Trump news – live: Trump floats special counsel conspiracy as he claims Fox News abandoned ‘King’ of Maga

Oliver O'Connell

Former president Donald Trump began his weekend by lashing out against his long list of enemies, ranting on Truth Social about Biden family conspiracies, the federal indictment against him, and perceived disloyalty at Fox News.

In a bizarre post, he compared himself to a “King” and a “Golden Goose.”

Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, the former president’s chief rival in the 2024 election sharped his message.

Joe Biden told a room full of union members Republicans were coming to take their jobs.

“They are coming for your jobs. They are coming for your future. They are coming for the future we are building for your kids and grandkids,” Mr Biden told the crowd.

Key Points

Merrick Garland is ‘least partisan person I know,’ despite attacks on DoJ

23:20 , Josh Marcus

Supporters of Merrick Garland say the attorney general is the right person to handle a consequential decision like the indictment against Donald Trump for mishandling classified documents.

“I’m sure he is saddened by the spectacle of a former president being indicted for the kinds of crimes that we see Trump indicted for,” Robert Post, a professor at Yale Law School, told the Associated Press. “He’s the least partisan person that I know. He cares about the law first and foremost.”

Mike Pence says we should hold off on all the Trump pardon talk

22:49 , Josh Marcus

Former Trump administration vice-president Mike Pence says it’s “premature” to talk about whether Donald Trump should be pardoned for mishandling classified documents.

“I don’t know why some of my competitors in the Republican primary presume the [former] president will be found guilty,” Mr Pence told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday.

“We don’t know what his defense is,” he added. “We don’t know if this will even go to trial. It could be subject to a motion to dismiss.”

Other 2024 candidates like Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, and Vivek Ramaswamy have all suggested they would pardon the former president.

Anti-trans attacks on right continue to escalate

22:16 , Josh Marcus

Donald Trump and his fellow right-wingers continue to attack trans people.

A Fox News guest discussing last week’s “drag nuns” protest, the Trump prosecution and “the left” has suggested the time may be coming for someone in America to “pull the trigger” like at Concord, the battle which helped to spark the Revolutionary War.

Retired MLB pitcher and conservative commentator Curt Schilling made the on-air comments Friday while in conversation with host Jesse Watters. Schilling complained that leaders on the right “talk, talk, that’s all they’re doing” without backing up ideology with action.

“We’re up against a side and a force that doesn’t play by the rules – refuses to play by the rules,” Schilling said, adding of conservatives: “We get excited, and we get emotional; that’s it. They break the law; they do the things they need to do to ensure their agenda is driven forward – and we’re watching them gut our nation from the inside out, and I don’t know where the rubber’s gonna meet the road.”

Referencing the American founding fathers and “the young men that signed the Constitution,” Schilling continued: “They sacrificed everything to come out from under a tyrannical government and, then, eventually, at some point, there was a man at Concord who decided he was gonna pull the trigger.”

Anger as Fox News guest it's time for someone to 'pull a trigger' over drag queens

Such rhetoric wouldn’t be out of place on Donald Trump’s stump speech.

Trump threatens trans healthcare in NRA speech

Bill Barr says ‘consummate narcissist’ Trump has himself to blame for indictment, not DoJ

21:52 , Josh Marcus

Ex-attorney general Bill Barr, perhaps tiring of Donald Trump slandering his former home at the Justice Department, says the former president has no one to blame for his federal indictment but himself.

Mr Barr, who served in the Trump administration, told CBS news that Mr Trump’s case was “entirely of his own making,” calling his old boss a “consummate narcissist” and a “fundamentally flawed person.”

“He’s like a defiant 9-year-old kid who is always pushing the glass towards the edge of the table, defying his parents from stopping him from doing it,” Mr. Barr said, adding that “our country can’t be a therapy session for a troubled man like this.”

Donald Trump might try to pardon himself

21:27 , Josh Marcus

At least, that’s the risk, according to Trump’s 2024 rival Asa Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas.

“I could certainly see Donald Trump doing that. That’s exactly what he would intend if he got elected president. And if [his case] was not brought to trial before then, he’s likely to issue that as well,” Mr Hutchinson told ABC News’s This Week.

“From a legal standpoint, a constitutional standpoint, that is a question that the courts would have to resolve,” he added. “I’m doubtful of it. I don’t think that’s what the Constitution intends in giving the president the pardon power. But most importantly, it would be inappropriate, unseemly.”

Should Biden pardon Trump?

21:02 , Josh Marcus

At least one former Trump official thinks so.

Chip Muir argues in The Hill today that Joe Biden could spare the country a lot of division by pardoning Donald Trump for hoarding classified documents, citing Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon for Watergate.

“The gesture curtailed the acrimony over continued Watergate fallout and started the process of moving on,” Mr Muir writes. “Though Nixon felt he was innocent of criminal conduct and should not have to accept a pardon, the pardon ended his legal jeopardy and allowed him to acknowledge he should have handled the situation better. In either case, a humbling yet gracious lifeline allowed America to move forward.”

