Trump news - live: Judge rules Trump can be questioned in lawsuit as DOJ moves to force Pence to testify

A judge ruled on Thursday that former president Donald Trump will have to answer questions from attorneys representing two former FBI employees who are seeking redress for what they characterise as unfair retaliation against them for having investigated alleged ties between Mr Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Russian government.

In a short, 277 word ruling issued through the US District Court for the District of Columbia’s electronic filing system, Judge Amy Berman Jackson said attorneys for former FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and ex-FBI attorney Lisa Page can depose Mr Trump and FBI Director Christopher Wray under oath and declined to grant Department of Justice motions to quash subpoenas for testimony from both the FBI director and the twice-impeached ex-president.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department has officially moved to ask a federal judge to force former Vice President Mike Pence to submit testimony for the agency’s probe into January 6 and Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election.

Mr Trump spent the day Wednesday visiting the site of the Ohio train derailment in East Palestine on Wednesday, meeting with local officials and members of the community and assuring them they would not be “forgotten” while attacking the Biden administration’s “indifferent” response to the disastrous chemical spill in their town.

Key Points

• Trump visits East Palestine and assures residents they will not be ‘forgotten’

• Ex-president rebukes Biden for ‘indifference’ towards disaster

• Special counsel subpoenas Ivanka and Jared Kushner

• DoJ moves to force Mike Pence to testify

• Judge orders Trump to testify in case brought by two ex-FBI agents

Who is Fani Willis, the Georgia prosecutor who could take down Trump?

22:00 , Alex Woodward

A damning phone call between Donald Trump and Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger was published by The Washington Post late at night on 3 January, 2021.

Hours later, Fani Willis would walk into her first day on the job as Fulton County’s district attorney, an office that is now spearheading a criminal investigation into the former presdient, with the phone call serving as a central piece of evidence against him.

The district attorney with a long history of targeting organised crime now has the former president in her sights.

Who is Fani Willis, the Georgia prosecutor who could take down Trump

Why Trump’s phone call seeking to overturn Georgia election results was so damaging

21:00 , Alex Woodward

A grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, has recommended multiple criminal charges as a result of an investigation into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.

The Independent’s John Bowden looks at why the call was so damaging for Trump and bogus claims of election fraud that have fuelled his attempts to cling to power and his 2024 campaign:

Why Trump’s phone call seeking to overturn Georgia election results was so damaging

Trump wants to ‘knock heads’ and tell Putin and Zelensky things ‘they’re not going to want to hear’ to end war in Ukraine

20:49 , Alex Woodward

On the one-year anniversary of Russia’s ongoing assault in Ukraine, Donald Trump claimed that ending the war means getting “people in a room” to “knock heads”.

He also said that both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky need to hear things that neither leader wants to hear.

“You have to get people in a room, you have to knock heads,” he said on an appearance on right-wing personality Glenn Beck’s radio program on Friday. “That would mean saying things to Putin, saying things to Zelensky that they’re not going to want to hear.”

He also repeated his claim that the war would not have happened if he was in office – “zero chance of it happening” – and that the world is headed towards World War III.

“That’s on thing that’s going to happen,” he said.

Marjorie Taylor Greene wants a congressional ‘audit’ of US spending in Ukraine

20:43 , Alex Woodward

Far-right congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene announced on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News program on Thursday that she will re-introduce a resolution to audit all spending for the war in Ukraine on its one-year anniversary.

National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby dismissed the resolution, saying there had been no indication that any of the resources or weapons and capabilities provided to Ukraine had been misused, stolen, sold on the black market or captured by Russia.

Marjorie Taylor Greene uses Ukraine anniversary to demand Congress audit war spending

DeSantis campaign cash war chest could give him boost over Trump

20:30 , Alex Woodward

The massive war chest Ron DeSantis hoarded during his successful bid for reelection last year would catapult him into a significant fundraising lead were he to announce his candidacy for president in the coming weeks.

The Florida governor reportedly has roughly $75m squirreled away in a bank account belonging to his state-level campaign committee. As of last week, the amount reported in the coffers of Friends of Ron DeSantis – the name of his 2022 campaign committee – was $74,832,648, according to Florida Division of Elections data.

That number is far more than two potential rivals for the GOP nomination, ex-South Carolina governor Nikki Haley and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

A theoretical DeSantis Super PAC would have $14m more at its disposal than the combined $61m in Donald Trump’s combined campaign coffers.

DeSantis campaign cash war chest could give him boost over Trump

Judge rejects media requests to unseal Trump Jan 6 documents

20:00 , Alex Woodward

A federal judge has rejected a legal bid from The New York Times and Politico for access to documents to shed light on Trump’s attempts to block testimony from his aides to a grand jury probing the former president’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

A ruling from US District Court Judge Beryl Howell in Washington DC on Thursday said that a federal court rule protecting grand jury secrecy prohibited the release of filings about disputes that were ruled on behind closed doors.

