Trump news – live: Trump rages about ‘cancer’ on Truth Social amid reports Jan 6 panel will call to charge him

Donald Trump took to Truth Social to claim that “our Country is SICK inside, very much like a person dying of Cancer”.

The former president went on to rage on Saturday morning that “the Crooked FBI, the so-called Department of ‘Justice,’ and ‘Intelligence,’ all parts of the Democrat Party and System, is the Cancer”.

“These Weaponized Thugs and Tyrants must be dealt with, or our once great and beautiful Country will die!!!” he thundered on the platform.

Meanwhile, after a year of exhaustive investigations and witness interviews, the House select committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol is expected to refer Donald Trump to the US Department of Justice for a charge of insurrection.

The panel investigating the 6 January, 2021 assault – which was fuelled by the former president’s ongoing election lies – will hold a hearing on Monday to vote on criminal referrals to the Justice Department.

Committee members also are expected to vote to refer charges against Mr Trump for obstruction of an official proceeding as well as conspiracy to defraud the United States government, according to reports.

Key points

• Capitol riot committee will refer Trump to the Justice Department on insurrection charge

• Trump boasts to Orthodox Jewish conference but fails to mention dinner with antisemites

• Trump launches NFTs with bizarre claim he was better president than Lincoln and Washington

• Biden mocks Trump’s trading cards announcement by listing achievements

• Trump approval rating hits lowest point in seven years, poll finds

Trump claims ‘Democrats will do anything not to run against me’

13:24 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Trump took to Truth Social on Sunday morning to share his frustrations with the Democrats.

“The Democrats will do anything not to run against me, MAGA, and putting AMERICA FIRST,” he wrote. “Remember, they are the Party of MISINFORMATION, constantly saying the opposite of what they really want. I am beating everybody in the REAL Polls, by a lot, so they say, ‘Gee, we want to run against Trump,’ at the same time they spend $Millions to try and beat me, hoping for another candidate. I devoured them in 2016, and again, with much bigger numbers, in 2020, but that Election was RIGGED. MUST DO IT AGAIN!”

Mr Trump lost the popular vote in 2016 by around three million votes. In 2020, he lost the popular vote by around seven million votes, as well as the electoral college, 306 – 232.

Possible Trump criminal referral is ‘a roadmap with receipts,’ law professor says

13:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Law professor Paul Butler appeared on MSNBC saying that a possible criminal referral by the January 6 select committee against Mr Trump would be “a roadmap with receipts”.

He noted that the panel has collected a massive amount of evidence over the last year and a half.

Former Ted Cruz spokesperson calls Trumpism ‘cancerous tumor’ on GOP

12:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Rick Tyler, a former spokesperson for Texas Senator Ted Cruz, appeared on MSNBC arguing that the Republican Party must remove Trumpism “like a cancerous tumour and celebrate its defeat”.

“You have people running around claiming to be conservatives like people chewing on raw meat claiming to be vegetarian,” he added.

Bolton ponders 2024 run to boot Trump

11:00 , Gustaf Kilander

John Bolton, who served as Donald Trump’s national security adviser, appeared on MSNBC on Saturday arguing that he “has no philosophy”.

“There is no Trumpism and there’s no real succession to Trump,” he added.

Mr Bolton was so bothered by Mr Trump calling for the termination of the Constitution that he’s thinking about running for president himself to get Mr Trump out of the field.

Mr Bolton agrees that the “virus of isolationism” exists in the Republican party, but he argues that Mr Trump’s politics is simply “performance art” and says that thinking that the GOP is beyond mending would be “delusional”.

“It’s the job of Republicans to repair the damage [Mr Trump’s] done,” he said.

Georgia election interference probe nearing end after high-profile testimony

10:00 , Gustaf Kilander

The criminal investigation into Mr Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia is closing in on its end after a spike in activity over the course of the last month, including the testimony of several high-profile witnesses.

The Atlanta panel can’t indict Mr Trump, but the 23 people on the jury are thought to be releasing a report that could recommend indictments, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The investigation is headed by Democratic Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. She came out victorious in several cases where Trump allies attempted to avoid appearing in front of the special grand jury.

Former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham have all testified, while Mr Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has been ordered to do so.

Georgia State University College of Law professor Clark Cunningham told The Journal that “what these witnesses have in common is that they offer, for the district attorney, real potential for tying Donald Trump personally to what happened”.

Trump trading cards spike in price

09:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump’s NFTs increased in price following the Thursday launch.

The value of the complete collection passed $2m on Saturday.

On Saturday morning, the price for an NFT was 0.282 Ethereum, a cryptocurrency, according to OpenSea, an NFT trading platform.

That could be converted to around $330 on Saturday, according to Newsweek.

Author Maxmilian Uriarte posted a screenshot from OpenSea on Thursday night showing the NFT price as being 0.078 Ethereum at the time.

The cards were initially listed for $99, or about 0.084 Ethereum.

Donald Trump’s NFT images appear to be copied

08:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Reporter outlines ‘utterly deranged logic’ revealed in texts between Meadows and Members of Congress

07:00 , Gustaf Kilander

New York AG requests Florida judge reject Trump’s attempt to ‘end-run’ lawsuit

06:00 , Gustaf Kilander

New York Attorney General Letitia James has requested that a Florida federal judge reject Mr Trump’s attempt to “collaterally attack and end-run” her lawsuit against the former president.

“This action is Mr. Trump’s second improper attempt to collaterally attack and end-run around rulings that have been issued by the presiding judge in the New York proceedings, Justice Arthur Engoron,” Ms James’s assistant wrote in a motion to dismiss measuring 23 pages.

“This second attempt to evade the New York proceedings and Justice Engoron’s authority should meet the same fate for many, independent reasons,” the legal filing says, according to Law & Crime.

“The premise of Mr. Trump’s suit is that OAG’s investigation and pursuit of the New York proceedings is unlawful and violates his constitutional rights based on public statements made by AG James,” the filing continues. “But this contention is precluded by a final order issued by Justice Engoron upholding the investigation as legally and factually sound and not attributable to animus, which was unanimously affirmed on appeal by the New York Appellate Division. The federal judge in New York made the same findings.”

RNC chair running for reelection claims she didn’t ask for Trump’s support

05:00 , The Associated Press

In an interview, McDaniel said she notified Trump of her intention to seek another term but did not explicitly ask for his support. She said she “didn’t think it would be appropriate to be asking for any endorsements” given that party rules require the RNC to remain neutral in the next presidential primary.

McDaniel demurred when asked whether she wanted Trump’s support.

“I think the most important support right now is the members,” she said. “These are leaders in the party, the grassroots leaders.”

California attorney Harmeet Dhillon has emerged as the MAGA favorite to challenge McDaniel, who secured commitments from more than 100 of the RNC’s 168 voting members earlier this month. Dhillon is working aggressively to peel away some of that support ahead of the formal vote at next month’s annual winter meeting in southern California.

Dhillon said she also notified Trump of her candidacy in a brief phone call shortly before she made her intentions public this month. She did not explicitly ask for his endorsement either, although she said the president did not discourage her from challenging McDaniel.

Dhillon, whose law firm earned more than $400,000 representing Trump and his political organizations in the 2022 midterms, said she would leave her law practice if elected chair. The 53-year-old California attorney, who was born in India, also vowed to remain independent in what is expected to be a crowded 2024 presidential primary contest.

Still, Dhillon defends Trump against those Republicans who blame him for the party’s disappointing performance in the November midterm elections. The GOP won a narrow House majority, but a host of Trump’s hand-picked candidates lost key elections for the Senate and governor.

“It’s not any one person’s fault. And I frankly think it’s a little too convenient to say it’s Donald Trump’s fault. Donald Trump hasn’t been the president for the last two years,” Dhillon said.

Former Trump assistant dismisses criminal referrals by Jan 6 committee

04:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Sebastian Gorka, who served in the Trump administration during the first half of 2017, appeared on Newsmax to reject the notion that any possible criminal referrals by the January 6 Select Committee would have any impact on the former president.

“They’ve been trying to destroy President Trump for six years and everything they’ve tried to do has failed,” he said.

Former Republican blasts Trump allies over late criticism of former president

03:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Former Republican Ashley Pratte Oates appeared on MSNBC blasting Trump allies for finally turning on Donald Trump over his sale of digital trading cards instead of doing so earlier over more serious issues.

“It took THIS to have Republicans start distancing themselves from him. Not the racist rhetoric… it took NFT cards to get us here,” she said on MSNBC.

Axelrod predicts problems for GOP regardless of 2024 primary outcome

02:00 , Gustaf Kilander

David Axelrod, a Democratic strategist who served as a senior adviser to President Barack Obama, tweeted on Saturday that “the @GOP knows it has troubles [if] Trump WINS the nomination”.

“But what are the odds that if Trump were to LOSE the nomination, as appears increasingly possible, that he would gracefully accept the outcome and urge his supporters to back the nominee?” he added.

Former GOP strategist blasts Twitter, says Trump ‘used it as his toxic cudgel'

01:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Steve Schmidt, the co-founder of the Lincoln Project and former Republican strategist, shared a substack post on Twitter on Saturday in which he blasted the platform.

