Trump news – live: Intel analyst warned of Jan 6 attack after stumbling across plot online, report says

As the January 6 select committee prepares to release its final report next week, Donald Trump is ramping up his efforts to delegitimise its findings, falsely claiming once again that Nancy Pelosi was responsible for the Capitol’s vulnerability on the day and even suggesting in an interview Democrats “wanted” the violent insurrection to happen.

It has also emerged that an intelligence analyst tried to prevent the storming of the Capitol after stumbling across the plot online some 16 days before the attack. A report says the Department of Homeland Security failed to act.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump has failed in his latest effort to thwart the Department of Justice investigation into his retention of the classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago, with a judge he himself appointed dismissing a lawsuit brought by his team.

The House oversight committee has now asked the National Archives to investigate a storage unit where more classified items were found, as well as other Trump properties.

Key points

• Intel analyst tried to prevent Jan 6 attack after finding plot online

• House oversight committee asks Archives to review Trump storage unit

• Trump team fails in Mar-a-Lago lawsuit

• Adam Schiff says Jan 6 panel has found 'evidence of criminality’

• More classified documents found in search of Trump storage unit, report says

Young voters' enthusiasm for Democrats waned during midterms

21:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Young voters who have been critical to Democratic successes in recent elections showed signs in November’s midterms that their enthusiasm may be waning. a potential warning sign for a party that will need their strong backing heading into the 2024 presidential race.

Read on:

Young voters' enthusiasm for Democrats waned during midterms

Trump worst choice for GOP in 2024, says Arkansas governor

20:47 , Oliver O'Connell

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who is considering running for president, on Tuesday called a third Donald Trump White House bid the “worst scenario” for Republicans and said his call for terminating parts of the Constitution hurts the country.

Mr Hutchinson made the remarks in an interview with the Associated Press.

The AP Interview: Hutchinson says Trump worst choice for GOP

Intel analyst tried to prevent Jan 6 attack after finding plot online

20:32 , Oliver O'Connell

Yahoo News has exclusively obtained the unredacted copy of a March 2022 DHS Office of Inspector General report and underlying materials, including a four-page letter written by a young intelligence analyst who stumbled upon a plan to storm the Capitol on 6 January 2021 and did everything possible to warn of the impending attack.

The domestic terrorism analyst with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) saw a link to a website where people “actively at that moment were discussing the commission of acts of terroristic violence and the violent overthrow of the government of the United States,” according to the analyst’s written account.

There, the analyst “witnessed upwards of 500 pages worth of potential threats to national security,” including people urging others — and discussing how — to smuggle illegal weapons into the nation’s capital and avoid detection by law enforcement.

The DHS intelligence analyst also saw “discussion references of overthrowing the US Government by force/sparking a second civil war, and veiled credible threats of violence toward other US persons who were perceived enemies, specifically Members of Congress and other federal employees.”

Over the 16 days leading up to the Capitol riot, the analyst and others, seeing the plot unfold in excruciating detail, tried to sound the alarm to prevent the attack.

DHS failed to share any information about the potential threat the inspector general’s report says.

Watch: McConnell speaks on candidate quality problem in GOP

20:15 , Oliver O'Connell

“Hopefully in the next cycle we’ll have quality candidates everywhere and a better outcome.”

Right-wing activist and half-naked man burst into Barstool Sports offices

20:00 , Oliver O'Connell

A far-right social media troll was forcefully removed from the Barstool Sports offices in New York after he and another man broke into the lobby while accosting staff and accusing an employee of mocking Tucker Carlson.

Online personality and alt-right activist Alex Stein shared the four-minute video, shot from his own phone, of him and another man he identified as Dontarius – “his wife’s boyfriend” – on Twitter on Monday night, shortly after the altercation had occurred.

Johanna Chisholm reports on the bizarre incident.

Video shows right-wing activist and half-naked man burst into Barstool Sports offices

Elaine Chao declines to respond to Trump’s racist attack

19:40 , Oliver O'Connell

Back in October, former President Donald Trump racially attacked Elaine Chao, his former Transportation Secretary and wife to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and today on Fox Business she was given the opportunity to respond.

Host Stuart Varney, who in recent weeks has become something of a vocal critic of the former president, invited Ms Chao to comment on what Mr Trump had said about her, but she replied: “The president says many things. I don’t make a point of responding to his comments.”

Mr Varney replied: “We were all appalled by what he said.”

