Trump news – live: Trump silent on newly-restored Facebook account as Pence, ex-security advisor subpoenaed
Donald Trump has so far remained silent on his newly-restored Facebook and Instagram accounts – despite the revelation that two of his administration’s top officials have been subpoenaed in special counsel probes investigating the former president.
On Thursday, multiple reports confirmed that Mike Pence has been subpoenaed by special counsel Jack Smith who is in charge of overseeing multiple Department of Justice investigation.
Hours later, it emerged that former national security adviser Robert O’Brien had also been subpoenaed in the investigation into both classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago and the probe into Mr Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The former president is yet to comment on the revelations – which came the same day his Facebook and Instagram accounts were restored.
It has also emerged that Mr Trump has finally offered to hand over his DNA in his upcoming rape trial with E Jean Carroll – but only after the deadline passed to submit evidence in the case.
Attorneys for the former president said last week he had agreed to take a DNA test so that his sample can be compared to a dress Ms Carroll was wearing during the alleged sexual assault.
Key Points
Ex-Twitter staff say Trump White House attempted to get Chrissy Teigen post removed
DeSantis responds to Trump’s ‘defamatory claims'
Trump claims ‘millions and millions’ followed his SOTU commentary
Club for Growth excludes Trump from 2024 donor summit
House Twitter hearing devolves into conspiracy theories and claims of “shadow banning"
Trump ex-lawyer Cohen meets again with New York prosecutors
11:16 , John Bowden
Donald Trump‘s former lawyer Michael Cohen said he was meeting yet again Wednesday with New York City prosecutors who have spent years examining the former president’s financial dealings.
Cohen stopped briefly to talk with reporters as he entered the Manhattan district attorney’s office. He said it was the 15th time he had met with prosecutors.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg recently convened a new grand jury to hear evidence related to payments Cohen helped arrange in 2016 to two women who claimed to have had sexual encounters with Trump.
“I don’t know why I’m here yet. We’ll find out as soon as I get upstairs,” Cohen said.
Cohen was previously one of Trump’s top lieutenants, acting as a liaison with the media and handling some of his legal and business affairs. But after federal prosecutors charged Cohen with tax evasion and criminal campaign finance violations, the two have become enemies.
Read more:
Trump ex-lawyer Cohen meets again with New York prosecutors
Trump remains silent on newly-restored Facebook and Instagram
10:45 , Rachel Sharp
Donald Trump has so far remained silent on his newly-restored Facebook and Instagram accounts – despite the revelation that two of his administration’s top officials have been subpoenaed in special counsel probes investigating the former president.
On Thursday, Mr Trump officially had his Facebook and Instagram accounts restored by Meta after a two-year ban following the January 6 US Capitol riot.
The social media giant said in January that the one-term president would have his suspension lifted “in the coming weeks” and his accounts became active again on Thursday.
Mr Trump, who has announced he is running again for the White House in 2024, now has access again to a Facebook account which in January had 34 million followers and 23 million on Instagram.
Sir Nick Clegg, the former UK deputy prime minister who is now Meta’s president for global affairs, announced in a January blog post that the company had made the decision after assessing “whether the serious risk to public safety that existed in January 2021” had “sufficiently receded”.
As of around 6am ET on Friday, Mr Trump was yet to make a return to the accounts – with the last posts on the page still being his final posts on January 6 2021.
Where did the baseless DeSantis ‘grooming’ claim come from?
10:16 , John Bowden
The image amplified by Mr Trump on Tuesday was shared by a Truth Social user whose other posts include a claim that he is a “soldier for Trump ready to go on a battlefield and shed blood”.
The unverified photo links back to a 2021 report on Mr DeSantis from a site called Hill Reporter, a blog from a Democratic super PAC.
The article cites anonymous sources and claims that someone with “close knowledge of the matter” said Mr DeSantis “had a reputation among students for being a young ‘hot teacher’ who girls loved, and the girls in the photo are believed to have graduated in 2002, making them seniors at the time.”
Last year, the New York Times reported that after Mr DeSantis graduated from college, he spent time teaching at the Darlington School in Georgia as a 23-year-old, where he had a reputation for attending parties with seniors who lived nearby.
“As an 18-year-old, I remember thinking, ‘What are you doing here, dude?’” one former student told the paper.
Others said his alleged presence at the parties, including at least two where alcohol was served, wasn’t unwelcomed.
VIDEO: Donald Trump Jr compares a trans rights protest to the January 6th Insurrection
09:16 , John Bowden
‘Twitter ... knowingly facilitated Trump’s spread of disinformation,’ Jamie Raskin says
08:16 , John Bowden
Maryland congressman and former January 6 committee member Jamie Raskin hammered former Twitter executives at a GOP-led House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday.
Mr Raskin argued at the hearing that “rather than conspiring to suppress right-wing MAGA speech, as my colleagues astonishingly claim, Twitter and other media companies knowingly facilitated Trump’s spread of disinformation”.
Watch below:
"Rather than conspiring to suppress right-wing MAGA speech, as my colleagues astonishingly claim, Twitter and other media companies knowingly facilitated Trump's spread of disinformation" -- Raskin pic.twitter.com/tjM4NRt8eA
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 8, 2023
AOC condemns ‘incitement of violence’ against trans people during GOP-led hearing on Twitter
07:16 , John Bowden
Democratic US Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticised Twitter for its refusal to permanently suspend an influential account linked to anti-LGBT+ smears and threats of violence, including bomb threats at children’s hospitals.