Mike Pence says he wants to ‘clean house’ at the DoJ, in oblique reference to Trump case

20:47 , Josh Marcus

Mike Pence may be challenging Donald Trump for the 2024 presidential election, but the former Trump administration VP also seems to be siding with his old boss when it comes to prosecutions.

Mr Pence sounded somewhat Trump-ian in recent comments, accusing the DoJ of being overly politicised, a comment that can only be understood in the wider context of the Justice Department’s prosecution of Donald Trump for hoarding classified documents.

“The American people – or I will tell you among Republicans, vast majority of Republicans – have lost confidence in the department of justice,” Mr Pence said this weeked, adding he would “clean house at the highest levels of the Department of Justice.”

Former Pence aid rips Trump pardons to ‘cocaine traffickers’ and ‘family members'

20:23 , Josh Marcus

Marc Short, a former aide to vice-president Mike Pence, is part of a growing chorus of former Trump administration officials condemning Donald Trump’s conduct.

“One of the most unseemly parts of the end of our administration was the pardons that Donald Trump gave to cocaine traffickers, to family members, to people guilty of violent crimes,” Mr Short told Fox News Sunday.

Here’s everyone Donald Trump pardoned.

Who has Trump pardoned? A full list

Are Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson friends again?

19:57 , Josh Marcus

It’s been a strange few months for Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson.

The right-wing president and the right-wing anchor were often mutually supportive throughout the Trump presidency, but things got a bit dicier during the Dominion Voting Systems defamation suit against Fox News, Mr Carlson’s former employer.

Tucker Carlson said he ‘passionately’ hated Trump, new Fox News lawsuit filings show

Internal communications shared as part of the suit quote Mr Carlson saying he “passionately” hated Mr Trump and looked forward to the day he no longer had to cover him.

Mr Carlson later walked back the comments, but for a while it seemed the two allies might at odds with each other.

Not so now, however.

In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Mr Trump was back to praising the anchor, who recently went on a lengthy monologue about why the former president is the best candidate for the White House in 2024.

“Thank you Tucker,” Mr Trump wrote in response. “We miss you!”

Did Donald Trump endanger US troops by hoarding classified documents?

19:32 , Josh Marcus

Donald Trump’s former defence chief threw cold water on the assertion from his former boss and his allies that the classified records and other documents seized from the ex-president’s home and resort in an FBI raid were his to take.

As the ex-president’s loyalists continue to offer a wide scope of defences for their leader ranging from arguments that Mr Trump was allowed to designate the materials as personal records for his own safekeeping to the idea that the prosecution is merely a politicised weaponisation of the Justice Department, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper has offered his own assessment on the situation.

On Sunday, he joined CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper, and flatly stated that his ex-boss’s actions were “illegal and dangerous”.

John Bowden reports.

Trump’s defence chief slams ex-president’s ‘illegal and dangerous’ documents trove

Paul Ryan thinks Trump will ‘cost’ Republican party Congress (again)

19:00 , Josh Marcus

Paul Ryan doesn’t think the future of the Republican party lies with Donald Trump.

The former House Speaker told the New York Post this weekend if the GOP goes with Trump, it will result in another four years of a Biden-Harris administration and Democrats in Congress.

“I think the electability argument is going to become more salient with this event,” he said.

“He’s going to cost us the Senate again, he’s going to cost us House seats, and we want to win.”

Ron DeSantis brings the fight to Trump in Nevada

18:40 , Josh Marcus

Ron DeSantis was in Nevada on Saturday, trying to peel support away from Donald Trump in a battleground state Joe Biden narrowly carried in 2020.

At a jamboree near the Sierra Nevada mountains, the Florida governor took some not-so-subtle shots at Donald Trump, talking about the disappointing success rate of the Republican party during the Trump years

“We’ve developed a culture of losing in this party,” Mr DeSantis said, adding, “You’re not going to get a mulligan on the 2024 election.”

However, Mr DeSantis did take Trump’s side at one point, seeming to reference the special counsel investigation of the forme president.

“We are going to end the weaponization of this government once and for all,” Mr DeSantis said.

Will GOP candidates stick with party’s loyalty pledge?

18:15 , Josh Marcus

The Republican party is preparing for a bruising 2024 primary with a huge field of candidates.

During these fights, the party asks its candidates to commit to a loyalty pledge and support whoever emerges as the winner.

However, it seems at least two major candidates, Donald Trump and Chris Christie, probably won’t stick to that script.

“I’m going to take the pledge just as seriously as Donald Trump took it in 2016,” the former New Jersey governor said on CNN today.

“As you’ll remember, Reince Priebus had to go up to Trump Tower to get him to sign it, to ask him to do so,” he added. “He did and then we went to a subsequent debate and we were all asked if we would reaffirm our support of whoever the nominee was going to be by raising our hand. There were 10 of us on the stage, nine of us raised our hands. The one who didn’t was Donald Trump.”

