Trump news – live: McConnell says ex-president not his ‘fan’, warns Republicans not to ‘screw up’ midterms
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Donald Trump has launched a personal attack against former National Security Council Director Fiona Hill after the publication of a New York Times interview in which the Russia expert accused him of “pulling a Putin” after the 2020 election.
In a rageful statement, Mr Trump ranted that if Ms Hill didn’t have her British accent “she would be nothing”.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump has raised eyebrows by endorsing Dr Mehmet Oz to represent Pennsylvania in the US Senate. “I have known Dr. Oz for many years, as have many others, even if only through his very successful television show,” Mr Trump said in a statement. “He has lived with us through the screen and has always been popular, respected, and smart.”
The announcement outraged many conservatives, including the previous Trump-endorsed candidate for that seat.
“I have enormous respect for President Trump,” tweeted Sean Parnell, who dropped out of the race in November. “But I’m disappointed by this. Oz is the antithesis of everything that made Trump the best president of my lifetime – he’s the farthest thing from America First & he’d be very bad for PA.”
Key Points
Trump launches personal attack on Fiona Hill after comparison to Putin
Will Donald Trump be charged over Jan 6? An evolving question for the DOJ
Trump endorses Dr Oz for US Senate
Canadian billionaire hit with ‘record-breaking’ fine for illegal $1.75m donation to Trump fund
GOP congressman slams Trump’s endorsements
Capitol riot committee could seek Trump interview soon
McConnell warns GOP not to screw up midterms
19:23 , Oliver O'Connell
Speaking at an event in Kentucky, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had some advice to Republicans ahead of the 2022 midterm elections in November — not to get complacent.
“This atmosphere for Republicans is better than it was in 1994 ... which leads you to ask the question: how could you screw this up? It’s actually possible and we’ve some experience with that in the past,” said Mr McConnell.
McConnell on 22: "This atmosphere for Republicans is better than it was in 1994...which leads you to ask the question: how could you screw this up? It's actually possible and we've some experience with that in the past"
— Marianne LeVine (@marianne_levine) April 12, 2022
Reflecting on some of the nicknames he has been given over the years he also said that his favourite was “Old Crow”, adding: “It’s given to me by the former president, who’s apparently not a fan.”
Mr McConnell also suggested that former President Donald Trump came out against the bipartisan infrastructure bill because he “did not want anything like that to happen during his successor’s administration”.
After @ScottJenningsKY lists off derisive nicknames McConnell has been given over the years – Grim Reaper, Cocaine Mitch, Darth Vader, etc. – McConnell says his favorite is "Old Crow."
"It's given to me by the former president, who's apparently not a fan."— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) April 12, 2022
Asked on whether enough is being done to hold people accountable for the Capitol riot on 6 January 2021, he replied: “I think we don’t know yet. But I think everyone who had complicity in that, and can be proven, should get the maximum sentence.”
Voices: What a Trump-district Democrat can teach her colleagues about how to win
18:45 , Oliver O'Connell
Cindy Axne represents one of only 16 rare ‘crossover districts’: a district that voted for a member of Congress opposite of how it voted for president. Eric Garcia looks at what other Democrats could learn from her.
What a Trump-district Democrat can teach her colleagues about how to win
Tucker Carlson claims not to be vaccinated against Covid-19
18:15 , Oliver O'Connell
Fox News host Tucker Carlson has finally made clear his own supposed vaccination status after spending months turning his show into one of the leading sources and platforms for Covid-19 conspiracies and misinformation in America.
Speaking at an event in California hosted by a church known for its own public flouting of Covid-19 guidelines, Mr Carlson opined that he wouldn’t get another booster shot provided by US health companies, quipping that he had not received the other three doses which previously have been made available to millions of Americans.
John Bowden reports.
Tucker Carlson has claimed that he’s not vaccinated against Covid-19
ICYMI: What Fiona Hill said about Trump
17:49 , Andrew Naughtie
Donald Trump has been riled by his former Russia adviser Fiona Hill before, but her recent interview with the New York Times Magazine has set him off more than usual. Here’s an excerpt of the remarks that led the former president to claim that Ms Hill would be “nothing” if she didn’t have “the accent”:
“In real time, I was putting things together,” she said. “The domestic political errands, the way Trump had privatized foreign policy for his own purposes. It was this narrow goal: his desire to stay in power, irrespective of what other people wanted.”
Hill was at her desk at home on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, writing her memoir, when a journalist friend she first met in Russia called. The friend told her to turn on the television. Once she did so, a burst of horrific clarity overtook her. “I saw the thread,” she told me. “The thread connecting the Zelensky phone call to Jan. 6. And I remembered how, in 2020, Putin had changed Russia’s Constitution to allow him to stay in power longer. This was Trump pulling a Putin.”