Watch below:

Final Jan 6 committee meeting scheduled for Dec 19

19:35 , Oliver O'Connell

January 6 select committee Chair Bennie Thompson tells reporters that the panel will have what is expected to be its final meeting at 1pm on 19 December in which it will vote on its report and the referrals it will be making.

The report itself will not be released until 21 December, but the targets of the referrals will be known on 19 December.

Jan 6 probe considering different types of referral — with supporting evidence

19:20 , Oliver O'Connell

Chairman Bennie Thompson told reporters the January 6 select committee is considering several different categories of referrals, as it wraps up its investigation into the Capitol riot.

There could be five or six categories which may include criminal, ethics, bar discipline, inspector general, special counsel, and campaign finance referrals.

More importantly, any referrals would include supporting evidence that would lay out the committee’s case — which in matters sent to the Department of Justice would be of more import than the referral itself.

House oversight committee asks Archives to review Trump storage unit

18:57 , Oliver O'Connell

Carolyn Maloney, the chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, has asked the National Archives and Records Administration to investigate whether former president Donald Trump is harbouring presidential records that should’ve been turned over to the archives when he left office in a storage unit where a search firm hired by his lawyers recently found two classified documents.

Andrew Feinberg has the latest on this developing story out of Washington, DC.

House oversight committee asks Archives to review Trump storage unit

Oath Keepers: Hundreds of members worked for Homeland Security according to leaked list

18:30 , Oliver O'Connell

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.

Alex Woodward reports.

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

Giuliani avoids jail over money owed to third wife

18:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani beat a contempt order and avoided jail Monday in an ongoing dispute over money he owes to his third wife, Judith Giuliani, as part of a divorce settlement reached three years ago.

At a brief court hearing, Giuliani said he's making progress in paying the debt, though he and Judith remain far apart on how much he still owes for things like her country club memberships, condominium fees and health care.

Giuliani avoids jail in dispute over payments to ex-wife

Trump suggests Democrats ‘wanted’ January 6 riot

17:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Donald Trump has suggested that Democrats “wanted” the January 6 riot to happen, ahead of the select committee ruling on possible criminal referrals.

Mr Trump appeared on One America News, saying that the committee is “looking at everything other than two things. They don’t want to know about Nancy Pelosi turning down 10,000 soldiers because she didn’t look like the look”.

That claim has previously been found to be false.

Gustaf Kilander reports from Washington, DC.

Trump suggests Democrats ‘wanted’ January 6 riot ahead of committee ruling

GOP congressman texted Mark Meadows calling for Trump to declare ‘marshall law’

17:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff Mark Meadows handed hundreds of text messages to the House select committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol, fuelled by the former president’s baseless narrative that the 2020 election was “stolen” from or “rigged” against him.

A trove of messages that Mr Meadows was ordered to provide the committee include links to far-right websites with dubious legal theories and support for antidemocratic power grabs, according to messages obtained by Talking Points Memo.

In one message, Republican congressman Ralph Norman urges Mr Meadows to tell then-President Trump to embrace : declare martial law.

Alex Woodward reports.

GOP congressman texted Mark Meadows calling for Trump to declare ‘marshall law’

Watch: Trevor Noah roasts Trump’s ‘genius’ running of Trump Organization

16:30 , Andrew Naughtie

Jan 6 panel weighing criminal referrals

16:00 , Andrew Naughtie

The members of the January 6 committee are preparing for the relase of their final report and all their evidence next week. In advance of that, they met on Sunday afternoon to discuss potential criminal referrals for a group of people connected to the effort to overturn the result of the presidential election.

The subcommittee charged with investigating criminal referrals made its recommendations at the meeting. CNN reported that it is not yet known whether those recommendations were adopted outright or changed by the full committee. The committee is planning to announce its decision on December 21.

A criminal referral from the committee would not carry any immediate consequences, as the committee does not have any prosecutorial power. The Department of Justice has opened its own investigation into the January 6 attack, and criminal charges could stem from that investigation.

Abe Asher has more.

Jan 6 committee says meeting about possible criminal referrals was ‘successful’

ICYMI: Judge throws out Trump’s Mar-a-Lago documents lawsuit

15:26 , Andrew Naughtie

The Florida-based federal judge whose rulings on behalf of former president Donald Trump temporarily blocked the Department of Justice from evidence seized during the 8 August search of his Mar-a-Lago home and office has officially tossed the civil lawsuit he had used to intervene in the criminal investigation into his conduct.