“Twitter was the weapon of choice for the biggest bully in American history. Trump used it as his toxic cudgel to assault truth & reality,” Mr Schmidt said. “Twitter exposed the cynicism of 99.98% of the Republican elected leadership like an MRI scanner for the soul.”

“Twitter is a cesspool. It always has been,” he added. “It has coarsened society by allowing the instantaneous global transmission of any thought at any moment behind the safety of a keyboard and/or through bots. It is a virtual space and an isolating one.”

California Democrat gives Trump credit for investing ‘significant government resources to jumpstart vaccines'

00:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Ronna McDaniel runs for another term as RNC chair as party attempts to figure out how to handle Trump

23:00 , The Associated Press

Struggling to unify after another disappointing election, the Republican National Committee is consumed by an increasingly nasty leadership fight as the GOP navigates its delicate relationship with former President Donald Trump.

With a vote for RNC chair not scheduled until late January, the public feud may get worse before it gets better.

“It’ll be ugly as hell for a while,” says longtime RNC member Ron Kaufman.

The family fight to lead the party has been largely overshadowed for national attention by the equally contentious struggle to become the new Republican House Speaker, with that election set for the first week in January. But both represent critical selections as the GOP works to overcome six years of electoral underperformance heading into another presidential election.

As the Republicans’ national political arm, the RNC will raise and spend hundreds of millions of dollars in building or rebuilding the party’s framework, in campaign messaging and in the year-long presidential nomination process that will begin in earnest before long.

Ronna McDaniel, Trump’s hand-picked choice to lead the committee and the niece of Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, is running for a fourth consecutive term. But the 49-year-old is facing a rising wave of discontent from Trump’s “MAGA” movement, even as the former president stays silent — at least, for now.

VIDEO: It finally happened… The Donald enters crypto

22:00 , The Independent

What Trump promised, Biden seeks to deliver in his own way

21:00 , The Associated Press

Donald Trump pledged to fix U.S. infrastructure as president. He vowed to take on China and bulk up American manufacturing. He said he would reduce the budget deficit and make the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes.

Yet after two years as president, it’s Joe Biden who is acting on those promises. He jokes that he’s created an “infrastructure decade” after Trump merely managed a near parody of “infrastructure weeks.” His legislative victories are not winning him votes from Trump loyalists or boosting his overall approval ratings. But they reflect a major pivot in how the government interacts with the economy at a time when many Americans fear a recession and broader national decline.

Gone are blanket tax cuts. No more unfettered faith in free trade with non-democracies. The Biden White House has committed more than $1.7 trillion to the belief that a mix of government aid, focused policies and bureaucratic expertise can deliver long-term growth that lifts up the middle class. This reverses the past administration’s view that cutting regulations and taxes boosted investments by businesses that flowed downward to workers.

With new laws in place, Biden is taking the gamble that the federal bureaucracy can successfully implement and deliver on his promises, including after he leaves office.

Read more:

What Trump promised, Biden seeks to deliver in his own way

McCarthy's race for speaker risks upending House on Day One

20:00 , The Associated Press

In his quest to rise to House speaker, Kevin McCarthy is charging straight into history — potentially becoming the first nominee in 100 years unable to win the job on a first-round floor vote.

The increasingly real prospect of a messy floor fight over the speaker’s gavel on Day One of the new Congress on Jan. 3 is worrying House Republicans, who are bracing for the spectacle. They have been meeting endlessly in private at the Capitol trying to resolve the standoff.

Taking hold of a perilously slim 222-seat Republican majority in the 435-member House and facing handful of defectors, McCarthy is working furiously to reach the 218-vote threshold typically needed to become speaker.

“The fear is, that if we stumble out of the gate,” said Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., a McCarthy ally, then the voters who sent the Republicans to Washington “will revolt over that and they will feel let down.”

Not since the disputed election of 1923 has a candidate for House speaker faced the public scrutiny of convening a new session of Congress only to have it descend into political chaos, with one vote after another, until a new speaker is chosen. At that time, it eventually took a grueling nine ballots to secure the gavel.

Read more:

McCarthy's race for speaker risks upending House on Day One

Ben Shapiro slams Donald Trump’s NFT launch as ‘cringeworthy’ and ‘painful’

19:00 , Sophie Thompson

Right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro has blasted Donald Trump’s NFT launch as ‘painful’ and ‘cringeworthy’.

The former president announced his limited edition collectible cards would be going up for sale, advertising them with images of himself Photoshopped over superheroes.

“This major announcement almost completely craters his presidential campaign before it even gets off the ground”, Shapiro said on his show.

“On every available front, it’s just the dumbest politics maybe I’ve ever seen.”

VOICES: What Washington wants for the holidays

18:00 , Eric Garcia

Here is what we think each of the most influential people in Washington would want most for the holidays (and we’re pretty sure Joe Manchin doesn’t need another lump of coal given he’s in West Virginia).

Donald Trump: A New Year rebound. The former president took the fall for Republicans’ poor showing in the 2022 midterm, partially because of the fact he endorsed so many clunker candidates. Since then, his announcement of a third White House run has received little fanfare. Polls show Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has started to eclipse the former president, and this week has seen him make the bizarre “major announcement” that he is releasing a new line of digital trading cards.

The former president has recovered from setbacks innumerable times – he went from inciting a deadly riot to having all but a handful of Republicans defend him during impeachment proceedings. But if he is to succeed, things will need to change.

Read more:

What Washington wants for the holidays

Donald Trump supporters mocked after $99 superhero trading card NFTs sell out in less than a day

17:00 , Gustaf Kilander

The site where Donald Trump is selling his widely-mocked $99 digital trading cards is claiming that they have sold out their inventory.

Mr Trump said in an announcement on Thursday that the “limited edition cards” would be “a great Christmas gift”.

According to tracker OpenSea, there were 45,000 images up for sale at the start.

The site hosting the sale of the non-fungible tokens (NFTs) claimed that “these Digital Trading Cards are not political and have nothing to do with any political campaign”.

“NFT INT LLC is not owned, managed or controlled by Donald J Trump, The Trump Organization, CIC Digital LLC or any of their respective principals or affiliates,” it said.

Twitter users were quick to mock Trump supporters for buying the trading cards.

“Trump has already sold out all 45,000 of his $99 digital trading cards. The same people screaming about ‘inflation’ and ‘gas prices’ just paid $99 for a single JPEG image,” progressive YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen tweeted.

Read more:

Trump supporters mocked after $99 trading card NFTs sell out in less than a day

Trump compares US to person dying from cancer as Jan 6 criminal referral looms

16:00 , Gustaf Kilander and Eric Garcia

Donald Trump compared the US to a person dying from cancer in a furious Truth Social rant following reports that the January 6 committee is preparing to recommend criminal charges against him.

Mr Trump shared a string of outraged posts on his social media network in the early hours on Saturday, including one where he declared: “Our Country is SICK inside, very much like a person dying of Cancer”.

“The Crooked FBI, the so-called Department of ‘Justice,’ and ‘Intelligence,’ all parts of the Democrat Party and System, is the Cancer,” he continued.

“These Weaponized Thugs and Tyrants must be dealt with, or our once great and beautiful Country will die!!!”

In another post, Mr Trump referenced critics who have described him as a threat to democracy.

“‘THREAT TO DEMOCRACY’ is the Radical Left Democrat’s new chant. Like RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, before it, and all the rest, it is a total Disinformation HOAX & SCAM. They are the ones who are the REAL THREAT TO DEMOCRACY,” he wrote.

“Remember, the Democrat’s policies are destroying our Country, they ‘stink.’ DISINFORMATION & WEAPONIZATION of ‘Justice’ is all they’ve got, but someday it will all come back to haunt them.”

A third post simply read: “THEY ARE GOING AFTER ME BECAUSE THEY ARE REALLY GOING AFTER YOU!”

Read more:

Trump compares US to a person dying from cancer as Jan 6 criminal referrals loom

GOP witness tells House hearing on Uvalde massacre that ‘paddle and prayer’ can stop gun violence

15:00 , Alex Woodward

A chairman of a Donald Trump-affiliated think tank argued to members of Congress that schools should use corporal punishment and prayer to prevent mass shootings that have killed dozens of schoolchildren across the US.

Jack Brewer, a former professional football player and chair of the America First Policy Institute’s Center for Opportunity Now, repeatedly invoked religion in his testimony to a House Judiciary Committee hearing on gun reform in the wake of the Robb Elementary School massacre in Uvalde, Texas.

The hearing was also held 10 years and one day after the massacre of 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut.

Seated next to a survivor of that attack, as well as the sister of a 10-year-old girl slaughtered at Uvalde, Mr Brewer said “if we’re going to get serious about gun violence, then we must first get serious about bringing the paddle and prayer back to our public schools.”

GOP witness in House hearing on Uvalde says ‘paddle and prayer’ can stop gun violence

Trump says US ‘is SICK inside, very much like a person dying of Cancer'

13:51 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump took to Truth Social to claim that “our Country is SICK inside, very much like a person dying of Cancer”.

The former president went on to rage on Saturday morning that “the Crooked FBI, the so-called Department of ‘Justice,’ and ‘Intelligence,’ all parts of the Democrat Party and System, is the Cancer”.