“Accordingly, [the rule] does not permit such disclosure, at least for now and perhaps forever, and so petitioners’ applications are denied,” the judge wrote.

“The continued secrecy of certain details about that investigation is required for the sake of grand jury witnesses and the government’s investigation,” she added.

The request from the news outlets argued that the public interest in the grand jury investigation outweighed the need for secrecy. Their argument was opposed by the US Department of Justice amid the agency’s ongoing investigation into attempts to subvert the outcome of the 2020 election.

Mike Lindell wants to sue Kevin McCarthy over Jan 6 footage provided to Tucker Carlson

19:30 , Alex Woodward

Pillow salesman and election fraud conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell says he wants to sue Kevin McCarthy after the Republican House Speaker announced plans to exclusively provide Fox News personality Tucker Carlson with footage from the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January, 2021.

During an appearance on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast on Thursday, Mr Lindell alleged that the congressman violated the First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment.

Mr Lindell’s streaming service Lindell-TV is “injured by not having access” to the footage and providing it exclusively to another network amounts to unconstitutional discrimination, he claimed.

“We’re not gonna sit back and let that happen,” Mr Lindell said. “Why does just Fox get this? So they can cover it up even more? It’s disgusting. All of us, including War Room, we all need to see what’s on those tapes, and we need to see all of them.”

Full story: Trump accused of ‘shell game with classified documents’ after box moved around

19:00 , Alex Woodward

Justice Department investigators are scrutinising how the actions of Donald Trump and at least one of his longtime aides may have kept a box containing documents with classification markings from being discovered during a search of his Florida property by FBI agents.

The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg explains:

Trump accused of ‘shell game with classified documents’ after box moved around

Just in: Is Trump playing a ‘shell game’ with the Mar-a-Lago probe?

18:24 , Alex Woodward

The US Department of Justice is investigating how a box with classified records with copies of presidential schedules wound up at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago property last year, despite previous searches from federal agents and aides, CNN has reported.

Investigators working under special counsel Jack Smith have reportedly interviewed an aide to Donald Trump who copied classified materials found in the box using her phone to put them onto a laptop. Prosecutors subpoenaed the password to the laptop, which she provided, according to an unnamed source speaking with CNN.

Trump’s legal team has acknowledged that they turned over the box and a laptop to investigators, but federal prosecutors want to know why they weren’t provided earlier, and whether Trump or any of his associates knew about the items or their movements, CNN said.

The network quoted one person suggesting that the former president could be playing a “shell game with classified documents.”

Judge tosses out ethics case against Sidney Powell

18:00 , Alex Woodward

A judge in Texas has dismissed a petition from the state’s bar alleging that election-denying attorney Sidney Powell had violated legal ethics rules with her work to overturn 2020 presidential election results on behalf of Donald Trump.

Judge Andrea Bouressa said the commission had not met its burden to prove that Ms Powell had violated the state’s attorney code of conduct.

Similar proceedings have targeted other Trump-connected attorneys, including Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, the latter of whom was hit with 11 charges stemming from his spurious legal efforts fuelled by the former president’s election lies.

Here’s how that case played out:

California state bar seeking to strip John Eastman’s law licence over election lies

Trump complains beloved Fox News is now ‘woefully derelict’ in covering him

17:15 , Alex Woodward

The former president has shared a “viewership report” asserting that his formerly beloved Fox News is now “woefully derelict” in covering him.

The “report,” which appeared to have been put together for him, claimed that more than 144 million social media users saw content about his trip to Ohio and that more than 34 million people consumed coverage on traditional media.

Trump complains beloved Fox News is now ‘woefully derelict’ in covering him

Has Trump’s ‘giggling’ Georgia grand jury foreperson Emily Kohrs blown the case?

16:45 , Alex Woodward

Emily Kohrs raised more than a few eyebrows with a surprise media tour in the wake of her service on Fulton County’s grand jury investigating Donald Trump’s election interference in the state.

But experts tell The Independent that fears of the case being compromised were overblown.

John Bowden reports:

Has Trump’s ‘giggling’ Georgia grand jury foreperson blown the case?

Trump brags about bringing ‘Trump water’ to families affected by Ohio train derailment

16:15 , Alex Woodward

During his trip to Ohio, the former president was flanked by local officials as he noted that he was “bringing water, Trump water, actually, most of it”, to families in the region. It couldn’t immediately be verified what percentage of the bottles donated by the president were branded with his own name.

“Some of it, we had to go to a much lesser quality water,” he said.

Trump brags about bringing ‘Trump water’ to families affected by Ohio derailment

‘Pure political theater’: Lincoln Project overshadow Trump’s Ohio visit with video highlighting rail safety hypocrisy

15:40 , Alex Woodward

A political advocacy group run by former Republicans opposed to Donald Trump’s grip on the party have led criticism of the former president’s trip to East Palestine, Ohio as “pure political theatre,” highlighting the fact that his administration rolled back train rules that officials said would have improved rail safety.

