Trump news – live: Giuliani accused of pardon scheme as Trump rages at Russia probe after Durham report

Donald Trump has lashed out what he described as “cockroaches” in Washington, DC following the release of the Durham report.

The 300-page report – from an investigation led by Trump-appointed Special Counsel John Durham – railed against the FBI for opening a probe into alleged ties between Mr Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and the Russian government.

“THEY ARE SCUM, LIKE COCKROACHES ALL OVER WASHINGTON, D.C.,” the former president wrote on Truth Social in response to the findings.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump’s name has cropped up in a bombshell lawsuit brought against Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and his former personal attorney.

Mr Giuliani’s former aide Noelle Dunphy is suing Mr Giuliani for sexual harassment while she worked for him in 2019 and 2020. Mr Giuliani has strongly denied the claims.

In the lawsuit, Ms Dunphy claims that she was told that he and then-president Mr Trump were offering to sell presidential pardons for $2m apiece.

She also claims that she was forced to give Mr Giuliani oral sex while he was on speakerphone to Mr Trump.

Key points

• Rudy Giuliani said he and Trump were selling pardons for $2m apiece, ex-aide claims

• Trump claimed the Durham probe would uncover the 'crime of the century.' Here's what it really found

• American public 'scammed' by Russia report, says Trump

• Giuliani sued for $10m for alleged sexual assault by former employee

• Trump lashes out at ‘cockroaches’ in DC following release of Durham report

McCarthy: Trump trying to help with debt ceiling negotiations by encouraging default

22:15 , Oliver O'Connell

‘Trump’s blatant sexual harassment and sexual assault of women never ends'

22:00 , Andrew Feinberg

Ultimately, the three ex-staffers — all of whom have become vocal critics of the ex-president since he left office — are just a few of the women who’ve discussed alleged misconduct by Mr Trump.

But Lisa Bloom, an attorney who has represented many of his past accusers, wasn’t shocked to discover that he continued his bad behaviour after assuming the highest office in the US.

In a statement to The Independent, she called the claims “disgusting but not surprising”.

“Trump’s blatant sexual harassment and sexual assault of women never ends. Even more disgusting are the voters who support him knowing he treats women so badly,” she said.

Morning Consult poll has Trump steaming ahead of GOP field

21:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Trump’s deplorable behaviour was well-known among his senior aides

21:30 , Andrew Feinberg

Stephanie Grisham, the former press secretary for Mr Trump and Ms Trump, also revealed that the ex-president’s deplorable behaviour was well-known among his senior aides. But she, too, said not a single one of them was able to do anything about it.

“I think at the end of the day, what could they do other than go in there and say, ‘This isn’t good, sir?’” she said. “And you know, Donald Trump will do what Donald Trump wants to do”.

More from Rep Crockett on the GOP and sexual assault

21:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Texas Democrat Jasmine Crockett has added to her earlier remarks about it being a good thing that Republicans in the House are now concerned about sexual assault and what that might mean for their support of former president Donald Trump.

‘Nothing was ever done’

21:00 , Andrew Feinberg

A former White House aide, Olivia Troye, told Newsweek that she’d “witnessed [Mr Trump’s] behaviour first hand” and said it happened “openly” in front of other White House staff, including during meetings in the West Wing.

Alyssa Farah Griffin, a longtime conservative communications professional who served as the top spokesperson for the House Freedom Caucus before joining the Trump administration, said “nothing was ever done” about Mr Trump’s alleged misconduct despite it being ”an open secret” and a subject of “open discussion” among his West Wing aides.

Voices: Yes, Trump and Giuliani are disgusting creeps. Yes, it still really, really matters

20:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Holly Baxter writes:

In news that will surprise no one, it turns out Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani are absolute creeps. I know, of course, that you might’ve expected more from the president who started his first campaign with a video about grabbing women by the p***y, or who recently kicked off his second run with a legal ruling against him for sexual assault. But apparently, even when Donald was in the White House, he developed obsessions with certain staffers and asked a female worker to stick around so he could “look at her ass”. Number 45’s tendency to walk the halls of power behind “very young” staffers with his tongue hanging out was apparently an “open secret”. It happened in meetings, it happened at work events, it happened in front of other people.

And it turns out that birds of a feather — ALLEGEDLY — flock together! Noelle Dunphy, a former aide to Giuliani, just filed a lawsuit claiming that everyone’s favorite Four Seasons Landscaping orator forced her to perform oral sex on him while he was on the phone to Trump. Apparently, Rudy had a penchant for sex acts while taking calls because it “made him feel like Bill Clinton”. And who among us hasn’t dreamed of feeling like legitimate Marvel superhero Bill Clinton at least once in our lives?

Read on...

‘Yes, Trump and Giuliani are disgusting creeps. Yes, it still really, really matters’

Former Trump communications director says he 'does not respect women’

20:30 , Andrew Feinberg

Alyssa Farah Griffin, who served as a top spokesperson for then-vice president Mike Pence and the Pentagon before returning to the White House as communications director in mid-2020, told The Daily Beast that she witnessed “a number of problematic behaviour[s] and comments” from the then-president towards young, female White House staffers during her time in the West Wing.

“I saw behaviour and engagement with very young junior female staffers from the former president that made me uncomfortable,” she said. “It’s a pattern. It was visible. It didn’t take a genius to see it. It was reported, I don’t know if it was handled, but this is a man who does not respect women — it’s a man who objectified women,” she said.

Tuberville says American people should call for end to elections

20:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama appeared on Newsmax and tried to frame the Durham report into the FBI’s handling of the Trump-Russia investigation as a smoking gun.

The senator said: “If people don’t go to jail for this, the American people should just stand up and say, ‘Listen, enough’s enough. Let’s don’t have elections anymore.’”

Watch below:

Here’s what the report really found:

What did the Durham probe uncover?

‘I did everything I could to keep her off of trips'

20:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Stephanie Grisham, the Trump White House Secretary for 12 months, told CNN that Mr Trump would target a specific female staffer with inappropriate behaviour.

“I did everything I could to keep her off of trips, actually, and to stay with her if she was with him alone, because I was really nervous about what could happen and this was before I knew kind of any of the E Jean Carroll allegations. I stupidly did know about the Access Hollywood video but maybe that was what made me you know, keep with her all the time,” she said.

Democrat rep ‘excited’ GOP colleagues say they care about sexual abuse after Trump found liable

19:45 , Oliver O'Connell

During this morning’ House Oversight committee hearing regarding crime, safety, and city management in Washington, DC, a Texas Democrat noted how it was good to see her Republican colleagues taking sexual assault seriously, just a week after Donald Trump, their current likely candidate for president, was found liable of such action in a civil court.

Florida Republican representative Anna Paulina Luna rounded out her grilling of Matthew Graves, US Attorney for the District of Columbia, by demanding “do your job” for those that depend on him, noting a 48 per cent increase in sexual assaults.

When Texas Democrat representative Jasmine Crockett spoke in her allotted time, she began by saying: “I am so excited my colleagues across the aisle care about sexual abuse, considering the frontrunner right now for the presidency has kind of just been found liable of sexual abuse. So I am excited, because this may mean, finally, some folk may back off from supporting him because we don’t support sexual abusers in this chamber, so I’m happy about this.”

Watch the moment below:

Trump goes after AOC’s ‘bad looking boyfriend’ in wild rant

19:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump went on yet another bizarre rant on Truth Social following his controversial town hall hosted by CNN at a New Hampshire college.

“It’s really amazing to watch the head of CNN get absolutely lambasted for asking me to do a so-called Town Hall,” Mr Trump wrote on Sunday, referring to CNN CEO Chris Licht.

Mr Trump then went on to criticise Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s relationship.

“In all fairness, nobody had any problems with what he wanted to do until after the show started, when they quickly realized that Ms Collins was not exactly Barbara Walters, or even close,” he wrote before bashing progressive Democratic New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“That’s when the trouble from the Radical Left started. Neurotic little AOC with the bad looking boyfriend, went crazy,” Mr Trump added. “‘He owns CNN, he’s in their head,’ they screamed. CNN, take the GREAT RATINGS!”

Read more:

Trump says AOC ‘went crazy’ over CNN town hall as he slams Democrat’s relationship

Trump targeted specific female staffer

19:00 , Andrew Feinberg

Stephanie Grisham, who served as White House Press Secretary for 12 months, has become a vocal critic of the ex-president since the end of his administration.