During a House Oversight Committee hearing on 8 February, the New York congresswoman questioned former executives at the social media platform why “Libs of TikTok” was allowed to falsely suggest that Boston Children’s Hospital was performing hysterectomies on transgender children, claims that allegedly fuelled threats and harassment towards the hospital and its staff.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez asked Twitter’s former head of safety Yoel Roth why the account was not suspended “despite inspiring a bomb threat due to the right-wing incitement of violence against trans Americans.” Mr Roth said that “regrettably” the account remained active.
Read more:
AOC condemns anti-trans ‘incitement of violence’ during GOP-led hearing on Twitter
Whistleblower says Trump asked Twitter to remove Chrissy Teigen’s tweet about him
06:16 , John Bowden
A whistleblower has revealed that Donald Trump asked Twitter to take down a tweet from Chrissy Teigen because he felt it was “derogatory” towards him.
In 2019, Mr Trump had tweeted about the model and TV personality, calling her the “filthy-mouthed wife” of her husband John Legend.
Teigen famously responded calling the then-president a “pussy a** b****.”
During testimony at a House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Wednesday, former Twitter employee Anika Navaroli said that the Trump White House had contacted the social media platform requesting Teigen’s post be removed.
“In that particular instance, I do remember hearing that we had received a request from the White House to make sure that we evaluated this tweet and that they wanted it to come down because it was a derogatory statement directed toward the president,” she said.
The revelation came as the House committee kicked off its hearings into Twitter’s role in restricting access to a New York Post story on Hunter Biden’s laptop – something Mr Trump and other Republicans have slammed as censorship.
The testimony indicated that the Trump White House actually engaged in efforts at censorship.
GOP senator has Twitter account suspended over hunting profile photo
05:16 , John Bowden
Sen Steve Daines of Montana had his Twitter account suspended for several hours on Tuesday for violating the company’s sensitive media policy.
It is believed that the affronting photograph was Mr Daines’ profile picture, which shows him and his wife in hunting gear posing with a dead animal. Mr Daines’ campaign account, which shows him shooting a gun, was not suspended.
“We don’t allow images of dead animals or blood in profile photos because we are unable to label them as NSFW and keep them from being seen by users who specifically don’t want to see graphic images,” Twitter’s Vice President for Trust and Safety Ella Irwin wrote to Mr Daines’ Senate office, in a message explaining the suspension that was reported by CNN.
The profile picture appears to show flecks of blood on the animal’s leg that become more apparent upon zooming in on the photograph. Mr Daines appears to be holding the animal’s head up.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee did not take kindly to the suspension or the explanation.
Read more:
GOP senator has Twitter account suspended over hunting profile photo
ICYMI: Trump predictably tries to make Biden’s State of the Union all about himself
04:16 , John Bowden
Donald Trump was very active on Tuesday as his 2020 rival Joe Biden delivered his second State of the Union speech from Capitol Hill.
The former president (and current 2024 candidate) attempted to capture headlines and public attention with a long thread of live commentary meant to accompany his political foe’s address. Few saw it, however, as the former president remains inactive on Twitter after being unbanned by Elon Musk.
“Having a hard time getting the words out, even though the Fake News will credit him with one of the Great Speeches of all time. I really want to see him improve. Come one Joe, you can do it!” he wrote in one Truth Social post.
But that was far from the extent of the ex-president’s attempts to hug the spotlight on Tuesday. While Mr Biden spoke, his 2024 campaign released a flurry of press releases — eight in total — touting various accomplishments and goings-on of the Trump presidency.
Mr Trump also attacked Mr Biden and his campaign for supposedly coordinating with social media companies to censor conservatives — though there’s no evidence that’s true, beyond some instances where the Biden campaign sought to have explicit images of the president’s son removed from Twitter.
Read more:
Trump predictably tries to make Biden’s State of the Union all about himself
Trump claims ‘millions and millions’ followed his SOTU commentary after sharing 48 posts in 73 minutes
03:16 , John Bowden
Mr Trump posted an astonishing 48 Truth Social posts over the course of Mr Biden’s State of the Union address.
The speech lasted about one hour and 13 minutes, meaning Mr Trump shared a post every 90 seconds on average.
The former president boasted about his commentary performance on Wednesday morning, claiming “millions and millions” of people tuned in to hear what he had to say.
“Big night for ‘TRUTH’ last night. Tremendous numbers of people signed on to hear my ‘Play by Play’ of the SOTU Speech…Like I mean Millions and Millions of people, and TRUTH handled the Traffic well,” he wrote.
“Congrats to Devin Nunes and all of those great technicians and others who make TRUTH Social work. Despite all of the obstacles put in our path by the SEC, others in Government, and the Fake News Media, it is a giant success that reaches massive numbers of people, both Friend & Foe! Thank you!” he added.
Read more:
Trump claims ‘millions and millions’ followed his SOTU commentary
Trump amplifies unfounded claim Ron DeSantis ‘groomed’ underaged students with alcohol in Truth Social post
02:16 , John Bowden
Donald Trump has amplified a social media post suggesting Florida governor Ron DeSantis “groomed” teen girls and drank with his students while the Republican state leader was a high school teacher.