Lincoln Project overshadow Trump Ohio visit with video on rail safety hypocrisy

Donald Trump Jr attacked for ‘unvarnished homophobia’ in comments about Pete Buttigieg

14:45 , Alex Woodward

Donald Trump Jr joined a chorus of left and right voices criticising Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg after a major train derailment, but unlike others found himself fixated on the secretary’s sexuality.

During a Newsmax interview this week, the son of the twice-impeached former president went on a tirade against Mr Buttigieg and insisted that the former South Bend mayor was named to his position as a diversity hire.

A video of Mr Trump Jr making the remarks was viewed hundreds of thousands of times.

The Independent’s John Bowden reports:

Don Jr under fire for ‘unvarnished homophobia’ in comments about Pete Buttigieg

Why Trump’s comments on Ukraine matter

14:20 , Alex Woodward

Good morning in America.

When Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Donald Trump was no longer president, and both Democrats and Republicans united in their fulsome support to aid Ukraine’s defence. In 2022 alone, Congress appropriated more than $112bn in military and economic support for the country as it fended off the Russian attack.

But the former president is gearing up to run again in 2024, and is considered the favourite to win the Republican nomination. Where does he stand on Ukraine today, one year into the war? And what has he said about the conflict over the past year?

The Independent’s Richard Hall writes:

What Trump has said about Ukraine, and why it matters

Buttigieg team complains of ‘aggressive’ conservative media in East Palestine

14:05 , Joe Sommerlad

The aforementioned US transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg visited East Palestine, Ohio, on Thursday - one day after Mr Trump - to inspect the cleanup after the 3 February Norfolk Southern train derailment and chemical spill.

It was not an entirely comfortable encounter, with Mr Buttigieg’s team forced at one point to ask a group of conservative media workers to stop acting “aggressive” towards him and to stop filming their interactions.

Graig Graziosi has more.

Pete Buttigieg’s team calls right-wing activists in Ohio ‘aggressive’ during visit

Jan 6 rioter who posted ‘assassinate AOC’ after storming Capitol sentenced to three years in prison

13:35 , Joe Sommerlad

A man who “looked forward” to combating “soft” people in Washington, DC, on 6 January 2021 and called to “assassinate” New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been sentenced to three years in prison for charges connected to the attack on the US Capitol.

Garret Miller of Richardson, Texas, was sentenced to 38 months in prison on 22 February after pleading guilty in December to nine counts, including assaulting a police officer, three counts of interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder and making an interstate threat to injure or kidnap.

Miller – who was “obsessed” with bogus 2020 presidential election conspiracy theories – brought a rope, a grappling hook and other materials he called “riot gear” when he traveled to Washington, according to the US Department of Justice.

He posted threats to “multiple people” on his social media accounts targeting New York senator Chuck Schumer, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and now-former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, according to court documents.

Alex Woodward has more.

Jan 6 rioter who posted ‘assassinate AOC’ sentenced to three years in prison

Tucker Carlson echoes Kremlin propaganda on Crimea

13:05 , Joe Sommerlad

Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson attacked the Biden administration while parroting Russian propaganda on the eve of the one-year anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Calling the peninsula the “Russian port of Crimea”, the host suggested the US government’s goal has changed to taking the port back from Moscow.

“The world is laughing, the adults are laughing. and in this country it’s a measure of our media’s total corruption that no one ever asks anyone in the Biden administration what the United States is hoping to accomplish in Ukraine,” he said.

“Now, the original answer was, well, to push Russia back to where it was a year ago before it invaded Ukraine and that seemed like a reasonable and measurable objective. The public seemed behind that.

“Then, without fanfare or even official notice, the goal changed and became taking the Russian port of Crimea just because it would be nice to have that. Always, wanted it. Why not take it now.”

Urgh. Alisha Rahaman Sarkar has more.

Tucker Carlson confusingly tries to echo Kremlin propaganda

Republicans set opening presidential debate for August

12:35 , Joe Sommerlad

The opening Republican presidential debate of the 2024 election season will take place in Milwaukee this August, the Republican National Committee announced on Thursday.

Here’s what else we know about the event at this stage.

Republicans set opening presidential debate for August

Biden approval rating climbs as Trump sees falling support, poll finds

12:05 , John Bowden

The president’s approval rating is the highest it has been in almost a year while Mr Trump is falling in the estimation of Republicans, a new poll has found.

The NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll was conducted last week following Joe Biden’s State of the Union address and included more than 1,300 people.

The survey reveals not just Mr Biden’s improved performance but also that a majority of potential GOP primary voters would prefer someone other than Mr Trump as their nominee, so far only Nikki Haley has confirmed she will run but Florida governor Ron DeSantis is thought to be waiting in the wings.

Here’s more from Gustaf Kilander.