US District Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday issued a one-page order dismissing the ex-president’s civil action on the grounds that she’d lacked the jurisdiction to hear it in the first place, bringing an end to the months-long delaying action by which Mr Trump had stymied Federal Bureau of Investigation efforts to determine whether he broke US laws criminalising unlawful retention of national defence information and obstruction of justice.

Andrew Feinberg has the details.

Judge tosses Trump’s Mar-a-Lago documents lawsuit after appeals court orders her to

2024 poll: Biden trails DeSantis as Trump’s numbers sink

14:59 , Andrew Naughtie

A newly released poll shows Ron DeSantis leading a hypothetical 2024 matchup against President Joe Biden, with the Florida governor’s support among Republicans remaining high as enthusiasm for former president Donald Trump’s third campaign for the presidency continues to wane.

The survey of 1,000 registered voters conducted by Suffolk University for USA Today shows Mr Biden ahead in a general election rematch with the man he defeated in the 2020 election, by a margin of 47 per cent to 40 per cent. That’s a two-point increase in the president’s hypothetical lead from a Suffolk/USA Today poll of likely midterm voters conducted in October.

The former president’s intention to run for a second nonconsecutive term is also viewed unfavourably by many GOP voters, with just 47 per cent of Republicans reporting themselves to be desirous of a third Trump candidacy and 45 per cent saying they don’t want him to run once more.

Andrew Feinberg reports:

Poll shows Biden trails DeSantis as under half of GOP voters want Trump to run again

New Trump book to contain private correspondence with world leaders

14:15 , Andrew Naughtie

Donald Trump is planning to release a book of his private correspondence with celebrities and world leaders, according to a new report.

The former president’s next book is said to feature reproductions of letters he has written and received over the past few decades, CNN reported.

It’s unclear whether the book will include correspondence from his presidency.

Mr Trump famously described exchanging “love letters” with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un between 2018 and 2020 during diplomatic efforts to denuclearise the Korean peninsula.

Bevan Hurley reports:

Trump planning to publish book of his correspondence with celebrities and leaders

ICYMI: Trump’s Mar-a-Lago lawsuit thrown out

13:45 , Andrew Naughtie

The Florida-based federal judge whose rulings on behalf of former president Donald Trump temporarily blocked the Department of Justice from evidence seized during the 8 August search of his Mar-a-Lago home and office has officially tossed the civil lawsuit he had used to intervene in the criminal investigation into his conduct.

US District Judge Aileen Cannon on Monday issued a one-page order dismissing the ex-president’s civil action on the grounds that she’d lacked the jurisdiction to hear it in the first place, bringing an end to the months-long delaying action by which Mr Trump had stymied Federal Bureau of Investigation efforts to determine whether he broke US laws criminalising unlawful retention of national defence information and obstruction of justice.

Andrew Feinberg reports:

Judge tosses Trump’s Mar-a-Lago documents lawsuit after appeals court orders her to

Oath Keepers lawyer claims group was no threat

13:15 , Andrew Naughtie

With several leading members of the Oath Keepers militia group already convicted of seditious conspiracy in relation to the January 6 riot, another batch of members are now facing trial – and one of their lawyers has offered an unexpectedly unflattering defence of the group and its abilities:

Officer injured on Jan 6 resigns from US Capitol Police

12:45 , Andrew Naughtie

The January 6 select committee’s first hearing was based around the shattering testimony of four police officers who served at the Capitol on the day of the riot – and one of them, Sergeant Aquilino Gonnell, has now announced with “immense sadness” that he is resigning from the US Capitol Police “to focuse on healing, both physically and mentally, from injuries I sustained in the line of duty” during the attack.

“After I returned home from a deployment to Iraq,” he writes in his resignation letter, “my desire to continue serving our country lef me to the Unitest States Capitol Police. Our mission to Protect the Congress – its members, employees, visitors, and facilities – so it can fulfill its constitutional and legislative responsibilities in a safe, secure and open environment is an important one. My only regret is not joining the force sooner.”

Mr Gonnell has many times described the horrific abuse he received from Trump supporters as he helped protect members of Congress from them at the election certification. Here’s a report from Gustaf Kilander.