“These Weaponized Thugs and Tyrants must be dealt with, or our once great and beautiful Country will die!!!” he thundered on the platform.

Pro-Trump conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell returns to Twitter with a call to melt down voting machines

13:00 , Alex Woodward

Election fraud conspiracy theorist and pillow salesman Mike Lindell has returned to Twitter, a platform from which he was permanently suspended for repeatedly violating the social media company’s civic integrity policies.

Mr Lindell’s first post on 16 December calls to “MELT DOWN THE ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES AND TURN THEM INTO PRISON BARS”. He is currently being sued by Dominion Voting Systems for $1.3bn for defamation.

Mike Lindell is back on Twitter with a call to melt down voting machines

Trump tells Orthodox Jews he’s the ‘best ally you’ve ever had’ but avoids mention of dinner with antisemites

12:00 , Alex Woodward

Donald Trump told a conference of Orthodox Jews that he was “the best ally you’ve ever had,” but did not address his recent dinner with antisemitic rapper Kanye West and Holocaust-denying white nationalist Nick Fuentes.

Speaking at the annual President’s Conference of Torah Umesorah at his National Doral club in Miami on Friday, Mr Trump repeatedly proclaimed his love and support for Israel.

“Nobody’s done what I’ve done in terms of being pro-Israel,” he said to applause. "I believe I’m the best ally you’ve ever had.”

Trump tells Orthodox Jews he’s the ‘best ally you’ve ever had,’ avoids Kanye meeting

Trump Organization trial juror lifts lid on deliberations and reveals why panel voted to convict

11:00 , Alex Woodward

A New Yorker who sat on the jury that found two Trump Organization companies guilty of criminal tax fraud has revealed how the panel referred to the former president as “Joe Smith” during deliberations.

The unnamed jurist told The Daily Beast that they had coined the pseudonym to avoid feelings of bias against Donald Trump.

“I constantly fought my knee-jerk belief that of course anything with the name Trump on it is crooked,” he said.

Trump Organization trial juror reveals why panel voted to convict

Alaska lawmaker won’t condemn Oath Keepers in Capitol riot

09:00 , Mark Thiessen with The Associated Press

An Alaska state lawmaker accused of violating the state constitution’s disloyalty clause over his lifetime membership in the far-right group Oath Keepers has not condemned the organization in the wake of the Capitol insurrection.

“No, I generally don’t condemn groups,” state Rep David Eastman, a Wasilla Republican, said during a bench trial Thursday, his second day on the witness stand in a case that challenges his eligibility to hold office.

Eastman also said he doesn’t generally condemn individuals, including any of the 33 Oath Keepers who were charged following the attack on the Capitol. Several members, including founder Stewart Rhodes, were convicted of seditious conspiracy against the United States.

Alaska lawmaker won’t condemn Oath Keepers in Capitol riot

QAnon Capitol rioter who chased police officer Eugene Goodman sentenced to five years in prison

08:00 , Alex Woodward

A Capitol rioter who wore a QAnon T-shirt while leading a mob that chased police officer Eugene Goodman up a flight of stairs during the January 6 insurrection has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Construction worker Douglas Jensen was one of the first 10 rioters to enter the US Capitol and came dangerously close to breaching the Senate chamber, according to prosecutors with the US Department of Justice.

“You, by your own actions, put yourself at the forefront of that mob,” Judge Timothy Kelly said as he handed down the sentence on Friday.

QAnon Capitol rioter who chased police officer Eugene Goodman jailed for five years

Adam Kinzinger slams fellow Republicans in farewell speech: ‘We shelter the ignorant, the racist’

07:00 , Alex Woodward

Retiring anti-Trump Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois used the occasion of his farewell address from Congress to slam his fellow Republicans for sheltering “the ignorant, the racist.”

Mr Kinzinger, whose popularity with his own party members tanked due to his service on the House select committee on the January 6 attack, decided not to run for re-election to his House seat. He and US Rep Liz Cheney are the only two Republicans on the committee, and neither will be returning to Congress next year after she lost a primary challenge to a pro-Trump challenger.

In his speech, Mr Kinzinger did not mince words about the direction his party has taken.

Adam Kinzinger slams fellow Republicans in farewell speech

'Trump’s superhero narrative is clearly laughable – but there is a sinister side to it too’

06:00 , Alex Woodward

The protagonists of superhero movies are always discovering that they’ve been lied to and manipulated by shadowy forces who control the world and their perceptions, Noah Berlatsky writes for The Independent’s Voices:

There is a sinister side to Trump’s much mocked superhero narrative

Three men jailed for at least seven years over plot to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer

05:00 , Alex Woodward

Three men were given lengthy prison sentences on Thursday for their role in a 2020 plot by right-wing militiamen to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer in retaliation for her Covid-19 protection measures.

Paul Bellar, 24; Joseph Morrison, 28; and Pete Musico, 45, will each serve at least seven years in prison on state charges of firearms violations, illegal gang membership, and providing material support for a terrorist plot. Musico could serve upwards of 12 years.

Men jailed for at least 7 years for plot to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer

Steve Bannon hammers Trump trading cards announcement: ‘I can’t do this anymore’

04:00 , Alex Woodward

Even Steve Bannon has come out against Donald Trump’s latest “major announcement” that he is selling digital trading cards of himself.

“I can’t do this anymore,” Mr Bannon said on his War Room programme while speaking with former Trump advisers Steve Cortes and Sebastion Gorka.

“Whoever, what business partner and anybody on the comms team and anybody at Mar-a-Lago, and I love the folks down there, but we’re at war,” he said. “They oughta be fired today.”

Steve Bannon hammers Trump trading cards announcement: ‘I can’t do this anymore’

Inside the ugly fight to become the next Republican chair

03:00 , Steve Peoples with The Associated Press

Struggling to unify after another disappointing election, the Republican National Committee is consumed by an increasingly nasty leadership fight as the GOP navigates its delicate relationship with former President Donald Trump.

With a vote for RNC chair not scheduled until late January, the public feud may get worse before it gets better.

“It’ll be ugly as hell for a while,” says longtime RNC member Ron Kaufman.

The family fight to lead the party has been largely overshadowed for national attention by the equally contentious struggle to become the new Republican House Speaker, with that election set for the first week in January. But both represent critical selections as the GOP works to overcome six years of electoral underperformance heading into another presidential election.

Inside the ugly fight to become the next Republican chair

Kyrsten Sinema officially files to run as an independent in Arizona

02:00 , Alex Woodward

Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema registered for re-election in 2024 to run as an independent on Thursday after she announced last week that she would leave the Democratic Party.

Several Senate Republicans were mixed on whether they should run a candidate against her in 2024.

“If she doesn’t, the answer’s yes, but she’s fantastic,” Senator Mitt Romney of Utah told The Independent. “I think she’s fantastic. She’s been a sparkplug in the Senate and I hope she continues to serve in the Senate.”

Mr Romney and Ms Sinema have worked together on passing the bipartisan infrastructure law and most recently worked together on the Respect for Marriage Act, which codifies protections for same-sex married and interracial couples.

Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa told The Independent that it was too early to talk about that.

“We would love to have Republicans in as many seats as possible,” she said. “I’m gonna say though that Kyrsten Sinema has been very, very good to work with.”

Kyrsten Sinema officially files to run as an independent in Arizona

ICYMI: New York Post calls Trump ‘con artist’ for trading card stunt

01:00 , Alex Woodward

The Ruper Murdoch-owned tabloid The New York Post criticised former president Donald Trump’s announcement of NFT trading cards in an editorial on Thursday, branding the former president a “con artist.”

NY Post calls Trump ‘con artist’ for trading card stunt

ICYMI: House committee to hold meeting on Trump tax returns

00:00 , Alex Woodward

The House Ways & Means will convene on Tuesday to discuss Trump’s tax returns just days before the current Congress ends and Republicans take control.

House committee to hold meeting on Trump tax returns

Pro-Trump conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell returns to Twitter with a call to melt down voting machines

Friday 16 December 2022 23:00 , Alex Woodward

Election fraud conspiracy theorist and pillow salesman Mike Lindell has returned to Twitter, a platform from which he was permanently suspended for repeatedly violating the social media company’s civic integrity policies.

Mike Lindell is back on Twitter with a call to melt down voting machines

Jan 6 committee will vote on criminal referrals against Trump for insurrection, according to reports

Friday 16 December 2022 22:07 , Alex Woodward

The New York Times and Politico are reporting the House select committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol will vote to refer Donald Trump to the US Department of Justice for criminal charges of insurrection and at least two other charges.

The panel was widely expected to vote to refer charges against the former president when it meets on Monday.

Committee members also are expected to vote to refer Mr Trump on charges of obstruction of an official proceeding as well as conspiracy to defraud the United States government.

The referrals do not necessarily comepl the US Department of Justice to take action but the members believe the votes send a powerful signal and affirm for the record that the president and, potentially, his allies, committed crimes against the government.

Fraudulent election conspiracy theorist and pillow salesman returns to Twitter

Friday 16 December 2022 21:07 , Alex Woodward

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a prominent election fraud conspiracy theorist who continues to baselessly assert that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, is back on Twitter.