Republican pollster suggests party leaders are “mocking Trump behind his back"
17:15 , Andrew Naughtie
Longtime conservative pollster Frank Luntz is no fan of Donald Trump, but according to him, neither are many of the top Republicans who’ve fallen in line behind him.
Speaking to the Daily Beast about New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu’s recent roasting of Mr Trump at the Gridiron Dinner in Washington, Mr Luntz had this take:
“I don’t know a single Republican who was surprised by what Sununu said. He said what they were thinking,” Republican pollster and media maven Frank Luntz told The Daily Beast. “They won’t say it [in public], but behind his back, they think he’s a child. They’re laughing at him. That’s what made it [Sununu’s comments] significant.”
When the mockery begins, the fear falls away. “Trump isn’t the same man he was a year ago,” Luntz says. “Even many Republicans are tired of going back and rehashing the 2020 election. Everybody else has moved on and in Washington everyone believes he lost the election.”
Republican mocked for border wall rallying cry
16:47 , Andrew Naughtie
Republican Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn yesterday put out a firmly worded tweet calling for a wall on the southern border, worded in such a way that it read as if it was her state, not the US, she was talking about.
Tennesseans want a wall on our southern border.
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) April 11, 2022
The response on Twitter has not gone her way.
Is Alabama that terrible? https://t.co/3nHseVVYGB
— Slava Malamud 🇺🇦 (@SlavaMalamud) April 12, 2022
You better not try to keep me from visiting my momma or picking up my white sauce in Alabama, Marsha https://t.co/az4ooSaDeB
— Jason Isbell (@JasonIsbell) April 12, 2022
This will get tricky for our friends traveling to/fro #Chattanooga, bc there’s that little bend of I-24 that dips into Georgia before taking a dogleg back up into TN and into Scenic City. Imagine the traffic that two border crossings in one direction will create. 🚧🚙🚚🛻🚛🚗 https://t.co/X2tew0ZXlU
— John Ray Clemmons (@JRClemmons) April 12, 2022
Hey @MarshaBlackburn -
What if folks from Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia want to go to Graceland? Or Nashville? https://t.co/lsCejzfdkU— Ken Olin (@kenolin1) April 12, 2022
Why?
What's wrong with #Mississippi, #Alabama & #NorthCarolina?
Now #Georgia I completely understand... No-one wants @RepMTG crossing over their border! https://t.co/ya55Hiu4Ne pic.twitter.com/49QnQ7Nho8— Andrew Hill seems to trigger Republicans easily! (@AndrewBlankHill) April 12, 2022
“Hence, our Country is going to hell”: Trump refuses to endorse “coward” for governor
16:10 , Andrew Naughtie
Donald Trump has made much of his disdain for Republican officials who refused to support him in his effort to overturn the 2020 election, and he has now lashed out at yet another: Pennsyvania gubernatorial candidate Bill McSwain, whom the former president blames for not aggressively pushing false claims of massive electoral fraud while serving as a US attorney.
Here’s Mr Trump’s statement:
One person in Pennsylvania who I will not be endorsing is Bill McSwain for Governor. He was the U.S. Attorney who did absolutely nothing on the massive Election Fraud that took place in Philadelphia and throughout the commonwealth. He said Barr told him not to do anything (because Barr was afraid of being impeached by the Democrats), but he should have done his job anyway. Without free and fair Elections, we don’t have a Country. Do not vote for Bill McSwain, a coward, who let our Country down. He knew what was happening and let it go. It was there for the taking and he failed so badly. Many of the U.S. Attorneys were probably told not to do anything by Barr. Hence, our Country is going to hell.
True the Vote’s findings are determinative and Bill McSwain should be ashamed of himself, as should many Republican leaders who didn’t act. They said Philadelphia and Detroit were two of the most corrupt places in the Country, with Georgia being one of the most corrupt states!
Oklahoma governor signs abortion ban
15:38 , Andrew Naughtie
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has signed into law the latest in a run of state-level laws effectively making abortion illegal, and it’s one of the US’s strictest yet.
The legislation makes it illegal to perform an abortion in the state, with no exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest; instead, abortion will be allowed only when necessary to save the mother’s life.
Signing the bill into law, Mr Stitt denounced “liberal activists from the coast who always seem to want to come in and dictate a mandate and change our way of life”.
Alex Woodward has more:
Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt signs law criminalising abortion
How Fox News still dominates weeknight cable
14:33 , Andrew Naughtie
Last week’s audience figures for the top cable news channels drives home a stark reality: from 5pm to midnight, Fox News alone attracts a towering audience share, meaning that the likes of Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham really are at the top of the league when it comes to reaching Americans in their homes.
Weekly Cable News Audience Share April 4-8@FoxNews again dominated the week with more viewers than @MSNBC @CNN @NewsMax & @NewsNation combined. pic.twitter.com/RFzUeNnkzh
— RoadMN 📈 (@RoadMN) April 11, 2022
Catch up: could Marjorie Taylor Greene be barred from the ballot?