Capitol police officer reveals rioters called him a ‘traitor’ for refusing to help hang Mike Pence

Trump claims Democrats “wanted” Jan 6 riot

12:15 , Andrew Naughtie

With the release of the January 6 committee report looming, Donald Trump is ramping up his attacks on its legitimacy and the motives of the Democrats leading the investigation, bizarrely claiming in an OAN interview that “a lot of people” think the party “wanted” the riot – this while repeating the false claim that it only happened because Nancy Pelosi refused to call in thousands of soldiers to protect Congress from a mob of supporters he himself whipped into a frenzy.

Strangely, the interview was conducted by Christina Bobb, one of Mr Trump’s attorneys, who is a key figure in the Mar-a-Lago documents saga both by virtue of her current employment and because last June, she signed a document testifying that Mr Trump had returned all sensitive documents in his possession to the government in compliance with a subpoena – a claim that the subsequent search of his property established was false.

For now, the January committee remains tight-lipped on whether it will issue criminal referrals to the Justice Department, but a meeting on the matter this weekend was apparently a “success”.

Read more from Abe Asher:

Jan 6 committee says meeting about possible criminal referrals was ‘successful’

Trump planning book of private correspondence with celebrities and world leaders, report says

11:15 , Andrew Naughtie

Donald Trump is planning to release a book of his private correspondence with celebrities and world leaders, according to a new report.

The former president’s next book is said to feature reproductions of letters he has written and received over the past few decades, CNN reported.

It’s unclear whether the book will include correspondence from his presidency.

Bevan Hurley reports.

Trump planning to publish book of his correspondence with celebrities and leaders

Fauci brushes off Musk attack

10:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Dr Anthony Fauci, the outgoing director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who helped steer the country through the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, brushed off criticism from Twitter’s Elon Musk on Monday.

Abe Asher reports.

Fauci hits back at Musk claims he should be prosecuted: ‘Cesspool of misinformation’

Pelosi’s daughter slams GOP lawmakers for laughing about attack on her father

06:15 , Oliver O'Connell

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s daughter criticised Republicans who mocked the attack on her father Paul in late October in an interview with CBS Sunday Morning.

Alexandra Pelosi spoke with CBS’s John Dickerson to promote her upcoming documentary about her mother entitled Pelosi in the House. The documentary comes after her mother announced last month that she would step aside as House Democratic Leader after Republicans won the majority.

Eric Garcia has the story.

Nancy Pelosi’s daughter condemns GOP lawmakers for laughing about her father attack

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Jan 6 comments a ‘slap in the face’ of law enforcement, says White House

04:15 , Oliver O'Connell

The White House issued a furious response to far-right Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, whose remarks to a gala crowd in New York City about January 6 were a “slap in the face” of law enforcement and of the families of victims, according to a statement from the administration.

Read on:

White House calls Greene’s Jan 6 comments a ‘slap in the face’ of law enforcement

Trump admits he turned down Russia prisoner swap

03:15 , Oliver O'Connell

In the furore following the prisoner swap that saw Brittney Griner returned to the US from Russia, Donald Trump has confirmed that he rejected a proposal to bring home former US Marine Paul Whelan on the same basis.

Andrew Naughtie reports.

Trump admits he turned down prisoner swap to exchange Paul Whelan and Viktor Bout

Fauci: Covid response was hampered by ‘disinformation and political ideology’

02:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Anthony Fauci, who for many Americans became the champion of a science-first approach to tackling the pandemic, is retiring from his position as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases this month.

In a farewell essay, he argued that the US could have had an even more effective response to Covid, were it not for the deep polarisation of American politics and culture at large.

Josh Marcus reports.

Fauci says Covid response hampered by ‘political ideology’ in farewell essay

Trump was not interested in Paul Whelan’s case, former official says

01:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Former president Donald Trump and his allies have raged against President Joe Biden’s administration after US officials secured the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner from Russian authorities in a prison exchange for convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout.

The former president and other Republican officials have derided the exchange, accusing the Biden administration of neglecting the case of Paul Whelan, a former US Marine who has been detained in Russia since 2018 on accusations of espionage, charges that he has denied.

But former White House national security officials under the Trump administration, as well as the brother of Mr Whelan, have said that the former president was not interested in the case when he was in office.

Alex Woodward reports.

Trump was not interested in Paul Whelan’s case, according to former officials

00:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Far-right influencers, white nationalists, neo-fascist activists and extremist European figures mingled with Republican members of Congress and allies of Donald Trump at a black-tie event in New York City, where Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene suggested Capitol rioters “would’ve been armed” had she organised the attack.