Biden approval rating climbs as Trump sees falling support, poll finds

Don Jr hit for ‘unvarnished homophobia’ in comments about Pete Buttigieg

11:35 , Joe Sommerlad

The former president’s eldest and loudest son, Donald Trump Jr, joined the chorus of left and right voices criticising transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg this week over the Ohio train derailment but, unlike others, found himself fixated on the secretary’s sexuality.

During a Newsmax interview this week, Don Jr went on a tirade against Mr Buttigieg and insisted that the former South Bend mayor was named to his position as a diversity hire.

Here’s John Bowden on the inevitable (and deserved) backlash.

Don Jr under fire for ‘unvarnished homophobia’ in comments about Pete Buttigieg

Steve Bannon sued by own lawyers over unpaid legal fees

11:05 , John Bowden

Steven Bannon, the former Trump White House strategist turned convicted felon and conservative podcaster, has been sued by the law firm that represented him in numerous state and federal proceedings over the last few years over unpaid legal fees totaling more than $480,000.

Mr Bannon was accused in a civil complaint filed last week of only paying $375,000 of the $855,487.87 in legal fees he racked up while defending himself from fraud charges stemming from a privately-funded campaign to build stretches of border fencing along the US-Mexico border. The case was dismissed upon Mr Bannon’s last-minute pardon by Donald Trump.

Read more from Andrew Feinberg:

Steve Bannon sued by own lawyers over unpaid legal fees

Sarah Palin tells DeSantis not to run as Trump allies grow concerned over 2024 rival

10:35 , Joe Sommerlad

Florida governor Ron DeSantis is widely seen as the top Republican contender to take on Donald Trump for the party’s 2024 nomination, but another high-profile GOP state leader is advising Mr DeSantis to hold off for now.

Former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin says Mr DeSantis should wait “a bit longer” and stay out of the 2024 race.

It’s a sign of the growing panic among allies of Donald Trump who fear that Ron DeSantis will be able to do what Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich failed to do in 2016: Defeat Donald Turmp in a GOP primary.

Read more:

Sarah Palin tells DeSantis not to run in 2024 as Trump camp wobbles

Trump claims Kyiv air raid sirens during Biden visit were ‘staged’

10:05 , Joe Sommerlad

Here’s a little more fresh lunacy courtesy of the Big Man over on the Truth Social.

“The sirens that went off in Ukraine during Biden’s speech were STAGED, FAKE, PHONY. He knew it, and so did everyone else. Scam!,” he writes, utterly baselessly.

Trump rages at ‘extremely energetic’ Georgia grand jury foreperson over ‘Media rampage’

09:41 , Joe Sommerlad

Donald Trump has been busy raging away on his Truth Social app about Emily Kohrs, the foreperson of the Georgia grand jury that investigated his election subversion attempts, calling her “an extremely energetic young woman” going on a “Media rampage” as part of “a strictly political continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt of all time”, dismissing her interview tour as “ridiculous”.

In an initial post, he wrote: “This Georgia case is ridiculous, a strictly political continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt of all time. Now you have an extremely energetic young woman, the (get this!) “foreperson” of the Racist D.A.’s Special Grand Jury, going around and doing a Media Tour revealing, incredibly, the Grand Jury’s inner workings & thoughts. This is not JUSTICE, this is an illegal Kangaroo Court. Atlanta is leading the Nation in Murder and other Violent Crimes. All I did is make TWO PERFECT PHONE CALLS!!!”

The veteran keyboard warrior then returned to the matter (unable, as ever, to let anything go), writing: “Just to make every one of those people suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome feel better, it doesn’t really matter that the jury foreperson went on a Media rampage, thereby badly tainting the case and making it impossible to bring, because I did absolutely NOTHING WRONG! Two perfect phone calls on Election Integrity, that’s it! The D.A. should go after the murderers and other violent criminals in Atlanta, one of the most dangerous cities in the World, and leave honest people alone!”

Justice Department asks judge to force Mike Pence to give evidence in Trump probe

09:05 , John Bowden

The DoJ on Thursday moved to ask a judge to compel former Vice President Mike Pence to testify before a grand jury impaneled in Washington DC to hear evidence related to the January 6 attack and the effort by Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 election.

Mr Pence has indicated that he will resist requests for his testimony, citing his privilege as president of the Senate, one of the roles of the former vice president. The Justice Department has for months been collecting evidence related to the White House’s role in January 6 and recently appointed a special counsel to determine if Mr Trump, who is once again running for president, will face any criminal charges.

Read more in The Independent:

Justice Department asks judge to force Mike Pence to give evidence in Trump probe

Judge rules Trump must offer testimony in case brought by Peter Strzok and Lisa Page

08:05 , John Bowden

Former president Donald Trump will have to answer questions from attorneys representing two former FBI employees who are seeking redress for what they characterise as unfair retaliation against them for having investigated alleged ties between Mr Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Russian government.