He thanked Elon Musk, who hours earlier banned several journalists who cover the world’s wealthiest man and the massively infuential platform he now owns.

Twitter policy forbids “manipulating or interfering in elections or other civic processes” which includes “posting or sharing content that may suppress participation or mislead people about when, where, or how to participate in a civic process.” Content that contains “false or misleading information about civic processes” may also be suppressed or labeled.

The company says it will “label or remove false or misleading information intended to undermine public confidence in an election or other civic process,” which includes but is not limited to baseless claims about election rigging or the certification of election results, which Mr Lindell has spent the last three years raging against on his own platforms and elsewhere.

His first post calls to “MELT DOWN THE ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES AND TURN THEM INTO PRISON BARS”. He is currently being sued by Dominion Voting Systems for $1.3bn for defamation.

Breaking news: House committee to hold meeting on Trump tax returns

Friday 16 December 2022 20:27 , Alex Woodward

The House Ways & Means Committee will convene on Tuesday to discuss Trump’s tax returns, days before the Democratically controlled House closes out the current Congress before Republicans take the reins next year.

House committee to hold meeting on Trump tax returns

Trump pledges to battle antisemitism to Orthodox Jewish conference. He still hasn’t condemned Kanye or Nick Fuentes

Friday 16 December 2022 20:10 , Alex Woodward

The former president addressed a conference of Orthodox Jews on Friday, boasting himself as the “best ally” to Jewish people and committing himself to battling the “vile poison” of antisemitism.

But he has still refused to explicitly condemn the virulently antisemitic beliefs of Kanye West and white nationalist Nick Fuentes, with whom Mr Trump ate dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort. The rapper later went on to explicitly praise Adolf Hitler and Nazism and falsely suggest the Holocaust didn’t happen.

“We must never ignore the vile poison of antisemitism or those who spread its venomous creed,” Mr Trump said, reading from his own remarks, according to the Associated Press. “With one voice we must confront this hatred; we must confront it everywhere; we must confront it very, very strongly.”

Trump slams Mitch McConnell over government funding bill: ‘total betrayal'

Friday 16 December 2022 19:20 , Alex Woodward

Once again reviving his feud with Mitch McConnell, Trump says the Republican Senate Minority Leader is “giving it all away” to congressional Democrats after the upper chamber of Congress approved a government spending bill to avert a partial shutdown.

“Why would he do that?” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The ‘Omnibus’ they’re working on is a total disaster for our Country, and will further destory our economy.”

He said Senate passage of a government spending bill, which gives lawmakers another week to negotiate and pass legislation to fully fund federal agencies through the fiscal year, is “another total betrayal of the great voters of America.”

What will happen after the House committee’s final meeting?

Friday 16 December 2022 18:45 , Alex Woodward

On Monday, the committee investigating the events surrounding the attack on the US Capitol will hold its final meeting and vote on criminal referrals it intends to make to federal law enforcement agencies.

The committee’s final report is expected to include hundreds of pages of evidence alleging former President Donald Trump attempted to subvert the transfer of power and undermine the nation’s democratic process.

Committee chair Bennie Thompson has not made clear how many criminal referrals the committee will send to the US Department of Justice, nor has he made clear who will be referred.

Once referrals are made to the Justice Department, federal prosecutors will review the evidence and determine whether they will proceed with charges.

What happens after final meeting of Capitol riot committee?

Federal investigators access Eastman, other Trump ally emails

Friday 16 December 2022 18:20 , Alex Woodward

Federal investigators have access to several email accounts and other writings from Republican US Rep Scott Perry, Trump’s former attorney John Eastman, and Trump-era Justice Department officials, accotding to an released order in the DC District Court.

The unsealed order issued on Thursday reveals the wide net cast by federal prosecutors as they investigate a sprawling criminal probe into the events surrounding 6 January, 2021 and the former president’s efforts to subvert the ouctome of the 2020 presidential election.

Filings include 130,000 documents and an autobiography outline from former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark about his experience in 2020 and early 2021.

Giuliani violated ethics rules with his 2020 election claims,

Friday 16 December 2022 18:15 , Alex Woodward

Rudy Giuliani violated ethics rules with his false election fraud claims on Donald Trump’s behalf and should be disciplined, according to a panel in Washingtno DC.

A reccomendation from the hearing committee for the DC Bar’s Board on Professional Responsibility is preliminary and non-binding. The DC local court of appeals will finally decide on whether Mr Giuliani should be sanctioned.

The committee could recommend that Mr Giuliani is disbarred, has his law licence suspended in DC or be formally censured.

Rudy Giuliani violated ethics rules by pushing Trump’s election lies, review finds

New York Post editorial calls Trump a ‘con artist’ for NFT stunt

Friday 16 December 2022 17:15 , Alex Woodward

The Ruper Murdoch-owned New York Post criticised former president Donald Trump’s announcement of digital “trading cards” NFTs in a newspaper editorial on Thursday, branding the former president a “con artist.”

Echoing othe right-wing critics, the Post’s editorial lambasted the announcement, noting how many people thought it would be related to the race for speaker of the House in Congress or that he had he finally found evidence of voter fraud that he continues to falsely claim manipulated the 2020 election.

“But no, it was a digital card collection of Trump dressed up like a superhero,” the editorial said. “In other words, another money grab. For those still inundated with Trump’s pleas for donations, which arrive three or four times a day with ALL CAPS emails and efforts to shame you into ‘not letting him down,’ this is no surprise. Trump used to be in the business of hotels, golf courses, wine, and dubious universities. Now he specializes in political fundraising.”

NY Post editorial calls Trump ‘con artist’ for trading card stunt

Madison Cawthorn hit with $193k lawsuit for unpaid legal fees

Friday 16 December 2022 16:50 , Alex Woodward

A conservative law firm in Indiana has sued outgoing far-right congressman Madison Cawthorn for unpaid legal fees related to a legal challenge to get him off the ballot.

The Bopp Law Firm, which is led by prominent right-wing lawyerJim Bopp, filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana earlier this month.

Mr Cawthorn reportedly retained the Bopp Law Firm in relation to a lawsuit from North Carolina voters that sought to disqualify the freshman congressman from appearing on the ballot in the May primary. A federal judge ultimately blocked the effort to prevent Mr Cawthorn from being up for election bbecause of his connection to the attack on the US Captiol.

Madison Cawthorn sued for $193k over unpaid legal fees

QAnon proponent who chased after Capitol officer sentenced to five years in prison

Friday 16 December 2022 16:30 , Alex Woodward

Doug Jensen – who was captured in a widely shared image wearing a QAnon T-shirt while facing off against police in the Capitol, then chased after Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman – was sentenced to five years behind bars on 16 December.

He was convicted in September of five felonies and two misdemeanours.

Prosecutors argued he was a “ringleader” for the mob, scaling a “20-plus-foot wall so that he could be one of the very first rioters to break into the building and disrupt the proceedings in Congress.”

Once inside, he led a group of armed rioters in a “menacing pursuit” of Officer Goodman, who led a mob up stairs away from the US Senate chamber.

A sentencing memo said Jensen arrived in Washington DC as a “walking advertisement for QAnon” and was “overwhelmed by conspiracy theories” that fuelled the attack.

“He believed that he had the support of the former president and fully expected the perceived wrong was going to be corrected,” according to the memo. “He was wrong.”

40 House Democrats introduce bill to ban Trump from holding office

Friday 16 December 2022 16:15 , Alex Woodward

A group of 40 House Democrats have introduced legislation that would seek to ban Donald Trump from holding federal office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

Section 3 of the US Constitution’s amendment reads that “no person shall ... hold any office, civil or military, under the United States … who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States … to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

Democratic US Rep David Cicilline said in a statement that the former president, who recently launched his bid for the 2024 Republican nomination, “very clearly engaged in an insurrection” on 6 January, 2021 “with the intention of overturning the lawful and fair results of the 2020 election.”

“You don’t get to lead a government you tried to destroy,” he added.

The bill likely has no chance of surviving Congress but comes as the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot prepares to make criminal referalls to the US Department of Justice.

Federal investigators are also pursuing separate criminal probes into the president’s role on 6 January as well as his handling of White House documents at Mar-a-Lago after leaving office.

White House responds to revelation of text from GOP lawmaker to Mark Meadows: ‘A disgusting affront’

Friday 16 December 2022 16:00 , Alex Woodward

Three days before President Joe Biden’s inauguration, Republican US Rep Ralph Norman texted then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to urge Donald Trump to “declare marshall [sic] law” in an apparent attempt to keep him in office.

The message, obtained by Talking Points Memo, is among dozens reviewed by the political news outlet between Mr Meadows and GOP lawmakers planning to subvert the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

“Plotting against the rule of law and to subvert the will of the people is a disgusting affront to our deepest principles as a country,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement. “We all, regardless of party, need to stand up for mainstream values and the Constitution, against dangerous, ultra MAGA conspiracy theories and violent rhetoric.”