At the group’s annual gala in Manhattan on 10 December, the president of the New York Young Republicans Club declared “total war” on the political left, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, whose reporters attended the gathering.

In her closing remarks, Ms Greene said of the January 6 attack: “I will tell you something: if Steve Bannon and I organized that, we would have won,” she said. “Not to mention, it would’ve been armed.”

Alex Woodward reports.

White House calls Greene’s Jan 6 comments a ‘slap in the face’ of law enforcement

Enthusiasm for Democrats waned among young voters during midterms

Monday 12 December 2022 23:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Young voters who have been critical to Democratic successes in recent elections showed signs in November’s midterms that their enthusiasm may be waning. a potential warning sign for a party that will need their strong backing heading into the 2024 presidential race.

Read on:

Young voters' enthusiasm for Democrats waned during midterms

Trump planning book of private correspondence with celebrities and world leaders, report says

Monday 12 December 2022 23:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Donald Trump is planning to release a book of his private correspondence with celebrities and world leaders, according to a new report.

The former president’s next book is said to feature reproductions of letters he has written and received over the past few decades, CNN reported.

It’s unclear whether the book will include correspondence from his presidency.

Bevan Hurley reports.

Trump planning to publish book of his correspondence with celebrities and leaders

RNC chair avoids Trump “blame game” on Fox

Monday 12 December 2022 22:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Appearing on Fox Business today, RNC chair Ronna McDaniel found herself being asked to opine on whether or not Donald Trump should shoulder any of the blame for his party’s embarrassing midterm elections performance – and like various others in the party whose continued seniority and influence depends on keeping themselves in the ex-president’s good graces, she responded by dancing around the issue:

Schiff: Jan 6 panel still weighing criminal referral strategy

Monday 12 December 2022 22:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Speaking on Face the Nation yesterday, January 6 committee member Adam Schiff made clear that he and his colleagues have established “evidence of criminality” in the course of their investigation – but in keeping with the tight-lipped nature of the panel’s work so far, he refused to be drawn on what its strategy for referring the culprits to the Department of Justice, if at all, might be.

Watch his remarks below:

Jan 6 committee’s incoming criminal referrals are ‘more than symbolic’, Kinzinger says

Monday 12 December 2022 21:40 , Oliver O'Connell

US Rep Adam Kinzinger did not indicate whether Trump would be included in a round of criminal referrals to the US Department of Justice from the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot.

“I don’t think criminal referrals are pointless. I think the point on that it’s very clear that the DOJ has to decide to take this up,” he told ABC’s This Week on Sunday.

Mr Kinzinger, one of two Republicans on the committee, said that “the referrals won’t necessarily be something that’s going to wake up DOJ to something they didn’t know before.”

“I do think it will be an important symbolic thing that the committee can do – or even more than symbolic, just [making it] very clear that Congress thinks a crime has been committed here and the DOJ should investigate it,” he said.

Trump: Democrats ‘wanted’ January 6 riot

Monday 12 December 2022 21:20 , Oliver O'Connell

Donald Trump has suggested that Democrats “wanted” the January 6 riot to happen, ahead of the select committee ruling on possible criminal referrals.

Mr Trump appeared on One America News, saying that the committee is “looking at everything other than two things. They don’t want to know about Nancy Pelosi turning down 10,000 soldiers because she didn’t look like the look”.

That claim has previously been found to be false.

Gustaf Kilander and Abe Asher report.

Trump suggests Democrats ‘wanted’ January 6 riot ahead of committee ruling

Oath Keepers plotted to use force to keep Trump in office, court hears

Monday 12 December 2022 21:00 , Reuters

A federal prosecutor on Monday told a court that four members of the far-right Oath Keepers should be found guilty of seditious conspiracy for plotting to use force to stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, in order to keep Donald Trump in the White House.

Monday marked the beginning of the Justice Department’s second major January 6 sedition trial, this time involving Oath Keeper defendants David Moerschel, Joseph Hackett, Roberto Minuta and Edward Vallejo.

“These defendants decided to take the presidential election into their own hands when they tried to stop the presidential transfer of power by force for the first time in our country’s history,” federal prosecutor Troy Edwards said in laying out the government’s argument.

Opening arguments came nearly two weeks after prosecutors won a victory in the first trial against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four others.