In a short, 277 word ruling issued through the US District Court for the District of Columbia’s electronic filing system, Judge Amy Berman Jackson said attorneys for former FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and ex-FBI attorney Lisa Page can depose Mr Trump and FBI Director Christopher Wray under oath and declined to grant Department of Justice motions to quash subpoenas for testimony from both the FBI director and the twice-impeached ex-president.

Follow along with The Independent for more updates.

Trump ordered to give evidence in lawsuit by ex-FBI figures he targeted

DeSantis campaign cash war chest could give him boost over Trump

07:05 , John Bowden

The massive war chest Florida Governor Ron DeSantis hoarded during his successful bid for reelection last year would catapult him into a significant fundraising lead were he to announce his candidacy for president in the coming weeks.

The Florida governor reportedly has roughly $75m squirreled away in a bank account belonging to his state-level campaign committee, according to HuffPost.

That number is far more than two potential rivals for the GOP nomination, ex-South Carolina governor Nikki Haley and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

It could even be a sum with the power to challenge the fundraising juggernaut that Donald Trump amassed between 2016-2020 and has maintained since leaving office.

Read more:

DeSantis campaign cash war chest could give him boost over Trump

Biden attacks, McDonald's and gaffes galore: Inside Trump’s tour of Ohio’s tragic derailment site

06:05 , Joe Sommerlad

Here’s Andrew Feinberg’s account of Wednesday’s events, from an inevitable trip to McDonald’s during a solemn visit to a disaster site to the former commander-in-chief handing out branded mineral water bottles from the springs of Mar-a-Lago.

Biden attacks, McDonald’s and gaffes: Trump tours Ohio’s tragic train derailment site

Inside the Trump grand jury that probed election meddling

05:05 , John Bowden

The members of a grand jury impaneled to investigate Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia new early on that their case was “a big freaking deal”.

Dive in to the behind-the-scenes and read this exclusive interview with Emily Kohrs, the grand jury foreperson:

Inside the Trump grand jury that probed election meddling

New questions raised about Herschel Walker’s fundraising

04:05 , John Bowden

The Daily Beast reported on Thursday that Trump-endorsed failed Senate candidate Herschel Walker may have violated the law by soliciting campaign donations for a recount effort that never took place.

Mr Walker was propped up by the former president throughout 2022 despite it being clear that he had little understanding of political issues and his troubled past, which included abuse allegations.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

Georgia grand jury foreperson laughs when told Trump claims he’s been ‘exonerated’

03:05 , John Bowden

We think that headline speaks volumes, but here’s Maroosha Muzaffar with the details.

Asked about the former president’s exoneration claims by CNN, Emily Kohrs answered: “Did he really say that? Oh, that’s fantastic. That’s phenomenal. I love it.”

Georgia grand jury foreperson laughs when told Trump claims he’s been ‘exonerated’

Has Trump’s ‘giggling’ Georgia grand jury foreperson blown the case?

02:05 , John Bowden

Emily Kohrs raised more than a few eyebrows with a surprise media tour in the wake of her service on Fulton County’s grand jury investigating Donald Trump’s election interference in the state.

Ms Kohrs found herself the subject of surprising criticism this week after she gave a series of interviews to journalists at major media outlets around the country, all regarding her service as foreperson on the grand jury hearing evidence in the case of Mr Trump’s effort to overturn his 2020 defeat in Georgia.

But legal experts who spoke to The Independent’s John Bowden say there’s more to the story than the whinging of cable news:

Has Trump’s ‘giggling’ Georgia grand jury foreperson blown the case?

‘Pure political theater’: Lincoln Project overshadow Trump’s Ohio visit with video highlighting rail safety hypocrisy

01:05 , John Bowden

The conservative anti-Trump group Lincoln Project hit Donald Trump over his administration’s record on freigh rail safety this week as the former president attempted to capitalise on growing calls for Joe Biden or other top administration officials to visit the site of a major train derailment in Ohio.

“Donald Trump spent four years demolishing rail safety protections at the expense of the health and safety of average Americans. His trip to East Palestine, Ohio today is pure political theatre & a sad attempt to mask his failures as a President. We won’t let him,” the group wrote in the video’s caption.

Watch the ad below, and read more about the former president’s visit to Ohio in The Independent:

Lincoln Project overshadow Trump Ohio visit with video on rail safety hypocrisy

Special counsel subpoenas Ivanka and Jared Kushner

00:05 , John Bowden

We’ll come back to Ohio in a moment but yesterday’s other big news from Trumpworld was that Mr Trump’s favourite daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, have been subpoenaed by special counsel Jack Smith investigating the events of 6 January 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters raided the US Capitol wrongly believing the 2020 election to have been rigged against the Republican.

Eric Garcia has the latest on this one:

Special counsel subpoenas Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump

Thursday 23 February 2023 23:05 , John Bowden

For Indy Voices, Andrew Buncombe says that the current occupant of the Oval Office should indeed have been looking on with concern.

