Trump news – live: Trump sues Bob Woodward as Ron DeSantis responds to ex-president’s attacks

Donald Trump is suing journalist Bob Woodward for releasing his interview recordings to the public, claiming that he didn’t give him permission to use them for an audiobook.

Mr Trump also now faces yet another criminal investigation, this time at the hands of the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

The New York Times broke the story of the office’s ongoing grand jury probe into Mr Trump’s 2016 hush payment, via former attorney Michael Cohen, to adult film star Stormy Daniels. The office is presenting evidence to a grand jury in the days ahead, and will soon decide whether Mr Trump or others should face criminal indictments.

The former president is alleged to have paid off Ms Daniels in 2016 to prevent her from spreading claims of an affair between the two. Mr Trump denies this; Ms Daniels and the ex-president’s former “fixer”, Mr Cohen, do not.

Meanwhile, Florida governor Ron DeSantis has dismissed Mr Trump’s recent attacks, noting that he recently got re-elected.

Key Points

• Donald Trump sues Bob Woodward and book publisher over interview tapes

• Manhattan DA opens grand jury probe into Stormy Daniels payment

• Trump speaks out on Tyre Nichols killing: ‘Never should have happened’

• Nikki Haley calls for ‘new generation’ of leaders in move away from Trump

• Chris Christie says Trump can’t win in 2024

• Former Trump campaign legal adviser faces effort to disbar him over 2020 lies

Trump pleaded the fifth more than 400 times in fraud case deposition

10:15 , Rachel Sharp

Donald Trump pleaded the fifth more than 400 times while sitting for a deposition in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil fraud case, it has been revealed.

On Tuesday, AG James’ office released a video of Mr Trump’s deposition from 10 August last year where he was questioned about an alleged sprawling financial fraud scheme where he and some of his adult children manipulated their worth to benefit from loans, tax breaks and other benefits.

In the deposition, Mr Trump repeatedly asserted his fifth amendment right or responded “same answer” to questions, as he claimed “anyone in my position not taking the fifth amendment would be a fool, an absolute fool”.

During a rare moment where he did speak, he pushed his claim that he had been unfairly treated in a “witch hunt”.

“This whole thing is very unfair,” he claimed.

In September, AG James announced a civil lawsuit against Mr Trump, the Trump Organization and three of his adult children Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump. The Trump children were also deposed throughout the long-running investigation.

This Republican single mom wants the GOP to stop ‘being a**holes to women’. What will she do about it?

08:45 , John Bowden

Nancy Mace is one of the Republican Party’s most interesting members in the House.

After surviving a Trump-endorsed challenge to her reelection last year, the South Carolina representative returns to Washington as one of the party’s most outspoken members on issues of gender and even the far-right’s embrace of conspiracies.

She sat down with The Independent’s Eric Garcia for an exclusive interview about her style of politics and new home in the GOP’s slim House majority.

Nancy Mace wants Republicans to stop ‘being a**holes to women’. How will she do it?

Trump used Freedom of Information Act request to slow IRS release of his taxes

07:45 , John Bowden

Former president Donald Trump inundated the Internal Revenue Service with a barrage of Freedom of Information Act requests meant to shed light on any internal deliberations agency officials were making as they considered turning his tax records over to the House Ways and Means Committee.

The former president famously claimed to be under audit by the agency for years, and resisted calls to release his financial records publicly until the supposed audit concluded. It never did.

Read more in The Independent:

Trump used Freedom of Information Act request to slow IRS release of his tax returns

Arizona Republicans pick former Trump official to lead party

06:45 , John Bowden

Arizona Republicans selected former state treasurer and Donald Trump aide Jeff DeWit to be the party’s next chairman, turning to a familiar face with relationships across the party fractured after its worst election in decades.

Mr DeWit replaces firebrand Trump ally Kelli Ward, who helped the former president in his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and was a vocal proponent of his false claim that the election results were fraudulent.

She broke with precedent in last year’s primary, openly promoting a slate of election deniers who went on to lose the general election in November.

“I’m going to work for you and we’re going to unify,” Mr DeWit said after winning. “And we’re going to get back to beating Democrats and winning elections.”

04:45 , John Bowden

House speaker Kevin McCarthy says he is looking forward to discussing with president Joe Biden a “reasonable and responsible way that we can lift the debt ceiling” when the two meet tomorrow for their first sit-down at the White House since Mr McCarthy was elected to the post.

Mr McCarthy said he wants to address spending cuts along with raising the debt limit, even though the White House has ruled out linking those two issues together as the government tries to avoid a potentially devastating financial default.

The speaker pledged that cuts to Social Security and Medicare would be off the table.

“I know the president said he didn’t want to have any discussion [on cuts], but I think it’s very important that our whole government is designed to find compromise,” Mr McCarthy told CBS‘ “Face the Nation.”

Read more:

Biden, McCarthy to discuss debt limit in talks on Wednesday

GOP congresswoman says there’s a difference between Trump and Biden documents

03:45 , John Bowden

Republican Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina drew a difference between the investigation into documents found in locations associated with President Joe Biden and documents located at former president Donald Trump’s home.