14:07 , Andrew Naughtie
Extremist Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is being challenged by a group of voters seeking to block her from seeking re-election on the basis that she has supporterd people involved in the 6 January insurrection. According to them, that means she has violated a Civil War-era clause that prohibits those who “shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the US from holding federal office.
A similar effort against North Carolina’s Madison Cawthorn was unsuccessful, but Democrats are taking heart from the fact that Ms Greene’s case is being heard by an Obama-appionted judge who has previously taken a dim view of false claims the 2020 election was stolen.
John Bowden looks at the case.
Could Marjorie Taylor Greene be blocked from office? A decision could be made today
Trump endorsee formally files to take on Murkowski
13:15 , Andrew Naughtie
As candidates line up for the 2022 midterm elections, Donald Trump’s coveted endorsement has gone to various Republicans trying to unseat members of their own party that the former considers insufficiently loyal. Among his most hated GOP figures is Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, one of the handful of senators who voted to convict the ex-president after the 6 January insurrection – and now, his chosen challenger to Ms Murkowski, Kelly Tshibaka, has formally filed to begin her campaign.
Trump-backed Alaska hopeful officially files for Senate run
Also on the Alaska ballot will be Sarah Palin, who recently secured Mr Trump’s endorsement for her campaign to take the state’s open House seat.
Former cop convicted of Jan 6 offences
12:42 , Andrew Naughtie
A former Virginia police officer has been convicted on six counts stemming from his participation in the 6 January attack on the US Capitol. Thomas Robertson is the second defendant from the insurrection to be found guilty, after Guy Reffitt, the Texas man and militia member who notoriously threatened his family members with violent reprisal if they turned him in.
The FBI recently said it was still working to identify more than 200 suspected rioters who still have not been arrested despite being caught on camera at the event.
Read more on Mr Robertson’s case below.
A federal jury has convicted a former Virginia police officer of storming the U.S. Capitol with another off-duty officer during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot. Jurors convicted former Rocky Mount police officer Thomas Robertson of all six counts he faced.https://t.co/UlhoGZ3faJ
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 11, 2022
Trump brags about Space Force in off-the-cuff Florida speech
12:15 , Andrew Naughtie
Donald Trump went walkabout in Palm Beach, Florida yesterday, arriving at a local meeting of Club 45 USA, a group formed for “patriots” who support the MAGA agenda. The group’s claims on its site that its meetings attract crowds of as many as 2,000 people.
Happening now: President Trump pops into the the Club 45 gathering down the street from Mar-a-Lago to thank all the patriots who meet regularly to support MAGA! pic.twitter.com/SyEibHWfNs
— Taylor Budowich (@TayFromCA) April 11, 2022
Hey cheers to you Tater 🥂saw President Trump tonight at the club 45 meeting in west Palm Beach! It was awesome!!!! pic.twitter.com/YeH07WDIor
— Susanartist🎨🇺🇸♥️🤍💙🍊 (@Susanartpainter) April 12, 2022
Trump on Fiona Hill
11:44 , Andrew Naughtie
Donald Trump’s reaction to Fiona Hill’s recent New York Times interview was characteristically over-the-top, laying into his own former Russia adviser in the most personal terms after she warned of the ex-president’s resemblance to Vladimir Putin “in political practice and predilection”.
Recalling watching the 6 January 2001 attack on the Capitol at home, she said she saw a “thread” between the riot and what Mr Putin had done in 2020 by changing Russia’s constitution to allow him to serve as president longer.
“This was Trump pulling a Putin,” she said.
Asked about Ms Hill’s comments, Mr Trump told the Times: “She doesn’t know the first thing she’s talking about. If she didn’t have the accent she would be nothing.”
Andrew Feinberg has the story.
Trump launches personal attack on Fiona Hill after she likens him to Putin
Lauren Boebert still lobbying Elon Musk to restore “free speech” to Twitter
11:11 , Andrew Naughtie
When erratic billionaire Elon Musk bought a 9 per cent share in Twitter, it sparked hope among conservatives that the contrarian SpaceX founder might restore Donald Trump’s account in the name of free speech. It’s since been announced that Mr Musk will not be joining the company’s board, but that isn’t stopping various right-wingers hoping he’ll reshape the platform in their favour...
We need free speech back whatever it takes.@ElonMusk, don’t let us down.
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) April 11, 2022
Kinzinger: Trump admitted attempting a coup
10:27 , Andrew Naughtie
Adam Kinzinger, one of the two Republicans on the 6 January committee, has once again made clear his views on Donald Trump’s role in the Capitol riot he and his colleagues are investigating, as well as the prospect of holding the ex-president accountable.
“There’s no criminal component to what the House of Representatives can do,” he said, “but certainly we can put that information out there, and DoJ can take a look and do whatever they will with it.”