She said in an interview on CNN that Mr Trump targeted a specific female aide for a significant amount of inappropriate attention.

She said that although the then-president habitually opined on women’s physical appearance, his behaviour towards “this one staffer” was “was really bad to the point that I was extremely uncomfortable”.

Specifically, she said Mr Trump would ask aides to ensure the staffer in question was in the traveling party when he made trips abroad, even when such duties were supposed to be the responsibility of other White House aides. Ms Grisham also accused Mr Trump of asking one of her deputy press secretaries to bring the staffer to see him so he could “look at her a**”.

Three female former Trump officials describe inappropriate behaviour

18:30 , Andrew Feinberg

After myriad accusations having been levelled against him during the election and the near-disaster of the Access Hollywood tape, one might have predicted that Mr Trump would have been hyper-vigilant about how he conducted himself around women once he was sworn in as president and fully moved into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

But, according to multiple women who served in top roles during his four-year term, such a prediction would have been dead wrong.

In the days since the Manhattan jury in Ms Carroll’s lawsuit rendered a verdict against the twice-impeached ex-president, three former high-ranking female Trump administration officials have come forward to describe inappropriate behaviour on Mr Trump’s part towards other female public servants in his employ.

The trio includes two of Mr Trump’s top lieutenants, Alyssa Farah Griffin — his ex-White House communications director who now co-hosts ABC’s The View — and Stephanie Grisham, who served as press secretary both Mr Trump and former First Lady Melania Trump in addition to serving as Ms Trump’s chief of staff.

VIDEO: New Lawsuit Alleges Trump and Giuliani Conspired To Sell Presidential Pardons for Money

18:00 , The Independent

The most disturbing allegations from the Giuliani lawsuit

17:45 , Oliver O'Connell

A civil complaint filed with the Manhattan Supreme Court on Monday, Mr Giuliani’s ex-employee Noelle Dunphy, 43, alleges that he began sexually abusing her almost immediately after hiring her as an off-the-books business development director and public relations consultant in January 2019, thereafter routinely pestering her for sex, drinking to excess, withholding her salary, bragging about being able to sell presidential pardons for $2 million apiece and engaging in alcohol-fuelled racist rants.

Joe Sommerlad has the details.

The most disturbing allegations from the Rudy Giuliani lawsuit

Village People demand Trump stop using their music after his viral ‘Macho Man’ dance at fake Mar-a-Lago gig

17:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Village People, the 70’s disco band, has finally asked Donald Trump to stop using their music without consent.

The wife of one of the band members on Monday sent a cease-and-desist letter to the former president, according to reports.

Mr Trump has been using the band’s songs such as “YMCA” and “Macho Man”at his events and rallies for years now.

The former president was sent the cease-and-desist letter over a video of him and a Village People lookalike group of musicians dancing to “Macho Man”at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

After the video was widely shared on social media, fans of the band started accusing them of endorsing Mr Trump. That is when the band realised things had gone too far. They have now asked him to stop hiring impersonators to perform their songs at Mar-a-Lago or any events and rallies.

The cease-and-desist letter to Mr Trump stated that the band “tolerated” his use of their music in the past and threatened that they will file a lawsuit against the former president if he doesn’t stop using the band’s images and music.

Read more:

Village People demand Trump stop using their music after his viral ‘Macho Man’ dance

‘When you’re a star, they let you do it'

17:00 , Andrew Feinberg

On 7 October 2016 — one month before voters went to the polls on Election Day — The Washington Post published a video taken of Mr Trump and then-NBC host Billy Bush.

The footage was taken in a bus while the two men were travelling to a taping of Access Hollywood eleven years prior to the 2016 campaign. The film’s audio track included a lewd exchange in which Mr Trump described his efforts to seduce a woman who he knew to be married, starting with an unwanted kiss.

“I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. ... Grab ‘em by the pussy. You can do anything,” he said.

While some top Republicans strongly condemned the then-GOP presidential nominee — with a few even calling on him to drop off the Republican ticket — Mr Trump remained defiant and shrugged off the criticism.

A month later, he was elected president of the United States.

Accounts of Trump’s inappropriate behaviour validated by Access Hollywood tape

16:30 , Andrew Feinberg

A 2016 story in The New York Times included accounts from more than 50 women who had become acquainted with the future president over the years, either socially or professionally, or as models or beauty pageant contestants.

The Times said the women’s stories showed a history of “unwelcome romantic advances, unending commentary on the female form, a shrewd reliance on ambitious women, and unsettling workplace conduct” in settings ranging from construction sites of his projects, at his various homes, beauty pageant dressing rooms, and his eponymous Manhattan skyscraper.

These written accounts of alleged bad behaviour — all of which Mr Trump and his spokespersons have strenuously denied — surfaced again and again throughout Mr Trump’s 2016 campaign, and were further validated by what became known as the “Access Hollywood tape” in October 2016.

VIDEO: Probe of FBI’s handling of Trump-Russia investigation ends

16:00 , The Independent

An ‘open secret’: Top White House aides reveal Trump’s alleged inappropriate conduct towards female staffers

15:45 , Andrew Feinberg

Since former president Donald Trump entered the American political arena as a candidate for president in 2015, at least 25 women have accused him of all manner of sexual misconduct, ranging from inappropriate passes and groping to outright rape.

The allegations leveled against the New York developer and television personality turned president go back decades, long before he ever considered running for the White House, with many of them dating to his heyday as a real estate tycoon and business icon in the 1980s and 1990s.

One oft-reported incident stemmed from a divorce deposition given in 1990 by his late first wife, Ivana Trump. During their divorce proceedings, his soon-to-be ex-wife accused Mr Trump of raping her during a violent attack after a visit to a plastic surgeon she’d recommended left him in pain from a scalp reduction procedure.

That allegation was revealed in 1993 book Lost Tycoon by author Harry Hurt III, who viewed a transcript of the deposition. In his book, Hurt described the incident recounted in the deposition as a “violent assault” with a sexual component.

Read more:

Top aides reveal Trump’s alleged inappropriate conduct towards female staffers

Rudy Giuliani said he and Trump were selling pardons for $2m apiece, ex-aide claims

15:26 , Andrew Feinberg

A former aide to former Trump attorney Rudolph Giuliani says he told her the ex-New York City mayor and then-president Donald Trump were offering to sell presidential pardons for $2 million apiece, according to court documents.

The bombshell allegation was levied in a complaint filed against Mr Giuliani by Noelle Dunphy, a New York-based public relations professional who is suing him for “unlawful abuses of power, wide-ranging sexual assault and harassment, wage theft, and other misconduct” committed while she worked for him in 2019 and 2020.

The lawsuit also claims that she was subjected to sexual assault, harassment, wage theft and other misconduct by Mr Giuliani, and alleges that she was forced to perform sex acts on him and work in the nude.

In her civil complaint against the ex-Trump attorney, Ms Duphy described an interaction she allegedly had with Mr Giuliani on or about 16 February 2019, when he was serving as Mr Trump’s personal attorney and attempting to dig up overseas dirt on then-former vice president Joe Biden, who at the time was two months away from entering the 2020 presidential race against Mr Trump.

Read more:

Rudy Giuliani said he and Trump were selling pardons for $2m apiece, ex-aide claims

Trump claimed the Durham probe would uncover the 'crime of the century.' Here's what it really found

15:00 , Eric Tucker, AP

An investigation into the origins of the FBI‘s probe into ties between Russia and Donald Trump‘s 2016 presidential campaign has finally been concluded, with the prosecutor leading the inquiry submitting a much-awaited report that found major flaws.

The report, the culmination of a four-year investigation into possible misconduct by U.S. government officials, contained withering criticism for the FBI but few significant revelations. Nonetheless, it will give fodder to Trump supporters who have long denounced the Russia investigation, as well as Trump opponents who say the Durham team’s meager court record shows their probe was a politically motivated farce.

A look at the investigation and the report:

What did the Durham probe uncover?

Rudy Guiliani accused of forcing aide to give him oral sex while on speakerphone to Trump

14:30 , Graeme Massie, Rachel Sharp

Rudy Guiliani has been accused of forcing an aide to give him oral sex while he was on speakerphone to Donald Trump in a bombshell $10m sexual assault and harassment lawsuit brought against the former New York City mayor.

Noelle Dunphy, who worked as an aide to Mr Giuliani in 2019 and 2020, claims that he would make her perform sex acts on him while speaking to his high-profile associates over the phone because it made him “feel like Bill Clinton”.

