’Keefe out at Project Veritas

05:15 , John Bowden

James O’Keefe has resigned from Project Veritas.

Appearing in a tear-filled video, Mr O’Keefe informed his fellows that the board of Project Veritas had removed him as CEO, and that he had stepped down. Mr O’Keefe went on to vow to form another organisation similar in form to the conservative group famous for undercover interviews, some of which have faced allegations of deceptive editing.

Read more:

James O’Keefe steps down from right-wing group Project Veritas

Trump hails ‘fearless election denier’ for taking over Michigan GOP

04:16 , John Bowden

On Sunday, Donald Trump congratulated one of his supporters, Kristina Karamo, following her takeover of the Michigan Republican Party. He called her a “fearless election denier” in a Truth Social post.

“If Republicans (and others!) would speak the truth about the Rigged Presidential Election of 2020, like FoxNews should, but doesn’t, they would be far better off,” the ex-president complained.

He then took a victory lap: “The New York Times stated that “This cements the Party’s takeover by Trump loyalists.” I don’t call them loyalists, I call them GREAT AMERICAN PATRIOTS!!!”

Trump announces campaign staff in Iowa

03:15 , John Bowden

Donald Trump’s campaign on Monday announced the hiring of key staff in Iowa, which is currently set to remain the site of the GOP’s first caucus of 2024.

Among the new hirings was Eric Branstad, son of the state’s former governor, Terry Branstad. The younger Branstad is joining the Trump campaign as a senior adviser.

The biggest revelations from Dominion’s Fox News lawsuit filing

02:16 , John Bowden

Fox News is facing a $1.6bn defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems, a Denver-based manufacturer of voting machines, over its coverage of the 2020 presidential election and then-president Donald Trump’s bogus claims that the contest was “rigged” to ensure victory for Joe Biden.

In a 192-page court filing published on Thursday containing private messages from many of Fox’s biggest stars, Dominion argues: “From the top down, Fox knew ‘the Dominion stuff’ was ‘total bs’.”

“Yet despite knowing the truth – or at minimum, recklessly disregarding that truth – Fox spread and endorsed these ‘outlandish voter fraud claims’ about Dominion even as it internally recognised the lies as ‘crazy’, ‘absurd’ and ‘shockingly reckless’,” the filing said.

Attorneys for Fox, however, have argued that Dominion has advanced only “novel defamation theories” and is seeking a “staggering” figure in damages aimed at winning headlines, silencing protected speech and enriching its owner, Staple Street Capital Partners, and its investors.

A Fox spokesperson said in a statement in response to Thursday’s filing: “There will be a lot of noise and confusion generated by Dominion and their opportunistic private equity owners, but the core of this case remains about freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which are fundamental rights afforded by the Constitution and protected by New York Times v Sullivan.”

A five-week trial is scheduled to begin on 17 April.

Here, The Independent’s Joe Sommerlad gives a brief overview of some of the most astonishing claims in the new filing, which collects private text messages from prominent anchors like Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham and owner Rupert Murdoch discussing coverage of the 2020 election’s aftermath:

The biggest revelations from Dominion’s Fox News lawsuit filing

Bernie Sanders calls Nikki Haley’s demand for politicians over 75 to take mental competency tests ‘absurd’

01:16 , John Bowden

Bernie Sanders has slammed Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley’s suggestion that politicians over the age of 75 should receive a mental competency test - calling it “absurd”.

Haley, 51, made the demand as she launched her campaign to win the GOP nomination and criticised 76-year-old Donald Trump and 80-year-old Joe Biden.

But Mr Sanders, who himself is 81, refuted the idea as he appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday morning.

Read more:

Bernie Sanders calls Nikki Haley’s demand for mental competency tests ‘absurd’

Trump ridiculed for pretending he has been ‘exonerated’ by Georgia grand jury over his bid to overturn election

00:15 , John Bowden

Donald Trump took to Truth Social to claim that he had received a “total exoneration” from the Georgia grand jury investigating his attempt to overturn the 2020 election results in the state.