.@RepKinzinger: "All you have to do is look at Donald Trump's own statements. He put out a statement not that long ago where he said, "I wanted Vice President Pence to overturn an election." I mean, that to me sounds like an admission to a coup attempt." https://t.co/nGZqXzLcL9 pic.twitter.com/VwM4Ly1sXm
— The Hill (@thehill) April 11, 2022
Watch: Tucker Carlson speaks to overtly racist academic
10:01 , Andrew Naughtie
Fox News’s Tucker Carlson has lately been making waves with his conspiracy-mongering about the 6 January riot and his increasingly Putin-sympathetic statements on the Ukraine conflict, including questioning the well-established facts of war crimes in places like Bucha. However, he is still featuring guests with a variety of extreme views, and this week’s uproar comes from an interview he did with notorious Princeton academic Amy Wax, whom he hosted for an astonishing discussion of immigration and the intellectual faculties of students of different nationalities and ethnic backgrounds.
Watch a segment of their interview below.
Wax then attacks Indian immigrants for criticizing things in the US when "their country is a shithole" and goes on to say that "the role of envy and shame in the way that the third world regards the first world [...] creates ingratitude of the most monstrous kind." pic.twitter.com/dUL9coinS9
— nikki mccann ramírez (@NikkiMcR) April 11, 2022
Merrick Garland’s “lonely decision" on 6 January prosecutions
09:22 , Andrew Naughtie
The question of whether or not the 6 January committee will secure prosecutions hinges heavily on the Department of Justice and Attorney General Merrick Garland, and it remains to be seen if Mr Garland is actually considering investigating and even indicting Donald Trump himself.
Speaking on MSNBC last night, the LA Times’s Harry Litman explained that in his view, whether or not the committee makes a criminal referral to the department recommending charges against the president is not the main factor in Mr Garland’s calculation; instead, he says, the real issue is what the attorney general things would best benefit the US writ large.
Watch his remarks below.
"It's just clear at this point that they have the evidence... What the decision will turn on is not the evidence, but a whole welter of factors having to do with is this the right thing for the country, and that's Garland's lonely decision" - @harrylitman w/ @NicolleDWallace pic.twitter.com/uRSLz3ayvu
— Deadline White House (@DeadlineWH) April 11, 2022
Russian state media calls for Trump to be reelected
08:45 , Andrew Naughtie
On Russian state television, “political experts” are calling for a regime change in the US amid Joe Biden’s support for Ukraine.
The Daily Beast reported that during a programme hosted by Evgeny Popov last week, the host said that time has come “again to help our partner Trump to become President.”
It reported that Russian political scientist Malek Dudakov also suggested that Donald Trump should be invited to Mariupol once Russia wins the city.
He added that “when things thaw out and the presidential race for 2024 is firmly on the agenda, there’ll be moments we can use. The most banal approach I can think of is to invite Trump—before he announces he’s running for President—to some future summit in liberated Mariupol.”
Trump-backed Alaska hopeful officially files for Senate run
07:50 , Maroosha Muzaffar
Kelly Tshibaka — who has been endorsed by Donald Trump — filed her papers for an official run as a candidate for the US Senate in Alaska on Monday.
Ms Tshibaka will face incumbent Republican Lisa Murkowski in the race.
As she filed her papers she claimed that Ms Murkowski was helping the agenda of President Joe Biden — Ms Murkowski voted to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson in the Supreme Court.
Ms Tshibaka called Ms Brown Jackson a “leftist judge” and criticised Ms Murkowski for not backing Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
“Lisa Murkowski has forgotten us because she cares more about being popular with her friends in Washington, DC,” she said.
Donald Trump fans frustrated over Elon Musk's refusal to join Twitter board
07:17 , Maroosha Muzaffar
Donald Trump’s supporters are disappointed that Elon Musk isn’t joining the Twitter board.The fans of the former president had assumed that Mr Musk would overturn Mr Trump’s Twitter ban.
Mr Trump received a permanent ban from Twitter on 8 January 2021 amid concerns that he was inciting violence on the platform.
Meanwhile, Trump’s supporters begged the Tesla owner to reconsider his decision and to help revoke the ban on Trump’s and other conservatives’ Twitter handles.
“Now that @ElonMusk is Twitter’s largest shareholder, it’s time to lift the political censorship,” Rep. Lauren Boebert had tweeted. “Oh… and BRING BACK TRUMP!”
Will Donald Trump be charged over Jan 6? An evolving question for the DOJ
06:15 , Maroosha Muzaffar
How likely is it that Donald Trump will actually face criminal charges, after being acquitted in two impeachment trials and so far facing few political consequences for the events of 6 January?
Read John Bowden’s piece here:
Will Donald Trump be charged over Jan 6? An evolving question for the DOJ
Canadian billionaire hit with ‘record-breaking’ fine for illegal $1.75m donation to Trump fund
05:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar
A Canadian billionaire is set to pay a “record-breaking” fine levied by the Federal Election Commission after he was found liable for donating nearly $2m to a super PAC supporting former President Donald Trump and candidates aligned with his agenda.