“He often demanded oral sex while he took phone calls on speaker phone from high-profile friends and clients, including then-President Trump,” Ms Dunphy claims in the lawsuit.

“Giuliani told Ms Dunphy that he enjoyed engaging in this conduct while on the telephone because it made him ‘feel like Bill Clinton.’”

The allegation is just one of several explosive claims laid out in a 70-page lawsuit filed on Monday against the man who has had a remarkable fall from grace from “America’s mayor” in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks to election conspiracy theorist and one of the biggest players at the centre of Mr Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 result.

Read more:

Rudy Guiliani allegedly forced aide to give him oral sex while on phone to Trump

Trump tells former adviser Michael Flynn: 'We’re going to bring you back'

14:00 , Michelle Price, AP

Former President Donald Trump called into an event hosted by his former national security adviser Michael Flynn over the weekend, telling his ex-adviser, “We’re going to bring you back.”

After scrubbing a rally in Iowa on Saturday night because of bad weather, Trump spoke via telephone at an event for Flynn’s “ReAwaken America Tour” held at the former president’s Miami resort. The retired lieutenant general, a top figure in the far-right movement, has been one of the leading proponents of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

During the call, which was captured on a video of the event posted online, Flynn is seen holding a cellphone up to a microphone as Trump, on the line, says to Flynn, “You just have to stay healthy because we’re bringing you back. We’re going to bring you back.”

It wasn’t clear from Trump’s remarks if he was specifically talking about bringing Flynn into his administration should he win the presidency in 2024 and, if so, for what role.

“We’re proud of you, general,” Trump said. “I knew it from day one — you’re really somebody very special.”

Read more:

Trump tells former adviser Michael Flynn: 'We’re going to bring you back'

American public 'scammed' by Russia report, says Trump

13:30 , Namita Singh

Donald Trump said the evidence in John Durham’s report proves that “the American Public was scammed” when the Federal Bureau of Investigation began a probe into ties between Russia and his 2016 presidential campaign.

The report, the culmination of a four-year investigation into possible misconduct by US government officials, contained withering criticism for the FBI but few significant revelations.

The findings from the probe, led by Special Counsel John Durham, are laid out in a nearly 300-page report in which the once-respected career prosecutor – who was hand-picked to delegitimise the FBI’s efforts to determine whether Mr Trump’s campaign coordinated with Russia’s efforts to boost his candidacy – railed against the FBI for opening a probe into Mr Trump’s campaign based on “raw, unanalysed and uncorroborated intelligence” and accusing investigators of suffering from “confirmation bias”.

Over the four years Mr Durham worked to discredit the department’s investigation, he only brought a handful of cases against criminal defendants, including an FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty to doctoring an email used to secure a surveillance warrant against an ex-Trump campaign adviser, and two other figures associated with the Trump-Russia probe who were acquitted at trial.

Mr Trump took to his Truth Social website to voice his approval of Mr Durham’s efforts, writing: “WOW! After extensive research, Special Counsel John Durham concludes the FBI never should have launched the Trump-Russia Probe! In other words, the American Public was scammed, just as it is being scammed right now by those who don’t want to see GREATNESS for AMERICA!”

One of far-right Rep Paul Gosar’s top aides pledged his loyalty to white supremacist Nick Fuentes, report finds

13:00 , Alex Woodward

Extensive digital footprints have linked staff members for Republican US Rep Paul Gosar to social media accounts belonging to prolific supporters of virulently antisemitic white supremacist Nick Fuentes.

Social media accounts, photographs and posts on far-right platforms and other websites uncovered by Talking Points Memo and researchers who study far-right movements have connected the congressman’s digital director Wade Searle to accounts belonging to a prominent Fuentes acolyte.

The posts, which appeared both before and after Mr Searle began working as a government employee for one of the most far-right members of Congress, include an account reportedly belonging to Mr Searle pledging his allegiance to Fuentes, the 24-year-old neo-fascist pundit central to a cult-like authoritarian movement of mostly young men.

On his streaming channel in May 2022, Fuentes called on his supporters to pledge “undying” allegiance to the “white race, my nation America, and my savior Jesus Christ, and my loyalty to the America First movement, Nicholas J Fuentes.” An account reportedly belonging to Mr Searle did so with a flurry of emoji in an accompanying live chat and donated $150.

By that point, Mr Searle had been working for Mr Gosar for six months.

Read more:

One of Paul Gosar’s top aides reportedly pledged his loyalty to Nick Fuentes

Trump says AOC ‘went crazy’ over CNN town hall

12:30 , Namita Singh

Donald Trump went on yet another bizarre rant on Truth Social following his controversial town hall hosted by CNN at a New Hampshire college.

“It’s really amazing to watch the head of CNN get absolutely lambasted for asking me to do a so-called Town Hall,” Mr Trump wrote on Sunday, referring to CNN CEO Chris Licht.

Mr Trump then went on to criticise representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s relationship.

“In all fairness, nobody had any problems with what he wanted to do until after the show started, when they quickly realized that Ms Collins was not exactly Barbara Walters, or even close,” he wrote before bashing progressive Democratic New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“That’s when the trouble from the Radical Left started. Neurotic little AOC with the bad looking boyfriend, went crazy,” Mr Trump added. “‘He owns CNN, he’s in their head,’ they screamed. CNN, take the GREAT RATINGS!”

Gustaf Kilander has more:

Trump says AOC ‘went crazy’ over CNN town hall as he slams Democrat’s relationship

Nikki Haley dodges chance to condemn Trump for E Jean Carroll sex abuse verdict

12:00 , Josh Marcus

Presidential candidate and former South Carolina Nikki Haley declined to condemn Donald Trump on Sunday, after the former president was found liable this week of defaming and sexually abusing writer E Jean Carroll.

Asked about whether it tarnishes the Republican party that its leading figure was found liable of such crimes, Ms Haley responded that all sides should be heard in a legal proceeding, and that it was up to the American people to pass judgment.

“I have always said that anyone that feels like they have been sexually assaulted in any way should come forward and have their voice heard,” Ms Haley told CBS News’s Face the Nation on Sunday. “I also think that anyone that’s been accused should be able to defend themselves. I was not on the jury. I am not the judge. I think that both of them had their voices heard. There has been a verdict and there has been an appeal.”

Asked whether this meant Ms Haley was questioning the verdict, she declined.

“There’s a verdict and I think there’s been an appeal,” she said. “I think it stands where it stands and I think the American people need to make a decision based on that.”

Read more:

Nikki Haley dodges chance to condemn Trump for E Jean Carroll sex abuse verdict

Three judges who chipped away abortion rights to hear federal abortion pill appeal

11:30 , Namita Singh

Three conservative appeals court judges, each with a history of supporting restrictions on abortion, will hear arguments on 17 May on whether a widely used abortion drug should remain available.

The case involves a regulatory issue – whether the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, and subsequent actions making it easier to obtain, must be rolled back.

The appellate hearing follows an April ruling by a federal judge in Texas, who ordered a hold on federal approval of mifepristone in a decision that overruled decades of scientific approval. His ruling was stayed pending appeal. The case was allotted to a panel made up of Jennifer Walker Elrod, James Ho and Cory Wilson.

Here’s a look at the judges and their track records:

3 judges who chipped away abortion rights to hear federal abortion pill appeal

Trump says he was ‘amazed to see’ CNN ‘traumatized’ by his controversial town hall

11:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump has said that he was “amazed to see” that CNN was so “traumatized” by his controversial town hall event in New Hampshire.

Speaking to The Messenger, Mr Trump was asked what most surprised him about the event.

“I was surprised by the level of hostility … I thought they would be neutral and even better than that so they could get the viewers back,” he said. “And they had one of the best [viewership] days in years. So you would think they would claim success. I was amazed to see that they were traumatized by what took place.”

“They were actually traumatized. I think that instead of acting the way they did, they should have said, ‘we had a tremendous ratings night, one of the best in years, many years,’ and spiked the football, right?” he added.

Trump lashes out at ‘cockroaches’ in DC following release of Durham report

10:42 , Rachel Sharp

Donald Trump has lashed out what he described as “cockroaches” in Washington DC following the release of the Durham report.

The 300-page report – from an investigation led by Trump-appointed Special Counsel John Durham – railed against the FBI for opening a probe into alleged ties between Mr Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and the Russian government.

“THEY ARE SCUM, LIKE COCKROACHES ALL OVER WASHINGTON, D.C.,” the former president wrote on Truth Social in response to the findings.