In a series of statements on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, Mr Trump responded to a post from a user showing a low-quality photo of a man with a resemblance to Mr DeSantis standing with a group of young women with blurred out faces, one of whom appears to be holding a beer bottle.
“Here is Ron DeSanctimonious grooming high school girls with alcohol as a teacher,” a caption on the user’s post reads.
Mr Trump, resharing the image multiple times, responded, “No way?” and, “That’s not Ron, is it?”
Read more:
Trump amplifies unfounded claim Ron DeSantis ‘groomed’ underage students
Nude photos, arrest threats and Elon Musk: GOP airs grievances at ‘bizarre’ Twitter hearing
01:15 , John Bowden
A madcap House Oversight Committee hearing about a two-year-old New York Post story Republicans hoped would deal a fatal blow to Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign has been condemned as a “bizarre political stunt” by the White House.
The Wednesday morning hearing, which Oversight chairman James Comer said would be the first in a series examining issues related to Mr Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, focused on Twitter executives’ temporary move to block distribution of an October 2020 Post story purporting to reveal email messages from Hunter Biden to an executive at the Ukrainian gas company he represented as an attorney and later served as a board member.
In his opening statement, Mr Comer called the session a “first step in examining the coordination between the federal government and Big Tech to restrict protected speech and interfere in the democratic process” and claimed social media companies are “under the control of people who are hostile to the fundamental American principles of free speech and expression protected in the U.S. Constitution”.
Read more:
Nude photos, arrest threats and Elon Musk: GOP airs grievances at ‘bizarre’ hearing
Chrissy Teigen reacts in disbelief after anti-Trump tweet is read in Congress
00:45 , John Bowden
Chrissy Teigen reacted in disbelief after an old tweet of hers was quoted during the House Oversight Committee hearing in the US.
As part of the House Republicans’ newly launched investigation into US President Joe Biden and the Democrats, Wednesday’s (8 February) hearing examined Twitter executives’ temporary move to block distribution of a 2020 story by the New York Post about Hunter Biden.
The article claimed to show emails from Hunter to an executive at a Ukrainian gas company he represented as an attorney and later served as a board member for.
The Independent’s Inga Parkel has the story:
Chrissy Teigen reacts in disbelief after lewd anti-Trump tweet read Congress
Matt Gaetz confronted by activist he body-shamed at State of the Union
00:16 , John Bowden
GOP congressman Matt Gaetz was confronted at the State of the Union by an activist he previously body-shamed.
Twenty-year-old Olivia Julianna, director of politics and government affairs for the nonprofit Gen-Z for Change, took to Twitter to share her exchange with the Florida Representative at President Joe Biden’s second State of the Union.
Last summer, Ms Julianna criticised Mr Gaetz’s fatphobic remarks during a rally in which he said that “disgusting” women who “look like a thumb” have the “least likelihood of getting pregnant” and have no reason to support abortion rights. The Republican politician responded by sharing a Newsmax article that described his remarks as “sure to raise [the] dander of his political opponents” and included a photo of Ms Julianna, then tweeting “Dander raised...”
Ms Julianna, whose video decrying Mr Gaetz’s distasteful comments garnered more than a million views on TikTok, then launched a campaign for abortion funds that raised more than $2m — a sum she reportedly brought up when she ran into Mr Gaetz on Tuesday.
“Just want everyone to know I just shook @mattgaetz hand and thanked him for helping me raise two million dollars,” Ms Julianna wrote on Twitter. “His response was to say ‘heard you had trouble spending it.’ And to quickly walk away in the opposite direction. What a loser lol.”
Read more:
Matt Gaetz confronted by activist he body-shamed at State of the Union
Mike Pence subpoenaed by special counsel in charge of Trump probes
00:05 , Graeme Massie
Mike Pence has been subpoenaed by the special counsel in charge of overseeing multiple Department of Justice investigations into Donald Trump.
The move comes after months of negotiations between lawyers for Mr Trump’s former vice president and special counsel Jack Smith, according to multiple reports.
It is not clear exactly what information Mr Smith is seeking through the subpoena, which was first reported by ABC News.
Read more:
Mike Pence subpoenaed by special counsel in charge of Trump probes
Pelosi says Biden’s State of the Union nullifies Democratic competition in 2024 and there will be ‘no challenger’
Thursday 9 February 2023 23:45 , John Bowden
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CNN that President Joe Biden would face no Democratic primary challenger in 2024, after his State of the Union address.
Ms Pelosi, who stepped aside as leader of House Democrats but whom the caucus elevated to the honorary title of Speaker Emerita, spoke to CNN after the president delivered his joint address to Congress.
The address comes as Mr Biden weighs whether to run for a second term in 2024. But Ms Pelosi told CNN she did not think that Mr Biden would face any Democratic challenger.
Read more:
Pelosi says Biden’s State of the Union nullifies Democratic competition in 2024
Trump ex-lawyer Cohen meets again with New York prosecutors
Thursday 9 February 2023 23:15 , John Bowden
Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen said he was meeting yet again Wednesday with New York City prosecutors who have spent years examining the former president’s financial dealings.
Cohen stopped briefly to talk with reporters as he entered the Manhattan district attorney’s office. He said it was the 15th time he had met with prosecutors.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg recently convened a new grand jury to hear evidence related to payments Cohen helped arrange in 2016 to two women who claimed to have had sexual encounters with Trump.
“I don’t know why I’m here yet. We’ll find out as soon as I get upstairs,” Cohen said.
