Trump news – live: Leaked audio of Trump boasting about ‘secret’ papers emerges, as hotel lawsuit dismissed

Audio of Donald Trump apparently bragging to associates about possessing still-classified military documents related to Iran has been played publicly for the first time after being obtained by CNN.

“These are the papers,” Mr Trump says at one point, refering to a military document concerning Iran. “This was done by the military and given to me.”

The existence of the tape was already known but it has never before been played in public. It was not immediately clear how CNN came to get hold of it.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit from a number of Congressional Democrats who were attempting to get information about the government lease for the Washington, DC hotel previously owned by former President Trump.

The court decided to dismiss the suit after the legislators voluntarily dropped the case earlier in June. The justices had agreed to hear a bid by the Biden administration to block the suit.

Key Points

• CNN plays tape of Trump appearing to show off military documents that he says are still classified

• At least five Secret Service agents have testified before Jan 6 grand jury, report says

• Supreme Court dismisses case in which Democratic lawmakers sued over Trump hotel lease

• ‘If Republicans are going to carry the state, they need to win Oakland County’

• Trump’s popularity in Michigan has taken a hit since 2016

• Trump’s chief of staff said his ideas were ‘flat-out illegal,’ book alleges

LISTEN: Bombshell tape of Trump speaking about classified documents

09:40 , Rachel Sharp

At least five Secret Service agents have testified before Jan 6 grand jury, report says

09:00 , Gustaf Kilander

About five or six Secret Service agents have testified before the grand jury deciding if former President Donald Trump should be indicted for his actions in connection to the insurrection on January 6, 2021, sources have told NBC News.

The grand jury is looking into the riot as well as the attempts to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power.

The Secret Service agents who appeared were complying with subpoenas. It remains unclear how close the agents were to Mr Trump on January 6 as well as what information they provided to the grand jury.

The investigation led by Special Counsel Jack Smith is separate from the investigation he also leads into Mr Trump’s alleged mishandling of national security information which led to the former president’s indictment and Miami arraignment.

Before that case was moved to Florida, about two dozen Secret Service agents appeared before the grand jury in Washington DC, according to NBC.

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Secret Service agents have testified before Jan 6 grand jury, report says

Trump’s popularity in Michigan has taken a hit since 2016

08:00 , AP

Trump’s popularity in Michigan has taken a hit since 2016.

“By Trump’s calculations, he needs to win Michigan again to be the president. But he’s been very disruptive here,” said Dave Trott, a former GOP congressman. “Trump largely is the reason why the Michigan Republican Party is dead.”

Last year, Trump’s endorsed candidates in Michigan were among the loudest in repeating his unfounded claims that the 2020 election was rigged.

Trump’s choice for attorney general, Matthew DePerno, spent the final months of his campaign under investigation into whether he should be criminally charged for attempting to gain access to voting machines after the 2020 election. Secretary of State candidate Kristina Karamo, a former community college professor, was handpicked by Trump as the Republican nominee for secretary of state after claiming she saw election fraud as a poll challenger in Detroit.

In November, the statewide candidates he backed were overwhelmingly defeated, including Tudor Dixon, who lost by more than 10 percentage points to Whitmer.

Trump is honored by Republicans as the Man of the Decade in a Michigan county he lost twice

07:00 , AP

Former President Donald Trump was honored as the Man of the Decade in a Michigan county he lost twice as he returned to the state looking to reclaim territory that helped propel him to the White House but that slipped from his grasp four years later.

Campaigning for a return to the presidency while facing a federal indictment for allegedly mishandling classified documents, Trump spoke on Sunday in suburban Detroit, where he lost ground between 2016 and 2020 and would need to win it back if he becomes the 2024 Republican nominee. He would have to reverse the recent trend in Michigan that has seen Democrats make some of their biggest gains nationally since Trump’s reelection loss.

Trump spoke at the Oakland County GOP’s Lincoln Day Dinner, where he was honored by the party as its Man of the Decade. Trump frequently attacked President Joe Biden throughout his speech Sunday, saying the Democrat was a “catastrophe” for Michigan and auto production in the state. Trump also criticized Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a co-chair of Biden’s reelection campaign, for approving state funds for a foreign company.