“A day after Biden earned widespread plaudits for covertly travelling to Kyiv and appearing with Ukraine’s wartime leader ahead of the anniversary of Russia’s invasion, he and Democrats were reminded again both of Mr Trump’s opportunism and his skills as a pugilistic on-the-ground campaigner.”

Read more:

Why Joe Biden should be worried about Trump’s trip to Ohio

Biden attacks, McDonald's and gaffes galore: Inside Trump’s tour of Ohio’s tragic derailment site

Thursday 23 February 2023 22:35 , John Bowden

Here’s Andrew Feinberg’s account of Wednesday’s events, from an inevitable trip to McDonald’s during a solemn visit to a disaster site to the former commander-in-chief handing out branded minerla water bottles from the springs of Mar-a-Lago.

Biden attacks, McDonald’s and gaffes: Trump tours Ohio’s tragic train derailment site

Biden approval rating climbs as Trump sees falling support, poll finds

Thursday 23 February 2023 22:05 , John Bowden

The president’s approval rating is the highest it has been in almost a year while Mr Trump is falling in the estimation of Republicans, a new poll has found.

The NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll was conducted last week following Joe Biden’s State of the Union address and included more than 1,300 people.

The survey reveals not just Mr Biden’s improved performance but also that a majority of potential GOP primary voters would prefer someone other than Mr Trump as their nominee, so far only Nikki Haley has confirmed she will run but Florida governor Ron DeSantis is thought to be waiting in the wings.

Here’s more from Gustaf Kilander.

Biden approval rating climbs as Trump sees falling support, poll finds

Judge rules Trump must offer testimony in case brought by Peter Strzok and Lisa Page

Thursday 23 February 2023 21:26 , John Bowden

Former president Donald Trump will have to answer questions from attorneys representing two former FBI employees who are seeking redress for what they characterise as unfair retaliation against them for having investigated alleged ties between Mr Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Russian government.

In a short, 277 word ruling issued through the US District Court for the District of Columbia’s electronic filing system, Judge Amy Berman Jackson said attorneys for former FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok and ex-FBI attorney Lisa Page can depose Mr Trump and FBI Director Christopher Wray under oath and declined to grant Department of Justice motions to quash subpoenas for testimony from both the FBI director and the twice-impeached ex-president.

Follow along with The Independent for more updates.

Trump ordered to give evidence in lawsuit by ex-FBI figures he targeted

Trump returns to Rust Belt to fire up his 2024 battle plan

Thursday 23 February 2023 21:05 , John Bowden

The growing conservatism of Rust Belt America, the heartland of the country’s manufacturing power, has often been overlooked as an important factor explaining Mr Trump’s election win in 2016, with liberal analysts more inclined to dwell on Hillary Clinton’s failings or the role of Russian election meddling, both of which no doubt also played their part.

But it was here where progressives and MAGA Republicans diagnosed the same problem: an entire region, spurned once too often by the shuttering of massive plants and the resulting regional economic collapses that followed, had turned towards the only politician unwilling to dismiss them as “flyover country” – Donald Trump.

Here’s John Bowden on the former president’s latest attempt to revive the old fervour.

At the site of the Ohio train derailment, Trump fires up his 2024 battle plan

Special counsel subpoenas Ivanka and Jared Kushner

Thursday 23 February 2023 20:35 , John Bowden

We’ll come back to Ohio in a moment but yesterday’s other big news from Trumpworld was that Mr Trump’s favourite daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, have been subpoenaed by special counsel Jack Smith investigating the events of 6 January 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters raided the US Capitol wrongly believing the 2020 election to have been rigged against the Republican.

Eric Garcia has the latest on this one too.

Special counsel subpoenas Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump

Trump vows that East Palestine residents will not be ‘forgotten'

Thursday 23 February 2023 20:04 , John Bowden

Former president Donald Trump visited the site of the train derailment in East Palestine near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border on Wednesday, meeting with local officials and members of the community and assuring them they would not be “forgotten”.

Mr Trump also donated thousands of gallons of cleaning supplies and water to support the cleanup effort and bought a McDonald’s lunch for firefighters

Here’s a recap from IndyTV.

Justice Department asks judge to force Mike Pence to give evidence in Trump probe

Thursday 23 February 2023 19:18 , John Bowden

The DoJ on Thursday moved to ask a judge to compel former Vice President Mike Pence to testify before a grand jury impaneled in Washington DC to hear evidence related to the January 6 attack and the effort by Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 election.

Mr Pence has indicated that he will resist requests for his testimony, citing his privilege as president of the Senate, one of the roles of the former vice president. The Justice Department has for months been collecting evidence related to the White House’s role in January 6 and recently appointed a special counsel to determine if Mr Trump, who is once again running for president, will face any criminal charges.

Read more in The Independent:

Justice Department asks judge to force Mike Pence to give evidence in Trump probe

Sarah Palin tells DeSantis not to run as Trump allies grow concerned over 2024 rival

Thursday 23 February 2023 18:05 , John Bowden

Florida governor Ron DeSantis is widely seen as the top Republican contender to take on Donald Trump for the party’s 2024 nomination, but another high-profile GOP state leader is advising Mr DeSantis to hold off for now.