Barry Zekelman broke campaign finance law by helping direct the contributions from Wheatland Tube, a US-based company he controls, to Super PAC America First Action in 2018, the Federal Election Commission ruled.
Now Mr Zekelman faces one of the FEC’s largest election-related fines in history after he illegally helped orchestrate US$1.75m in donations to a Donald Trump campaign group.
Read the full story here:
Canadian billionaire hit with ‘record-breaking’ fine for illegal Trump donation
Could Marjorie Taylor Greene’s be blocked from office?
05:15 , Oliver O'Connell
A federal judge will have final say this week regarding whether a group of voters seeking to block Marjorie Taylor Greene from mounting a reelection campaign will see their case move forward or end in failure.
The controversial Georgia congresswoman is the second GOP member of the House to be targeted by a legal effort to block avowed supporters of former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election from seeking office under the 14th amendment to the US Constitution, which prohibits those who “shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the US from holding federal office.
John Bowden has the latest.
Could Marjorie Taylor Greene be blocked from office? A decision could be made today
Trump launches personal attack on Fiona Hill after comparison to Putin
04:30 , Oliver O'Connell
Former president Donald Trump routinely told foreign heads of state and government that he deserved a “re-do” of his first two years in office and said he wanted to serve more than two terms as president, according to one of his former foreign policy advisers.
In an interview with The New York Times Magazine, ex-National Security Council director Fiona Hill said she saw Mr Trump had aspirations to be an autocrat in the mould of Russian president Vladimir Putin, Turkish dictator Recep Tayyip Ergodan, or Hungary’s Viktor Orban.
Andrew Feinberg has the story.
Trump launches personal attack on Fiona Hill after she likens him to Putin
Pennsylvania man arrested for putting ‘I did that’ Biden stickers on gas pumps
03:45 , Oliver O'Connell
A man from Pennsylvania has been arrested after he placed stickers on gas station pumps depicting Joe Biden along with the phrase “I did that” to protest his belief that the president is solely responsible for soaring fuel prices.
Thomas Richard Glazewski, 54, was arrested on 31 March after he was tackled by police at a convenience store in East Hempfield Township, according to Lancaster Online.
Graig Graziosi reports.
Ex-president faces GOP backlash after endorsing Dr Oz - follow live
Herschel Walker skips Georgia GOP debate
03:00 , Oliver O'Connell
Former football star Herschel Walker skipped a debate on Saturday among Republican candidates running for Senate this year in Georgia, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Mr Walker played for the University of Georgia as a running back and won the Heisman Trophy before playing for NFL teams like the Minnesota Vikings and the Dallas Cowboys. He is the frontrunner to challenge incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock this November.
Eric Garcia reports.
Georgia Senate frontrunner Herschel Walker skips GOP debate
GOP strategist: Trump’s dwindling rally crowds show base disappearing
02:15 , Oliver O'Connell
A GOP strategist who used to work with one of Donald Trump’s closest advisers is pointing to the crowd sizes at his recent rallies as evidence that the GOP base is slowly losing its enthusiasm for the former president.
Susan Del Percio appeared on MSNBC where she made the comments on Sunday to Weekends with Alex Witt guest host Cori Coffin. Ms Del Percio, a PR specialist and Republican strategist who served as deputy commissioner for finance and administration in the administration of ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, said that dwindling crowd sizes at Mr Trump’s rallies in conservative areas were proof that the Trump brand was losing its staying power.
John Bowden reports.
GOP strategist says Trump’s dwindling rally crowds show base disappearing
Trump-backed candidate mangles bizarre energy monologue
01:30 , Oliver O'Connell
Herschel Walker, who is running against Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock, was asked on Fox Business yesterday about the Biden administration’s energy policy – and the answer he gave ranged from the unclear to the near incomprehensible. Take a look below.
"They decided they were gonna give up all the energy. By him going out, giving up all the energy, now we're not energy independent anymore, which started the whole downfall" -- Herschel Walker's analysis of energy policy doesn't show a grasp of details or really anything at all pic.twitter.com/WR5GkqS8ma
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 10, 2022
Some Republicans have been concerned about Mr Walker’s strength in November given his chequered personal history and lack of political experience, and interviews like this have not helped assuage those fears. However, he appears to be polling even with Mr Warnock, and sometimes slightly ahead.
NC Republican depicts Trump-backed opponent atop wheelbarrow of manure
Tuesday 12 April 2022 00:45 , Oliver O'Connell
Former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory is running in a hotly contested Republican primary for the chance to succeed retiring Senator Roy Blunt, and he has the disadvantage of facing a Trump-backed candidate in Tedd Budd, who has lately shown signs of gaining in the polls.
To try and slow Mr Budd’s momentum, Mr McCrory has released an ad touting his own conservative credentials on immigration while associating his rival with a wheelbarrow filled with faeces.