It was Trump’s first campaign appearance in Michigan, one of three states, along with Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, that flipped in 2016 to put him in the White House and Biden four years later.

Trump’s chief of staff said his ideas were ‘flat-out illegal,’ book alleges

06:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Former national security official Miles Taylor has quoted former Trump Chief of Staff John Kelly as saying that a third of Mr Trump’s ideas as president were “stupid,” a third were “impossible to implement” and wouldn’t solve anything, and the final third were “flat-out illegal”.

Pence won’t say whether he’d pardon Trump

05:00 , Eric Garcia

Former vice president Mike Pence did not say whether he would pardon former president Donald Trump in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.

Fox News host Shannon Bream asked Mr Trump’s former running-mate about whether he would pardon the former president. Mr Trump pleaded not guilty earlier this month to 37 federal charges related to him illegally retaining documents related to national defence and other classified material at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

“Well, look, if I were the president of the United States, I would take the pardon authority very seriously,” he said, noting how as governor of Indiana he pardoned people and took the task seriously. “I would apply that to every single case in that matter. But I appreciate you raising the point.”

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Pence won’t say whether he’d pardon Trump

Fox News choose Jesse Watters to replace Tucker Carlson in primetime shakeup

04:30 , Bevan Hurley

Fox News has named Jesse Watters as Tucker Carlson’s permanent replacement as part of a major shakeup of its primetime lineup.

The right-wing network announced Watters would take over the 8pm hour with Laura Ingraham’s The Ingraham Angle moving from 10pm to 7pm.

Sean Hannity will remain in his 9pm time slot with Greg Gutfield’s comedy show Gutfield! moving an hour earlier to 10pm.

Carlson was abruptly axed from Fox News in April, days after it paid $787.5m to Dominion Voting Systems to settle a defamation lawsuit over lies about the 2020 presidential election.

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Fox News choose Jesse Watters to replace Tucker Carlson in primetime shakeup

Republicans try to thread the needle on abortion on anniversary of the death of Roe

04:00 , Eric Garcia

One year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade and ended the enshrined right to seek an abortion, Christian conservatives convened in Washington DC to size up the GOP’s leading 2024 candidates.

The Faith and Freedom Coalition held its Road to Majority conference at the Washington Hilton over the weekend, where every major Republican 2024 candidate appeared to try to win over the crucial evangelical wing of the party. Former president Donald Trump closed out the event on Saturday evening; former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, former vice president Mike Pence; former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, Sen Tim Scott (R-SC), Florida Gov Ron DeSantis and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy also made their case to social conservatives.

Last year’s decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization has caused a split among Republicans. Some have said that the Supreme Court’s decision likely cost Republicans the opportunity to win the majority in the Senate as the GOP failed to flip a single seat, and Republicans only won a narrow majority in the House of Representatives.

An NBC News poll showed that 61 per cent of Americans disapprove of the Dobbs decision, with 80 per cent of women between the ages of 18 and 49 and two-thirds of suburban women saying that they disapproved of it.

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Republicans try to thread the needle on abortion amid anniversary of the death of Roe

Trump tells Michigan Republicans that EVs will ‘decimate’ state’s auto industry

03:30 , Graeme Massie

Donald Trump told an audience of Michigan Republicans that the push for electric vehicles will mean the “decimation” of the state’s traditional auto industry.

The former president made the comments as he appeared at the Oakland County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day dinner on Sunday night, his first appearance in the battleground state in the 2024 cycle.

“It’s going to be a level that people can’t even imagine,” Mr Trump said during his address inside the Suburban Collection Showplace, in Novi, Michigan.

Mr Trump told the crowd that the “maniacal push” for electric vehicles would kill auto jobs in the United States, and mocked the range of the vehicles, saying that they were a win for “tow truck companies.”

“If somebody wants an electric car, I’m all for it. But you should be able to have a choice,” Mr Trump told the crowd.

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Trump tells Michigan Republicans that EVs will ‘decimate’ state’s auto industry

Trump dubs Russia coup a ‘big mess’ as fellow presidential candidates weigh in on Wagner rebellion

03:00 , Alex Woodward, Eric Garcia

Former president Donald Trump referred to the armed rebellion in Russia as a “big mess” on Saturday as insurgent leader Yevgeny Prigozhin turned his Wagner paramilitary forces away from Moscow.