“Congratulations to John Durham on a Report that is being praised for its quality, importance, and professionalism, by friend and foe alike!”

Mr Durham had been hand-picked by the Trump administration to lead the probe in order to delegitimise the FBI investigation.

Trump tells former adviser Michael Flynn: ‘We’re going to bring you back’

10:30 , Namita Singh

Former president Donald Trump called into an event hosted by his former national security adviser Michael Flynn over the weekend, telling his ex-adviser, “We’re going to bring you back.”

After scrubbing a rally in Iowa on Saturday night because of bad weather, Mr Trump spoke via telephone at an event for Flynn’s “ReAwaken America Tour” held at the former president’s Miami resort. The retired lieutenant general, a top figure in the far-right movement, has been one of the leading proponents of Mr Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

During the call, which was captured on a video of the event posted online, the former aide is seen holding a cellphone up to a microphone as Mr Trump, on the line, says, “You just have to stay healthy because we’re bringing you back. We’re going to bring you back.”

Report:

Trump tells former adviser Michael Flynn: 'We’re going to bring you back'

Supreme Court to review Democratic lawmakers' suit over Trump hotel lease

10:00 , Mark Sherman, AP

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a Biden administration appeal to limit lawsuits filed by members of Congress against the federal government, in a case that stems from disputes over what was the Trump International Hotel in Washington.

The justices said they will review a federal appeals court ruling that allowed a suit by Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee to continue. They filed their complaint in 2017 over the Trump administration’s refusal to turn over information about the Trump Organization’s lease of the hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, between the White House and the Capitol.

The family no longer owns the hotel, now a Waldorf Astoria, much of the information eventually was provided and six lawmakers who were part of the case no longer serve in the House.

The Biden Justice Department, however, told the court that it is important to wipe the appellate ruling from the books because it otherwise could lead to a flood of lawsuits from individual members of Congress.

Read more:

Supreme Court to review Democratic lawmakers' suit over Trump hotel lease

Trump shown tweets by AOC and Andrew Yang to rile him up for battle in CNN town hall

09:30 , Namita Singh

Donald Trump was reportedly shown tweets from Democrats blasting CNN for hosting the town hall with him to psyche him up during the live broadcast.

During the initial commercial break, Trump adviser Jason Miller showed the former president recent tweets backstage at the New Hampshire college where the event was hosted, according to Axios.

Mr Trump grew more bellicose as the night went on after being shown posts by several people slamming CNN, including New York progressive Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez tweeted 23 minutes into the event: “CNN should be ashamed of themselves. They have lost total control of this ‘town hall’ to again be manipulated into platforming election disinformation, defenses of Jan 6th, and a public attack on a sexual abuse victim.”

“The audience is cheering him on and laughing at the host,” she added.

Read more:

Trump shown tweets by AOC and Andrew Yang to rile him up for battle in CNN town hall

Trump claims town hall called ‘success’ by ‘radical left, fascists, Marxists, communists, and normal people’

09:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump claimed to have been praised from all over the political spectrum following his CNN town hall.

Asked by The Messenger if the event was “a win” for him, Mr Trump said, “Well, I don’t want to say. But everyone else says it was ... I’ve never been so credited with the successes the way I have with this. Everybody — the radical left, fascists, Marxists, communists, and normal people — have said that it was a total complete victory for Trump”.

“But CNN has taken tremendous hits. And I’m surprised they don’t really say that they had a very big ratings night. Truly surprising to me,” he added.

“I’m doing a lot of different media,” the former president said. “I was disappointed with Fox. I thought the firing of Tucker [Carlson] was a tremendous mistake. I was very disappointed. And of course, I was disappointed with the coverage of the [2020 presidential] election in particular, the early call in Arizona.”

Woman says Giuliani coerced her into sex and owes her $2m in unpaid wages

08:30 , Namita Singh

A woman who says she worked as an off-the-books employee for Rudy Giuliani during his stint as Donald Trump’s personal lawyer alleges in court papers that the former New York City mayor coerced her into sex and owes her nearly $2m in unpaid wages.

Noelle Dunphy said in the lawsuit that she was Mr Giuliani’s business development director and public relations consultant from 2019 to 2021. She initially made her allegations public in January, but she detailed her claims further in a 70-page legal complaint filed on Monday in New York.

Mr Giuliani has “vehemently” denied the allegations through a spokesperson.

Report:

Woman sues Rudy Giuliani, saying he coerced her into sex, owes her $2 million in unpaid wages

Trump calls DeSantis a ‘rank amateur’ as he blasts governor’s media strategy

08:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump slammed his top rival in the 2024 contest for the Republican presidential nomination, saying that the media is supposedly referring to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as a “rank amateur”.

The former president spoke to The Messenger about his wide-ranging media strategy, while the governor has mostly spoken to friendly conservative outlets.

“I think the media has said he’s doing a terrible job and he doesn’t know what he’s doing,” Mr Trump claimed. “You know, the media has not been friendly to him. They’re saying that he’s a rank amateur. And you know, he started off fine, but then he hasn’t done very well. You look at the polls.”

While the governor has yet to announce his 2024 campaign, Mr Trump has repeatedly called Mr DeSantis “disloyal” for supposedly preparing to run against him after Mr Trump endorsed him in the 2018 GOP gubernatorial primary in the Sunshine State.

Mr Trump said he realised that Mr DeSantis was running against him “when he wouldn’t comment on whether he would run … when he said I had, ‘I have no comment.’ … having no comment means he’s going to run”.

Read more:

Trump calls DeSantis a ‘rank amateur’ as he blasts governor’s media strategy

Pence allies launch super PAC to back his expected candidacy in 2024

07:30 , Namita Singh

Allies of former vice president Mike Pence are launching a new super PAC to support his expected candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

“Committed to America,” the Pence-sanctioned group, will be publicly launching Tuesday, according to people familiar with the project, who spoke on condition of anonymity to share details of the planning and strategy.

“The country’s at real crossroads and the Republican Party needs a strong conservative candidate who can win,” said Scott Reed, the longtime GOP consultant, who will co-chair the group. “Pence has the experience, the unparalleled character, communication skills and the conservative credentials to win both the nomination and a general election.”

Report:

Pence allies launching super PAC to back former vice president's expected 2024 candidacy

Trump equivocates on abortion, claims ‘nobody else’ could have revoked Roe v Wade

07:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Seemingly hoping to secure his support among evangelicals, Donald Trump appeared unwilling to speak plainly on his thoughts on abortion during a recent interview.

Mr Trump was asked by The Messenger what the right way if for the GOP to be taking on the subject during the 2024 campaign.

“First of all, I’m a believer in the exceptions, right? And just as Ronald Reagan was a believer in the exceptions, but I’m a believer in the exceptions … the life of the mother, raping and incest. … The other thing I really believe is that the radicals are people that would have a baby destroyed, killed at the end of the ninth month or even after birth,” he said.

The former president was asked if women do actually get abortions that late even in cases when the mother’s life isn’t a concern.

“Yeah, probably. You might not know about it,” he said.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, “later in pregnancy abortions” are not common and take place because of “medical concerns such as fetal anomalies or maternal life endangerment, as well as barriers to care that cause delays in obtaining an abortion”.

Mr Trump’s said it was “shocking” and went on to claim that “it’s happening”.

“For 50 years, they’ve been trying to get rid of Roe v Wade. I was able to do it. Nobody else could have done that but me. And I was able to do it [by nominating] three excellent judges on the Justices of the Supreme Court,” he told The Messenger. “And I was able to do that. What it did more than anything else is it gave us a tremendous power of negotiation, which we didn’t have, the pro-life movement, a tremendous power of negotiation. ... Now the pro-life movement has the power to negotiate a deal that’s acceptable for them.”

The ex-president was asked if it was right for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to sign a six-week abortion ban in the state.

“Well, he has to do what he has to do. If you look at what DeSantis did, a lot of people don’t even know if he knew what he was doing. But he signed six weeks, and many people within the pro-life movement feel that that was too harsh,” Mr Trump said.

Asked if that would be too harsh for him, Mr Trump said: “I’m looking at all alternatives. I’m looking at many alternatives. But I was able to get us to the table by terminating Roe v Wade. That’s the most important thing that’s ever happened for the pro-life movement.”

Mr Trump was pressed on the issue again: “Would you sign a six-week abortion ban or not?”

“I’m looking at all [options],” he said.