The Independent spoke to Ms Mace in an exclusive interview for a profile to be published this weekend. The interview came as Mr Biden faces scrutiny after documents from his time as vice president were found both at his home in Delaware and the Penn Biden Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

Read more from Eric Garcia:

GOP Congresswoman Nancy Mace says there’s a difference between Trump and Biden docs

Trump says ‘disloyal’ DeSantis ‘trying to rewrite history’ on Covid

02:45 , John Bowden

Donald Trump lashed out at Ron DeSantis and called him “disloyal” as the Florida governor weighs a run for the 2024 Republican nomination against his former political benefactor.

Mr Trump spoke to Politico and CNN on his plane as he campaigned in New Hampshire and South Carolina, two states that have the first primary contests in the country.

“When I hear that he might [run] I think it’s very disloyal,” Mr Trump told reporters.

Mr Trump criticised Mr DeSantis for his record during the Covid pandemic.

“There are Republican governors that did not close their states,” Mr Trump said. “They’re trying to rewrite history.”

He added: “Ron would have not been governor if it wasn’t for me.”

Trump says ‘disloyal’ DeSantis ‘trying to rewrite history’ on Covid

Donald Trump sues Bob Woodward and book publisher over interview tapes

01:45 , John Bowden

Donald Trump is suing journalist Bob Woodward of the Watergate scandal fame for releasing his interview recordings to the public, claiming that he didn’t give him permission to use them for an audiobook.

The former US president filed a lawsuit on Monday against Woodward, the publisher Simon & Schuster and its parent company Paramount Global for releasing the recorded interviews which took place between December 2019 and August 2020.

Mr Trump claimed in the lawsuit that he consented to be recorded for a series of interviews but only for a book Woodward was working on, rather than for direct publication. Woodward’s “Rage” was published in September 2021.

Read the full story here:

Donald Trump sues Bob Woodward and book publisher over interview tapes

Inside McCarthy's House: Famous friends and hard realities

00:45 , John Bowden

Three weeks into the new era of the House Republican majority, the risks of Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s leadership style are clearly taking hold.

Away from the glare of the speaker’s official office, McCarthy is conducting some of the most exhilarating but also difficult business of leadership. Yet McCarthy is also confronting the limits of his slim hold on power as the promises of a new style of running the House run into the hard realities of governing.

Read more:

Inside McCarthy's House: Famous friends and hard realities

California may disbar Trump lawyer over 2020 lies

Tuesday 31 January 2023 23:45 , John Bowden

John Eastman, who led Donald Trump’s legal bid to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, could be stripped of his licence to practise law after he was hit with 11 charges stemming from his efforts fuelled by the former president’s election lies.

The State Bar of California’s Chief Trial Counsel George Cardona announced the case against Mr Eastman on Thursday.

Read more about the second member of Mr Trump’s legal team to face consequences for the campaign to overturn the election:

California state bar seeking to strip John Eastman’s law licence over election lies

Stormy Daniels responds to Trump

Tuesday 31 January 2023 22:45 , John Bowden

Adult film star Stormy Daniels has responded to Donald Trump’s Truth Social rant denouncing the Manhattan district attorney’s office over the grand jury investigation impanelled to consider criminal charges against him for a hush payment made to Ms Daniels in 2016.

Mr Trump has long denied the affair which Ms Daniels claims the two were involved in; nevertheless, his attorney Michael Cohen paid Ms Daniels $130,000 out of his own personal funds to apparently buy her silence.

Ron DeSantis responds to Donald Trump’s recent attacks

Tuesday 31 January 2023 20:45 , John Bowden

Former President Donald Trump took aim at Gov Ron DeSantis’ leadership of Florida during the worst of the Covid-19 crisis during a recent campaign swing through New Hampshire and South Carolina.

On Tuesday, Mr DeSantis fired back.

The Independent has the story:

Ron DeSantis responds to Donald Trump’s recent attacks

Chuck Todd has fiery exchange with Jim Jordan over difference between Biden and Trump documents

Tuesday 31 January 2023 19:30 , John Bowden

NBC’s Chuck Todd got into it with Rep Jim Jordan over the weekend when the Ohio Republican stopped by the Meet the Press studio to discuss the responses of the federal government to Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s respective retention of classified material at their residences and, in Mr Biden’s case, a DC-based think tank.

The new chair of the House Judiciary Committee insisted to Mr Todd that there was a difference in the way that the two men were treated — unfairly so — thanks to what he contended was a supposed politicisation of the Justice Department.

But Todd wasn’t having it, and said that the two situations were not comparable due to the former president’s failure to comply with a subpoena from the Justice Department for the classified materials.

Watch their exchange below:

Chuck Todd battles Jim Jordan over difference between Biden and Trump documents

Trump rips Manhattan DA over Stormy Daniels case

Tuesday 31 January 2023 18:45 , John Bowden

Donald Trump has responded to news that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has impanelled a grand jury as he weighs bringing charges against Mr Trump over the 2016 hush payment made to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star.