“A big mess in Russia, but be careful what you wish for. Next in may be far worse!” Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.

In a separate post, he appeared to invoke news of the latest threats in Russia to baselessly accuse President Joe Biden and his son Hunter of “illegally” collecting money from China and asserting that his rival will “do about Russia whatever President Xi” wants.

He went on to claim that the latest assault provides an “unthinkable opportunity” for China to seize “large portions” of Russia.

Mr Trump’s rivals in the 2024 Republican presidential race also weighed in on the Wagner crisis which unfolded rapidly on Saturday. By the end of the day, Prigozhin had ordered his forces to halt their march towards Moscow in what Russian officials called an attempted coup.

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Trump dubs Russia coup a ‘big mess’ as fellow candidates weigh in on Wagner uprising

Trump is funneling 10% of 2024 campaign donations to cover his legal bills

02:30 , John Bowden

Former President Donald Trump is diverting more donations from political supporters to fund his mounting legal costs as multiple court cases put an increased strain on his resources.

Disclosure text on the Trump presidential campaign’s WinRed digital fundraising platform now specifies that 10 per cent of political contributions will go to his legal battles via the Save America PAC.

The other 90 per cent will be used for political campaigning to try to return him to the White House for a second term.

The former president previously took 1 per cent for his legal troubles from political donations.

Mr Trump’s legal issues include his 37-count criminal indictment including violations of the Espionage Act and a sexual abuse civil lawsuit which was recently won by the writer, E Jean Carroll.

The change, first reported by The New York Times, appears to have been made in February or March of 2023, according to archival footage reviewed by the newspaper.

Read more:

Trump is funneling 10% of 2024 campaign donations to cover his legal bills

Trump says he’s ‘proud to be the most pro-life president in American history'

02:00 , AP

Trump took full credit for his role in the overturning of the landmark ruling and said he was “proud to be the most pro-life president in American history.”

Though white evangelical Christians were initially reluctant to back Trump in 2016, his promises to appoint justices to the court who would overturn Roe — and the ruling’s eventual overturning — have earned him deep support in the evangelical movement.

As he took the stage Saturday, he received a standing ovation from the crowd of hundreds, with some attendees standing on their chairs to see him enter. The enthusiasm was markedly higher for Trump than it was the previous morning, when Pence and a number of other presidential hopefuls addressed the conference.

CNN plays tape of Trump appearing to show off military documents that he says are still classified

01:56 , Josh Marcus

Former president Donald Trump was recorded in 2021 flaunting his possession of classified military documents, according to audio obtained by CNN.

In the recording, which allegedly came from a meeting at Mr Trump’s Bedminster golf club and estate, the former president can be heard audibly shuffling documents and describing his “big pile of papers” to associates.

“These are the papers,” Mr Trump says at one point, refering to a military document concerning Iran and US military joint chief of staff Mark Milley. “This was done by the military and given to me.”

“They presented me this—this is off the record,” Mr Trump appears to say at another point in the recording, describing the information he is showing to others as “highly confidential” and “secret.”

Get all the details in our full story.

CNN plays tape of Trump appearing to show off classified military documents

Trump offers muddled answer on abortion

01:30 , AP

Trump, in his speech before the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s annual conference, continued to offer a muddled answer on abortion. He said he believes “the greatest progress is now being made in the states, where everyone wanted to be.”

“One of the reasons they wanted Roe v. Wade terminated,” he said, “is to bring it back into the states where a lot of people feel strongly the greatest progress for pro-life is now being made.”

But the former president also added, “There of course remains a vital role for the federal government in protecting unborn life.”

Trump said he supports three exceptions to abortion restrictions in cases involving rape and incest or when the life of a mother is in danger.

Trump says US government has ‘vital role’ opposing abortion, won’t say if he backs national ban

01:00 , AP

Former President Donald Trump said the federal government should play a “vital role” opposing abortion but again failed to provide specifics on what national restrictions he would support if elected to the White House again.