Former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin says Mr DeSantis should wait “a bit longer” and stay out of the 2024 race.

It’s a sign of the growing panic among allies of Donald Trump who fear that Ron DeSantis will be able to do what Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich failed to do in 2016: Defeat Donald Turmp in a GOP primary.

Read more:

Sarah Palin tells DeSantis not to run in 2024 as Trump camp wobbles

Steve Bannon sued by own lawyers over unpaid legal fees

Thursday 23 February 2023 17:37 , John Bowden

Steven Bannon, the former Trump White House strategist turned convicted felon and conservative podcaster, has been sued by the law firm that represented him in numerous state and federal proceedings over the last few years over unpaid legal fees totaling more than $480,000.

Mr Bannon was accused in a civil complaint filed last week of only paying $375,000 of the $855,487.87 in legal fees he racked up while defending himself from fraud charges stemming from a privately-funded campaign to build stretches of border fencing along the US-Mexico border. The case was dismissed upon Mr Bannon’s last-minute pardon by Donald Trump.

Read more from Andrew Feinberg:

Steve Bannon sued by own lawyers over unpaid legal fees

DeSantis campaign cash war chest could give him boost over Trump

Thursday 23 February 2023 17:06 , John Bowden

The massive war chest Florida Governor Ron DeSantis hoarded during his successful bid for reelection last year would catapult him into a significant fundraising lead were he to announce his candidacy for president in the coming weeks.

The Florida governor reportedly has roughly $75m squirreled away in a bank account belonging to his state-level campaign committee, according to HuffPost.

That number is far more than two potential rivals for the GOP nomination, ex-South Carolina governor Nikki Haley and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

It could even be a sum with the power to challenge the fundraising juggernaut that Donald Trump amassed between 2016-2020 and has maintained since leaving office.

Read more:

DeSantis campaign cash war chest could give him boost over Trump

New questions raised about Herschel Walker’s fundraising

Thursday 23 February 2023 16:35 , John Bowden

The Daily Beast reported on Thursday that Trump-endorsed failed Senate candidate Herschel Walker may have violated the law by soliciting campaign donations for a recount effort that never took place.

Mr Walker was propped up by the former president throughout 2022 despite it being clear that he had little understanding of political issues and his troubled past, which included abuse allegations.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

‘Pure political theater’: Lincoln Project overshadow Trump’s Ohio visit with video highlighting rail safety hypocrisy

Thursday 23 February 2023 16:05 , John Bowden

The conservative anti-Trump group Lincoln Project hit Donald Trump over his administration’s record on freigh rail safety this week as the former president attempted to capitalise on growing calls for Joe Biden or other top administration officials to visit the site of a major train derailment in Ohio.

“Donald Trump spent four years demolishing rail safety protections at the expense of the health and safety of average Americans. His trip to East Palestine, Ohio today is pure political theatre & a sad attempt to mask his failures as a President. We won’t let him,” the group wrote in the video’s caption.

Watch the ad below, and read more about the former president’s visit to Ohio in The Independent:

Lincoln Project overshadow Trump Ohio visit with video on rail safety hypocrisy

Inside the Trump grand jury that probed election meddling

Thursday 23 February 2023 15:28 , John Bowden

The members of a grand jury impaneled to investigate Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia new early on that their case was “a big freaking deal”.

Dive in to the behind-the-scenes and read this exclusive interview with Emily Kohrs, the grand jury foreperson:

Inside the Trump grand jury that probed election meddling

Biden approval rating climbs as Trump sees falling support, poll finds

Thursday 23 February 2023 14:15 , Joe Sommerlad

The president’s approval rating is the highest it has been in almost a year while Mr Trump is falling in the estimation of Republicans, a new poll has found.

The NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll was conducted last week following Joe Biden’s State of the Union address and included more than 1,300 people.

The survey reveals not just Mr Biden’s improved performance but also that a majority of potential GOP primary voters would prefer someone other than Mr Trump as their nominee, so far only Nikki Haley has confirmed she will run but Florida governor Ron DeSantis is thought to be waiting in the wings.

Here’s more from Gustaf Kilander.

Biden approval rating climbs as Trump sees falling support, poll finds

Georgia grand jury foreperson laughs when told Trump claims he’s been ‘exonerated’

Thursday 23 February 2023 13:45 , Joe Sommerlad

I think that headline speaks volumes but here’s Maroosha Muzaffar with the details.

Asked about the former president’s exoneration claims by CNN, Emily Kohrs answered: “Did he really say that? Oh, that’s fantastic. That’s phenomenal. I love it.”