Georgia prosecutor fights back against Trump attempt to remove her from election probe

06:30 , Namita Singh

The Georgia prosecutor who’s investigating whether Donald Trump and his allies broke any laws as they tried to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state fought back Monday against the former president’s attempt to remove her from the case and exclude certain evidence.

Read the details here:

Georgia prosecutor fights back against Trump attempt to remove her from election probe

Trump says he would be ‘rebuked’ by GOP if he didn’t push 2020 election lies

06:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump has said that he would be “rebuked” by the Republican base if he stopped pushing his lies about the 2020 election being stolen from him.

While Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and President Joe Biden have both criticised Mr Trump for obsessing about the past and not moving forward, Mr Trump told The Messenger that he wouldn’t give up on the issue.

“If you look at the polls, almost 80 per cent in our party think the election was rigged … I feel that history is something that, if you don’t learn from it, you’re a fool,” Mr Trump said. “That doesn’t mean that I have to devote half of my speech to 2020, but devoting two per cent or three per cent or four per cent is okay. And I think if I didn’t I would actually be rebuked by a large portion of the Republican Party.”

A recent poll found that while more and more Republicans realize there’s no real evidence proving that the 2020 election was stolen, a majority – 63 per cent – still believe that it was.

Within that group, 52 per cent say they believe there’s “solid evidence” while 48 per cent based that belief on “suspicion,” according to the CNN poll.

Prosecutor ends probe of FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation with no new charges

05:30 , Namita Singh

A special prosecutor has ended his four-year investigation into possible FBI misconduct in its probe of ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign with withering criticism of the bureau but a meagre court record that fell far short of the former president’s prediction he would uncover the “crime of the century”.

The report from special counsel John Durham represents the long-awaited culmination of an investigation that Mr Trump and allies had claimed would expose massive wrongdoing by law enforcement and intelligence officials.

Instead, the investigation delivered underwhelming results, with prosecutors securing a guilty plea from a little-known FBI employee but losing the only two criminal cases they took to trial.

Report:

Prosecutor ends probe of FBI's Trump-Russia investigation with harsh criticism, but no new charges

Trump claimed Durham probe would uncover the ‘crime of the century’. Here’s what it really found

05:00 , Namita Singh

An investigation into the origins of the FBI‘s probe into ties between Russia and Donald Trump‘s 2016 presidential campaign has finally been concluded, with the prosecutor leading the inquiry submitting a much-awaited report that found major flaws.

The report, the culmination of a four-year investigation into possible misconduct by US government officials, contained withering criticism for the FBI but few significant revelations. Nonetheless, it will give fodder to Mr Trump supporters who have long denounced the Russia investigation, as well as his opponents who say the Durham team’s meagre court record shows their probe was a politically motivated farce.

A look at the investigation and the report:

Trump claimed the Durham probe would uncover the 'crime of the century.' Here's what it really found

Rudy Giuliani said he and Trump were selling pardons for $2m apiece, ex-aide claims

04:30 , Namita Singh

A former aide to former Trump attorney Rudolph Giuliani says she was told that the ex-New York City mayor and then-president Donald Trump were offering to sell presidential pardons for $2m apiece, according to court documents.

The bombshell allegation was levied in a complaint filed against Mr Giuliani by Noelle Dunphy, a New York-based public relations professional who is suing him for “unlawful abuses of power, wide-ranging sexual assault and harassment, wage theft, and other misconduct” committed while she worked for him in 2019 and 2020.

The lawsuit claims that she was forced to perform sex acts on him and work in the nude.

Mr Giuliani has strongly denied the allegations in the report.

More in this report:

Rudy Giuliani said he and Trump were selling pardons for $2m apiece, ex-aide claims

Trump says Melania is ‘enthused’ about 2024 campaign

04:15 , Gustaf Kilander and Oliver O'Connell

Donald Trump has said that his wife, former First Lady Melania Trump, is very “enthused” about his 2024 campaign.

Mr Trump was asked by The Messenger: “Is your wife, Melania Trump, going to be involved in your reelection?”

“She’s very enthused – very, very enthused about it,” Mr Trump said.

As the US marked Mother’s Day on Sundat, Mr Trump posted a predictably oddly phrased message celebrating mothers, in particular those of his main foes.

Perhaps in his rush to stick it to the “Radical Left Fascists” he failed to mention his wife, Melania, mother to his youngest son, Barron.

The former president wrote on Truth Social: “Happy Mother’s Day to ALL, in particular the Mothers, Wives and Lovers of the Radical Left Fascists, Marxists, and Communists who are doing everything within their power to destroy and obliterate our once great Country.”

He continued: “Please make these complete Lunatics and Maniacs Kinder, Gentler, Softer and, most importantly, Smarter, so that we can, quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

Trump doesn’t ‘want to comment’ on what’s in the JFK assassination files

03:45 , Gustaf Kilander

In an interview, Donald Trump was asked about the John F Kennedy assassination files, which he said he was going to release in full as president.

He didn’t end up fulfilling that pledge.

Judge Andrew Napolitano said in a podcast interview that Mr Trump had said that the information shouldn’t be made public.

“I released a lot, as you know. And I will release everything else,” Mr Trump told The Messenger.

Mr Trump was then asked: “So there was nothing in there that the public should be scared about or that makes the US look terrible?”

“Well, I don’t want to comment on that. But I will tell you that I have released a lot. I will release the remaining portion very early in my term,” he said.

Probe into Trump-Russia investigation slams FBI but fails to recommend new charges

03:15 , Andrew Feinberg

An investigation by a Trump administration prosecutor charged with undermining and discrediting the FBI’s probe into alleged ties between former president Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Russian government has ended after four years and just a single criminal conviction.

The findings from the probe, led by Special Counsel John Durham, are laid out in a nearly 300-page report in which the once-respected career prosecutor — who was hand-picked to delegitimise the FBI’s efforts to determine whether Mr Trump’s campaign coordinated with Russia’s efforts to boost his candidacy — railed against the FBI for opening a probe into Mr Trump’s campaign based on “raw, unanalyzed and uncorroborated intelligence” and accusing investigators of suffering from “confirmation bias”.

Over the four years Mr Durham worked to discredit the department’s investigation, he only brought a handful of cases against criminal defendants, including an FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty to doctoring an email used to secure a surveillance warrant against an ex-Trump campaign adviser, and two other figures associated with the Trump-Russia probe who were acquitted at trial.

Read more:

Probe into Trump-Russia investigation ends without fanfare after four years

New Hampshire college condemns Trump after ‘deeply troubling’ CNN town hall on its campus

02:45 , Gustaf Kilander

The New Hampshire college that hosted Donald Trump’s CNN town hall has condemned the former president for the “deeply troubling” event.

Saint Anselm College criticised both the comments of the ex-president and the reactions to his statements by the Trump-friendly audience in the auditorium.

CNN moderator Kaitlan Collins asked Mr Trump about the civil trial between him and writer and former advice columnist E Jean Carroll. Mr Trump was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation and has been ordered to pay her $5m. Mr Trump was not found liable for rape. His legal team is appealing the verdict.

Mr Trump denied Ms Carroll’s allegation, to laughter from the crowd in the room.

“A Manhattan jury found you sexually abused the writer E Jean Carroll and defamed her. You’ve denied this. But what do you say to voters who say it disqualifies you from being president?” Ms Collins said.

Read more:

New Hampshire college condemns Trump after ‘troubling’ CNN town hall on its campus

Trump shares fake video of Anderson Cooper’s reaction to ‘disturbing’ CNN town hall - with Biden in his place

02:15 , Megan Sheets, Graig Graziosi

Donald Trump shared a manipulated video of Anderson Cooper’s dark reaction to CNN’s town hall with the ex-president - using old clips to make it look like the anchor was talking about Joe Biden.

The video posted to Truth Social on Saturday begins with the monologue Cooper gave on Thursday addressing outrage over the event with Mr Trump before shifting to footage of a town hall that the CNN host held with Mr Biden in October 2021.

The town hall on Wednesday (10 May) featured Mr Trump in a loosely-moderated discussion with CNN host Kaitlan Collins, during which he made numerous false statements, advanced conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, and promised to pardon Capitol rioters charged with crimes for their participation in the insurrection attempt two years ago.

Cooper opened his show, Anderson Cooper 360, the next day by acknowledging that many viewers expressed “deep anger and disappointment” following the event.

In the altered video posted by Mr Trump, Cooper’s remarks were spliced to remove any direct references to the ex-president.