Trump’s remarks to a group of influential evangelicals Saturday on the anniversary of the Supreme Court overturning the national right to an abortion stood in contrast to that of his former vice president and 2024 rival Mike Pence.

Pence, speaking at the same conference a day earlier, challenged every GOP presidential candidate to support the passage of a national ban on abortions at least as early as 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Trump, the GOP front-runner, has been reluctant to endorse a national ban and has suggested restrictions should be left to the states. He has even suggested that pushing for increased abortion restrictions would be a political liability for Republicans, despite his three Supreme Court nominees making up the majority of justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade last year.

VIDEO: Trump Returns to Key Battleground State in Michigan

Tuesday 27 June 2023 00:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Michigan candidate for secretary of state refuses to say if Trump team lobbied for primary rule change

Tuesday 27 June 2023 00:00 , AP

Secretary of State candidate Kristina Karamo, a former community college professor, was handpicked by Trump as the Republican nominee for secretary of state after claiming she saw election fraud as a poll challenger in Detroit.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Karamo said she will remain impartial in the primary. She contends the party was forced to make the change after Michigan Democrats voted to move the state’s primary from the second week of March to Feb. 27, a violation of the Republican National Committee’s rules that could have resulted in a loss of delegates.

When asked whether Trump or his team had lobbied for the presidential primary change, Karamo refused to answer. She said she doesn’t “discuss conversations with the different campaigns.”

“We want to protect the voice of Michigan voters. So whether or not it may help one candidate over another, that’s totally irrelevant,” Karamo said.

According to Karamo, the Michigan GOP “worked on” the plan with the RNC and expects the national party to approve the new primary setup.

The RNC said its conversations with the state party “focused on rules and process rather than the substance and language of Karamo’s specific plan — the sort of guidance they offer each state party as they begin to formulate their individual paths forward for delegate selection.”

“We look forward to reviewing each state and territory’s plans,” RNC spokesperson Emma Vaughn said in a statement.

New Michigan primary plan set to help Trump

Monday 26 June 2023 23:30 , AP

Under a new plan widely expected to help Trump, Michigan will award just 16 of the state’s 55 delegates based on the results of the Feb. 27 primary. The distribution of the remaining 39 delegates will come four days later in closed-door caucus meetings, conducted by the same party members who selected Karamo to lead the party.

“The plan gives Trump a significant leg up over the rest of the field. He’s a grassroots favorite in the state and he’s made Michigan his political playground for the last seven years,” said Jason Cabel Roe, a former executive director of the Michigan GOP.

Among Michigan GOP officials support for Trump has not wavered

Monday 26 June 2023 23:00 , AP

Dave Trott, a former GOP congressman who represented Oakland County in the U.S. House from 2015 to 2019, initially endorsed Trump in 2016 but later said Trump was “unfit for office.” Trump’s support among Republicans in the Legislature has declined, with 25 lawmakers having already publicly backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for president. Trump said Sunday that DeSantis has “no personality” and that his campaign is “falling like a rock.”

Among state GOP officials, however, support for Trump has not wavered. In February, Republican precinct delegates selected Karamo to lead the party after she lost by 14% in the midterms. One of the first moves by new party leadership was a vote to change the state’s traditional process of allocating all presidential delegates based on a primary open to the public.

VOICES: Expunging Trump’s impeachments is history for dummies

Monday 26 June 2023 22:45 , Benedict Cosgrove

The adage “History is written by the victors” is often attributed – wrongly, like so many catchy expressions – to Winston Churchill. In reality, versions of the saying have long existed. Today in the United States, some seem keen to refashion the well-worn expression into: “History is what losers say it is.”

The GOP’s obsession with controlling the historical narrative by any means necessary is hardly new. After all, a beloved right-wing talking point in recent years is that Leftists, elites, whoever the latest so-called ‘threat’ to the Republic is, won’t stop picking at the wounds of America’s problematic past. Can’t we just move on?

Removing the names of Confederate traitors from military bases? That’s erasing history!

Teaching kids about the genocide of Native Americans, slavery, Japanese internment camps? That’s cherry-picking history!

Highlighting the ongoing battle for LGBTQ rights and, specifically, the virulent “anti-woke” demonization of trans men, women, and teens? That’s a threat to heteronormative history!

