Category Archives: Donald Trump

Trump in apparent Twitter snub after Musk lifts ban – as it happened

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Speaking of Trump and lawyers, another of his former top White House officials is going to South Carolina’s high court to stop a subpoena from a Georgia prosecutor looking into meddling in the state’s 2020 election, Politico reports:

The appeal to South Carolina’s supreme court by Mark Meadows, Trump’s chief of staff for his final months in the White House, is the latest development in his lengthy battle to resist the summons from Fanni Willis. She’s the district attorney in Fulton county, which contains most of Atlanta, and has empaneled a special grand jury to look into attempts by Trump’s allies to interfere in Joe Biden’s election victory in the state.

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Elon Musk reinstates Donald Trump’s Twitter account after taking poll

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‘The people have spoken,’ says site’s owner, having acknowledged during online poll that automated bots were voting too

Elon Musk has reinstated Donald Trump’s Twitter account after users on the social media platform voted by a slim majority to lift a ban on the former US president.

Trump’s account was suspended in 2021 after the January 6 Capitol riot, for violating Twitter guidelines and because of the risk of “further incitement of violence”.

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Who is Jack Smith, the special counsel investigating Donald Trump?

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Man named to lead investigations into ex-president is experienced prosecutor most recently at international criminal court

Jack Smith is the man the US attorney general, Merrick Garland, appointed on Friday to be an independent special counsel overseeing parallel justice department investigations into Donald Trump’s hoarding of top secret documents and involvement in the 6 January 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol, and he has been a criminal prosecutor for almost 30 years.

Smith has previously served as the chief of public integrity for the US justice department and dealt in particular with cases involving corruption, bringing cases against prominent Republicans and Democrats. In 2015 he was appointed first assistant US attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee. He is a registered independent, not aligned with either of the two dominant political parties in the US.

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US attorney general names special counsel to weigh charges against Trump

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‘Extraordinary circumstances’ require appointment of Jack Smith to determine whether charges should be brought, Garland says

The US attorney general Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel to determine whether Donald Trump should face criminal charges stemming from investigations into the former’s president’s alleged mishandling of national security materials and his role in the 6 January attack on the US Capitol.

The politically explosive move comes just three days after Trump announced he is running for the White House yet again, despite a disappointing Republican performance in the midterm elections, especially among candidates backed by the ex-president.

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Republicans gain narrow majority to control House – live

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Last week’s elections produced winners, losers and candidates like Kari Lake.

The Associated Press has already called the Arizona governor’s race for Democrat Katie Hobbs, but her Republican challenger Lake is refusing to concede. She said as much in a video released to supporters today:

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Same-sex marriage bill clears key Senate hurdle as Republicans on brink of House majority – as it happened

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Mike Pence was once Donald Trump’s sidekick in the White House, but in an appearance on Fox News today, he made clear he doesn’t think much of the former president’s latest attempt to win office:

This isn’t exactly a new position for the former vice-president. The two fell out over Pence’s refusal to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s election win, and he has since joined the apparently growing ranks of Republicans casting doubt on Trump’s ability to continue leading the party.

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Trump’s speech was full of exaggerated and false talking points

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The former president consistently painted a misleading image of his years in office, recalling nonexistent global peace, secure borders and a strong economy

Donald Trump’s announcement that he will run for president again in 2024 was met with joy, dismay and mockery across the political spectrum.

Making the widely anticipated announcement at his Florida resort of Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday night, Trump delivered remarks that would feel quite familiar to anyone who has watched one of his many campaign rallies. Looking back on America as he left the presidency in early 2021, Trump painted a rosy and often misleading picture of a nation that had established secure borders, a strong economy and global peace.

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Trump plays the ousted autocrat struggling to recapture past glory

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Ex-president appears over the hill at 2024 announcement to an enthusiastic – but dwindling – group of loyalists

From plastering his name on buildings to hiring his own children, from salivating over military parades to savaging the media, from befriending fellow strongmen to defying the will of the people, Donald Trump has done much to invite comparisons with autocrats.

On Tuesday he continued to play that role to perfection. Only now he was the ousted dictator, drained of power and surrounded by a dwindling band of loyalists in his last redoubt, the opulent Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. As a rule, the grander the palace, the weaker the man.

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Rightwing media’s coverage of Trump’s presidential bid shows it just can’t turn away

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The evening was full of contradictory messages supporting and slighting the former president

All the signs in the past week have been that the Rupert Murdoch-owned US media was ready to ditch Donald Trump en masse. The New York Post mocked Trump as Humpty Dumpty, the Wall Street Journal declared him to be “the Republican party’s biggest loser” and even Fox News offered scant defense of Trump’s miserable midterm elections.

Watching Fox News on Tuesday night, however, as Trump announced he was running for president yet again in 2024, it seemed that not everyone was ready to let Trump go.

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Donald Trump announces 2024 run for president nearly two years after inspiring deadly Capitol riot

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Twice-impeached ex-president makes expected election announcement despite shaky midterms and surge from rival Ron DeSantis

Donald Trump on Tuesday night announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, likely sparking another period of tumult in US politics and especially his own political party.

“In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” Trump said from ballroom of his private Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he stood on a stage crowded with American flags and Make America Great Again banners.