In that first sedition trial, which lasted about eight weeks, a jury convicted Rhodes and Oath Keepers Florida chapter leader Kelly Meggs of seditious conspiracy, while acquitting defendants Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell of that charge.

All five were also convicted of obstruction of an official proceeding - the congressional certification of the election results - and the jury delivered mixed verdicts on a handful of other charges, including two other conspiracy counts.

The charges of seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding each carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

The four defendants in the current seditious conspiracy trial were part of the same indictment as Rhodes. Due to space limitations and the risks of Covid-19 contagion, the presiding US District Judge Amit Mehta split the case into separate trials.

In addition to seditious conspiracy, all four are charged with conspiracy to obstruct and obstructing an official proceeding, and conspiracy to prevent members of Congress from discharging their duties.

Prosecutors have said Rhodes and his co-defendants planned to use force to prevent Congress from formally certifying Joe Biden’s election victory over Trump.

On the day of the attack by Trump supporters, Moerschel, Hackett, Minuta, Meggs, Watkins, and Harrelson all entered the Capitol clad in tactical gear.

Minuta, who led a group of several Oath Keepers into the Capitol, forcefully clashed with police, all the while screaming it was “their building,” Edwards told the jury.

Vallejo is accused of staying back at a hotel in northern Virginia, where the Oath Keepers staged a “quick reaction force” that prosecutors said was equipped with firearms ready to be quickly transported into Washington.

None of the defendants in this trial have the name recognition of Rhodes, who founded the group in 2009.

Its members, which include current and retired US military personnel, law enforcement officers and first responders, have turned up, often heavily armed, at protests and political events around the United States, including the racial justice demonstrations following the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer.

Hackett and Moerschel are both members of the Florida chapter of the group, while prosecutors said Minuta previously served as a “leader” of the New York area’s members. Vallejo was part of a group of Oath Keepers from Arizona.

Reuters

Second Oath Keepers sedition trial: What you need to know

Monday 12 December 2022 20:39 , Oliver O'Connell

2nd Oath Keepers Jan. 6 sedition trial to get underway

McDaniel ducks Trump question

Monday 12 December 2022 20:09 , Oliver O'Connell

Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel claims she doesn’t know why voters voted for some Republicans but not others.

When asked by Fox Business anchor Stuart Varney if the reason is Donald Trump, she ducks the question.

Watch below:

Georgia Secretary of State sent grand jury subpoena by special counsel

Monday 12 December 2022 20:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Per The Washington Post:

Special counsel Jack Smith has sent a grand jury subpoena to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, bringing to five the number of 2020 battleground states where state or local election officials are known to have received such requests for any and all communications with Trump, his campaign, and a long list of aides and allies.

State and local officials in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have received similar subpoenas — all of them, like Georgia, central to President Donald Trump’s failed plan to stay in power after the 2020 election.

Earlier: Judge throws out Trump’s Mar-a-Lago documents lawsuit

Monday 12 December 2022 19:41 , Oliver O'Connell

The Florida-based federal judge whose rulings on behalf of former president Donald Trump temporarily blocked the Department of Justice from evidence seized during the 8 August search of his Mar-a-Lago home and office has officially tossed the civil lawsuit he had used to intervene in the criminal investigation into his conduct.

Andrew Feinberg has the details.

Judge tosses Trump’s Mar-a-Lago documents lawsuit after appeals court orders her to

Pelosi’s daughter condemns GOP lawmakers for laughing about attack on her father

Monday 12 December 2022 19:11 , Oliver O'Connell

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s daughter criticised Republicans who mocked the attack on her father Paul in late October in an interview with CBS Sunday Morning.

Alexandra Pelosi spoke with CBS’s John Dickerson to promote her upcoming documentary about her mother entitled Pelosi in the House. The documentary comes after her mother announced last month that she would step aside as House Democratic Leader after Republicans won the majority.

Eric Garcia reports.

Nancy Pelosi’s daughter condemns GOP lawmakers for laughing about her father attack

Republicans set sights on former intelligence officials who voiced doubts over Hunter Biden email story

Monday 12 December 2022 18:41 , Oliver O'Connell

Key members of the incoming House Republican majority have signalled their intent to target a group of former US intelligence officials who signed on to an open letter voicing doubts over the veracity of an October 2020 New York Post article alleging that President Joe Biden had met with one of his son Hunter’s business associates during his time as vice president.

Andrew Feinberg has the details.