Georgia grand jury foreperson laughs when told Trump claims he’s been ‘exonerated’

The Donald brags about bringing ‘Trump water’ to families affected by derailment disaster

Thursday 23 February 2023 13:15 , Joe Sommerlad

Burger expertise was not all he was boasting about in East Palestine.

Here’s John Bowden on a man who has never knowingly missed an opportunity for self-publicity.

Trump brags about bringing ‘Trump water’ to families affected by Ohio derailment

Trump boasts about his knowledge of McDonald’s menu on Ohio tour

Thursday 23 February 2023 12:45 , Joe Sommerlad

President Trump was no stranger to feeding professional athletes Big Macs during his time at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and he was at it again in Ohio on Wednesday.

Here’s Shweta Sharma on his cure for all ills.

Trump boasts about his knowledge of the McDonald’s menu on Ohio tour

Trump returns to Rust Belt to fire up his 2024 battle plan

Thursday 23 February 2023 12:15 , Joe Sommerlad

The growing conservatism of Rust Belt America, the heartland of the country’s manufacturing power, has often been overlooked as an important factor explaining Mr Trump’s election win in 2016, with liberal analysts more inclined to dwell on Hillary Clinton’s failings or the role of Russian election meddling, both of which no doubt also played their part.

But it was here where progressives and MAGA Republicans diagnosed the same problem: an entire region, spurned once too often by the shuttering of massive plants and the resulting regional economic collapses that followed, had turned towards the only politician unwilling to dismiss them as “flyover country” – Donald Trump.

Here’s John Bowden on the former president’s latest attempt to revive the old fervour.

At the site of the Ohio train derailment, Trump fires up his 2024 battle plan

Should Joe Biden be worried by Trump’s trip to Ohio?

Thursday 23 February 2023 11:45 , Joe Sommerlad

For Indy Voices, Andrew Buncombe says that the current occupant of the Oval Office should indeed have been looking on with concern.

“A day after Biden earned widespread plaudits for covertly travelling to Kyiv and appearing with Ukraine’s wartime leader ahead of the anniversary of Russia’s invasion, he and Democrats were reminded again both of Mr Trump’s opportunism and his skills as a pugilistic on-the-ground campaigner.”

Why Joe Biden should be worried about Trump’s trip to Ohio

Biden attacks, McDonald's and gaffes galore: Inside Trump’s tour of Ohio’s tragic derailment site

Thursday 23 February 2023 11:15 , Joe Sommerlad

Here’s Andrew Feinberg’s account of Wednesday’s events, from an inevitable trip to McDonald’s during a solemn visit to a disaster site to the former commander-in-chief handing out branded minerla water bottles from the springs of Mar-a-Lago.

Biden attacks, McDonald’s and gaffes: Trump tours Ohio’s tragic train derailment site

Special counsel subpoenas Ivanka and Jared Kushner

Thursday 23 February 2023 10:45 , Joe Sommerlad

We’ll come back to Ohio in a moment but yesterday’s other big news from Trumpworld was that Mr Trump’s favourite daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, have been subpoenaed by special counsel Jack Smith investigating the events of 6 January 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters raided the US Capitol wrongly believing the 2020 election to have been rigged against the Republican.

Eric Garcia has the latest on this one too.

Special counsel subpoenas Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump

Trump accused of ‘feigning concern’ for residents

Thursday 23 February 2023 10:15 , Joe Sommerlad

For all his efforts, Mr Trump himself was accused of “feigning concern” for the East Palestine locals by Sara Chieffo of the League of Conservative Voters, who called his arrival the “height of hypocrisy” after years of “openly mocking and rolling back environmental safeguards.”

His appearance was also derided as “pure political theatre” by the anti-Trump Republican collective the Lincoln Project.

Here’s Eric Garcia on the latter’s efforts to undermine Mr Trump.

Lincoln Project overshadow Trump Ohio visit with video on rail safety hypocrisy

Ex-president rebukes Biden for ‘indifference’ towards disaster

Thursday 23 February 2023 09:45 , Joe Sommerlad

The former president could not resist launching an attack on his successor in the White House, of course, calling on Joe Biden to “get over here” and said his failure to do so since the accident took place on 3 February had been a sign of “indifference” and “a betrayal”.

You can watch Mr Trump’s speech below.

Trump meets with East Palentine residents impacted by Ohio train derailment

Trump visits East Palestine and assures residents they will not be ‘forgotten’

Thursday 23 February 2023 09:25 , Joe Sommerlad

Former president Donald Trump visited the site of the train derailment in East Palestine near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border on Wednesday, meeting with local officials and members of the community and assuring them they would not be “forgotten”.

Mr Trump also donated thousands of gallons of cleaning supplies and water to support the cleanup effort and bought a McDonald’s lunch for firefighters

Here’s a recap from IndyTV.

Trump accuses government of ‘indifference’ and ‘betrayal’ after Ohio train derailment

Thursday 23 February 2023 09:04 , Joe Sommerlad

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of US presidential candidate Donald Trump, plotting a return to the White House in 2024.