Read more:

Trump shares fake video of Anderson Cooper’s reaction to ‘disturbing’ CNN town hall

Rudy Giuliani said he and Trump were selling pardons for $2m apiece, ex-aide claims

01:56 , Graeme Massie

Mr Giuliani reportedly claimed he would split the $2 million fee with then-president Donald Trump.

Rudy Giuliani said he and Trump were selling pardons for $2m apiece, ex-aide claims

Wisconsin judge allows for lawsuit against fake Trump electors to proceed

01:45 , Scott Bauer, AP

A Wisconsin judge on Monday refused to break up a lawsuit filed against 10 fake electors for former President Donald Trump and two of his attorneys, saying the case could proceed in the county where it was filed.

The lawsuit seeks $2.4 million from the fake electors and their attorneys, alleging they were part of a conspiracy by Trump and his allies to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential race. It also seeks to disqualify the Republicans from ever serving as electors again.

Fake electors met in Wisconsin and other battleground states where Trump was defeated in 2020, attempting to cast ballots for the former president even though he lost. Republicans who participated in Wisconsin said they were trying to preserve Trump’s legal standing in case courts overturned his defeat.

Nine of the 10 fake electors in Wisconsin, and one of Trump’s attorneys, argued that the lawsuit against them was wrongly filed in Dane County Circuit Court. Since none of them lived in that county, they argued, the lawsuit should be refiled against each of them in their respective home counties.

But Dane County Circuit Judge Frank Remington disagreed on Monday, saying the lawsuit was properly filed because, in part, at least one of the defendants appears to live in Dane County or does not present evidence to the contrary.

One of Trump’s attorneys, James Troupis, and fake elector Scott Grabins, the former Dane County Republican Party chair, both live in Dane County. Neither of them provided any evidence of where they lived, the judge said. Neither did Trump attorney Kenneth Chesebro, who practices law in the Boston area.

Attorneys for the fake electors who don’t live in Dane County argued that a 2007 state law allows for venue changes to courts in the defendant’s home county in cases that relate to elections or election law. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants broke several criminal and civil laws when they met at the Wisconsin state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, in an attempt to cast the state’s electoral votes for Trump.

Remington said the law requires that the case be heard in Dane County where it was filed.

“Wisconsin law does not allow the problematic consequences of ten judges simultaneously litigating the same claims in ten different courts, or ten juries — some 120 jurors — hearing the same claims and rendering ten different verdicts,” Remington wrote.

The lawsuit was filed a year ago this month by two Democratic electors and a voter. They are represented by the Madison-based Law Forward law firm and the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at the Georgetown University Law Center.

“Although likely not the last, this was just the latest effort to delay any type of accountability,” said Law Forward attorney Scott Thompson. “We are pleased this matter will be resolved in the Dane County Courthouse, just one block from where the fake electors scheme was carried out.”

Attorneys for the fake electors did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Remington last week also revived a complaint brought by Law Forward against the fake electors filed with the Wisconsin Elections Commission. That complaint sought sanctions against the fake electors.

Remington ruled last week that the complaint must be heard again because a commissioner who considered the complaint last time should have recused himself. That commissioner, Robert Spindell, also served as a fake elector and is one of the defendants in the lawsuit seeking damages.

President Joe Biden won Wisconsin by nearly 21,000 votes, a result that has withstood recounts, partisan-led investigations, a nonpartisan audit and multiple lawsuits.

Prosecutor ends probe of FBI's Trump-Russia investigation with harsh criticism, but no new charges

01:15 , Eric Tucker, Lindsday Whitehurst - AP

A special prosecutor has ended his four-year investigation into possible FBI misconduct in its probe of ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign with withering criticism of the bureau but a meager court record that fell far short of the former president’s prediction he would uncover the “crime of the century.”

The report Monday from special counsel John Durham represents the long-awaited culmination of an investigation that Trump and allies had claimed would expose massive wrongdoing by law enforcement and intelligence officials. Instead, Durham’s investigation delivered underwhelming results, with prosecutors securing a guilty plea from a little-known FBI employee but losing the only two criminal cases they took to trial.

The roughly 300-page report catalogs what Durham says were a series of missteps by the FBI and Justice Department as investigators undertook a politically explosive probe in the heat of the 2016 election into whether the Trump campaign was colluding with Russia to tip the outcome. It criticized the FBI for opening a full-fledged investigation based on “raw, unanalyzed and uncorroborated intelligence,” saying the speed at which it did so was a departure from the norm. And it said investigators repeatedly relied on “confirmation bias,” ignoring or rationalizing away evidence that undercut their premise of a Trump-Russia conspiracy as they pushed the probe forward.

Trump tells former adviser Michael Flynn: 'We’re going to bring you back'

Tuesday 16 May 2023 00:45 , Michelle Price, AP

Former President Donald Trump called into an event hosted by his former national security adviser Michael Flynn over the weekend, telling his ex-adviser, “We’re going to bring you back.”

After scrubbing a rally in Iowa on Saturday night because of bad weather, Trump spoke via telephone at an event for Flynn’s “ReAwaken America Tour” held at the former president’s Miami resort. The retired lieutenant general, a top figure in the far-right movement, has been one of the leading proponents of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

During the call, which was captured on a video of the event posted online, Flynn is seen holding a cellphone up to a microphone as Trump, on the line, says to Flynn, “You just have to stay healthy because we’re bringing you back. We’re going to bring you back.”

It wasn’t clear from Trump’s remarks if he was specifically talking about bringing Flynn into his administration should he win the presidency in 2024 and, if so, for what role.

“We’re proud of you, general,” Trump said. “I knew it from day one — you’re really somebody very special.”

Read more:

Trump tells former adviser Michael Flynn: 'We’re going to bring you back'

Giuliani sued for $10m for alleged sexual assault by former employee

Tuesday 16 May 2023 00:31 , Graeme Massie

Noelle Dunphy claims that Donald Trump’s former lawyer made her perform sex acts on him as part of job.

Rudy Giuliani sued for $10m for alleged sexual assault by former employee

Trump says AOC ‘went crazy’ over CNN town hall as he slams Democrat’s relationship

Tuesday 16 May 2023 00:15 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump went on yet another bizarre rant on Truth Social following his controversial town hall hosted by CNN at a New Hampshire college.

“It’s really amazing to watch the head of CNN get absolutely lambasted for asking me to do a so-called Town Hall,” Mr Trump wrote on Sunday, referring to CNN CEO Chris Licht.

Mr Trump then went on to criticise Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s relationship.

“In all fairness, nobody had any problems with what he wanted to do until after the show started, when they quickly realized that Ms Collins was not exactly Barbara Walters, or even close,” he wrote before bashing progressive Democratic New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“That’s when the trouble from the Radical Left started. Neurotic little AOC with the bad looking boyfriend, went crazy,” Mr Trump added. “‘He owns CNN, he’s in their head,’ they screamed. CNN, take the GREAT RATINGS!”

Read more:

Trump says AOC ‘went crazy’ over CNN town hall as he slams Democrat’s relationship

Probe into Trump-Russia investigation slams FBI but fails to recommend new charges

Monday 15 May 2023 23:45 , Andrew Feinberg

An investigation by a Trump administration prosecutor charged with undermining and discrediting the FBI’s probe into alleged ties between former president Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Russian government has ended after four years and just a single criminal conviction.

The findings from the probe, led by Special Counsel John Durham, are laid out in a nearly 300-page report in which the once-respected career prosecutor — who was hand-picked to delegitimise the FBI’s efforts to determine whether Mr Trump’s campaign coordinated with Russia’s efforts to boost his candidacy — railed against the FBI for opening a probe into Mr Trump’s campaign based on “raw, unanalyzed and uncorroborated intelligence” and accusing investigators of suffering from “confirmation bias”.

Over the four years Mr Durham worked to discredit the department’s investigation, he only brought a handful of cases against criminal defendants, including an FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty to doctoring an email used to secure a surveillance warrant against an ex-Trump campaign adviser, and two other figures associated with the Trump-Russia probe who were acquitted at trial.

Read more:

Probe into Trump-Russia investigation ends without fanfare after four years

Trump doesn’t ‘want to comment’ on what’s in the JFK assassination files

Monday 15 May 2023 23:15 , Gustaf Kilander

In an interview, Donald Trump was asked about the John F Kennedy assassination files, which he said he was going to release in full as president.

He didn’t end up fulfilling that pledge.

Judge Andrew Napolitano said in a podcast interview that Mr Trump had said that the information shouldn’t be made public.