Trump illegally took nuclear document, experts say

17:50 , Josh Marcus

A nuclear document was among the classified materials Donald Trump took with him after he left the White House, according to prosecutors.

Even compared with the rest of the documents he took, making off with this file was especially problematic, according to experts, because nuclear documents can only be declassied by the Departments of Energy and Defense under the Atomic Energy Act.

“The claim that he could have declassified it is not relevant in the case of the nuclear weapons information because it was not classified by executive order but by law,” Steven Aftergood, a government secrecy expert with the Federation of Atomic Scientists, told Reuters.

Chris Christie calls Donald Trump ‘three-time loser'

17:25 , Josh Marcus

When it comes to presidential politics these days, the insults can be as revealing as any policy platform.

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, for his part, has taken recently to calling Donald Trump a ‘loser,’ pointing to the former president’s single-term in office and poor showing for the Republican Party while he was in the White House.

“I will do what I need to do to be up on that stage to try to save my party and save my country from going down the road of being led by three-time loser Donald Trump,” Mr Christie recently told CNN’s State of the Union.

“Loser in 2018 by losing the House, loser in 2020 by losing the White House and the United States Senate, and the worst midterm performance we have seen in a long, long time, led by Donald Trump-selected candidates with Donald Trump as the main issue in many of those races. Loser, loser, loser,” he added.

The former governor and 2024 Trump rival rolled out the memorable attack line at a CNN town hall earlier this month.

Christie slams ex-president as poll shows slight bump in favorability

Trump is a ‘criminal’ and DeSantis is a ‘fascist,’ poll finds

17:03 , Josh Marcus

A new poll out from JL Partners underscores major weaknesses for the three men most likely to be sworn in as president on 20 January 2025, with little good news to soften the blow.

With the GOP primary now in full swing, Americans are getting a good look at the alternatives the Republican Party will present to the re-election of President Joe Biden, who was already the oldest president ever to take office when he did so in 2021.

But the top contenders in the GOP, former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, each have debilitating labels to overcome if they have any shot of picking up ground with a general election audience, according to the survey. For Mr Trump, voters were most likely to describe him in one word as a “criminal”; others were even less flattering, such as “disgusting”, “liar”, “evil” and “dangerous” (though “patriot” also made a top-10 appearance).

John Bowden reports.

Voters think Trump is a criminal, Biden is too old and DeSantis is a fascist: poll

Bill Barr says Trump’s legal reasoning in documents case is ‘wacky’ and ‘absurd'

16:57 , Josh Marcus

Former Trump administration attorney general Bill Barr says Donald Trump’s legal arguments in the classified documents investigation are way off base.“The legal theory by which he gets to take battle plans and sensitive national security information as his personal papers is absurd,” Mr Barr told Face the Nation. “It’s just as wacky as the legal doctrine they came up with for the vice-president to unilaterally decide who won the election.”

The former attorney general said federal law only allows presidents to take purely private documents with them once they leave office.

“Obviously these documents are not purely private. It’s obvious,” he added. “They’re not even now arguing it’s purely private. What they’re saying is the president just has sweeping discretion to say they are.”

Trump family separations at the US border inspired Isabel Allende’s newest novel

16:32 , Josh Marcus

The separation of migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border has always caused Isabel Allende pain: When she saw it during the Trump administration, her first impulse was to help reunify children and parents through her foundation. Then, the legendary Chilean author thought, she had to write a book.

“The Wind Knows My Name,” which grapples with immigration, violence, solidarity, and love, is the latest novel by the award-winning writer who — with more than 77 million books sold — is considered the world’s most widely read Spanish-language author. Released earlier this month, it is available at bookstores in the U.S., Spain, and Latin America.

For Allende, 80, the separation of children from their parents at the border evoked similarly wrenching historical moments, such as when children of enslaved or Indigenous families were wrest from their parents.

More details in our full story.

Family separations at the US border inspired Isabel Allende's newest novel

Trump's promise of payback for prosecution follows years of attacking democratic traditions

13:00 , Josh Marcus

As Donald Trump became the first former president to face federal charges, he and his supporters went through a familiar routine of mounting a victimhood defense in the face of unprecedented allegations of wrongdoing. But this time, the stakes are higher.

Trump upped the level of his claims and threats as he faces the potential of years in prison if convicted on 37 charges of obstruction, illegal retention of defense information and other violations. Hours after pleading not guilty, Trump claimed he is being targeted by the special prosecutor, who is nonpartisan, for political reasons and vowed to retaliate against President Joe Biden if he is elected president in 2024.

“There was an unwritten rule” to not prosecute former presidents and political rivals, Trump told supporters in a speech at his golf club in New Jersey. “I will appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president in the history of America, Joe Biden, and go after the Biden crime family.”

Trump's promise of payback for prosecution follows years of attacking democratic traditions

Is Donald Trump going to prison?