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Ivanka Trump says she will not be part of Donald’s 2024 campaign

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Trump skips father’s announcement and says she is prioritizing her family after serving as adviser during his presidency

Ivanka Trump has decided to bow out of US politics and not actively join her father’s bid to retake the White House in 2024, saying she has chosen “to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family”.

Donald Trump launched his 2024 bid for the Republican nomination on Tuesday night at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Members of his family, including his wife, Melania, and son Eric were present. Even Ivanka’s husband, Jared Kushner, was in attendance. But Ivanka was not.

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Murdoch press turns on Donald Trump in favour of ‘DeFuture’ Ron DeSantis

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Rightwing media empire looks for new Republican protege after poor showing in midterm elections

Rupert Murdoch has reportedly warned Donald Trump his media empire will not back any attempt to return to the White House, as former supporters turn to the youthful Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

After the Republican party’s disappointing performance in the US midterm elections, in particular the poor showing by candidates backed by Trump, Murdoch’s rightwing media empire appears to be seeking a clean break from the former president’s damaged reputation and perceived waning political power.

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Midterm elections 2022: Republicans edge towards slim House majority as last results trickle in – live

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Democrats’ slim hopes of holding on to lower chamber appear to be ebbing away as Donald Trump expected to announce 2024 run

The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell has more on the tensions within the Republican party over Donald Trump’s imminent announcement of a new campaign for the White House:

Donald Trump is expected to announce his 2024 presidential campaign on Tuesday night as planned, according to multiple sources close to the former US president, inserting himself into the center of national politics as he attempts to box out potential rivals seeking the Republican nomination.

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Trump v DeSantis: Republicans split over 2024 run and predict ‘blood on the floor’

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County leaders say they fear ex-president is even more divisive than he was two years ago and is therefore unelectable

Terri Burl was an early member of Women for Trump. As chair of her local Republican party branch in northern Wisconsin, she twice campaigned vigorously for his election in the key swing state. By the time Trump left office, Burl rated him the greatest president since Ronald Reagan. Maybe even better.

But now Burl has had enough.

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Trump for 2024 would be ‘bad mistake’, Republican says as blame game deepens

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Alabama congressman Mo Brooks, a once-zealous Trump ally, comments after party fails to retake Congress in midterms

Alabama congressman and once-zealous Trump supporter, Mo Brooks, has a remarkable new stance on the political future of his former hero. “It would be a bad mistake for the Republicans to have Donald Trump as their nominee in 2024,” he said.

The stark judgment from Brooks was indicative of the deepening and brutal blame game among Republicans which continued on Monday, nearly a week after the party failed to retake Congress in the midterm elections and a day before Trump’s expected announcement of a new presidential campaign.

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Donald Trump handled records marked classified after presidency, court filing alleges

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Justice department filing claims former US president kept secret documents in drawer at Mar-a-Lago with other files from after his time in office

Donald Trump retained documents bearing classification markings, along with communications from after his presidency, according to court filings describing the materials seized by the FBI as part of the ongoing criminal investigation into whether he mishandled national security information.

The former US president kept in the desk drawer of his office at the Mar-a-Lago property one document marked “secret” and one marked “confidential” alongside three communications from a book author, a religious leader and a pollster, dated after he departed the White House.

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Democrats celebrate retaining control of Senate as Republicans take stock

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House control still undecided as Republicans lead and attention pivots to Florida, where Trump is expected to announce 2024 run

As the balance of power in the US House of Representatives remained unresolved on Sunday, Democrats are celebrating the projection that they won control of the Senate, marking a significant victory for Joe Biden as Republicans backed by his presidential predecessor Donald Trump underperformed in key battleground states.

While senior Democrats remained guarded Sunday about the chances of keeping control of both chambers of Congress, House speaker Nancy Pelosi hailed the party’s performance in the midterms following months of projections indicating heavy losses.

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‘It’s time to move on’: have the US midterms finally loosened Trump’s grip on the Republican party?

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After the party came up short in another election, Ron DeSantis may be poised to become its new leader

Sitting at the head table in a white and gold ballroom, beneath glistening chandeliers and an ornately corniced ceiling, Donald Trump looked sullen as midterm election results flashed up on a giant TV screen.

Across Florida, 200 miles from his opulent Mar-a-Lago estate, the mood was quite different. In Tampa, Governor Ron DeSantis was celebrating his landslide re-election by repurposing lines from Winston Churchill.

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US midterms 2022: Democrats’ Senate hopes grow as vote count edges forward – live

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Democrat Mark Kelly appears close to re-election in Arizona, with Nevada still up in the air and Georgia going to a runoff vote

All eyes are on media results trackers as Arizona and Nevada’s Senate races inch closer to official results and news on control of the House looms.

So a quick note about Alaska…

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‘Ron DeSanctimonious’: angry Trump lashes out at Republican rival

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Former president, who is still expected to announce candidacy, posts diatribe against possible White House contender and others

Donald Trump has lashed out at other high-profile Republicans after the failure of the predicted “red wave” in the US midterm elections, which has chilled enthusiasm for his promotion of extremist candidates and a possible new run at the White House.

At Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday night, as Democrats had a better election than expected, the former US president was seen to be in a mood ranging from subdued to exasperated, but later in the week he became angry, attacking fellow Republicans including two popular governors.

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