GOP will target ex-intel officials who voiced doubts over Hunter Biden email story

Greene says ‘White House needs to learn how sarcasm works'

Monday 12 December 2022 18:27 , Oliver O'Connell

White House slams latest Marjorie Taylor Greene comments

Monday 12 December 2022 18:11 , Oliver O'Connell

The White House issued a furious response to far-right Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, whose remarks to a gala crowd in New York City about January 6 were a “slap in the face” of law enforcement and of the families of victims, according to a statement from the administration.

Read on:

White House calls Greene’s Jan 6 comments a ‘slap in the face’ of law enforcement

Fauci says Covid response was hampered by ‘disinformation and political ideology’

Monday 12 December 2022 17:41 , Oliver O'Connell

Anthony Fauci, who for many Americans became the champion of a science-first approach to tackling the pandemic, is retiring from his position as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases this month.

In a farewell essay, he argued that the US could have had an even more effective response to Covid, were it not for the deep polarisation of American politics and culture at large.

Josh Marcus has the story.

Fauci says Covid response hampered by ‘political ideology’ in farewell essay

ICYMI: Jim Jordan makes false claim about deleted ‘Kanye. Elon. Trump’ tweet

Monday 12 December 2022 17:11 , Oliver O'Connell

Republican congressman Jim Jordan appeared to deny that a now-deleted Twitter post praising Elon Musk, Kanye West and Donald Trump came from an account linked to him.

An account for Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, on which Mr Jordan serves as ranking member, posted “Kanye. Elon. Trump.” on 6 October. The post was deleted roughly two months later after the virulently antisemitic rapper praised Adolf Hitler and Nazism.

Alex Woodward reports.

Jim Jordan makes false claim about ‘Kanye. Elon. Trump’ tweet

Incoming GOP House majority ramps up impeachment talk

Monday 12 December 2022 16:53 , Andrew Naughtie

As Kevin McCarthy works frantically to secure enough votes to become speaker of the House in just a few weeks’ time, rebellious members of his caucus are stirring things up with talk of impeaching Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whom many Republicans have tried to paint as a villain in what they claim is an “invasion” at the US’s southern border:

RNC chair avoids Trump “blame game” on Fox

Monday 12 December 2022 16:12 , Andrew Naughtie

Appearing on Fox Business today, RNC chair Ronna McDaniel found herself being asked to opine on whether or not Donald Trump should shoulder any of the blame for his party’s embarrassing midterm elections performance – and like various others in the party whose continued seniority and influence depends on keeping themselves in the ex-president’s good graces, she responded by dancing around the issue:

Trump fails in key Mar-a-Lago lawsuit

Monday 12 December 2022 15:11 , Andrew Naughtie

The Trump team have been trying hard to thwart the Justice Department investigation into the former president’s hoarding of government documents at Mar-a-Lago, but so far, to little avail.

And now, their latest attempt to block the investigation has fallen short, with the same Trump-appointed judge who controversially appointed the special master now overseeing the sifting of the documents dismissing their lawsuit for lack of jurisdiction:

Read more:

Judge tosses Trump’s Mar-a-Lago documents lawsuit after appeals court orders her to

Schiff: Jan 6 panel still weighing criminal referral strategy

Monday 12 December 2022 15:00 , Andrew Naughtie

Speaking on Face the Nation yesterday, January 6 committee member Adam Schiff made clear that he and his colleagues have established “evidence of criminality” in the course of their investigation – but in keeping with the tight-lipped nature of the panel’s work so far, he refused to be drawn on what its strategy for referring the culprits to the Department of Justice, if at all, might be.

Watch his remarks below:

Monday 12 December 2022 14:30 , Andrew Naughtie

Far-right influencers, white nationalists, neo-fascist activists and extremist European figures mingled with Republican members of Congress and allies of Donald Trump at a black-tie event in New York City, where Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene suggested Capitol rioters “would’ve been armed” had she organised the attack.

At the group’s annual gala in Manhattan on 10 December, the president of the New York Young Republicans Club declared “total war” on the political left, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, whose reporters attended the gathering.

In her closing remarks, Ms Greene said of the January 6 attack: “I will tell you something: if Steve Bannon and I organized that, we would have won,” she said. “Not to mention, it would’ve been armed.”

Alex Woodward reports.

Marjorie Taylor Greene says Jan 6 rioters ‘would’ve been armed’ if she organised it