“Thank you to the Special Grand Jury in the Great State of Georgia for your Patriotism & Courage. Total exoneration. The USA is very proud of you!!!” Mr Trump wrote on Thursday.

“The long awaited important sections of the Georgia report, which do not even mention President Trump’s name, have nothing to do with the President because President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong,” he claimed. “The President participated in two perfect phone calls regarding election integrity in Georgia, which he is entitled to do - in fact, as President, it was President Trump’s Constitutional duty to ensure election safety, security, and integrity.”

“Between the two calls, there were many officials and attorneys on the line, including the Secretary of State of Georgia, and no one objected, even slightly protested, or hung up. President Trump will always keep fighting for true and honest elections in America!” he wrote.

Read more:

Trump ridiculed for pretending he has been ‘exonerated’ by Georgia grand jury

Trump hits out at ‘boring’ Twitter and Facebook and dismisses his return

Tuesday 21 February 2023 23:30 , John Bowden

On Monday, the former president dismissed his recent return to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram – telling conservative network Real America’s Voice that he has no interest in using the social media platforms.

“I’ve been invited back,” he said.

“It’s waiting, I guess. Twitter has close to 90 million people waiting.”

Mr Trump claimed he can get his message out on his own Truth Social platform.

“But I think I get a very strong word out on Truth, and there’s something very beautiful about it,” he said.

Mr Trump’s accounts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook were suspended after the January 6 Capitol riot, where a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol to try to overturn the election.

Earlier this month – after two years – his accounts were restored.

Romney weighs reelection bid

Tuesday 21 February 2023 22:45 , John Bowden

He twice voted in favor of convicting former President Donald Trump in impeachment trials. He excoriated his fellow senators who objected to certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. He even scolded New York Rep. George Santos for his audacity in grabbing a prominent seat at the State of the Union speech after admitting to fabricating much of his biography.

After four years in Washington, Republican Mitt Romney has established himself as a rare senator willing to publicly rebuke members of his own party.

But the Utah senator’s outspoken stances, along with his willingness to work with Democrats, have angered some Republicans in the deep-red state he represents and led them to cast about for someone to try to dethrone him a primary race next year.

The 75-year-old said he hasn’t made a decision on whether to run for reelection in 2024 and doesn’t expect to until the start of summer.

“I’m sort of keeping my mind open,” Romney said in an interview. “There’s no particular hurry. I’m doing what I would do if I’m running with staffing and resources, so it’s not like I have to make a formal announcement.”

Read more:

Romney, outspoken about his own party, weighs reelection run

‘It’s not a short list’: Grand jury recommended multiple charges in Trump Georgia probe, foreperson reveals

Tuesday 21 February 2023 21:13 , Gustaf Kilander

The Georgia special grand jury investigating the attempt by former President Donald Trump and his associates to overturn the 2020 election results in the state has recommended indictments against several individuals on multiple charges in its report, only parts of which have been released, the jury’s forewoman has said.

“It is not a short list,” Emily Kohrs told The New York Times. She said the jury appended eight pages of legal code “that we cited at various points in the report”.

She chose not to comment on who the grand jury has recommended for indictment as the judge chose to not release that information when publishing parts of the report last week.

Read more:

Grand jury recommended multiple charges in Trump Georgia probe

Fox News blocked Trump from on-air call during the Capitol riot because it would be ‘irresponsible’

Tuesday 21 February 2023 20:45 , John Bowden

Fox News blocked Donald Trump from making an on-air call to the right-wing news channel during the January 6 attack by his supporters on the US Capitol.

Mr Trump called into the Lou Dobbs shown Fox Business after the fatal riot, according to court filings in the $1.6bn defamation case brought by Dominion Voting Systems against the network.

“The afternoon of January 6, after the Capitol came under attack, then-President Trump dialed into Lou Dobbs’ show attempting to get on air,” Dominion lawyers wrote in their legal brief.