Cohen was previously one of Trump’s top lieutenants, acting as a liaison with the media and handling some of his legal and business affairs. But after federal prosecutors charged Cohen with tax evasion and criminal campaign finance violations, the two have become enemies.
Cohen testified before Congress that Trump’s company misled banks and others about the value of its assets, helping to spur investigations that led to the Trump Organization’s conviction in December on charges that it helped some of its executives avoid personal income taxes.
The existence of the new grand jury was previously confirmed by two people familiar with the investigation, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the secret proceeding.
Trump has denied having extramarital affairs with either of the women — porn star Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal. Trump’s lawyers have said the payments were legal and that the investigation is politically motivated.
Ron DeSantis say he’s too busy ‘delivering results’ to respond to ‘defamatory’ Trump claim
Thursday 9 February 2023 22:45 , John Bowden
Florida governor Ron DeSantis said he’s too busy “delivering results” to respond to Donald Trump’s recent social media post amplifying a suggestion the Republican leader “groomed” teen girls and drank with his students while he was a high school teacher.
The ugly attack came this week as new polls have shown Mr DeSantis leading the former president in a head-to-head matchup for the 2024 nomination.
Read more:
Ron DeSantis too busy ‘delivering results’ to respond to ‘defamatory’ Trump claim
VOICES: Republicans revealed their true selves at State of Union – and it ain’t pretty
Thursday 9 February 2023 22:15 , John Bowden
Like most State of the Union speeches, this one was notable not for its content but for the drama that was unleashed on the margins. It began with a CNN report that Mitt Romney had gone up to George Santos in the chamber and told him, “You don’t belong here,” and it ended with Marjorie Taylor Greene heckling the president while dressed as Cruella de Vil.
But let’s rewind. Al Weaver, a reporter at The Hill who covers the Senate, asked Romney to confirm whether he had called Santos “an embarrassment”, and got the reply: “I don’t know the exact words I said. He shouldn’t have been there. Look, he’s a sick puppy. He shouldn’t have been there.”
Mitt clearly hadn’t gotten the memo that you shouldn’t mention sick puppies around George Santos. (For anyone who hasn’t been following the latest on Congress’s most fascinating liar, one of the many, many allegations recently made against Santos is that he stole $3,000 from a GoFundMe intended for a veteran’s sick dog. Then again, Santos has never admitted to those allegations – whereas Romney himself once readily admitted to strapping the family dog to the luggage rack of his car before driving six hours down the highway.)
Read more:
Opinion: Republicans revealed their true selves at the State of Union
Trump offers to submit DNA in E Jean Carroll rape case
Thursday 9 February 2023 21:45 , John Bowden
Donald Trump has finally offered to hand over his DNA in his upcoming rape trial with E Jean Carroll – but only after the deadline passed to submit evidence in the case.
Attorneys for the former president said last week that he had finally agreed to take a DNA test so that his sample can be compared to a dress Ms Carroll says she was wearing at the time of the alleged sexual assault, reported The Daily Beast.
Ms Carroll, who was a TV talk show host at the time, says that she and Mr Trump randomly bumped into each other and they got chatting, before Mr Trump pinned her against a wall in a dressing room and sexually assaulted her.
Mr Trump denies the claims.
Read more:
Trump offers DNA to E Jean Carroll rape case – after deadline passes
Trump has paid himself almost $1m from donors since leaving the White House
Thursday 9 February 2023 21:15 , John Bowden
Former president Donald Trump’s political committees have lined his coffers with almost $1m obtained from donors over the last two years, even as he failed to put much of the receipts towards electing Republicans in last year’s midterm elections.
According to Federal Election Commission filings reviewed by The Independent, Mr Trump’s self-dealing has brought $905,570 in funds from his Save America Political Action Committee and his nascent 2024 presidential campaign committee into his family’s businesses’ pockets from 20 January 2021 — the day Mr Trump left office — to the end of 2022.
Andrew Feinberg has the story:
Trump has paid himself almost $1m from donors since leaving the White House
Trump admin and allies regularly asked for tweets to be taken down, former aides say
Thursday 9 February 2023 20:45 , John Bowden
The Trump administration and its allies regularly asked for tweets to be taken down by the social media platform, something the GOP has accused Democrats of doing.
“It was strange to me when all of these investigations were announced because it was all about the exact same stuff that we had done,” while Mr Trump was president, a former aide in the administration told Rolling Stone. “It was normal.”
“Everybody worked the refs,” a Twitter source told the outlet. “Usually with the Republicans, most of the time rather than saying, ‘Why are you taking things down?’ it was, ‘You need to put things back up.’ It was, ‘Put me back, put me back.’”
Former Fox News host blasts Huckabee Sanders for not mentioning Trump
Thursday 9 February 2023 20:18 , John Bowden
Former Fox News host Lou Dobbs has criticised Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders for not mentioning Donald Trump during her response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.
“I think that was a great insult to Trump - not mentioning his name. To not mention his name, to talk about ‘new leadership’ ... it was a shame,” he said on Steve Bannon’s War Room broadcast.
Lou Dobbs tells Bannon that Sarah Huckabee Sanders speech tried to undermine Trump in favor of Desantis: “I think that was a great insult to Trump - not mentioning his name. To not mention his name, to talk about ‘new leadership’ .. it was a shame.” pic.twitter.com/Qekoo1LWmB
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) February 8, 2023
Republicans erupted at Biden’s SOTU remarks on Social Security and Medicare. But these lawmakers have proposed cuts
Thursday 9 February 2023 19:45 , John Bowden
Perhaps no series of remarks angered Republicans during President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday evening than when he referenced how some Republicans want to let Social Security and Medicare expire.