But in a recent development that illustrates just how far Republicans are willing to go in order to appease Trump, two autocracy-curious members of Congress, Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene and New York’s Elise Stefanik, have come up with a plan so bonkers, it just might work.

Their separate but eerily similar proposals? That former president Donald Trump’s two impeachments should be expunged from the historical record.

Read more:

Expunging Trump’s impeachments is history for dummies | Opinion

Trump bursts into bizarre moaning sounds at Michigan GOP dinner

Monday 26 June 2023 22:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Convicted Jan 6 rioter tells Trump to stop misusing her story: ‘I pleaded guilty because I was guilty!’

Monday 26 June 2023 22:15 , Graig Graziosi

Pam Hemphill, a 69-year-old woman convicted for participating in the Capitol riot, has told Donald Trump to stop using her story for his political purposes.

Mr Trump commented “HORRIBLE” on his Truth Social account in response to a post claiming the grandmother would have to spend more time in jail than Hunter Biden, who accepted a plea deal relating to a years-long investigation into his taxes.

Hemphill responded to Mr Trump’s comments on Twitter, calling for him to stop using her story to boost his agenda.

“Please @realDonaldTrump don’t be using me for anything, I’m not a victim of Jan6, I pleaded guilty because I was guilty! #StopTheSpin,” she wrote on the platform.

Hemphill pushed past police lines three times during the Capitol riot, and encouraged others to push into the Capitol. She was later spotted inside the Capitol rotunda.

Read more:

Convicted Jan 6 rioter tells Trump to stop misusing her story

Convicted Jan 6 rioter tells Trump to stop misusing her story: 'I pleaded guilty because I was guilty!'

Monday 26 June 2023 22:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Judge in classified documents case denies Special Counsel motion to file 84 witnesses under seal

Monday 26 June 2023 21:45 , Gustaf Kilander

The judge in the classified documents case, Judge Aileeen Cannon, has denied the Special Counsel’s motion to file 84 witnesses under seal.

MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin tweeted: “Judge Aileen Cannon just denied the Special Counsel’s motion to file under seal its list of 84 witnesses with whom Trump and Nauta may not communicate about the facts of the case; in fact, it appears she rejected their effort to file it with the court at all.”

“Defense counsel has the list already; the only question now is whether the rest of us can or will and on what timeline. After all, she questions whether it need be filed with the court period,” she added.

Trump hotel documents case brought by Democrats dismissed by Supreme Court

Monday 26 June 2023 21:30 , Gustaf Kilander

The Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit from a number of congressional Democrats who were attempting to get information about the government lease for the Washington DC hotel previously owned by former President Donald Trump.

The court decided to dismiss the suit after the legislators voluntarily dropped the case earlier in June in federal district court. The justices had agreed to hear a bid by the Biden administration to block the suit.

The case was first initiated in 2017 – Mr Trump’s first year in office – when 17 Democrats on the House Oversight and Reform Committee sued the General Services Administration (GSA) for information about the 2013 lease of the Old Post Office building to Mr Trump’s company to make it into a hotel.

The court threw out a ruling from a federal appeals court that let the lawsuit proceed. The Monday ruling from the top US court had been sought by the Justice Department under President Joe Biden. The administration had been concerned that if the appeals court ruling had been allowed to stand, it could prompt a barrage of lawsuits from individual members of Congress against the administration.

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Trump hotel documents case brought by Democrats dismissed by Supreme Court

Chris Christie tells ‘Adonis’ Trump to ‘look in the mirror’ when asked about attacks on weight

Monday 26 June 2023 21:00 , John Bowden

Former New Jersey Gov Chris Christie is ready for any jabs at his appearance which Donald Trump may aim at him on the debate stage.

That was the message he sent this weekend when asked about the issue on Fox News’s MediaBuzz, quipping to host Howard Kurtz that Mr Trump was no “Adonis”. Mr Trump has made a handful of references to the governor’s weight since the launch of the latter’s campaign, including by posting a photoshopped image of Mr Christie onstage with a buffet of food poorly edited into the frame.

“Oh, like he’s some Adonis?” Mr Christie said to Kurtz, who was suppressing a grin.