“But Fox executives vetoed that decision,” Dominion’s filing continued. “Why? Not because of a lack of newsworthiness. January 6 was an important event by any measure. President Trump not only was the sitting President, he was the key figure that day.”

Read more:

Fox News blocked Trump from on-air call during the Capitol riot

James O’Keefe out at Project Veritas

Tuesday 21 February 2023 20:00 , John Bowden

James O’Keefe has resigned from Project Veritas.

Appearing in a tear-filled video, Mr O’Keefe informed his fellows that the board of Project Veritas had removed him as CEO, and that he had stepped down. Mr O’Keefe went on to vow to form another organisation similar in form to the conservative group famous for undercover interviews, some of which have faced allegations of deceptive editing.

Read more:

James O’Keefe steps down from right-wing group Project Veritas

GOP to adopt loyalty pledge for debate participants

Tuesday 21 February 2023 18:15 , John Bowden

Republican presidential candidates will be blocked from the debate stage this summer if they do not sign a pledge to support the GOP’s ultimate presidential nominee, according to draft language set to be adopted when the Republican National Committee meets next week.

The proposal sets up a potential clash with former President Donald Trump, who has raised the possibility of leaving the Republican Party and launching an independent candidacy if he does not win the GOP nomination outright. While RNC officials and Trump aides downplay that possibility, such a move could destroy the GOP’s White House aspirations in 2024 and raise existential questions about the party’s future.

“After the primary, it is imperative to the health and growth of our Republican Party, as well as the country, that we all come together and unite behind our nominee to defeat Joe Biden and the Democrats,” RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said in a statement to The Associated Press when asked about the loyalty pledge.

Read more:

Republicans to adopt loyalty pledge for debate participants

Trump attacks DeSantis in flurry of posts

Tuesday 21 February 2023 17:30 , John Bowden

Donald Trump swiped at his presumed 2024 GOP primary rival, Ron DeSantis, in a pair of Truth Social posts late Tuesday morning.

In one, he took a shot at the size of a crowd Mr DeSantis was able to draw in New York this week as the Florida governor visited Staten Island.

“So interesting to watch FoxNews cover the small and unenthusiastic 139 person crowd in Staten Island for DeSantis, but stay as far away as possible from coverage of the thousands of people, many unable to get in, at the Club 47 event in West Palm Beach, Florida,” Mr Trump noted, referring to his own event.

In another, he criticised Mr DeSantis in a more direct manner: “Florida was doing GREAT long before Ron DeSanctus got there. People are fleeing from New York to Florida (and other places) because of high TAXES and out of control CRIME, not because of Governor (thank you President Trump!) DeSanctimonious. Rick Scott did great, and even Charlie Crist had very good numbers. SUNSHINE AND OCEAN, very alluring!!!”

Trump touts ‘very good relationship’ with Putin ahead of one-year anniversary of Russia’s war in Ukraine

Tuesday 21 February 2023 16:08 , John Bowden

Donald Trump boasted about his “very good” relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

On Monday night, the former president also defended his previous claim that he trusted Mr Putin over US intelligence.

In 2018, during a summit with Mr Putin in Helsinki, Finland, Mr Trump was asked if he trusted the conclusion of US intelligence that Russia had interfered in the 2016 US election or if he believed Mr Putin’s rejection of those allegations

In response, Mr Trump appeared to suggest that he believed Mr Putin.

Gustaf Kilander has more for The Independent:

Trump touts ‘very good relationship’ with Putin ahead of one-year anniversary of war

Trump says ‘anybody’ running for president should take mental and physical tests after Nikki Haley jab

Tuesday 21 February 2023 14:30 , John Bowden

Donald Trump has said that “anybody” running for president should take mental and physical tests after Nikki Haley took a swing at both Mr Trump and President Joe Biden when she suggested that mental competency tests should be conducted for politicians over the age of 75.

Ms Haley, the former South Carolina governor and Trump administration ambassador to the UN, announced her 2024 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination on 15 February during a rally in her home state.