11:00 , Josh Marcus

Donald Trump was arrested and arraigned on Tuesday 13 June for the second time in less than three months.

At 3pm local time, Mr Trump surrendered to authorities at the Wilkie D Ferguson Jr United States Courthouse in Miami, Florida on 37 federal charges stemming from his alleged unlawful retention of national defence information, adding another criminal case to the legal pressure against the twice-impeached former president as he seeks to win his party’s nomination in next year’s Republican presidential primary.

The arraignment comes just days after a federal grand jury indicted the former president.

Mr Trump first revealed the indictment in a series of posts on his Truth Social platform on 8 June – just one day after The Independent reported that federal prosecutors had planned to ask a grand jury to return an indictment against him.

Here’s what you need to know about the case.

Is Donald Trump going to prison?

Fox News producer behind chyron calling Biden a ‘wannabe dictator’ parts ways with network

09:30 , Josh Marcus

The Fox News producer behind controversial chyron calling President Joe Biden the Trump-like insult “wannabe dictator” has parted ways with the right-wing network two days after the scandal.

Sources told The Daily Beast on Thursday that Alexander McCaskill, the former managing editor on “Tucker Carlson Tonight”, is no longer employed by the Rupert Murdoch empire.

Mr McCaskill’s name previously repeatedly cropped up in a lawsuit brought by former “Tucker Carlson Tonight” producer Abby Grossberg claiming a misogynistic and toxic culture on the show. Ms Grossberg claims that Mr McCaskill “gaslighted” her and discriminated against her because she is Jewish.

Rachel Sharp reports.

Fox News parts ways with producer behind Biden ‘wannabe dictator’ chyron

Five takeaways from Trump’s post-arrest speech in Bedminster

07:59 , Josh Marcus

Donald Trump was in typical form on Tuesday evening as he appeared before a throng of supporters in Bedminster, New Jersey, to denounce his latest criminal indictment.

The ex-president delivered a roughly 30-minute address to a crowd of fans who descended upon the golf club to hear him swipe at political rivals and anyone else whose own actions he thought could be used to paint his own as harmless.

It was a rambling speech broken up by an impromptu singing of “Happy Birthday” from Mr Trump’s harmonically-challenged fans, whose rendition of the tune dissolved into a slurred mess by the conclusion.

So what can we learn from the former president’s remarks?

John Bowden reports.

What we learned from Trump’s post-arrest speech

Trump lawyer who dropped out of classified papers case has now withdrawn from CNN lawsuit

07:00 , Josh Marcus

The attorney who recently withdrew from former president Donald Trump’s case regarding his alleged mishandling of classified documents has now also withdrawn from Mr Trump’s lawsuit against CNN.

James Trusty sent a motion to withdraw as an attorney to the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Friday, asking to pull out of the case.

“Mr Trusty’s withdrawal is based on irreconcilable differences between Counsel and Plaintiff and Counsel can no longer effectively and properly represent plaintiff,” the motion read. The motion said that Mr Trusty’s withdrawal did not adversely affect Mr Trump as oral arguments on CNN’s motion to dismiss had not been scheduled, discovery had not yet begun and no deadlines are pending.

Eric Garcia reports.

Trump lawyer who dropped out of classified papers case withdraws from CNN lawsuit

Special counsel Jack Smith stared at Trump throughout historic court appearance, report says

06:00 , Josh Marcus

Special Counsel Jack Smith reportedly stared down former President Donald Trump throughout the entirety of Mr Trump’s arraignment in Miami on Tuesday.

Hugo Lowell of The Guardian and other journalists reported that Mr Smith sat in the front row during Mr Trump’s arraignment on federal charges related to his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House in 2021 and “stared towards the former president for essentially the entire appearance.”

Mr Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to oversee the Department of Justice’s investigation into Mr Trump’s handling of classified documents and his attempts to overturn the reuslt of the 2020 presidential election.

Abe Asher reports.

Special counsel Jack Smith stared at Trump throughout court appearance, report says

Ex-Trump lawyer turned witness against him loses bid for release from probation

05:00 , Josh Marcus

Former President Donald Trump‘s onetime personal lawyer and the key witness against him in his New York state criminal prosecution lost his bid Friday for early release from probation following a three-year prison sentence after federal prosecutors said he’s lying again.

U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman in Manhattan cited Michael Cohen‘s recent comments in a book and television appearance as reasons to conclude that early release from court supervision would not ensure rehabilitation and deterrence from future crimes.

The credibility of Cohen — who served as Trump’s personal lawyer from his early 2017 inauguration until his 2018 arrest — will be scrutinized if a jury ever hears the state criminal case filed against Trump over payments Cohen says he made on Trump’s behalf to silence two women who claimed they had affairs with Trump before the Republican became president.