White House responds to ‘disgusting’ text from GOP lawmaker to Mark Meadows

ICYMI: Hundreds of people on leaked Oath Keepers member list worked for Homeland Security, report finds

Friday 16 December 2022 15:35 , Alex Woodward

A membership list for a far-right anti-government militia group, whose leader and several members have been convicted of seditious conspiracy against the US, includes current or former employees of the US Department of Homeland Security, the federal agency tasked with defending the nation against extremist groups.

A report from the Project on Government Oversight and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project discovered more than 300 people previously or currently employed by the DHS listed on a membership list for the Oath Keepers.

Hundreds of people on leaked Oath Keepers member list worked for DHS, report finds

House committee report finds Trump dangerously downplayed intelligence warnings on Covid-19

Friday 16 December 2022 15:15 , Alex Woodward

In late January 2020, US ntelligence agencies warned Tump administration officials that the novel coronavirus spreading in China threatened to grow into a global pandemic and upend economies.

Over the next two months, then-President Trump “did not reflect the increasingly stark warnings coursing through intelligence channels” available to him and his aides, according to a new report from the House Intelligence Committee.

In May 2020, Trump falsely claimed that his intelligence community “only spoke of the Virus in a very non-threatening, or matter of fact, manner,” a statement that “simply does not match the record of intelligence analysis published in late January and February,” according to the report.

Far-right troll Baked Alaska: 'I can’t believe I’m going to jail for an NFT salesman’

Friday 16 December 2022 14:50 , Alex Woodward

Tim Gionet, better known by his online persona Baked Alaska, pleaded guilty to charges in connection with the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January, 2021, when he livestreamed himself and his crew ransacking congressional offices.

Gionet, who was among far-right users previously banned from Twitter for hateful conduct but allowed to return under Elon Musk’s ownership, appears to be having some regrets.

“I can’t believe I’m going to jail for an NFT salesman,” he wrote, $99 digital NFT cards depicting himself as a series of characters including an astronaut and Superman.

Capitol rioter slams Trump: ‘I can’t believe I’m going to jail for an NFT salesman’

Steve Bannon hammers Trump trading cards announcement: ‘I can’t do this anymore’

Friday 16 December 2022 14:24 , Alex Woodward

Far-right former advisers Michael Flynn and Steve Bannon have joined widespread criticism from the right against former president Trump’s “major announcement” of a line of digital cards featuring illustrations of himself.

“I can’t do this anymore,” Mr Bannon.

“Whoever, what business partner and anybody on the comms team and anybody at Mar-a-Lago, and I love the folks down there, but we’re at war. They oughta be fired today,” he added.

Mr Flynn said: “Whoever advised him on that, I’d fire them immediately.”

Steve Bannon hammers Trump trading cards announcement: ‘I can’t do this anymore’

Georgia, NH latest states to ban TikTok from state computers

Friday 16 December 2022 14:00 , The Associated Press

Govs. Brian Kemp of Georgia and Chris Sununu of New Hampshire on Thursday immediately banned the use of TikTok and popular messaging applications from all computer devices controlled by their state governments, saying the Chinese government may be able to access users’ personal information.

Both Republican governors banned the messaging app WeChat and other apps owned by Chinese firm Tencent. Sununu went further, banning apps owned by Chinese firm Alibaba and telecommunications hardware and smartphones made by Chinese firms including Huawei and ZTE.

Kemp also banned Telegram, saying its Russian control poses similar risks.

Read more:

Georgia, NH latest states to ban TikTok from state computers

Former President Donald Trump issued blanket orders against Chinese tech companies that sought to block new users from downloading WeChat and TikTok in 2020, but lost in court. President Joe Biden has taken a narrower approach, ordering a Commerce Department review of security concerns. U.S. officials and the company are now in talks over a possible agreement that would resolve American security concerns.

Biden says he plans to visit sub-Saharan Africa soon

Friday 16 December 2022 13:00 , The Associated Press

President Joe Biden on Thursday said he will soon make a visit to sub-Saharan Africa, announcing bare details of his travel plans as he wrapped up a U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit stressing that he’s serious about increasing U.S. attention on the growing continent.

Biden said he will also be dispatching many of his top advisers to Africa including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellinand Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

“I’m looking forward to seeing you in your home countries,” Biden said.

The visit will be Biden’s first to sub-Saharan Africa of his presidency. He made a brief stop in November in Egypt--which spans across the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia-- for an international climate summit. The president did not detail which countries he will visit or exactly when the trip will happen.

In the first two years of his presidency, Biden’s international travel has focused on Asia and Europe, as he sought to recalibrate his foreign policy to put greater focus on the Indo-Pacific. He has also had to deal with the fallout of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Biden’s Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, did not make it to Africa during his COVID-19-shadowed presidency in which he made no foreign visits during his final 11 months. Trump was the first since Ronald Reagan not to visit the continent during his presidency.

Read more:

Biden says he plans to visit sub-Saharan Africa soon

VIDEO: Rep Adam Kinzinger says Trump is ‘guilty of a crime’ ahead of Jan 6 criminal referrals

Friday 16 December 2022 12:00 , Gustaf Kilander

‘Trump wanted to be wheeled out of Walter Reed in a Superman shirt'

Friday 16 December 2022 11:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Following Donald Trump’s announcement that he’s selling digital trading cards, Maggie Haberman of The New York Times tweeted that “Trump wanted to be wheeled out of Walter Reed in a Superman shirt under his actual shirt. Aides talked him out of it (and then Meadows devoted several lines in his book to claiming it hadn’t happened). So instead he does it virtually and tries to make money off it”.

Mr Trump was admitted to Walter Reed hospital with Covid-19 during the 2020 campaign.

Trump attacks ‘LameStream media’ for polls that found his approval rating had dropped to lowest level since 2015

Friday 16 December 2022 10:26 , Johanna Chisholm

Donald Trump took to Truth Social late Thursday night to go on a tear against the so-called “LameStream media” after several news outlets reported on recent national polling that found his approval rating had dropped to a seven-year low.

“This is the McLaughlin & Associates POLL that just came out and which got it right in 2016 & 2020 (with margins for theft and cheating), unlike The WSJ, NBC Fake News, ABC Fake News, Fake Polling FOX NEWS, the dying and very sickly USA Today, and most others in the LameStream Media. In other words, it is REAL POLLING,” posted the former president while sharing a screenshot of the results from a poll conducted by McLaughlin & Associates that was apparently sourced by his own leadership PAC, Save America, based on the image’s footnote.

“As you can see, we are leading by a lot, despite the never ending Communist (Democrat) WEAPONIZED ATTACKS on me and the GREAT PATRIOTS OF MAGA. More to come!!!” added the ex-president.

VIDEO: Donald Trump Unveils NFT Trading Cards Collection

Friday 16 December 2022 10:00 , The Independent

Capitol rioter who boasted about attacking ‘rookie cop’ jailed for 14 months

Friday 16 December 2022 09:00 , Graig Graziosi

A man who admitted to attacking a “rookie cop” during the Capitol riot has been sentenced to 14 months in prison, according to the Department of Justice.

Troy Sargent, 38, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, was sentenced to 14 months in prison by a District of Columbia court on Monday.

He was convicted on felony charges of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers during the attack on the Capitol, as well as civil disorder and four related misdemeanours, according to the Justice Department.

Sargent pleaded guilty to the charges on 27 June 2022.

Sargent’s attorney asked for him to be given six months followed by two years of supervised release, according to court documents.

“Troy Sargent has clearly acknowledged the harm he caused, both to the Court and to his family,” his lawyer said in a sentencing memo. “He has truly accepted responsibility by making significant changes in his behavior.”

Federal prosecutors had asked for a 27-month sentence.

According to court documents, Sargent was among the rioters who attempted to disrupt Congress on 6 January 2021. Around 2.30pm that day, he reportedly stepped out of a crowd of protesters and slapped a US Capitol Police Officer.

Read more:

Biden mocks Trump’s ‘major announcement’ on trading cards by listing his recent achievements

Friday 16 December 2022 08:00 , Abe Asher

President Joe Biden mocked former President Donald Trump’s “major announcement” that he is launching a line of NFT trading cards on Thursday with a list of his own recent major announcements.

In a tweet from his campaign account, Mr Biden wrote “I had some MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENTS the last couple of weeks, too...” Those announcements include the Respect for Marriage Act, the prisoner swap that brought Brittney Griner home from incarceration in Russia, and falling gas prices.

Mr Biden did not announce his own line of trading cards, which is what Mr Trump did on Thursday morning after teasing a “major announcement” that had political observers speculating about various possibilities related to his bid to reclaim the White House in 2024.

The trading cards, which are priced at $99, are available at collecttrumpcards.com. They depict the former president as a superhero, a racecar driver, a golfer, a law enforcement agent on ranch, and an astronaut.

Read more:

Biden mocks Trump’s ‘major announcement’ on NFT cards by listing recent achievements

Republican tries to defend Trump’s ‘sense of humour’

Friday 16 December 2022 07:00 , Sravasti Dasgupta

A Republican colleague of former president Donald Trump has jumped to his defence after the one-time president was widely mocked for hyping up a “major announcement” that involved selling digital trading cards of himself.