“Here’s my message to him: I don’t care what he says about me, and I don’t care what he thinks about me, and he should take a look in the mirror every once in a while. Maybe he’d drop the weight thing off of his list of criticisms,” added the former governor.

The quip was yet another sign of the governor’s emerging campaign strategy: A debate-stage showdown with Donald Trump.

Read more:

Chris Christie tells ‘Adonis’ Trump to ‘look in the mirror’ after weight attacks

At least five Secret Service agents have testified before Jan 6 grand jury, report says

Monday 26 June 2023 20:30 , Gustaf Kilander

About five or six Secret Service agents have testified before the grand jury deciding if former President Donald Trump should be indicted for his actions in connection to the insurrection on January 6, 2021, sources have told NBC News.

The grand jury is looking into the riot as well as the attempts to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power.

The Secret Service agents who appeared were complying with subpoenas. It remains unclear how close the agents were to Mr Trump on January 6 as well as what information they provided to the grand jury.

The investigation led by Special Counsel Jack Smith is separate from the investigation he also leads into Mr Trump’s alleged mishandling of national security information which led to the former president’s indictment and Miami arraignment.

Before that case was moved to Florida, about two dozen Secret Service agents appeared before the grand jury in Washington DC, according to NBC.

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Secret Service agents have testified before Jan 6 grand jury, report says

Supreme Court dismisses case in which Democratic lawmakers sued over Trump hotel lease

Monday 26 June 2023 20:00 , AP

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a case it had planned to hear about limits on lawsuits filed by members of Congress against the federal government, in a dispute that involved the former Trump International Hotel in Washington.

The justices threw out a federal appeals court ruling that had allowed a lawsuit by Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee to continue. The court’s decision Monday had been sought by the Biden Justice Department, which had worried that the appeals court ruling, if let stand, could lead to a flood of lawsuits from individual members of Congress against the administration.

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Supreme Court dismisses case in which Democratic lawmakers sued over Trump hotel lease

‘If Republicans are going to carry the state, they need to win Oakland County’

Monday 26 June 2023 19:30 , AP

Michigan Republicans controlled all levels of state government from 2011 to 2019. Now, they are powerless for the first time in 40 years. The shift has been particularly evident in Oakland County, home to the largest number of Republican voters in the state.

“People who know Michigan electoral politics would say that it’s pretty important that if Republicans are going to carry the state, they need to win Oakland County,” Dave Trott, a former GOP congressman, said.

While Trump lost the county in 2016 and 2020, Biden received nearly 100,000 more votes than Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton did there and won the state by about 155,000 votes, or 2.8 percentage points.

Trump’s popularity in Michigan has taken a hit since 2016

Monday 26 June 2023 19:00 , AP

Trump’s popularity in Michigan has taken a hit since 2016.

“By Trump’s calculations, he needs to win Michigan again to be the president. But he’s been very disruptive here,” said Dave Trott, a former GOP congressman. “Trump largely is the reason why the Michigan Republican Party is dead.”

Last year, Trump’s endorsed candidates in Michigan were among the loudest in repeating his unfounded claims that the 2020 election was rigged.

Trump’s choice for attorney general, Matthew DePerno, spent the final months of his campaign under investigation into whether he should be criminally charged for attempting to gain access to voting machines after the 2020 election. Secretary of State candidate Kristina Karamo, a former community college professor, was handpicked by Trump as the Republican nominee for secretary of state after claiming she saw election fraud as a poll challenger in Detroit.

In November, the statewide candidates he backed were overwhelmingly defeated, including Tudor Dixon, who lost by more than 10 percentage points to Whitmer.

Trump is honored by Republicans as the Man of the Decade in a Michigan county he lost twice

Monday 26 June 2023 18:40 , AP

Former President Donald Trump was honored as the Man of the Decade in a Michigan county he lost twice as he returned to the state looking to reclaim territory that helped propel him to the White House but that slipped from his grasp four years later.

Campaigning for a return to the presidency while facing a federal indictment for allegedly mishandling classified documents, Trump spoke on Sunday in suburban Detroit, where he lost ground between 2016 and 2020 and would need to win it back if he becomes the 2024 Republican nominee. He would have to reverse the recent trend in Michigan that has seen Democrats make some of their biggest gains nationally since Trump’s reelection loss.