Ex-Trump lawyer turned witness against him loses bid for release from probation

Trump doesn’t need to win for the US to keep drifting to the right

04:00 , Josh Marcus

Lawmakers in state capitols this year have been flexing their superpowers.

In North Carolina, a new supermajority of Republicans enacted abortion restrictions. In Vermont, a new supermajority of Democrats imposed a climate-sensitive home heating law. And in Montana, a GOP supermajority booted a transgender lawmaker from the House floor.

In each case, the views of their political opponents ultimately were irrelevant.

By at least one measure, political power is at its highest mark in decades. That’s because Republicans or Democrats hold majorities so large in 28 states that they could override gubernatorial vetoes without any help from the minority party.

“Supermajorities give one party a lot of power to do what they want to do,” said Steven Rogers, a political scientist at Saint Louis University who focuses on elections and state legislatures.

More details here.

Supermajorities in state capitols push controversial policies to the edge

Participants at Trump's Jan. 6 rally push false election claims in Virginia legislative campaigns

03:00 , Josh Marcus

Most Republican candidates running for the Virginia legislature this year are centering their pitches to voters on issues such as education, the cost of living and gun rights.

But for a small segment of contenders, former President Donald Trump‘s false claims of a rigged 2020 election have remained an important campaign selling point heading into Tuesday’s primary.

“There’s still an underlying distrust of the election process by Republicans,” said state Sen. Amanda Chase, who is in a three-way primary for a GOP-leaning seat in suburban Richmond.

Participants at Trump's Jan. 6 rally push false election claims in Virginia legislative campaigns

Biden sharpens labour message as he prepares for campaign against Trump

02:00 , Josh Marcus

Joe Biden got his 2024 presidential re-election campaign underway in Philadelphia on Saturday by continuing to pitch voters on his pro-labour bonafides.

The Democrat told an audience of union members at the Philadelphia Convention Center he would keep trying to boost the working and middle class with “Bidenomics,” which he framed as opposed to the ideas of Republicans, who recently unveiled a series of tax proposals that would funnel benefits overwhelmingly to the wealthiest Americans.

“They are coming for your jobs. They are coming for your future. They are coming for the future we are building fo your kids and grandkids,” Mr Biden told the crowd. “And when they come as they did this past week with the trickle down economics plan, cut taxes for the rich, who do you think they are carrying the water for?...Who do you think is going to start carrying the burden? You are. Working people in this country.”

More details in our full story.

Biden warns unions Republicans ‘coming for your jobs’ in 2024 speech in Philadelphia

Can a Gen Z leader take North Carolina back from Trump?

01:00 , Josh Marcus

The last time that a Democratic presidential candidate won North Carolina, Anderson Clayton could not vote.

But now, the 25-year-old chairwoman of the North Carolina Democratic Party has a task that would overwhelm operatives twice her age: flip North Carolina blue for the first time in 16 years.

“Like, I know that we either win in 2024, and we do amazing things and we go forward as a state and as a nation, or we regress backwards,” she told The Independent in an interview. “It really is now or never for North Carolina, in my opinion.”

Eric Garcia has the full story.

The 25-year-old party chairwoman who wants to turn North Carolina blue

Why are so many politicians talking about the royals?

Sunday 18 June 2023 00:04 , Josh Marcus

Donald Trump and Joe Biden made strange royal references this weekend.

In a rant on his Truth Social page on Saturday, Mr Trump referred to himself as “The King” in an extended, somewhat inscrutable metaphor about the relationship between him and Fox News.

“Well, it’s happened, just as I predicted,” Mr Trump wrote. “The Golden Goose that was so beautiful is being slaughtered by Fools. MAGA has left Fox for more promising “prairies.” Long live the King. The only solution for Fox News is to bring back Trump Allies and MAGA—Backing No Personality Ron DeSanctimonious has been a disaster….”

See what else the leading 2024 candidates are saying about the monarchs in our full story.

Trump says ‘Long live the King’ in rant day after Biden said ‘God save the Queen’

Classified documents filing hints at ‘ongoing investigations’ related to Trump

Saturday 17 June 2023 23:00 , Josh Marcus

Even with two indictments targeting him, Donald Trump may be facing still more legal scrutiny.

In a Friday filing related to the classified document case against the former president, federal prosecutors mentioned discovery information related to “ongoing investigations” that could “identify uncharged individuals” somehow connect with Mr Trump

Officials did not specific what those investigations might be.

Regardless, Mr Trump is still in a heap of legal trouble.

All the investigations Trump still faces following his second arrest

Americans want Trump to be pardoned in documents case, poll finds

Saturday 17 June 2023 22:30 , Josh Marcus

Americans think Donald Trump should be pardoned in the name of national unity, a Harvard CAPS / Harris poll found.

A survey of 2,090 registered voters found that while 58 per cent of Americans think the classified documents case against Donald Trump is substantial, 53 per cent would support a pardon.

Predictably, a majority of Republicans supported the move, while a minority of Democrats did.