Appearing on Fox Business, Republican Kentucky congressman James Comer said: “Well, the president is one of the world’s greatest marketers.”

“He has a huge sense of humour. I know nothing about digital trading cards, but I’m pretty sure they’ll be very popular back home in Kentucky.”

Read more:

Republican tries to defend Trump’s ‘sense of humour’ after ‘major announcement’ flop

Kinzinger slams fellow Republicans in farewell speech

Friday 16 December 2022 06:30 , Sravasti Dasgupta

Retiring anti-Trump Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois used the occasion of his farewell address from Congress to slam his fellow Republicans for sheltering “the ignorant, the racist.”

“Our leaders today belittle and in some cases justify attacks on the US Capitol as ‘legitimate political discourse.’ The once-great party of Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Reagan has turned its back on the ideals of liberty and self-governance,” Mr Kinzinger said. “Instead, it has embraced lies and deceit.”

Abe Asher reports:

Adam Kinzinger slams fellow Republicans in farewell speech

Democrats and former Republicans mock Trump digital trading cards announcement

Friday 16 December 2022 06:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Both Democrats and former Republicans mocked Mr Trump’s digital trading cards announcement on Thursday.

California Democrat Ted Lieu tweeted: Dear MAGA folks: Hope it’s clear to you by now that Donald Trump disrespects you and thinks you are suckers.

“Stop. We can only laugh so much,” The Lincoln Project, headed up by several former GOP strategists, tweeted.

ICYMI: Trump shares bizarre video teasing ‘major announcement’

Friday 16 December 2022 05:31 , Sravasti Dasgupta

Donald Trump shared a bizarre video depicting himself as a “superhero” on his social media platform Truth Social in which he teased a “major announcement”.

On Thursday, Mr Trump revealed that he is selling digital trading cards of himself.

Read more:

Trump shares bizarre video teasing ‘major announcement’

Jan. 6 committee to vote Monday on riot criminal referrals

Friday 16 December 2022 05:00 , The Associated Press

The House committee investigating the Capitol riot will hold its final meeting Monday, wrapping up its year-and-a-half-long inquiry by asking the Justice Department to investigate potential crimes.

The committee of seven Democrats and two Republicans has interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses, held nearly a dozen hearings and collected millions of documents as it worked to create the most comprehensive record of the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.

The chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., has said the committee will make criminal referrals to the Justice Department recommending prosecution, but has not disclosed who the targets would be or whether former President Donald Trump would be among them. The committee has focused squarely on Trump and efforts by the-then president in the weeks before the attack to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

It would fall to federal prosecutors to decide whether to pursue any referrals for prosecution. Lawmakers have suggested charges against Trump could include conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress. Recommendations by the committee would add to the political pressure on the Justice Department as it investigates Trump’s actions.

The committee on Wednesday is expected to release its final report, which could include hundreds of pages of findings about the attack and Trump’s efforts to subvert democracy. Committee members will review the highlights of their findings at the Monday meeting.

Read more:

Jan. 6 committee to vote Monday on riot criminal referrals

‘The Trump Train is at the last stop’: Twitter users blast former president after trading cards announcement

Friday 16 December 2022 04:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Twitter users were quick to mock the former president after he announced that he was selling digital trading cards.

“Donald Trump’s major announcement was that he’s selling digital superhero trading cards. I can’t believe that pathetic putz was ever president,” one Twitter user said.

“The Trump Train is at the last stop. Donald Trump reached the end of the line & is now a runaway train rolling into oblivion. He made a ‘major announcement’ that he’s now selling $99 digital trading cards of himself. The transition from surreal to absurd to pitiful is complete,” Shannon Fisher added.

“The best thing about this is that the MAGA ecosystem went into overdrive yesterday when he teased a ‘big announcement.’ His VP pick? Speaker of the House? A new lawsuit? Teaming up with Musk? Nope, Trump superhero trading cards,” lawyer Ron Filipkowski wrote.

In a video announcement of the trading cards, Mr Trump said he was “hopefully your favourite president of all time – better than Lincoln, better than Washington”.

EXPLAINER: Will immigration surge as asylum rule ends?

Friday 16 December 2022 03:00 , The Associated Press

Since the pandemic began, the United States has been using a public health rule designed to limit the spread of disease to expel asylum-seekers on the southern border.

Title 42, as it’s called, has been used more than 2.5 million times to expel migrants since March 2020, although that number includes people who repeatedly attempted to cross the border.

But because of a judge’s ruling, starting next Wednesday immigration authorities can no longer use Title 42 to quickly expel prospective asylum-seekers. The change comes as surging numbers of people are seeking to enter the country through the southern border, and with Republicans intent on making immigration a key issue when they take control of the House in January.

A look at Title 42 and the potential impact of the ruling:

HOW IT STARTED

In March 2020, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an order limiting migration across the southern and northern borders, saying it was necessary to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. The virus was ravaging the U.S., schools were shutting down and hospitals filling up, and President Donald Trump was trying numerous ways to limit migration, his signature political issue.

Read more:

EXPLAINER: Will immigration surge as asylum rule ends?

VOICES: Trump’s superhero narrative is clearly laughable – but there is a sinister side to it too

Friday 16 December 2022 02:00 , Noah Berlatsky

“MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT!” former President Donald Trump blared from his social network Truth Social on Thursday morning. Trump then announced that he was releasing a Donald Trump Digital Trading Card collection (collect them all!) The cards depict Trump as a superhero. In one he stands in a Trump wrestling ring wearing a skintight costume, with flag cape, giant “T” on his chest, and rippling abs.

The superhero imagery and the crass cash grab have both provoked a wave of mockery, as you’d expect. Reporter Maggie Haberman noted that Trump at one point had wanted to be wheeled out of Walter Reed hospital with a Superman shirt under his outfit which he could pull open to reveal his good health at an opportune moment. MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough laughed out loud at the cards. “We are in third grade!” he exclaimed.

Read more:

There is a sinister side to Trump’s much mocked superhero narrative

Trump supporters share their dismay at former president’s trading card scheme

Friday 16 December 2022 01:15 , Gustaf Kilander

Former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis shared her lack of enthusiasm at the announcement that Mr Trump is now selling digital trading cards.

Mr Trump said buyers could win “golf with you and a group of your friends at one of my beautiful golf courses and they are beautiful. I’m also doing zoom calls, a one on one meeting, autographs and memorabilia, and so much more. We’re doing a lot”.

“My official Trump digital trading cards are $99 which doesn’t sound like very much for what you’re getting,” he claimed in the announcement video.

The anonymous pro-Trump account with more than a million followers known as “Catturd” wrote that “my 3 guesses of Trump’s big announcement today were ... 1) Getting back on Twitter. 2) Picked a VP. 3) Leaving the worthless Republican Party to form a 3rd party- patriot party. Introducing Donald Trump digital playing cards wasn’t even on my bingo card”.

“Please tell me this is [a] troll and the real major announcement will come later today,” the account added.

‘He’s done his time’: GOP governor says party is ‘moving on’ from Trump

Friday 16 December 2022 00:30 , Gustaf Kilander

The Republican Governor of New Hampshire, Chris Sununu, has said that the party is “moving on” from Donald Trump.

“He’s done his time. He’s done his service. We’re moving on,” Mr Sununu told CNN.

He added that it’s “un-American” to “be a country where the best opportunity for our future leadership is the leadership of yesterday”.

“There’s an argument to be made that someone like DeSantis could beat him in a primary today,” Mr Sununu said.

“Ron would be a good president,” he added regarding the Florida governor.

‘Has Trump lost his mind’: MAGA supporters blast ‘major’ trading cards announcement

Thursday 15 December 2022 23:45 , Gustaf Kilander

Supporters of Donald Trump appear to be souring on the former president as his “major announcement” that he’s selling digital trading cards flops within parts of the MAGA movement.

In a video announcement of the trading cards, Mr Trump said he was “hopefully your favourite president of all time – better than Lincoln, better than Washington”.

“I’m doing my first official Donald J Trump NFT collection right here and right now. They’re called Trump digital trading cards,” Mr Trump said, adding that the cards would feature “really incredible artwork pertaining to my life and my career. It’s been very exciting. You can collect your Trump digital cards, just like a baseball card, or other collectables”.

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro sarcastically tweeted: “Thank God, the digital trading cards are here. It was indeed a MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT.”

The former president said “one of the best parts” is that “each card comes with an automatic chance to win amazing prizes like dinner with me. I don’t know if that’s an amazing prize, but it’s what we have”.

Read more:

‘Has Trump lost his mind’: MAGA supporters blast ‘major’ trading cards announcement

VIDEO: The Trump Organization Was Fined Thousands for Contempt Secretly This Past Summer

Thursday 15 December 2022 23:00 , The Independent

Trump says he would ban government from calling domestic speech ‘misinformation’ or ‘disinformation'

Thursday 15 December 2022 22:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Mr Trump has said that he would ban the government from labelling a domestic speech as misinformation or disinformation if he retakes the White House.

In a video shared with the New York Post, Mr Trump said “I will sign an executive order banning any federal department or agency from colluding with any organization, business or person to censor, limit, categorize or impede the lawful speech of American citizens. I will then ban federal money from being used to label domestic speech as mis- or disinformation”.