Gustaf Kilander has more:

Trump says ‘anybody’ running for president should take mental and physical tests

Tucker Carlson called Trump a ‘demonic force’, court filings reveal

Tuesday 21 February 2023 14:05 , John Bowden

Tucker Carlson allegedly called former president Donald Trump a “demonic force” who could “destroy” him if he missteps, in his texts to his producer.

“He’s the undisputed world champion of that. He could easily destroy us if we play it wrong,” Carlson texted his Fox News producers, according to court filings in the Dominion defamation case. He called Mr Trump “a demonic force, a destroyer,” adding, “But he’s not going to destroy us.”

The $1.6bn defamation lawsuit against Fox News by Dominion Voting Systems over the network’s coverage of the 2020 presidential election has been termed as an assault on the First Amendment by the attorneys for the channel. So far, revelations from the lawsuit have been nothing short of embarassing for the conservative network.

Read more:

Tucker Carlson called Trump a ‘demonic force’, lawsuit reveals

Trump hails ‘fearless election denier’ for taking over Michigan GOP

Tuesday 21 February 2023 13:35 , John Bowden

On Sunday, Donald Trump congratulated one of his supporters, Kristina Karamo, following her takeover of the Michigan Republican Party. He called her a “fearless election denier” in a Truth Social post.

“If Republicans (and others!) would speak the truth about the Rigged Presidential Election of 2020, like FoxNews should, but doesn’t, they would be far better off,” the ex-president complained.

He then took a victory lap: “The New York Times stated that “This cements the Party’s takeover by Trump loyalists.” I don’t call them loyalists, I call them GREAT AMERICAN PATRIOTS!!!”

Trump announces campaign staff in Iowa

Tuesday 21 February 2023 13:05 , John Bowden

Donald Trump’s campaign on Monday announced the hiring of key staff in Iowa, which is currently set to remain the site of the GOP’s first caucus of 2024.

Among the new hirings was Eric Branstad, son of the state’s former governor, Terry Branstad. The younger Branstad is joining the Trump campaign as a senior adviser.

Trump hits out at ‘boring’ Twitter and Facebook and dismisses his return

Tuesday 21 February 2023 12:35 , Rachel Sharp

On Monday, the former president dismissed his recent return to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram – telling conservative network Real America’s Voice that he has no interest in using the social media platforms.

“I’ve been invited back,” he said.

“It’s waiting, I guess. Twitter has close to 90 million people waiting.”

Mr Trump claimed he can get his message out on his own Truth Social platform.

“But I think I get a very strong word out on Truth, and there’s something very beautiful about it,” he said.

Mr Trump’s accounts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook were suspended after the January 6 Capitol riot, where a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol to try to overturn the election.

Earlier this month – after two years – his accounts were restored.

‘Insane, lying, complete nut’: Fox News stars rejected election conspiracy theories while network pushed them

Tuesday 21 February 2023 12:05 , John Bowden

Top personalities, executives and producers at Fox News privately condemned “reckless” claims from election fraud conspiracy theorists they dismissed as “crazy” and “insane”.

But they were repeatedly invited on air on some of the most-watched cable news programmes in the country, where they amplified bogus statements about the 2020 presidential election and a voting machine company that has accused the network of defamation in a $1.6bn lawsuit.

A 192-page, partially redacted filing in Dominion Voting Systems’s lawsuit against Fox News reveals behind-the-scenes irritation with false claims made by Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, based on text messages, emails and depositions from programme hosts, producers and executives, including owner Rupert Murdoch.

Read more:

How Fox News stars rejected Trump’s election conspiracies while network pushed them

Donald Trump boasts about ‘very good relationship’ with Putin

Tuesday 21 February 2023 11:42 , Rachel Sharp

Donald Trump has boasted about having a “very good relationship” with Russian President Vladimir Putin, just hours after President Joe Biden made a historic visit to Ukraine to mark the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion.

Speaking at a Florida rally on President’s Day on Monday night, Mr Trump once again baselessly claimed that the war would never have happened on his watch.