Trump putting country through “angst and turmoil,” Romney says

Saturday 17 June 2023 22:00 , Josh Marcus

Donald Trump’s federal indictment for mishandling classified documents is putting the US through “angst and turmoil,” according to US senator Mitt Romney, one of the few top Republicans in Congress who consistently criticised the former president.

“I’m angry. The country is going to go through tumult as a result of one thing — President Trump didn’t turn over military documents when he was asked to do so,” the Utah senator told MSNBC. “All he had to do was hand them in.”

Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger challenges Donald Trump to debate 2020 claims

Saturday 17 June 2023 21:30 , Josh Marcus

Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger is clearly getting a little tired of Donald Trump’s 2020 election conspiracies.

The Republican official and avowed Trump supporter has been the target of numerous attacks from the former president, after he refused to give into Mr Trump’s explicit attempts to tamper with the election outcome in the battleground state.

“We’ll have a debate,” Mr Raffensperger told WRBL. “I’ll bring a copy of my letter to Congress and I’ll bring a copy of my book, Integrity Counts.

“We’ll debate the issues point by point,” he added.

Here’s more on how Mr Trump attempted to steal the election in Georgia.

Bizarre Lincoln Project ad appears to show Donald Trump on a toilet

Saturday 17 June 2023 21:00 , Josh Marcus

The anti-Trump admakers at the Lincoln Project are the latest group of people to mock Donald Trump for allegedly storing classified documents in a bathroom at Mar-a-Lago.

The former president is accused in his federal indictment of keeping important materials “in various locations at The Mar-a-Lago Club-including in a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, his bedroom, and a storage room”.

In response, the anti-Trump Republican group releaased a video on Saturday, entitled “Pissed,” showing a man appearing to be Donald Trump angrily sending social media posts while sitting on the toilet as a mocking female voice insults him.

ICYMI: Donald Trump is still pulling in millions in campaign cash after indictment

Saturday 17 June 2023 20:37 , Josh Marcus

Days after Donald Trump was arraigned on 37 federal charges related to his alleged retention of classified documents, he was back fundraising for his presidential run – raking in over $7m, according to his campaign.

“The American people will not stand for this corrupt attempt to interfere in the 2024 election against the leading candidate for President who will demolish the Deep State and finish the job of draining the Swamp,” Trump spokesperson Liz Harrington announced in a statement on Wednesday.

The former president’s campaign accused federal officials of “weaponizing the justice system” against him.

Get all the details in our full story.

Trump fundraises over $7m from post-arraignment appearances

Donald and Ivanka Trump remain close despite indictment woes

Saturday 17 June 2023 19:30 , Josh Marcus

Ivanka Trump is reportedly remaining loyal to her father, even as he battles federal indictments and descends further into anger and conspiracy theories.

“It has been a rough period for all of the Trump kids, but Ivanka has always been especially close to her father,” a source close to the Trump family told People.

“She loves him, her kids love him, and they are still a close family. But Ivanka does not want to be involved with the legal issues. She is removed from it and has adapted well to Miami. Her whole family loves it.”

In early-primary Iowa, some voters tired of the Trump show

Saturday 17 June 2023 19:10 , Josh Marcus

Iowa, which will hold the crucial first Republican presidential caucaus next year, some voters are tiring of the spectacle and investigations that always seem to trail Donald Trump.

“I love everything he stands for and I want his policies to be enacted,” 58-year-old engineer Gina Singer of the town of Pella, told the Associated Press. “But they’ll just keep on going after him. So, I’m looking for someone else. Both things can be true.”

The sentiment is felt in other key primary states as well.

“Right now I am a Trump supporter,” 76-year-old Karen Szelest of Indian Land, South Carolina, added in an interview with the AP. “However, I think they’re doing everything they can to have him not run for president of the United States. And I think perhaps, for the betterment of the country, I may vote for somebody else because they keep going after Trump, going after Trump, going after Trump.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger says Trump won’t be re-elected in 2024

Saturday 17 June 2023 18:50 , Josh Marcus

The Governator has spoken.

Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn’t think Donald Trump can win re-election in 2024.

“I’m not worried about it because I don’t think it’s going to happen,” he told CNN’s Chris Wallace.

“I just don’t think that you get re-elected with 30% or 33% of the people voting for you in your polls...it’s not enough,” he added. “You need the swing voters. You need the independents. You need everybody to jump in there in order to win. You have to drag a lot of people over across that line. And so the question in, can he do that? I believe he can’t.”

Is Donald Trump starting to crack under the pressure?

Saturday 17 June 2023 18:30 , Josh Marcus

Donald Trump is a man who rarely shows any doubt in public. His social media feeds and speeches are a non-stop list of brags and outrageous claims.

But the former president may be fraying under the pressure more than he’s letting on.

Deborah Acosta, a reporter at The Wall Street Journal, told MSNBC on Saturday that during his recent indictment in Miami, Mr Trump had an expression of sadness on his face she’d never seen before.