He added that he would fire any federal staff that appears to have taken part in censorship.

“Directly or indirectly, whether they are the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services, the FBI, the DOJ, no matter who they are,” he said.

“If any US university is discovered to have engaged in censorship activities or election interferences in the past, such as flagging social media content for removal or blacklisting, those universities should lose federal research dollars and federal student loan support for a period of five years, and maybe more,” he added.

Trump ridiculed for ‘major announcement’ that he’s selling digital trading cards

Thursday 15 December 2022 22:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Former President Donald Trump is being mocked over his “major announcement” that he’s selling digital trading cards featuring himself depicted as a superhero, among other characters.

“MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT! My official Donald Trump Digital Trading Card collection is here!” Mr Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social on Thursday.

“These limited edition cards feature amazing ART of my Life & Career! Collect all of your favorite Trump Digital Trading Cards, very much like a baseball card, but hopefully much more exciting,” he added. “GET YOUR CARDS NOW! Only $99 each! Would make a great Christmas gift. Don’t Wait. They will be gone, I believe, very quickly!”

Twitter users were quick to mock the announcement.

“OH MY F***ING GOD TRUMP’S MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT IS *DIGITAL* TRADING CARDS FEATURING HIS OWN BIG DUMB STUPID PUMPKIN FACE and holy s**t he’s selling them for a hundred bucks I s**t you not. I wish I was making this up. And the rubes are going to eat this s**t right up,” Jeff Tiedrich wrote.

Maggie Haberman of The New York Times tweeted that “Trump wanted to be wheeled out of Walter Reed in a Superman shirt under his actual shirt. Aides talked him out of it (and then Meadows devoted several lines in his book to claiming it hadn’t happened). So instead he does it virtually and tries to make money off it”.

VIDEO: GOP Support for Trump 2024 Presidential Run Is Declining, Poll Shows

Thursday 15 December 2022 21:30 , The Independent

DHS says more migrants may enter the US as Trump-era rules end

Thursday 15 December 2022 21:00 , The Associated Press

The Department of Homeland Security said more migrants may be released into the United States to pursue immigration cases when Trump-era asylum restrictions end next week, when a Texas congressman says some border officials estimate about 50,000 migrants could be waiting to cross into the U.S.

In one of its most detailed assessments ahead of the major policy shift, the department reported faster processing for migrants in custody on the border, more temporary detention tents, staffing surges and increased criminal prosecutions of smugglers, noting progress on a plan announced in April.

But the seven-page document dated Tuesday included no major structural changes amid unusually large numbers of migrants entering the country. More are expected with the end of Title 42 authority, under which migrants have been denied rights to seek asylum more than 2.5 million times on grounds of preventing spread of COVID-19.

A federal judge in Washington ordered Title 42 to end Dec. 21 but Republican-led states asked an appeals court to keep it in place. The Biden administration has also challenged some aspects of the ruling, though it doesn’t oppose letting the rule lapse next week. The legal back-and-forth could go down to the wire.

Biden mocks Trump’s trading cards announcement by listing achievements

Thursday 15 December 2022 20:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump launches NFTs with bizarre claim he was better president than Lincoln and Washington

Thursday 15 December 2022 20:00 , OIiver Browning

Donald Trump bizarrely claimed he was a “better” president than Abraham Lincoln and George Washington as he announced his own collection of NFTs on Thursday.

Mr Trump had teased a “major announcement” earlier this week, with a video that depicted himself as a superhero.

“Hello everyone, this is Donald Trump, hopefully your favourite president of all time - better than Lincoln, better than Washington,” he said, announcing his NFTs.

The tokens appear to depict different digital portraits of Mr Trump, including one of him holding the Statue of Liberty’s torch.

Evangelicals may be turning away from Trump, but Christian nationalism isn’t going anywhere

Thursday 15 December 2022 19:25 , Johanna Chisholm

Since the heady days of Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign, Caleb Campbell’s congregation has been split in two. The pastor of an evangelical church in the northern suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona, he has watched his flock both energised and repulsed by the real estate tycoon’s political rise.

“When Trump would come to town, we had members of our congregation inside the building for the rally and some outside the building protesting,” he tells The Independent. “I was naive. I remember thinking that obviously people see right through this. I was shocked to discover that most people really earnestly supported not only his policies, but also his cruel and dehumanising rhetoric.”

Evangelical support for Trump was crucial to his 2016 presidential victory and has remained stubbornly high despite his consistent proximity to scandal. Pastor Campbell, who grew up as a John McCain Republican, was not one of those supporters. He has spent much of his time since that first victory trying to guide his fellow evangelicals away from Trump and the MAGA movement, often to little avail.

Now, six years later, he believes cracks are beginning to show.

Richard Hall reports on how Pastor Caleb Campbell spoke out against Mr Trump and how he’s now warning evengelicals away from Christian nationalism.

Evangelicals may be turning away from Trump, but Christian nationalism is on the rise

Trump approval rating hits lowest point in seven years, poll finds

Thursday 15 December 2022 19:05 , Johanna Chisholm

Fewer Americans hold a favourable view of former president Donald Trump than at any point since he launched his first presidential campaign, a new poll from Quinnipiac University has found.

The survey found just 31 per cent of respondents view the twice-impeached ex-president favourably, just one month after Mr Trump officially declared himself a candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

By contrast, the man who defeated him in the 2020 election — President Joe Biden — appears to be gaining ground with voters as he considers whether to mount a bid for a second term in 2024.

My colleague Andrew Feinberg breaks down more of the survey’s results here.

Trump approval rating hits lowest point in seven years, poll finds

Sen Marco Rubio appears on Tucker Carlson to defend legislation banning TikTok in the US

Thursday 15 December 2022 18:45 , Johanna Chisholm

Sen Marco Rubio joined Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Thursday night to discuss his bipartisan piece of legislation that seeks to ban TikTok from operating in the US.

Named the Averting the National Threat of Internet Surveillance, Oppressive Censorship and Influence, and Algorithmic Learning by the Chinese Communist Party Act (ANTI-SOCIAL CCP Act), Sen Rubio argues in the legislation, which was introduced alongside a companion piece in Congress, that it would protect Americans by blocking and prohibiting all transactions from any social media company in, or under the influence of, China, Russia, and any other foreign country of concern.

“People say to me, ‘What do we care if the Chinese government has access to the data on the phone of a 16-year-old teenager somewhere in America?’ It’s not about the 16-year-old teenager. It’s about millions of 16-year-olds, 17-year-olds, 30-year-olds, people that are on [TikTok], dumping all kinds of data that the government of China gets access to—your location, your pictures, your texts, your consumer behavior, what the algorithm is learning from you,” said the Florida senator.

Watch a full clip of the interview below.

Trump claims he’s ‘better than Lincoln, better than Washington’ in new video introducing NFTs

Thursday 15 December 2022 18:25 , Johanna Chisholm

In a video introducing Donald Trump’s recently launched digital trading cards, the former president begins by boldly introducing himself as “hopefully your favourite president of all time” who is “better than Lincoln, better than Washington.”

“These cards feature some of the really incredible artwork pertaining to my life and my career,” the former president says while talking into the camera and simultaneously images of the digital trading cards appear alongside him - including an animation of himself dressed in an astronaut suit and one where he is posing on a red carpet.

“Here’s one of the best parts, each card comes with an automatic chance to win amazing prizes like dinner with me. I don’t know if that’s an amazing prize, but it’s what we have,” jokes Mr Trump at one point.

Rep Adam Kinzinger says he believes Trump is ‘guilty of a crime’ ahead of Jan 6 criminal referrals

Thursday 15 December 2022 18:05 , Johanna Chisholm

Outgoing Republican Illinois Representative Adam Kinzinger has said that he thinks former President Donald Trump is “guilty of a crime” as the House Select Committee investigating January 6 prepares to reveal its crime referrals and full report.

Appearing on CNN on Wednesday, Mr Kinzinger said that “we have presented ... a very compelling story over the summer, which is, it is not just the day of January 6 that mattered. What mattered is what led to it, and frankly, the fact that not much has really changed since”.

Regarding the full report, Mr Kinzinger said “we will go into some more detail”.

Rep Adam Kinzinger says he believes Trump is ‘guilty of a crime’

Online backlash against Trump’s digital trading cards: ‘My guy has totally lost it'

Thursday 15 December 2022 17:46 , Johanna Chisholm

Within minutes of Donald Trump announcing that he plans to begin NFTs, nearly all of which appear to feature the ex-president dressed in ornate costumes or posing in front of patriotic symbols, the Twittersphere began reacting to the news - with very few seeming enthused about the money-lining project.

“If Donald Trump loses the GOP Primary (a pretty big if), we might want to look at the moment where he responded to Ron DeSantis’s surge in the polls by releasing a set of weird NFTs to line his pockets,” tweeted Pod Save America co-host Dan Pfeiffer, while New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman quipped: “The speculation from other Rs and even some Dems was rampant that the “major announcement” would be about his campaign or McCarthy. But, instead it’s a quick money-making opportunity trussed up with a meme.”