Mr Biden and Democrats have hammered Republicans for supposedly wanting to cut the two entitlement programs which offer money and health insurance to senior citizens and are wildly popular.
“Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans -- some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset,” he said.
Read more:
Republicans jeered at Biden’s Social Security and Medicare claims –here’s GOP’s plan
AOC condemns ‘incitement of violence’ against trans people during GOP-led hearing on Twitter
Thursday 9 February 2023 19:15 , John Bowden
Democratic US Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticised Twitter for its refusal to permanently suspend an influential account linked to anti-LGBT+ smears and threats of violence, including bomb threats at children’s hospitals.
During a House Oversight Committee hearing on 8 February, the New York congresswoman questioned former executives at the social media platform why “Libs of TikTok” was allowed to falsely suggest that Boston Children’s Hospital was performing hysterectomies on transgender children, claims that allegedly fuelled threats and harassment towards the hospital and its staff.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez asked Twitter’s former head of safety Yoel Roth why the account was not suspended “despite inspiring a bomb threat due to the right-wing incitement of violence against trans Americans.” Mr Roth said that “regrettably” the account remained active.
Read more:
AOC condemns anti-trans ‘incitement of violence’ during GOP-led hearing on Twitter
Trump savages conservative group for not inviting him to donor summit
Thursday 9 February 2023 18:45 , John Bowden
Donald Trump is attacking the Club for Growth, a conservative group typically aligned with the GOP establishment, after he was not invited to a donor retreat in his new home state of Florida.
The group is holding a summit with a guest list ripped from polling of the likely 2024 GOP field, with one notable exception — Mr Trump himself. Other invited attendees include Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, and Mike Pompeo.
“Club for Growth endorsed 24 candidates during the 2022 midterms, LOSING 25% of them. On the other hand, President Trump was 233 WINS out of 253 races!” the former president claimed on Truth Social.
In another post, he added: “The Club For NO Growth, an assemblage of political misfits, globalists, and losers, fought me incessantly and rather viciously during my presidential run in 2016. They said I couldn’t win, I did, and won even bigger in 2020, with millions of more votes than ‘16, but the Election was Rigged & Stollen [sic].”
Mr Trump continued: “They asked to get together on Endorsements of candidates, we did, and had MANY WINS & NO losses. Relationship broke up over my Endorsement of certain great people in Alabama & Ohio. I won them all!”
Donald Trump is officially back on Facebook and Instagram
Thursday 9 February 2023 18:40 , Graeme Massie
Donald Trump has officially had his Facebook and Instagram accounts restored by Meta after a two-year ban following the fatal January 6 US Capitol riot.
The social media giant said in January that the one-term president would have his suspension lifted “in the coming weeks” and confirmed it on Thursday morning.
Trump ex-lawyer Cohen meets again with New York prosecutors
Thursday 9 February 2023 18:15 , John Bowden
Donald Trump‘s former lawyer Michael Cohen said he was meeting yet again Wednesday with New York City prosecutors who have spent years examining the former president’s financial dealings.
Cohen stopped briefly to talk with reporters as he entered the Manhattan district attorney’s office. He said it was the 15th time he had met with prosecutors.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg recently convened a new grand jury to hear evidence related to payments Cohen helped arrange in 2016 to two women who claimed to have had sexual encounters with Trump.
“I don’t know why I’m here yet. We’ll find out as soon as I get upstairs,” Cohen said.
Cohen was previously one of Trump’s top lieutenants, acting as a liaison with the media and handling some of his legal and business affairs. But after federal prosecutors charged Cohen with tax evasion and criminal campaign finance violations, the two have become enemies.
Read more:
Trump ex-lawyer Cohen meets again with New York prosecutors
Trump political groups spent nearly $1m at his properties since leaving office
Thursday 9 February 2023 17:57 , David Taintor
Donald Trump’s political action committees have spent nearly $1m at Trump-owned properties since the former president left office, according to Federal Election Commission filings reported by HuffPost.
The money was spent at properties such as Mr Trump’s hotel on Central Park in New York City and his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
Trump predictably tries to make Biden’s State of the Union all about himself
Thursday 9 February 2023 17:45 , John Bowden
Donald Trump was very active on Tuesday as his 2020 rival Joe Biden delivered his second State of the Union speech from Capitol Hill.
The former president (and current 2024 candidate) attempted to capture headlines and public attention with a long thread of live commentary meant to accompany his political foe’s address. Few saw it, however, as the former president remains inactive on Twitter after being unbanned by Elon Musk.
“Having a hard time getting the words out, even though the Fake News will credit him with one of the Great Speeches of all time. I really want to see him improve. Come one Joe, you can do it!” he wrote in one Truth Social post.
But that was far from the extent of the ex-president’s attempts to hug the spotlight on Tuesday. While Mr Biden spoke, his 2024 campaign released a flurry of press releases — eight in total — touting various accomplishments and goings-on of the Trump presidency.
Mr Trump also attacked Mr Biden and his campaign for supposedly coordinating with social media companies to censor conservatives — though there’s no evidence that’s true, beyond some instances where the Biden campaign sought to have explicit images of the president’s son removed from Twitter.