“When he got up and turned to leave the courtroom, he was looking down at the ground and he was pressing his lips, pursing them tightly together,” she said. “And then the corners of his mouth just dropped into the deepest frown I’ve ever seen on anyone in my entire life.”

It’s an expression Mr Trump had in New York when he was indicted earlier this year on hush money charges, our correspondent Richard Hall noted at the time.

Inside a Manhattan courtroom, the spell was broken and Trump was finally humbled

Trump store selling gold-plated AirPod knockoffs

Saturday 17 June 2023 18:03 , Josh Marcus

Donald Trump may not be the most technologically savvy person in the world – in office, he reportedly had aides print out every email he received, so he could read and mark up a hard copy — but that hasn’t stopped him from trying to cash in on the hype surrounding Apple’s AirPod wireless earbuds.

The Trump Organization is selling AirPod knockoffs (Trump Store)
The Trump Organization is selling AirPod knockoffs (Trump Store)

The Trump store, the retail arm of the Trump Organization, is currently selling $35 wireless headphones that look like a close knockoff of the Apple original.

They promise to “add a touch of luxury” to your listening experience by featuring a Trump logo and gold finish.

Here’s more on Donald Trump’s weird relationship with tech and paper.

Pence accuses Trump of ‘walking away’ from conservative principles

Saturday 17 June 2023 17:30 , Josh Marcus

Former vice-president Mike Pence is the former latest ally to turn on Donald Trump.

The former president’s 2024 rival told NBC News, in an interview that will air in full on Sunday on Meet the Press, that Mr Trump is “walking away” from conservative principles.

“Look, in 2016, Donald Trump promised to govern as a conservative,” he said. “But he makes no such promise today. Not only has he been walking away from a clear commitment to the right to life, but, look, we have a national debt the size of our nation’s economy.”

“Donald Trump’s position on the national debt is identical to Joe Biden’s,” he added. “And to me the Republican Party has to be the party of growth and fiscal responsibility and reform.”

Trump once celebrated inclusion of trans people in his beauty pageant

Saturday 17 June 2023 17:10 , Josh Marcus

In the spring and summer of 2012, Donald Trump once celebrated including trans women in his Miss Universe pageant.

In an interview, Mr Trump praised Miss USA, Olivia Culpo, who spoke about how trans women should be included in the pageant because “today where there are so many surgeries and so many people out there who have a need to change for a happier life, I do accept that because I believe it’s a free country.”

“She gave a great answer, a very tough question – on transgender – just the question everybody wants to hear, and she gave a great answer and she really did a great job,” Mr Trump told Fox and Friends June.

“Her answer was a very intelligent answer and that’s one of the reasons I assume the judges picked her,” he said later that month, according to CNN, which unearthed the footage.

It’s a far cry from how Donald Trump talks about trans people now, refering to them hatefully as victims of a “cult of gender ideology.”

Donald Trump is still cruising in the polls, despite indictment

Saturday 17 June 2023 16:50 , Josh Marcus

A second criminal indictment, this time for allegedly mishandling classified documents, hasn’t seemed to put much of a dent in the Trump 2024 campaign.

In polling since the charges dropped, Mr Trump has retained majority support in the Republican party, hovering between 51 and 53 per cent and leading his closest rival, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, by at least 30 points in three major national polls, Politico notes.

Here’s more info on the indictment.

A timeline of the investigation into Trump’s Mar-a-Lago documents

Trump slams Fox News for abandoning ‘King’ of MAGA – himself

Saturday 17 June 2023 16:30 , Josh Marcus

Another morning, another day full of angry Donald Trump posts on social media.

The former president entered the weekend railing at his usual list of perceived enemies, including his former ally Fox News.

In a hard-to-follow post on Truth Social, Mr Trump slammed the network for ceasing to feature him as prominently as it has in previous years

“The Golden Goose that was so beautiful is being slaughtered by Fools,” Mr Trump wrote. “MAGA has left Fox for more promising “prairies.” Long live the King. The only solution for Fox News is to bring back Trump Allies and MAGA—Backing No Personality Ron DeSanctimonious has been a disaster….”

Here’s some of our reporting on how their once fruitful relationship between Fox and...”The King”... has soured.

Trump attacks Murdoch, tells him to ‘get out of news’ over Fox Dominion testimony

Trump fumes at Rupert Murdoch over his bombshell Fox News Dominion testimony

Voices: How is Joe Biden really doing?

Saturday 17 June 2023 15:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Eric Garcia writes:

With all the attention focused on Miami and former president Donald Trump’s arraignment, many Americans might be forgiven if they forgot that Joe Biden currently occupies the White House.

Mr Biden campaigned betting on the American public’s Trump fatigue. During the 2020 campaign, he famously said people would not have to worry about his tweets when he took office, after Mr Trump sent out 140-character decrees at all hours.