A new ad from Pat McCrory has Ted Budd leaning over a wheelbarrow full of crap pic.twitter.com/VZ5F9QpSsb
— Natalie Allison (@natalie_allison) April 11, 2022
Was Trump manipulated into endorsing Dr Oz?
Tuesday 12 April 2022 00:00 , Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump’s decision to back TV doctor Mehmet Oz in the Pennsylvania Senate primary has raised eyebrows among many of his current and former allies, some of whom consider the on-air medic a risky choice.
Among those raising the alarm was Mo Brooks, the Alabama Congressman whom Mr Trump recently un-endorsed for urging supporters to stop fixating on the 2020 election (or, as many have pointed out, because he looks set to lose his own Senate primary).
Dr Oz’s controversial history is just one liability in both the primary and the November; also up there is his lack of political campaign experience, as well as his stances on issues like transgender equality and gun safety where he has historically differed from what now counts as Republican orthodoxy.
John Bowden reports.
Trump allies claim he was ‘played’ after endorsing TV’s Dr Oz for Senate seat
Voices: The moment Washington gave up on the pandemic
Monday 11 April 2022 23:15 , Oliver O'Connell
As politicians across the spectrum test positive for Covid-19, neither party can agree to pass a bill to fund tests and vaccines that until recently was straightforward, writes Eric Garcia.
The moment Washington gave up on the pandemic
GOP senate candidate compares Zelensky to Bin Laden
Monday 11 April 2022 22:30 , Oliver O'Connell
A Republican Senate hopeful has compared Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, warning that the terrorist was also once considered a “hero.”
Bitcoin millionaire Bruce Fenton, who joined the New Hampshire Republican primary four days ago, told WMUR that “there’s so many parallels right now between Ukraine and the Taliban.”
Graig Graziosi reports.
GOP senate candidate compares Ukrainian President Zelensky to Osama Bin Laden
Ted Cruz demands Yale punish protesters who disrupted ‘free speech’ event
Monday 11 April 2022 22:05 , Oliver O'Connell
Texas Senator Ted Cruz joined fellow Republicans in calling on Yale University to punish a group of students who disrupted an event last month that included a designated LGBT+ hate group, as he braces for protests against his own visit to the school.
Gino Spocchia reports.
Ted Cruz demands Yale punish protesters who disrupted event with anti-LGBT+ group
Marjorie Taylor Greene defends Jan 6 because it ‘only happened one time’
Monday 11 April 2022 21:46 , Oliver O'Connell
Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene criticised the media attention on the 6 January Capitol insurrection, arguing that it “only happened one time”.
On Sunday, Ms Greene tweeted a video of herself berating NBC News journalist Scott Wong as he asked her about the 2021 riot.
Gustraf Kilander reports from Washington, DC.
Marjorie Taylor Greene defends Jan 6 because it ‘only happened one time’
Teens recruited to drive migrants from Mexican border
Monday 11 April 2022 21:27 , Oliver O'Connell
Around one in four drivers caught smuggling migrants last year in the Sunland Park-Santa Teresa area were children, most US citizens living locally, according to US Border Patrol, which began recording the juvenile driver data in fiscal year 2021.
Here’s the latest from Reuters.
US teens recruited to drive migrants from Mexican border
Melissa Lucio: GOP lawmaker says even death penalty supporters see ‘major problem’ in case
Monday 11 April 2022 21:08 , Oliver O'Connell
A Republican lawmaker in Texas is rallying death penalty proponents within his own party, saying that even those who believe capital punishment is a “God-ordained institution” must see there are “major problems” with the impending execution of Melissa Lucio.
State Rep. Jeff Leach told Red Letter Christians in a live video interview on Monday morning that he was speaking “directly to any fellow Republicans, law and order Republicans, conservatives” who have always been in favour of the death penalty, saying they “ought to unbury our heads from the sand” and “ask the tough questions” about the system.
Rachel Sharp reports.
Even death penalty fans see this ‘major problem’ in Melissa Lucio case
Could Marjorie Taylor Greene’s be blocked from office?
Monday 11 April 2022 20:49 , Oliver O'Connell
A federal judge will have final say this week regarding whether a group of voters seeking to block Marjorie Taylor Greene from mounting a reelection campaign will see their case move forward or end in failure.
The controversial Georgia congresswoman is the second GOP member of the House to be targeted by a legal effort to block avowed supporters of former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election from seeking office under the 14th amendment to the US Constitution, which prohibits those who “shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the US from holding federal office.
John Bowden has the latest.
Could Marjorie Taylor Greene’s be blocked from office? A decision could be made today
Professor calls out Marriott for allegedly keeping TVs ‘locked’ on Fox News
Monday 11 April 2022 20:30 , Oliver O'Connell
A Penn State professor set off a Twitter fury on Saturday after shaming a Marriott hotel in New York for allegedly having TVs in the fitness centre “fixed” on Fox News, an outlet the man said was guilty of promoting “anti-American, pro-Russian propaganda”.