Read more:
Trump predictably tries to make Biden’s State of the Union all about himself
Nude photos, arrest threats and Elon Musk: GOP airs grievances at ‘bizarre’ Twitter hearing
Thursday 9 February 2023 17:15 , John Bowden
A madcap House Oversight Committee hearing about a two-year-old New York Post story Republicans hoped would deal a fatal blow to Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign has been condemned as a “bizarre political stunt” by the White House.
The Wednesday morning hearing, which Oversight chairman James Comer said would be the first in a series examining issues related to Mr Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, focused on Twitter executives’ temporary move to block distribution of an October 2020 Post story purporting to reveal email messages from Hunter Biden to an executive at the Ukrainian gas company he represented as an attorney and later served as a board member.
In his opening statement, Mr Comer called the session a “first step in examining the coordination between the federal government and Big Tech to restrict protected speech and interfere in the democratic process” and claimed social media companies are “under the control of people who are hostile to the fundamental American principles of free speech and expression protected in the U.S. Constitution”.
Read more:
Nude photos, arrest threats and Elon Musk: GOP airs grievances at ‘bizarre’ hearing
Ron DeSantis say he’s too busy ‘delivering results’ to respond to ‘defamatory’ Trump claim
Thursday 9 February 2023 16:20 , John Bowden
Florida governor Ron DeSantis said he’s too busy “delivering results” to respond to Donald Trump’s recent social media post amplifying a suggestion the Republican leader “groomed” teen girls and drank with his students while he was a high school teacher.
The ugly attack came this week as new polls have shown Mr DeSantis leading the former president in a head-to-head matchup for the 2024 nomination.
Read more:
Ron DeSantis too busy ‘delivering results’ to respond to ‘defamatory’ Trump claim
Trump offers to submit DNA in E Jean Carroll rape case
Thursday 9 February 2023 15:45 , John Bowden
Donald Trump has finally offered to hand over his DNA in his upcoming rape trial with E Jean Carroll – but only after the deadline passed to submit evidence in the case.
Attorneys for the former president said last week that he had finally agreed to take a DNA test so that his sample can be compared to a dress Ms Carroll says she was wearing at the time of the alleged sexual assault, reported The Daily Beast.
Ms Carroll, who was a TV talk show host at the time, says that she and Mr Trump randomly bumped into each other and they got chatting, before Mr Trump pinned her against a wall in a dressing room and sexually assaulted her.
Mr Trump denies the claims.
Read more:
Trump offers DNA to E Jean Carroll rape case – after deadline passes
Trump ex-lawyer Cohen meets again with New York prosecutors
Thursday 9 February 2023 14:58 , John Bowden
Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen said he was meeting yet again Wednesday with New York City prosecutors who have spent years examining the former president’s financial dealings.
Cohen stopped briefly to talk with reporters as he entered the Manhattan district attorney’s office. He said it was the 15th time he had met with prosecutors.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg recently convened a new grand jury to hear evidence related to payments Cohen helped arrange in 2016 to two women who claimed to have had sexual encounters with Trump.
“I don’t know why I’m here yet. We’ll find out as soon as I get upstairs,” Cohen said.
Cohen was previously one of Trump’s top lieutenants, acting as a liaison with the media and handling some of his legal and business affairs. But after federal prosecutors charged Cohen with tax evasion and criminal campaign finance violations, the two have become enemies.
Cohen testified before Congress that Trump’s company misled banks and others about the value of its assets, helping to spur investigations that led to the Trump Organization’s conviction in December on charges that it helped some of its executives avoid personal income taxes.
The existence of the new grand jury was previously confirmed by two people familiar with the investigation, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the secret proceeding.
Trump has denied having extramarital affairs with either of the women — porn star Stormy Daniels and model Karen McDougal. Trump’s lawyers have said the payments were legal and that the investigation is politically motivated.
VOICES: Republicans revealed their true selves at State of Union – and it ain’t pretty
Thursday 9 February 2023 14:00 , Holly Baxter
Like most State of the Union speeches, this one was notable not for its content but for the drama that was unleashed on the margins. It began with a CNN report that Mitt Romney had gone up to George Santos in the chamber and told him, “You don’t belong here,” and it ended with Marjorie Taylor Greene heckling the president while dressed as Cruella de Vil.
But let’s rewind. Al Weaver, a reporter at The Hill who covers the Senate, asked Romney to confirm whether he had called Santos “an embarrassment”, and got the reply: “I don’t know the exact words I said. He shouldn’t have been there. Look, he’s a sick puppy. He shouldn’t have been there.” Mitt clearly hadn’t gotten the memo that you shouldn’t mention sick puppies around George Santos. (For anyone who hasn’t been following the latest on Congress’s most fascinating liar, one of the many, many allegations recently made against Santos is that he stole $3,000 from a GoFundMe intended for a veteran’s sick dog. Then again, Santos has never admitted to those allegations – whereas Romney himself once readily admitted to strapping the family dog to the luggage rack of his car before driving six hours down the highway.)
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Opinion: Republicans revealed their true selves at the State of Union
Ron DeSantis say he’s too busy ‘delivering results’ to respond to ‘defamatory’ Trump claim
Thursday 9 February 2023 13:30 , Rachel Sharp
Florida governor Ron DeSantis said he’s too busy “delivering results” to respond to Donald Trump’s recent social media post amplifying a suggestion the Republican leader “groomed” teen girls and drank with his students while he was a high school teacher.