“Putin never, ever would have gone into Ukraine if I were president. I actually had a very good relationship [with Putin],” he said to a crowd of supporters at the Hilton Palm Beach Airport hotel.

“Remember when [the media] hit me with a question: ‘Who do you trust: … your intelligence people, Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Lisa Page (how about Lisa)? Or Putin?’

“And I said: You know, that could be the toughest question I’ve ever been asked as a politician. And then when I really didn’t give them a very good answer in terms of exactness … oh, all hell broke loose

“. But that’s okay, you know, that’s okay. And it turned out I was right. I was right about that, too.”

Back in 2018, Mr Trump appeared to side with Mr Putin over the US’s own intelligence agencies when they revealed that Russia had meddled in the 2016 election.

Fox News blocked Trump from on-air call during the Capitol riot because it would be ‘irresponsible’

Tuesday 21 February 2023 11:05 , John Bowden

Fox News blocked Donald Trump from making an on-air call to the right-wing news channel during the January 6 attack by his supporters on the US Capitol.

Mr Trump called into the Lou Dobbs shown Fox Business after the fatal riot, according to court filings in the $1.6bn defamation case brought by Dominion Voting Systems against the network.

“The afternoon of January 6, after the Capitol came under attack, then-President Trump dialed into Lou Dobbs’ show attempting to get on air,” Dominion lawyers wrote in their legal brief.

“But Fox executives vetoed that decision,” Dominion’s filing continued. “Why? Not because of a lack of newsworthiness. January 6 was an important event by any measure. President Trump not only was the sitting President, he was the key figure that day.”

Read more:

Fox News blocked Trump from on-air call during the Capitol riot

Bernie Sanders calls Nikki Haley’s demand for politicians over 75 to take mental competency tests ‘absurd’

Tuesday 21 February 2023 10:05 , John Bowden

Bernie Sanders has slammed Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley’s suggestion that politicians over the age of 75 should receive a mental competency test - calling it “absurd”.

Haley, 51, made the demand as she launched her campaign to win the GOP nomination and criticised 76-year-old Donald Trump and 80-year-old Joe Biden.

But Mr Sanders, who himself is 81, refuted the idea as he appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday morning.

Read more:

Bernie Sanders calls Nikki Haley’s demand for mental competency tests ‘absurd’

Trump ridiculed for pretending he has been ‘exonerated’ by Georgia grand jury over his bid to overturn election

Tuesday 21 February 2023 09:05 , John Bowden

Donald Trump took to Truth Social to claim that he had received a “total exoneration” from the Georgia grand jury investigating his attempt to overturn the 2020 election results in the state.

“Thank you to the Special Grand Jury in the Great State of Georgia for your Patriotism & Courage. Total exoneration. The USA is very proud of you!!!” Mr Trump wrote on Thursday.

“The long awaited important sections of the Georgia report, which do not even mention President Trump’s name, have nothing to do with the President because President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong,” he claimed. “The President participated in two perfect phone calls regarding election integrity in Georgia, which he is entitled to do - in fact, as President, it was President Trump’s Constitutional duty to ensure election safety, security, and integrity.”

“Between the two calls, there were many officials and attorneys on the line, including the Secretary of State of Georgia, and no one objected, even slightly protested, or hung up. President Trump will always keep fighting for true and honest elections in America!” he wrote.

Read more:

Trump ridiculed for pretending he has been ‘exonerated’ by Georgia grand jury

Romney, outspoken about his own party, weighs reelection run

Tuesday 21 February 2023 08:05 , John Bowden

He twice voted in favor of convicting former President Donald Trump in impeachment trials. He excoriated his fellow senators who objected to certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. He even scolded New York Rep. George Santos for his audacity in grabbing a prominent seat at the State of the Union speech after admitting to fabricating much of his biography.

After four years in Washington, Republican Mitt Romney has established himself as a rare senator willing to publicly rebuke members of his own party.