That turned out to be enough for him to not only win the Democratic nomination but beat Mr Trump in the general election. Mr Biden rightly guessed the American public did not like having to think about their president’s latest erratic words or deeds and going about their merry way.

But just as Mr Biden doesn’t dominate the headlines with negative coverage, it also means that his approval rating hardly improves when things go his way.

Continued...

How is Joe Biden really doing?

John Kelly says says Trump is ‘scared s***less’

Saturday 17 June 2023 15:15 , Oliver O'Connell

President Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, panned a short address given by his former boss on Tuesday as nothing more than panicked bluster in response to two criminal indictments filed by prosecutors in New York and the US Department of Justice.

Mr Kelly spoke to The Washington Post after the ex-president appeared at his resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, in front of a crowd of $1,000-a-pop attendees gathered hastily to hear his post-arraignment remarks.

Here’s what he said:

Trump is ‘scared s***less’, ex-White House chief of staff says

And here’s Mr Trump’s response:

John Kelly pretended to be a “tough guy,” but was actually weak and ineffective, born with a VERY small “brain.” He had a hard time functioning in a political world, and was truly an exhausted and beaten man when I fired him. In the end he was a “mummy” who sat in his office and stared at the ceiling - he was “shot.” I’ll never forget how his very nice wife told me that “John loves you, and respects you more than anyone, he will always say the BEST things about you.” Oh well, so much for that!

Trump 2024 campaign fundraises over $7m from post-arraignment appearances

Saturday 17 June 2023 14:45 , Oliver O'Connell

A day after Donald Trump was arraigned on 37 federal charges related to his alleged retention of classified documents, he was back fundraising for his presidential run – raking in over $7m, according to his campaign.

Read more...

Trump fundraises over $7m from post-arraignment appearances

What. is the ‘Clinton socks case’ that Trump says gets him off the hook – and is he right?

Saturday 17 June 2023 14:15 , Oliver O'Connell

For Americans who lived through the 1990s, the words “Clinton” and “socks” may bring to mind a whimsical image of a certain famous feline, of the black-and-white tuxedo variety, who prowled the most prestigious halls of American power at a time when the US was emerging as the world’s sole unchallenged superpower.

But for former president Donald Trump, those two words represent the latest attempt to manifest a legal defence for his alleged unlawful retention of hundreds of documents with classification markings at levels up to “top secret,” long after his term.

Andrew Feinberg explains.

Trump says ‘Clinton socks case’ gets him off the hook – what was it and is he right?

RECAP: All the lawsuits and criminal charges involving Trump and where they stand

Saturday 17 June 2023 13:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Here’s what you need to know about all the major investigations and lawsuits against Donald Trump.

All the investigations Trump still faces following his second arrest

Trump now blames ‘mutants’ for indictment

Saturday 17 June 2023 12:45 , Oliver O'Connell

No, really.

Rachel Sharp reports.

Trump now blames ‘mutants’ for indictment in latest Truth Social rant

Report: Trump was not interested in negotiating settlement over mishandling of secret papers

Saturday 17 June 2023 11:45 , Oliver O'Connell

A current member of former President Donald Trump’s legal team suggested as far back as 2022 that his client should seek a settlement with the federal government over allegations that he retained presidential records and classified materials including, reportedly, defence documents.

That lawyer was Christopher Kise, according to the Washington Post, who was seen with the twice-impeached ex-president as recently as Tuesday for the latter’s appearance before a Miami judge.

John Bowden has the details.

Trump was not interested in negotiating settlement over mishandling of secret papers

Christie calls Trump ‘failed leader’ who ‘doesn’t care about the American people’

Saturday 17 June 2023 10:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Following the arraignment of Donald Trump on federal criminal charges, more of the Republican primary candidates appear to be finding their footing and changing their tune from their initial response to the indictment against him.

One particularly vocal critic from the get-go has been former Trump ally and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who has long-aligned himself as anti-Trump and is now running against him for the 2024 GOP nomination.

During an appearance on Fox News on Wednesday, Mr Christie did not hold back when asked how he would differentiate himself on the debate stage from Mr Trump.

Here’s what he said:

Chris Christie calls Trump ‘failed leader’ who ‘doesn’t care about American people’

‘Major outrage’ if Trump is indicted over January 6, says Lindsey Graham

Saturday 17 June 2023 09:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Trump loyalist Lindsey Graham was back in the running for the former president’s most vocal cheerleader in the Senate this week after he warned a CNN reporter that the GOP would revolt if Donald Trump were to face a third criminal indictment relating to January 6.

The South Carolina Republican, who actually made a show of publicly breaking with Mr Trump in the hours after the attack on the Capitol only to glom back onto the bandwagon when things cooled down, spoke in the halls of Congress this week after the former president was formally arraigned in a Miami courtroom for the alleged illegal retention of presidential records and classified documents.

John Bowden reports from Washington, DC.

Lindsey Graham says it would be a ‘major outrage’ if Trump is indicted over January 6

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