“Failed business. Failed university. Failed water. Failed steaks. Failed hotel. Failed casino. Failed social media company. Failed presidency. And, I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but he will soon have failed digital trading cards. Everything Trump touches dies,” tweeted Democratic activist Victor Shi.

Former Trump lawyer says he’s ‘sure’ his former client will be criminally referred over Jan 6

Thursday 15 December 2022 17:25 , Johanna Chisholm

A former Trump attorney confirmed to CNN on Wednesday night that he suspects that his former client, Donald Trump, will be criminally referred to the Justice Department when the House Select committee investigating the Capitol riot submits their referrals next week.

“Do you have any doubt that the committee will have a criminal referral for Trump himself?” asked CNN host Erin Burnett to Ty Cobb, a former lawyer of the ex-president.

“I do not,” said Mr Cobb. “I think they started out with that as a goal. And I think they certainly have put forth evidence which would justify, even in the absence of cross-examination, which I think is an unfortunate product of the committee’s constitution. But even without cross-examination, clearly the evidence that they have put forward justifies them to make criminal referral,” said Mr Cobb, just days ahead of when the panel is expected to announce their decision on criminal referrals to the Department of Justice.

“Their referral is largely symbolic, of course,” Mr Cobb added. “The Justice Department is not required to do anything in response to it. But, yes, I’m sure they will for the former president.”

Elaine Chao says she won’t respond to Trump’s racist attack on her

Thursday 15 December 2022 17:05 , Johanna Chisholm

Former Trump administration Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao has said she won’t respond to the racist name-calling the former president engaged in during a rant aimed at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Graig Graziosi reports.

Trump’s transport secretary says she won’t respond to his racist attack on her

Trump’s ‘guarantees’ tickets to attend Gala Dinner with former president with digital trading card promo

Thursday 15 December 2022 16:50 , Johanna Chisholm

Included in the digital trading card release announced by Donald Trump on Thursday were several sweepstakes offers, including one where customers who buy 45 digital trading cards would reportedly be “guaranteed ticket to attend the Gala Dinner with Trump in South Florida”.

“Purchase 45 Digital Trading Cards today and get a guaranteed ticket to attend the Gala Dinner with Trump in South Florida. You will also receive 45 entries into the sweepstakes and 45 Digital Trading Cards. Subject to the Terms & Conditions and Official Sweepstakes Rules,” wrote the promotion on Mr Trump’s recently launched website for the NFTs.

Some of the “rare” digital trading cards that individuals can purchase include animated pictures of the 45th president posing in front of the Hollywood sign, wearing a cowboy hat while holstering a gun, posing in front of the Statue of Liberty while giving a thumbs up and one where the ex-president is swinging a golf club while adorned in a red MAGA hat.

Critics pan Trump for digital trading cards unveiling

Thursday 15 December 2022 16:30 , Johanna Chisholm

The feedback to Donald Trump’s announcement on Thursday being that he plans to start selling digital trading cards was greatly anticipated when audiences were unaware of what he was teeing up. Now that the cat is out of the Truth Social bag, they were equally quick to begin venting their frustrations that the “major announcement” was none other than a money grab.

“OH MY F***ING GOD TRUMP’S MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT IS *DIGITAL* TRADING CARDS FEATURING HIS OWN BIG DUMB STUPID PUMPKIN FACE and holy shit he’s selling them for a hundred bucks I shit you not. I wish I was making this up. And the rubes are going to eat this s**t right up,” Jeff Tiedrich wrote.

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, the author of the book Confidence Man, which profiles the former president and his rise to power, contextualised the ex-president’s announcement by explaining how he’d once wanted to wear a Superman shirt while being wheeled out of a hospital after being treated for a few days for fatigue.

“Trump wanted to be wheeled out of Walter Reed in a Superman shirt under his actual shirt. Aides talked him out of it (and then Meadows devoted several lines in his book to claiming it hadn’t happened). So instead he does it virtually and tries to make money off it,” tweeted Ms Haberman upon learning of his plans to start selling virtual baseball cards of himself adorned in the DC hero’s costume.

Gustaf Kilander has more details here.

Trump ridiculed for ‘major announcement’ that he’s selling digital trading cards

Trump panned for ‘major announcement’ being that he plans to sell digital trading cards

Thursday 15 December 2022 16:09 , Johanna Chisholm

With all the hype and anticipation, many seemed to be let down by Donald Trump finally unveiling on Thursday morning his “major announcement” was that he plans to begin selling digital trading cards.

“MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT! My official Donald Trump Digital Trading Card collection is here! These limited edition cards feature amazing ART of my Life & Career! Collect all of your favorite Trump Digital Trading Cards, very much like a baseball card, but hopefully much more exciting,” posted the former president on Truth Social. “GET YOUR CARDS NOW! Only $99 each! Would make a great Christmas gift. Don’t Wait. They will be gone, I believe, very quickly!”

David Taintor has more here.

Trump finally makes ‘major announcement’ – and it has nothing to do with his campaign

Sen John Kennedy mocked for adoring praise of Elon Musk

Thursday 15 December 2022 16:05 , Johanna Chisholm

GOP Senator John Kennedy has been widely mocked for praising Elon Musk as having “oranges the size of beachballs”.

The Louisana Republican appeared to mix his metaphors while contrasting the Twitter CEO with Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during an interview with Fox News on Wednesday.

Upset at a new climate change-themed documentary, To The End, in which Ms Ocasio-Cortez appears, Mr Kennedy said the movie had made him “appreciate Elon Musk that much more”.

Mr Musk had taken a “very corouageous stand on the First Amendment” since his $44bn purchase of Twitter, he told Fox News.

For that, detractors were “beating on him like he stole Christmas”, Mr Kennedy said.

“He’s tough as a pine knot. He’s got oranges the size of beachballs. Thanks to Elon Musk, we’re going to have to get some new conspiracy theories because the old ones turned out to be true.”

My colleague Bevan Hurley has more details here.

Senator mocked for praise of Elon Musk: ‘He’s got oranges the size of beachballs’

Jan 6 committee chairman says criminal referrals are ‘done'

Thursday 15 December 2022 15:46 , Johanna Chisholm

Rep Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection, told a group of reporters on Thursday that criminal referrals are “done” and that the panel is working to get their report to the printers by noon today ahead of its 21 December release to the public.

“A @January6thCmte update, courtesy of @BennieGThompson, who tells reporters they’re trying to get their report to the printer by noon today, referrals are “done” and we’ll get just about everything on Monday - just probably not transcripts, etc.,” tweeted NBC News reporter Garrett Haake.

A day earlier, the committee said that it was planning to hold its final public meeting on Monday, as the pressure mounts on the panel to file its findings before the year is out as Republicans are expected to dissolve the committee when they take over the chamber in the next Congress.

Donald Trump shares his own polls as national ones reveal 7-year low approval ratings

Thursday 15 December 2022 15:23 , Johanna Chisholm

A national poll released Wednesday found that Donald Trump’s favourability rating has dropped to its lowest level since 2015, marking a seven-year low for the former president who just last month launched his bid for 2024.

In an effort to perhaps pushback on that headline grabbing survey, alongside one from the Wall Street Journal that found that that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is outpacing the one-term president among likely GOP primary voters in a hypothetical 2024 matchup, Mr Trump began sharing his own polling results on Truth Social which painted an entirely different picture.

The survey asked 480 people, according to the screenshot of the results, if the Republican primary were held today, how they would vote between the two candidates, Gov DeSantis and Mr Trump. Mr Trump’s polling found that 58 per cent of GOP voters would cast their ballot for the former president in the Republican primary while 36 per cent would give their support to the Florida governor.

In other results from the poll, it asked people surveyed if Donald Trump were the Republican candidate in 2024, would voters strongly support his candidacy or strongly oppose.

Watch: Donald Trump shares bizarre ‘superhero’ video teasing next announcement

Thursday 15 December 2022 15:05 , Johanna Chisholm

ICYMI: Trump Organization trial juror lifts lid on deliberations and reveals why panel voted to convict

Thursday 15 December 2022 14:45 , Johanna Chisholm

A New Yorker who sat on the jury that found two Trump Organization companies guilty of criminal tax fraud has revealed how the panel referred to the former president as “Joe Smith” during deliberations.

The unnamed jurist told the Daily Beast that they had coined the pseudonym to avoid feelings of bias against Donald Trump.

“I constantly fought my knee-jerk belief that of course anything with the name Trump on it is crooked,” the juror told the Daily Beast.

After a six-week trial in Manhattan, the jury took just two days to convict the Trump Corporation, the Trump Payroll Corporation, and the Trump Organization’s long-time chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, of a 15-year scheme to defraud tax atuhorities by failing to report payroll taxes for top executives.

Bevan Hurley has the full report here.

Trump Organization trial juror reveals why panel voted to convict

Trump labels the US a ‘mess’ ahead of surprise announcement

Thursday 15 December 2022 14:25 , Johanna Chisholm

Donald Trump posted on his preferred social media platform of choice, Truth Social, on Thursday morning ahead of what he’s described as his “major announcement”.

“This country is a MESS,” wrote the former president, while re-truthing a post from days before that incorrectly claimed that the 2020 election was stolen.