“I released a lot, as you know. And I will release everything else,” Mr Trump told The Messenger.

Mr Trump was then asked: “So there was nothing in there that the public should be scared about or that makes the US look terrible?”

“Well, I don’t want to comment on that. But I will tell you that I have released a lot. I will release the remaining portion very early in my term,” he said.

Trump says Melania is ‘enthused’ about 2024 campaign

Monday 15 May 2023 22:45 , Gustaf Kilander and Oliver O'Connell

Donald Trump has said that his wife, former First Lady Melania Trump, is very “enthused” about his 2024 campaign.

Mr Trump was asked by The Messenger: “Is your wife, Melania Trump, going to be involved in your reelection?”

“She’s very enthused – very, very enthused about it,” Mr Trump said.

As the US marked Mother’s Day on Sundat, Mr Trump posted a predictably oddly phrased message celebrating mothers, in particular those of his main foes.

Perhaps in his rush to stick it to the “Radical Left Fascists” he failed to mention his wife, Melania, mother to his youngest son, Barron.

The former president wrote on Truth Social: “Happy Mother’s Day to ALL, in particular the Mothers, Wives and Lovers of the Radical Left Fascists, Marxists, and Communists who are doing everything within their power to destroy and obliterate our once great Country.”

He continued: “Please make these complete Lunatics and Maniacs Kinder, Gentler, Softer and, most importantly, Smarter, so that we can, quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

Trump shown tweets by AOC and Andrew Yang to rile him up for battle in CNN town hall

Monday 15 May 2023 22:15 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump was reportedly shown tweets from Democrats blasting CNN for hosting the town hall with him to psyche him up during the live broadcast.

During the initial commercial break, Trump adviser Jason Miller showed the former president recent tweets backstage at the New Hampshire college where the event was hosted, according to Axios.

Mr Trump grew more bellicose as the night went on after being shown posts by several people slamming CNN, including New York progressive Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez tweeted 23 minutes into the event: “CNN should be ashamed of themselves. They have lost total control of this ‘town hall’ to again be manipulated into platforming election disinformation, defenses of Jan 6th, and a public attack on a sexual abuse victim.”

“The audience is cheering him on and laughing at the host,” she added.

Read more:

Trump shown tweets by AOC and Andrew Yang to rile him up for battle in CNN town hall

Trump says he would be ‘rebuked’ by GOP if he didn’t push 2020 election lies

Monday 15 May 2023 21:45 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump has said that he would be “rebuked” by the Republican base if he stopped pushing his lies about the 2020 election being stolen from him.

While Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and President Joe Biden have both criticised Mr Trump for obsessing about the past and not moving forward, Mr Trump told The Messenger that he wouldn’t give up on the issue.

“If you look at the polls, almost 80 per cent in our party think the election was rigged … I feel that history is something that, if you don’t learn from it, you’re a fool,” Mr Trump said. “That doesn’t mean that I have to devote half of my speech to 2020, but devoting two per cent or three per cent or four per cent is okay. And I think if I didn’t I would actually be rebuked by a large portion of the Republican Party.”

A recent poll found that while more and more Republicans realize there’s no real evidence proving that the 2020 election was stolen, a majority – 63 per cent – still believe that it was.

Within that group, 52 per cent say they believe there’s “solid evidence” while 48 per cent based that belief on “suspicion,” according to the CNN poll.

Trump equivocates on abortion, claims ‘nobody else’ could have revoked Roe v Wade

Monday 15 May 2023 21:15 , Gustaf Kilander

Seemingly hoping to secure his support among evangelicals, Donald Trump appeared unwilling to speak plainly on his thoughts on abortion during a recent interview.

Mr Trump was asked by The Messenger what the right way if for the GOP to be taking on the subject during the 2024 campaign.

“First of all, I’m a believer in the exceptions, right? And just as Ronald Reagan was a believer in the exceptions, but I’m a believer in the exceptions … the life of the mother, raping and incest. … The other thing I really believe is that the radicals are people that would have a baby destroyed, killed at the end of the ninth month or even after birth,” he said.

The former president was asked if women do actually get abortions that late even in cases when the mother’s life isn’t a concern.

“Yeah, probably. You might not know about it,” he said.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, “later in pregnancy abortions” are not common and take place because of “medical concerns such as fetal anomalies or maternal life endangerment, as well as barriers to care that cause delays in obtaining an abortion”.

Mr Trump’s said it was “shocking” and went on to claim that “it’s happening”.

“For 50 years, they’ve been trying to get rid of Roe v Wade. I was able to do it. Nobody else could have done that but me. And I was able to do it [by nominating] three excellent judges on the Justices of the Supreme Court,” he told The Messenger. “And I was able to do that. What it did more than anything else is it gave us a tremendous power of negotiation, which we didn’t have, the pro-life movement, a tremendous power of negotiation. ... Now the pro-life movement has the power to negotiate a deal that’s acceptable for them.”

The ex-president was asked if it was right for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to sign a six-week abortion ban in the state.

“Well, he has to do what he has to do. If you look at what DeSantis did, a lot of people don’t even know if he knew what he was doing. But he signed six weeks, and many people within the pro-life movement feel that that was too harsh,” Mr Trump said.

Asked if that would be too harsh for him, Mr Trump said: “I’m looking at all alternatives. I’m looking at many alternatives. But I was able to get us to the table by terminating Roe v Wade. That’s the most important thing that’s ever happened for the pro-life movement.”

Mr Trump was pressed on the issue again: “Would you sign a six-week abortion ban or not?”

“I’m looking at all [options],” he said.

Trump calls DeSantis a ‘rank amateur’ as he blasts governor’s media strategy

Monday 15 May 2023 20:45 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump slammed his top rival in the 2024 contest for the Republican presidential nomination, saying that the media is supposedly referring to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as a “rank amateur”.

The former president spoke to The Messenger about his wide-ranging media strategy, while the governor has mostly spoken to friendly conservative outlets.

“I think the media has said he’s doing a terrible job and he doesn’t know what he’s doing,” Mr Trump claimed. “You know, the media has not been friendly to him. They’re saying that he’s a rank amateur. And you know, he started off fine, but then he hasn’t done very well. You look at the polls.”

While the governor has yet to announce his 2024 campaign, Mr Trump has repeatedly called Mr DeSantis “disloyal” for supposedly preparing to run against him after Mr Trump endorsed him in the 2018 GOP gubernatorial primary in the Sunshine State.

Mr Trump said he realised that Mr DeSantis was running against him “when he wouldn’t comment on whether he would run … when he said I had, ‘I have no comment.’ … having no comment means he’s going to run”.

Read more:

Trump calls DeSantis a ‘rank amateur’ as he blasts governor’s media strategy

Trump claims town hall called ‘success’ by ‘radical left, fascists, Marxists, communists, and normal people’

Monday 15 May 2023 20:15 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump claimed to have been praised from all over the political spectrum following his CNN town hall.

Asked by The Messenger if the event was “a win” for him, Mr Trump said, “Well, I don’t want to say. But everyone else says it was ... I’ve never been so credited with the successes the way I have with this. Everybody — the radical left, fascists, Marxists, communists, and normal people — have said that it was a total complete victory for Trump”.

“But CNN has taken tremendous hits. And I’m surprised they don’t really say that they had a very big ratings night. Truly surprising to me,” he added.

“I’m doing a lot of different media,” the former president said. “I was disappointed with Fox. I thought the firing of Tucker [Carlson] was a tremendous mistake. I was very disappointed. And of course, I was disappointed with the coverage of the [2020 presidential] election in particular, the early call in Arizona.”

Supreme Court to review Democratic lawmakers' suit over Trump hotel lease

Monday 15 May 2023 19:30 , Mark Sherman, AP

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a Biden administration appeal to limit lawsuits filed by members of Congress against the federal government, in a case that stems from disputes over what was the Trump International Hotel in Washington.

The justices said they will review a federal appeals court ruling that allowed a suit by Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee to continue. They filed their complaint in 2017 over the Trump administration’s refusal to turn over information about the Trump Organization’s lease of the hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, between the White House and the Capitol.

The family no longer owns the hotel, now a Waldorf Astoria, much of the information eventually was provided and six lawmakers who were part of the case no longer serve in the House.

The Biden Justice Department, however, told the court that it is important to wipe the appellate ruling from the books because it otherwise could lead to a flood of lawsuits from individual members of Congress.