Trump spoke at the Oakland County GOP’s Lincoln Day Dinner, where he was honored by the party as its Man of the Decade. Trump frequently attacked President Joe Biden throughout his speech Sunday, saying the Democrat was a “catastrophe” for Michigan and auto production in the state. Trump also criticized Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a co-chair of Biden’s reelection campaign, for approving state funds for a foreign company.

It was Trump’s first campaign appearance in Michigan, one of three states, along with Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, that flipped in 2016 to put him in the White House and Biden four years later.

Trump’s chief of staff said his ideas were ‘flat-out illegal,’ book alleges

Monday 26 June 2023 18:15 , Gustaf Kilander

Former national security official Miles Taylor has quoted former Trump Chief of Staff John Kelly as saying that a third of Mr Trump’s ideas as president were “stupid,” a third were “impossible to implement” and wouldn’t solve anything, and the final third were “flat-out illegal”.

Lincoln Project blasts Trump for ‘scamming his supporters out of millions'

Monday 26 June 2023 17:50 , Gustaf Kilander

Supreme Court dismisses Democratic lawsuit over Trump hotel documents

Monday 26 June 2023 17:25 , Gustaf Kilander

The Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit from a number of Congressional Democrats who were attempting to get information about the government lease for the Washington, DC hotel previously owned by Mr Trump.

The court decided to dismiss the suit after the legislators voluntarily dropped the case earlier in June. The justices had agreed to hear a bid by the Biden administration to block the suit.

The case was first initiated in 2017 – Mr Trump’s first year in office – when 17 Democrats on the House Oversight and Reform Committee sued the General Services Administration (GSA) for information about the 2013 lease of the Old Post Office building to Mr Trump’s company to make it into a hotel.

Pence won’t say whether he’d pardon Trump

Monday 26 June 2023 16:55 , Eric Garcia

Former vice president Mike Pence did not say whether he would pardon former president Donald Trump in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.

Fox News host Shannon Bream asked Mr Trump’s former running-mate about whether he would pardon the former president. Mr Trump pleaded not guilty earlier this month to 37 federal charges related to him illegally retaining documents related to national defence and other classified material at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

“Well, look, if I were the president of the United States, I would take the pardon authority very seriously,” he said, noting how as governor of Indiana he pardoned people and took the task seriously. “I would apply that to every single case in that matter. But I appreciate you raising the point.”

Read more:

Pence won’t say whether he’d pardon Trump

VIDEO: Trump Honored As 'Man Of The Decade' At Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner

Monday 26 June 2023 16:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Fox News choose Jesse Watters to replace Tucker Carlson in primetime shakeup

Monday 26 June 2023 16:28 , Bevan Hurley

Fox News has named Jesse Watters as Tucker Carlson’s permanent replacement in the primetime lineup.

The rightwing network announced Watters would permanently take the 8pm hour with Laura Ingraham moving from 10pm to 7pm.

Sean Hannity will remain in his 9pm time with Greg Gutfield moving to 10pm.

Read more:

Fox News choose Jesse Watters to replace Tucker Carlson in primetime shakeup

Republicans try to thread the needle on abortion on anniversary of the death of Roe

Monday 26 June 2023 16:05 , Eric Garcia

One year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade and ended the enshrined right to seek an abortion, Christian conservatives convened in Washington DC to size up the GOP’s leading 2024 candidates.

The Faith and Freedom Coalition held its Road to Majority conference at the Washington Hilton over the weekend, where every major Republican 2024 candidate appeared to try to win over the crucial evangelical wing of the party. Former president Donald Trump closed out the event on Saturday evening; former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, former vice president Mike Pence; former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, Sen Tim Scott (R-SC), Florida Gov Ron DeSantis and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy also made their case to social conservatives.

Last year’s decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization has caused a split among Republicans. Some have said that the Supreme Court’s decision likely cost Republicans the opportunity to win the majority in the Senate as the GOP failed to flip a single seat, and Republicans only won a narrow majority in the House of Representatives.