“I spend my time delivering results for the people of Florida and fighting against Joe Biden. That’s how I spend my time,” Mr DeSantis said at a press conference on Wednesday.
“I don’t spend my time trying to smear other Republicans.”
The Independent’s Josh Marcus has the story:
Ron DeSantis too busy ‘delivering results’ to respond to ‘defamatory’ Trump claim
Pelosi says Biden’s State of the Union nullifies Democratic competition in 2024 and there will be ‘no challenger’
Thursday 9 February 2023 13:00 , Eric Garcia
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CNN that President Joe Biden would face no Democratic primary challenger in 2024, after his State of the Union address.
Ms Pelosi, who stepped aside as leader of House Democrats but whom the caucus elevated to the honorary title of Speaker Emerita, spoke to CNN after the president delivered his joint address to Congress.
The address comes as Mr Biden weighs whether to run for a second term in 2024. But Ms Pelosi told CNN she did not think that Mr Biden would face any Democratic challenger.
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Pelosi says Biden’s State of the Union nullifies Democratic competition in 2024
Chrissy Teigen reacts in disbelief after anti-Trump tweet is read in Congress
Thursday 9 February 2023 12:30 , Rachel Sharp
Chrissy Teigen reacted in disbelief after an old tweet of hers was quoted during the House Oversight Committee hearing in the US.
As part of the House Republicans’ newly launched investigation into US President Joe Biden and the Democrats, Wednesday’s (8 February) hearing examined Twitter executives’ temporary move to block distribution of a 2020 story by the New York Post about Hunter Biden.
The article claimed to show emails from Hunter to an executive at a Ukrainian gas company he represented as an attorney and later served as a board member for.
The Independent’s Inga Parkel has the story:
Chrissy Teigen reacts in disbelief after lewd anti-Trump tweet read Congress
Matt Gaetz confronted by activist he body-shamed at State of the Union
Thursday 9 February 2023 12:00 , Andrea Blanco and Alex Woodward
GOP congressman Matt Gaetz was confronted at the State of the Union by an activist he previously body-shamed.
Twenty-year-old Olivia Julianna, director of politics and government affairs for the nonprofit Gen-Z for Change, took to Twitter to share her exchange with the Florida Representative at President Joe Biden’s second State of the Union.
Last summer, Ms Julianna criticised Mr Gaetz’s fatphobic remarks during a rally in which he said that “disgusting” women who “look like a thumb” have the “least likelihood of getting pregnant” and have no reason to support abortion rights. The Republican politician responded by sharing a Newsmax article that described his remarks as “sure to raise [the] dander of his political opponents” and included a photo of Ms Julianna, then tweeting “Dander raised...”
Ms Julianna, whose video decrying Mr Gaetz’s distasteful comments garnered more than a million views on TikTok, then launched a campaign for abortion funds that raised more than $2m — a sum she reportedly brought up when she ran into Mr Gaetz on Tuesday.
“Just want everyone to know I just shook @mattgaetz hand and thanked him for helping me raise two million dollars,” Ms Julianna wrote on Twitter. “His response was to say ‘heard you had trouble spending it.’ And to quickly walk away in the opposite direction. What a loser lol.”
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Matt Gaetz confronted by activist he body-shamed at State of the Union
Republicans erupted at Biden’s SOTU remarks on Social Security and Medicare. But these lawmakers have proposed cuts
Thursday 9 February 2023 11:30 , Eric Garcia
Perhaps no series of remarks angered Republicans during President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Tuesday evening than when he referenced how some Republicans want to let Social Security and Medicare expire.
Mr Biden and Democrats have hammered Republicans for supposedly wanting to cut the two entitlement programs which offer money and health insurance to senior citizens and are wildly popular.
“Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans -- some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset,” he said.
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Republicans jeered at Biden’s Social Security and Medicare claims –here’s GOP’s plan
Whistleblower says Trump asked Twitter to remove Chrissy Teigen’s tweet about him
Thursday 9 February 2023 10:58 , Rachel Sharp
A whistleblower has revealed that Donald Trump asked Twitter to take down a tweet from Chrissy Teigen because he felt it was “derogatory” towards him.
In 2019, Mr Trump had tweeted about the model and TV personality, calling her the “filthy-mouthed wife” of her husband John Legend.
Teigen famously responded calling the then-president a “pussy a** b****.”
During testimony at a House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Wednesday, former Twitter employee Anika Navaroli said that the Trump White House had contacted the social media platform requesting Teigen’s post be removed.
“In that particular instance, I do remember hearing that we had received a request from the White House to make sure that we evaluated this tweet and that they wanted it to come down because it was a derogatory statement directed toward the president,” she said.
The revelation came as the House committee kicked off its hearings into Twitter’s role in restricting access to a New York Post story on Hunter Biden’s laptop – something Mr Trump and other Republicans have slammed as censorship.
The testimony indicated that the Trump White House actually engaged in efforts at censorship.
AOC condemns ‘incitement of violence’ against trans people during GOP-led hearing on Twitter
Thursday 9 February 2023 10:00 , Alex Woodward
Democratic US Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticised Twitter for its refusal to permanently suspend an influential account linked to anti-LGBT+ smears and threats of violence, including bomb threats at children’s hospitals.