Johanna Chisholm reports.
Professor calls out Marriott for allegedly keeping TVs ‘locked’ on Fox News
Biden’s sister defends his son Hunter
Monday 11 April 2022 20:00 , Oliver O'Connell
President Joe Biden’s sister Valerie Biden Owens defended her nephew and the president’s son Hunter in an interview with CBS News, saying the attacks were an attempt by former president Donald Trump to bring her brother down.
Ms Owens appeared in an interview with CBS News’ Gayle King to promote her memoir about growing up with her brother, whose campaigns she has closely advised. Ms King asked about whether the president’s sole surviving son Hunter Biden, whom Republicans are targeting and who is currently under a federal investigation, is a liability.
Eric Garcia reports.
Joe Biden’s sister defends his son Hunter and says Trump only wants to harm family
Watch live - White House gun violence announcement
Monday 11 April 2022 19:29 , Oliver O'Connell
Trump launches personal attack on Fiona Hill after comparison to Putin
Monday 11 April 2022 19:00 , Oliver O'Connell
Former president Donald Trump routinely told foreign heads of state and government that he deserved a “re-do” of his first two years in office and said he wanted to serve more than two terms as president, according to one of his former foreign policy advisers.
In an interview with The New York Times Magazine, ex-National Security Council director Fiona Hill said she saw Mr Trump had aspirations to be an autocrat in the mould of Russian president Vladimir Putin, Turkish dictator Recep Tayyip Ergodan, or Hungary’s Viktor Orban.
Andrew Feinberg has the story.
Trump launches personal attack on Fiona Hill after she likens him to Putin
Pennsylvania man arrested for putting ‘I did that’ Biden stickers on gas pumps
Monday 11 April 2022 18:30 , Oliver O'Connell
A man from Pennsylvania has been arrested after he placed stickers on gas station pumps depicting Joe Biden along with the phrase “I did that” to protest his belief that the president is solely responsible for soaring fuel prices.
Thomas Richard Glazewski, 54, was arrested on 31 March after he was tackled by police at a convenience store in East Hempfield Township, according to Lancaster Online.
Graog Graziosi reports.
Man arrested for putting ‘I did that’ Biden stickers on gas pumps to protest prices
Herschel Walker skips Georgia GOP debate
Monday 11 April 2022 18:00 , Oliver O'Connell
Former football star Herschel Walker skipped a debate on Saturday among Republican candidates running for Senate this year in Georgia, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Mr Walker played for the University of Georgia as a running back and won the Heisman Trophy before playing for NFL teams like the Minnesota Vikings and the Dallas Cowboys. He is the frontrunner to challenge incumbent Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock this November.
Eric Garcia reports.
Georgia Senate frontrunner Herschel Walker skips GOP debate
GOP strategist: Trump’s dwindling rally crowds show base disappearing
Monday 11 April 2022 17:31 , Oliver O'Connell
A GOP strategist who used to work with one of Donald Trump’s closest advisers is pointing to the crowd sizes at his recent rallies as evidence that the GOP base is slowly losing its enthusiasm for the former president.
Susan Del Percio appeared on MSNBC where she made the comments on Sunday to Weekends with Alex Witt guest host Cori Coffin. Ms Del Percio, a PR specialist and Republican strategist who served as deputy commissioner for finance and administration in the administration of ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, said that dwindling crowd sizes at Mr Trump’s rallies in conservative areas were proof that the Trump brand was losing its staying power.
John Bowden reports.
GOP strategist says Trump’s dwindling rally crowds show base disappearing
Trump-backed candidate mangles bizarre energy monologue
Monday 11 April 2022 16:56 , Andrew Naughtie
Herschel Walker, who is running against Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock, was asked on Fox Business yesterday about the Biden administration’s energy policy – and the answer he gave ranged from the unclear to the near incomprehensible. Take a look below.
"They decided they were gonna give up all the energy. By him going out, giving up all the energy, now we're not energy independent anymore, which started the whole downfall" -- Herschel Walker's analysis of energy policy doesn't show a grasp of details or really anything at all pic.twitter.com/WR5GkqS8ma
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 10, 2022
Some Republicans have been concerned about Mr Walker’s strength in November given his chequered personal history and lack of political experience, and interviews like this have not helped assuage those fears. However, he appears to be polling even with Mr Warnock, and sometimes slightly ahead.
NC Republican depicts Trump-backed opponent atop wheelbarrow of manure
Monday 11 April 2022 16:20 , Andrew Naughtie
Former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory is running in a hotly contested Republican primary for the chance to succeed retiring Senator Roy Blunt, and he has the disadvantage of facing a Trump-backed candidate in Tedd Budd, who has lately shown signs of gaining in the polls.