An NBC News poll showed that 61 per cent of Americans disapprove of the Dobbs decision, with 80 per cent of women between the ages of 18 and 49 and two-thirds of suburban women saying that they disapproved of it.

Read more:

Republicans try to thread the needle on abortion amid anniversary of the death of Roe

VIDEO: Donald Trump speaks at Oakland County GOP dinner

Monday 26 June 2023 15:40 , Gustaf Kilander

Watch live: Ron DeSantis to unveil immigration proposals during border visit

Monday 26 June 2023 15:26 , Billal Rahman

Watch live as Republican presidential candidate and Florida governor Ron DeSantis unveils his immigration policy during a visit to the US-Mexico border.

The GOP candidate is also visiting local communities in Eagle Pass, Texas, to detail his border security plan ahead of the 2024 Republican primaries.

It is the first formal campaign policy announcement of his presidential campaign.

It comes as the Florida Governor has increased his attacks on his main political rival, former President Donald Trump.

A new poll by NBC News showed 51% of Republican primary voters selected Mr Trump as their first choice in the race for the GOP nomination, while Mr DeSantis only received just 22%.

The latest Emerson College poll for the 2024 Republican Primary shows that former president Trump maintains a majority of Republican voters’ support with 59%, followed by Mr DeSantis with 21% and former vice president Mike Pence with 6%. No other candidate reaches 5% in the recent polling.

Ron DeSantis to unveil immigration proposals during border visit

Trump tells Michigan Republicans that EVs will ‘decimate’ state’s auto industry

Monday 26 June 2023 15:15 , Graeme Massie

Donald Trump told an audience of Michigan Republicans that the push for electric vehicles will mean the “decimation” of the state’s traditional auto industry.

The former president made the comments as he appeared at the Oakland County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day dinner on Sunday night, his first appearance in the battleground state in the 2024 cycle.

“It’s going to be a level that people can’t even imagine,” Mr Trump said during his address inside the Suburban Collection Showplace, in Novi, Michigan.

Mr Trump told the crowd that the “maniacal push” for electric vehicles would kill auto jobs in the United States, and mocked the range of the vehicles, saying that they were a win for “tow truck companies.”

“If somebody wants an electric car, I’m all for it. But you should be able to have a choice,” Mr Trump told the crowd.

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Trump tells Michigan Republicans that EVs will ‘decimate’ state’s auto industry

VIDEO: Trump declares himself the 'most pro-life' president in American history

Monday 26 June 2023 14:50 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump is funneling 10% of 2024 campaign donations to cover his legal bills

Monday 26 June 2023 14:25 , John Bowden

Former President Donald Trump is diverting more donations from political supporters to fund his mounting legal costs as multiple court cases put an increased strain on his resources.

Disclosure text on the Trump presidential campaign’s WinRed digital fundraising platform now specifies that 10 per cent of political contributions will go to his legal battles via the Save America PAC.

The other 90 per cent will be used for political campaigning to try to return him to the White House for a second term.

The former president previously took 1 per cent for his legal troubles from political donations.

Mr Trump’s legal issues include his 37-count criminal indictment including violations of the Espionage Act and a sexual abuse civil lawsuit which was recently won by the writer, E Jean Carroll.

The change, first reported by The New York Times, appears to have been made in February or March of 2023, according to archival footage reviewed by the newspaper.

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Trump quietly changes political fundraising site to funnel funds toward legal woes

Trump dubs Russia coup a ‘big mess’ as fellow presidential candidates weigh in on Wagner rebellion

Monday 26 June 2023 14:00 , Rachel Sharp

Former president Donald Trump referred to the armed rebellion in Russia as a “big mess” on Saturday as insurgent leader Yevgeny Prigozhin turned his Wagner paramilitary forces away from Moscow.

“A big mess in Russia, but be careful what you wish for. Next in may be far worse!” Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social account.

In a separate post, he appeared to invoke news of the latest threats in Russia to baselessly accuse President Joe Biden and his son Hunter of “illegally” collecting money from China and asserting that his rival will “do about Russia whatever President Xi” wants.

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Trump dubs Russia coup a ‘big mess’ as fellow candidates weigh in on Wagner uprising