During a House Oversight Committee hearing on 8 February, the New York congresswoman questioned former executives at the social media platform why “Libs of TikTok” was allowed to falsely suggest that Boston Children’s Hospital was performing hysterectomies on transgender children, claims that allegedly fuelled threats and harassment towards the hospital and its staff.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez asked Twitter’s former head of safety Yoel Roth why the account was not suspended “despite inspiring a bomb threat due to the right-wing incitement of violence against trans Americans.” Mr Roth said that “regrettably” the account remained active.
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AOC condemns anti-trans ‘incitement of violence’ during GOP-led hearing on Twitter
Trump predictably tries to make Biden’s State of the Union all about himself
Thursday 9 February 2023 09:00 , John Bowden
Donald Trump was very active on Tuesday as his 2020 rival Joe Biden delivered his second State of the Union speech from Capitol Hill.
The former president (and current 2024 candidate) attempted to capture headlines and public attention with a long thread of live commentary meant to accompany his political foe’s address. Few saw it, however, as the former president remains inactive on Twitter after being unbanned by Elon Musk.
“Having a hard time getting the words out, even though the Fake News will credit him with one of the Great Speeches of all time. I really want to see him improve. Come one Joe, you can do it!” he wrote in one Truth Social post.
But that was far from the extent of the ex-president’s attempts to hug the spotlight on Tuesday. While Mr Biden spoke, his 2024 campaign released a flurry of press releases — eight in total — touting various accomplishments and goings-on of the Trump presidency.
Mr Trump also attacked Mr Biden and his campaign for supposedly coordinating with social media companies to censor conservatives — though there’s no evidence that’s true, beyond some instances where the Biden campaign sought to have explicit images of the president’s son removed from Twitter.
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Trump predictably tries to make Biden’s State of the Union all about himself
Trump amplifies unfounded claim Ron DeSantis ‘groomed’ underaged students with alcohol in Truth Social post
Thursday 9 February 2023 08:00 , John Bowden
Donald Trump has amplified a social media post suggesting Florida governor Ron DeSantis “groomed” teen girls and drank with his students while the Republican state leader was a high school teacher.
In a series of statements on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, Mr Trump responded to a post from a user showing a low-quality photo of a man with a resemblance to Mr DeSantis standing with a group of young women with blurred out faces, one of whom appears to be holding a beer bottle.
“Here is Ron DeSanctimonious grooming high school girls with alcohol as a teacher,” a caption on the user’s post reads.
Mr Trump, resharing the image multiple times, responded, “No way?” and, “That’s not Ron, is it?”
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Trump amplifies unfounded claim Ron DeSantis ‘groomed’ underage students
Trump claims ‘millions and millions’ followed his SOTU commentary after sharing 48 posts in 73 minutes
Thursday 9 February 2023 07:00 , Megan Sheets and Gustaf Kilander
Mr Trump posted an astonishing 48 Truth Social posts over the course of Mr Biden’s State of the Union address.
The speech lasted about one hour and 13 minutes, meaning Mr Trump shared a post every 90 seconds on average.
The former president boasted about his commentary performance on Wednesday morning, claiming “millions and millions” of people tuned in to hear what he had to say.
“Big night for ‘TRUTH’ last night. Tremendous numbers of people signed on to hear my ‘Play by Play’ of the SOTU Speech…Like I mean Millions and Millions of people, and TRUTH handled the Traffic well,” he wrote.
“Congrats to Devin Nunes and all of those great technicians and others who make TRUTH Social work. Despite all of the obstacles put in our path by the SEC, others in Government, and the Fake News Media, it is a giant success that reaches massive numbers of people, both Friend & Foe! Thank you!” he added.
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Trump claims ‘millions and millions’ followed his SOTU commentary
Part of Biden speech takes on tone of Donald Trump
Thursday 9 February 2023 06:00 , Andrew Feinberg
In one part of his State of the Union on Tuesday night, President Joe Biden’s rhetoric took on a populist tone that would have been equally appropriate coming from the mouth of his predecessor, former president Donald Trump.
Mr Biden lamented how the American middle class has been “hollowed out” over a period of decades, while “good-paying manufacturing jobs moved overseas” and “factories at home closed down”.
Referring back to the theme of his 2020 campaign, Mr Biden said his “vision for country” has always been to “restore the soul of America” to “rebuild the backbone ... of the middle class,” and to “unite the country”.
In what looked to be a preview of his 2024 reelection theme, Mr Biden exhorted both sides of the aisle to take up the unfinished parts of his agenda.
Trump ex-lawyer Cohen meets again with New York prosecutors
Thursday 9 February 2023 05:01 , The Associated Press
Donald Trump‘s former lawyer Michael Cohen said he was meeting yet again Wednesday with New York City prosecutors who have spent years examining the former president’s financial dealings.
Cohen stopped briefly to talk with reporters as he entered the Manhattan district attorney’s office. He said it was the 15th time he had met with prosecutors.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg recently convened a new grand jury to hear evidence related to payments Cohen helped arrange in 2016 to two women who claimed to have had sexual encounters with Trump.
“I don’t know why I’m here yet. We’ll find out as soon as I get upstairs,” Cohen said.
Cohen was previously one of Trump’s top lieutenants, acting as a liaison with the media and handling some of his legal and business affairs. But after federal prosecutors charged Cohen with tax evasion and criminal campaign finance violations, the two have become enemies.
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