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Supreme Court to review Democratic lawmakers' suit over Trump hotel lease

Trump says he was ‘amazed to see’ CNN ‘traumatized’ by his controversial town hall

Monday 15 May 2023 18:45 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump has said that he was “amazed to see” that CNN was so “traumatized” by his controversial town hall event in New Hampshire.

Speaking to The Messenger, Mr Trump was asked what most surprised him about the event.

“I was surprised by the level of hostility … I thought they would be neutral and even better than that so they could get the viewers back,” he said. “And they had one of the best [viewership] days in years. So you would think they would claim success. I was amazed to see that they were traumatized by what took place.”

“They were actually traumatized. I think that instead of acting the way they did, they should have said, ‘we had a tremendous ratings night, one of the best in years, many years,’ and spiked the football, right?” he added.

New Hampshire college condemns Trump after ‘deeply troubling’ CNN town hall on its campus

Monday 15 May 2023 18:15 , Gustaf Kilander

The New Hampshire college that hosted Donald Trump’s CNN town hall has condemned the former president for the “deeply troubling” event.

Saint Anselm College criticised both the comments of the ex-president and the reactions to his statements by the Trump-friendly audience in the auditorium.

CNN moderator Kaitlan Collins asked Mr Trump about the civil trial between him and writer and former advice columnist E Jean Carroll. Mr Trump was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation and has been ordered to pay her $5m. Mr Trump was not found liable for rape. His legal team is appealing the verdict.

Mr Trump denied Ms Carroll’s allegation, to laughter from the crowd in the room.

“A Manhattan jury found you sexually abused the writer E Jean Carroll and defamed her. You’ve denied this. But what do you say to voters who say it disqualifies you from being president?” Ms Collins said.

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New Hampshire college condemns Trump after ‘troubling’ CNN town hall on its campus

Nikki Haley dodges chance to condemn Trump for E Jean Carroll sex abuse verdict

Monday 15 May 2023 17:45 , Josh Marcus

Presidential candidate and former South Carolina Nikki Haley declined to condemn Donald Trump on Sunday, after the former president was found liable this week of defaming and sexually abusing writer E Jean Carroll.

Asked about whether it tarnishes the Republican party that its leading figure was found liable of such crimes, Ms Haley responded that all sides should be heard in a legal proceeding, and that it was up to the American people to pass judgment.

“I have always said that anyone that feels like they have been sexually assaulted in any way should come forward and have their voice heard,” Ms Haley told CBS News’s Face the Nation on Sunday. “I also think that anyone that’s been accused should be able to defend themselves. I was not on the jury. I am not the judge. I think that both of them had their voices heard. There has been a verdict and there has been an appeal.”

Asked whether this meant Ms Haley was questioning the verdict, she declined.

“There’s a verdict and I think there’s been an appeal,” she said. “I think it stands where it stands and I think the American people need to make a decision based on that.”

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Nikki Haley dodges chance to condemn Trump for E Jean Carroll sex abuse verdict

Trump shares bizarre Mother’s Day post with no mention of Melania

Monday 15 May 2023 17:15 , Oliver O'Connell

As the US marks Mother’s Day, Donald Trump has posted a predictably oddly phrased message celebrating mothers, in particular those of his main foes.

Perhaps in his rush to stick it to the “Radical Left Fascists” he failed to mention his wife, Melania, mother to his youngest son, Barron.

The former president wrote on Truth Social: “Happy Mother’s Day to ALL, in particular the Mothers, Wives and Lovers of the Radical Left Fascists, Marxists, and Communists who are doing everything within their power to destroy and obliterate our once great Country.”

He continued: “Please make these complete Lunatics and Maniacs Kinder, Gentler, Softer and, most importantly, Smarter, so that we can, quickly, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

Many other public figures, notably former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, took the opportunity to shower praise on their wives on Twitter.

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Trump shares bizarre Mother’s Day post with no mention of Melania

Trump shares fake video of Anderson Cooper’s reaction to ‘disturbing’ CNN town hall - with Biden in his place

Monday 15 May 2023 16:45 , Megan Sheets, Graig Graziosi

Donald Trump shared a manipulated video of Anderson Cooper’s dark reaction to CNN’s town hall with the ex-president - using old clips to make it look like the anchor was talking about Joe Biden.

The video posted to Truth Social on Saturday begins with the monologue Cooper gave on Thursday addressing outrage over the event with Mr Trump before shifting to footage of a town hall that the CNN host held with Mr Biden in October 2021.

The town hall on Wednesday (10 May) featured Mr Trump in a loosely-moderated discussion with CNN host Kaitlan Collins, during which he made numerous false statements, advanced conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, and promised to pardon Capitol rioters charged with crimes for their participation in the insurrection attempt two years ago.

Cooper opened his show, Anderson Cooper 360, the next day by acknowledging that many viewers expressed “deep anger and disappointment” following the event.

In the altered video posted by Mr Trump, Cooper’s remarks were spliced to remove any direct references to the ex-president.

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Trump shares fake video of Anderson Cooper’s reaction to ‘disturbing’ CNN town hall

Succession’s Trumpian election episode lays bare the damage of the right-wing media machine

Monday 15 May 2023 16:15 , Louis Chilton

Back when Donald Trump was in office, there were a number of common refrains you’d hear. “What will be the first great piece of art about the Trump administration?” “Who will portray him in the inevitable biopics?” “Which actor will one day win an Oscar for playing US president Donald J Trump?” Well, it may not be the first great piece of art about the tumultuous Trump era, but with its antepenultimate episode, “America Decides”, Succession has produced one of the definitive artistic statements on the rise of Trump. And – what’s more – it didn’t mention his name once.

The episode picks up hours after the close of its predecessor. In the world of Succession, it’s election night, with bland liberal frontrunner Daniel Jiménez (Elliot Villar) coming up against right-wing firebrand Jeryd Mencken (Justin Kirk). We already know from last season’s “What it Takes” that Mencken is seriously bad news. He’s racist. Sexist. You name it, he’s probably said something depraved about it. He’s worked his way up to become the Republican presidential nominee, thanks in part to the backing of the late Logan Roy (Brian Cox) and his Fox News-esque right-wing TV network ATN. He enters election night as an underdog. By the morning, and against all odds and polling predictions, he’s been declared president. Sound familiar?

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Succession’s election episode lays bare the damage of the Trump media machine

Mary Trump explains how Kaitlan Collins should have handled ex-president at CNN town hall

Monday 15 May 2023 15:45 , Namita Singh

Mary Trump says that the only way to hold her uncle Donald Trump to account is by pitting him against a person who is willing to be “very blunt about who he is” and tell him “to shut up” when he is lying.

The niece of the former president made the remarks while appearing on a podcast with Molly Jong-Fast, following her uncle’s town hall on CNN last week. During his first appearance on the network since 2016, Mr Trump repeatedly lied about the 2020 election, as well as praising rioters who attacked police officers and damaged the Capitol during the January 6 insurrection.

Mr Trump, who lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden and whose supporters then attempted to prevent Congress from ratifying the result, was pressed on his election claims by moderator Kaitlan Collins.

Yet Mr Trump steadfastly refused to acknowledge the fact that he had lost, despite multiple corrections from Collins, who covered his former administration for CNN and previously worked at the conservative Daily Caller website co-founded by former Fox News star Tucker Carlson.

Mr Trump’s niece, who was among those criticising CNN for hosting the town hall, called the event “anti-American” and blamed the audience for enabling the former president, making it tough for Collins to shut him down.

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Mary Trump explains how CNN host should have handled ex-president at town hall

Jason Sudeikis reveals how Donald Trump inspired Ted Lasso creators to completely change beloved character

Monday 15 May 2023 15:15 , Peony Hirwani

Jason Sudeikis has revealed how former US President Donald Trump helped shape his Ted Lasso character.

The 47-year-old actor recalled a 2015 dinner date with his ex Olivia Wilde when he looked back at the Ted Lasso character he had crafted for a comedy skit.

In an interview with The Guardian, Sudeikis spoke about why he decided to make his character “warm and fuzzy” instead of “belligerent”.

“It was the culture we were living in,” Sudeikis said. “I’m not terribly active online and it even affected me. Then you have Donald Trump coming down the escalator. I was like, ‘OK, this is silly,’ and then what he unlocked in people… I hated how people weren’t listening to one another.

He added: “Things became very binary and I don’t think that’s the way the world works.”

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Jason Sudeikis reveals how Donald Trump inspired his Ted Lasso character