To try and slow Mr Budd’s momentum, Mr McCrory has released an ad touting his own conservative credentials on immigration while associating his rival with a wheelbarrow filled with faeces.
A new ad from Pat McCrory has Ted Budd leaning over a wheelbarrow full of crap pic.twitter.com/VZ5F9QpSsb
— Natalie Allison (@natalie_allison) April 11, 2022
Trump rips into Fiona Hill over NYT interview
Monday 11 April 2022 15:50 , Andrew Naughtie
After Donald Trump’s former Russia adviser Fiona Hill gave a highly critical interview to the New York Times in which she drew parallels between him and Vladimir Putin, the former president has lashed out to accuse Ms Hill of getting by on her British accent.
...we won unanimously. Never listened to her, I hardly knew her at all. She knew nothing about me, I knew nothing about her, and I liked it that way.”
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) April 11, 2022
Playwright David Mamet joins anti-paedophile paranoia bandwagon
Monday 11 April 2022 15:29 , Andrew Naughtie
After years of growing conspiracy theories about organised paedophilia and a Supreme Court nomination process that saw Ketanji Brown Jackson pilloried for supposedly being soft on child abusers, the right-wing media ecosystem is now going hard on the issue of children’s exposure to sex, particularly via school curriculums – and a recent Fox News guest took it to the next level.
Speaking to the network’s Mark Levin, storied playwright David Mamet declared that the problem isn’t just what children are being taught, but the fact that they’re exposed to teachers at all...
David Mamet on Fox News: "Teachers are inclined, particularly men because men are predators, to pedophilia" pic.twitter.com/azAlXPWRUc
— Madeline Peltz (@peltzmadeline) April 11, 2022
Former Trump adviser “saw thread” between Jan 6 and Zelensky call
Monday 11 April 2022 15:05 , Andrew Naughtie
Former Trump administration Russia adviser Fiona Hill, who has spoken out at length about the former president’s attitude toward Vladimir Putin, has given an interview to the New York Times in which she recalls how it felt to witness the attack on the Capitol while knowing what she did about Mr Trump’s Putin-esque predelictions.
Hill was at her desk at home on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, writing her memoir, when a journalist friend she first met in Russia called. The friend told her to turn on the television. Once she did so, a burst of horrific clarity overtook her. “I saw the thread,” she told me. “The thread connecting the Zelensky phone call to Jan. 6. And I remembered how, in 2020, Putin had changed Russia’s Constitution to allow him to stay in power longer. This was Trump pulling a Putin.”
Read the full interview below.
Fiona Hill on Trump: He "would come more to resemble Putin ... than any of his recent American predecessors.”
Trump on Hill: “She doesn’t know the first thing she’s talking about. If she didn’t have the accent she would be nothing.” https://t.co/6aBcpkC9gu— Bill Grueskin (@BGrueskin) April 11, 2022
ICYMI: Liz Cheney on Jan 6 panel’s approach to Trump
Monday 11 April 2022 14:30 , Andrew Naughtie
The question of how to handle Donald Trump himself is the single most difficult decision hanging over the 6 January select committee, but according to Liz Cheney, there is no dispute among the committee’s members that the president and many of those around him knew that their actions after the 2020 election were unlawful.
Speaking on CNN this weekend, however, she would not be drawn on whether or not a criminal referral for the former president is in the works.
"It is absolutely clear that what President Trump was doing … was unlawful."
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) responds to a New York Times report saying the Jan. 6 committee has evidence to make a criminal referral for former President Trump to the Justice Department. #CNNSOTU @CNNSotu pic.twitter.com/Aftprmjmd4— CNN (@CNN) April 10, 2022
Read more below from Alex Woodward.
Liz Cheney says Trump knew efforts to overturn election were ‘unlawful’
Was Trump manipulated into endorsing Dr Oz?
Monday 11 April 2022 13:57 , Andrew Naughtie
Donald Trump’s decision to back TV doctor Mehmet Oz in the Pennsylvania Senate primary has raised eyebrows among many of his current and former allies, some of whom consider the on-air medic a risky choice.
Among those raising the alarm was Mo Brooks, the Alabama Congressman whom Mr Trump recently un-endorsed for urging supporters to stop fixating on the 2020 election (or, as many have pointed out, because he looks set to lose his own Senate primary).
This is happening because Trump’s surrounded himself by staff who are on McConnell’s payroll & hostile to the MAGA agenda. Everybody telling Trump who to endorse in primaries works for The Swamp.
They played him. Again. https://t.co/SoD656HT0V— Mo Brooks (@MoBrooks) April 10, 2022
Dr Oz’s controversial history is just one liability in both the primary and the November; also up there is his lack of political campaign experience, as well as his stances on issues like transgender equality and gun safety where he has historically differed from what now counts as Republican orthodoxy.
John Bowden reports:
Trump allies claim he was ‘played’ after endorsing TV’s Dr Oz for Senate seat