But the Utah senator’s outspoken stances, along with his willingness to work with Democrats, have angered some Republicans in the deep-red state he represents and led them to cast about for someone to try to dethrone him a primary race next year.

The 75-year-old said he hasn’t made a decision on whether to run for reelection in 2024 and doesn’t expect to until the start of summer.

“I’m sort of keeping my mind open,” Romney said in an interview. “There’s no particular hurry. I’m doing what I would do if I’m running with staffing and resources, so it’s not like I have to make a formal announcement.”

Read more:

Romney, outspoken about his own party, weighs reelection run

The biggest revelations from Dominion’s Fox News lawsuit filing

Tuesday 21 February 2023 07:05 , John Bowden

Fox News is facing a $1.6bn defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems, a Denver-based manufacturer of voting machines, over its coverage of the 2020 presidential election and then-president Donald Trump’s bogus claims that the contest was “rigged” to ensure victory for Joe Biden.

In a 192-page court filing published on Thursday containing private messages from many of Fox’s biggest stars, Dominion argues: “From the top down, Fox knew ‘the Dominion stuff’ was ‘total bs’.”

“Yet despite knowing the truth – or at minimum, recklessly disregarding that truth – Fox spread and endorsed these ‘outlandish voter fraud claims’ about Dominion even as it internally recognised the lies as ‘crazy’, ‘absurd’ and ‘shockingly reckless’,” the filing said.

Attorneys for Fox, however, have argued that Dominion has advanced only “novel defamation theories” and is seeking a “staggering” figure in damages aimed at winning headlines, silencing protected speech and enriching its owner, Staple Street Capital Partners, and its investors.

A Fox spokesperson said in a statement in response to Thursday’s filing: “There will be a lot of noise and confusion generated by Dominion and their opportunistic private equity owners, but the core of this case remains about freedom of the press and freedom of speech, which are fundamental rights afforded by the Constitution and protected by New York Times v Sullivan.”

A five-week trial is scheduled to begin on 17 April.

Here, The Independent’s Joe Sommerlad gives a brief overview of some of the most astonishing claims in the new filing, which collects private text messages from prominent anchors like Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham and owner Rupert Murdoch discussing coverage of the 2020 election’s aftermath:

The biggest revelations from Dominion’s Fox News lawsuit filing

Kari Lake suffers another defeat in Arizona

Tuesday 21 February 2023 06:05 , John Bowden

Former Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake suffered another legal defeat when the Arizona Court of Appeals rejected her attempt to overturn November’s election results.

Ms Lake, whom former president Donald Trump endorsed, refused to concede to Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs.

Like Mr Trump, the former news anchor has claimed election fraud and sought to have the election results overturned.

But Chief Judge Kent Cattani issued the ruling saying the court found no such evidence of fraud.

Read more:

Kari Lake suffers court defeat in baseless bid to overturn Arizona election results

Trump announces campaign staff in Iowa

Tuesday 21 February 2023 05:05 , John Bowden

Donald Trump’s campaign on Monday announced the hiring of key staff in Iowa, which is currently set to remain the site of the GOP’s first caucus of 2024.

Among the new hirings was Eric Branstad, son of the state’s former governor, Terry Branstad. The younger Branstad is joining the Trump campaign as a senior adviser.

‘So insulting’: Marjorie Taylor Greene and GOP hardliners slam Biden’s trip to Ukraine

Tuesday 21 February 2023 04:05 , John Bowden

Hardline Republican members of Congress including Marjorie Taylor Greene blasted President Joe Biden’s visit to Ukraine as he met with the nation’s president Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday, arguing that it showed the president’s misplaced priorities.

Ms Greene and many other Republicans have frequently criticised US support for Ukraine. When Russian President Vladimir Putin began his onslaught on Ukraine a year ago, Democrats controlled the House of Representatives. Many Republicans in the Senate and in the House Republican conference voted for military assistance to Ukraine, and have vowed to continue that support in the new Congress.

Eric Garcia has more:

Marjorie Taylor Greene and GOP hardliners slam Biden’s surprise trip to Ukraine