He fired back with one of his typical Truth Social rants, writing: “With murders and violent crime surging like never before in New York City, the Radical Left Manhattan D.A., Alvin Bragg, just leaked to the Fake News Media that they are still going after the Stormy ”Horseface” Daniels Bull….!”

“Working closely with the Weaponized Justice Department, this is a continuation of the Greatest Witch Hunt of all time,” he added. “They long ago missed the Statute of Limitations, & I recently won big money against “Stormy” in the 9th Circuit - NEVER HAD AN AFFAIR. This is old news!”

Trump berates female Fox News host for ‘grating voice’ and ‘jittery’ presentation

Tuesday 31 January 2023 18:15 , John Bowden

Donald Trump gave an unsolicited review of Fox News show The Five in which he branded co-host Jessica Tarlov “absolutely terrible” and called her voice “grating and unendurable.”

Tarlov, a former Democratic pollster, is one of the liberal voices on the show and was named a co-host in 2021.

“I really like The Five on Fox News, especially the hosts, with the exception of wacky Jessica Tarlov, who is absolutely terrible,” the one-term president wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“Her facts are knowingly wrong, her jittery presentation is horrendous and, forgive me, her VOICE is grating and unendurable.”

Trump berates female Fox News HOST for ‘grating voice’ and ‘jittery’ presentation

Ron DeSantis hits back at Trump’s recent attacks against him

Tuesday 31 January 2023 17:48 , David Taintor

Asked about Donald Trump’s recent attacks against him, Florida Gov Ron DeSantis pointed to his own November re-election as proof of his success.

“And I’m happy to say, you know, in my case, not only did we win reelection, we won with the highest percentage of the vote that any Republican governor candidate has in the history of the state of Florida,” Mr DeSantis said during a press conference, according to The Hill. “We won by the largest raw vote margin – over 1.5 million votes – than any governor candidate has ever had in Florida history.”

Trump rips Manhattan DA over Stormy Daniels case

Tuesday 31 January 2023 18:08 , John Bowden

Donald Trump has responded to news that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has impanelled a grand jury as he weighs bringing charges against Mr Trump over the 2016 hush payment made to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star.

He fired back with one of his typical Truth Social rants, writing: “With murders and violent crime surging like never before in New York City, the Radical Left Manhattan D.A., Alvin Bragg, just leaked to the Fake News Media that they are still going after the Stormy ”Horseface” Daniels Bull….!”

“Working closely with the Weaponized Justice Department, this is a continuation of the Greatest Witch Hunt of all time,” he added. “They long ago missed the Statute of Limitations, & I recently won big money against “Stormy” in the 9th Circuit - NEVER HAD AN AFFAIR. This is old news!”

Ted Cruz won’t apologise for Paul Pelosi hammer attack conspiracies

Tuesday 31 January 2023 17:40 , Eric Garcia

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas will not apologise for promoting conspiracy theories about the attack on Paul Pelosi after video was released showing the assault on the husband of former House speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The Texas Republican spoke to TMZ at Reagan National Airport and called the video depicting David DePape assaulting Mr Pelosi “utterly unacceptable” and the actions of a “deranged lunatic who should go to jail for a very, very long time”.

Previously, Mr Cruz had quote-tweeted conservative media figure Matt Walsh, when he said “I do know that trying to paint a hippie nudist from Berkeley as some kind of militant right winger is absurd and will always be absurd.” In response, Mr Cruz tweeted “truth.”

Ted Cruz won’t apologise for Paul Pelosi hammer attack conspiracies

California may disbar Trump lawyer over 2020 lies

Tuesday 31 January 2023 13:57 , John Bowden

John Eastman, who led Donald Trump’s legal bid to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, could be stripped of his licence to practise law after he was hit with 11 charges stemming from his efforts fuelled by the former president’s election lies.

The State Bar of California’s Chief Trial Counsel George Cardona announced the case against Mr Eastman on Thursday.

Read more about the second member of Mr Trump’s legal team to face consequences for the campaign to overturn the election:

California state bar seeking to strip John Eastman’s law licence over election lies

Trump impeachment leader Schiff joins California Senate race

Tuesday 31 January 2023 13:00 , John Bowden

Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, who rose to national prominence as the lead prosecutor in President Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial, announced Thursday that he is seeking the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

“We need a fighter in the U.S. Senate who has been at the center of the struggle for our democracy and our economy,” Schiff said in a statement announcing his 2024 bid.

The Independent has more about the hottest race on the left ahead of 2024:

Trump impeachment leader Schiff joins California Senate race

Inside McCarthy's House: Famous friends and hard realities

Tuesday 31 January 2023 12:30 , John Bowden

Three weeks into the new era of the House Republican majority, the risks of Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s leadership style are clearly taking hold.

Away from the glare of the speaker’s official office, McCarthy is conducting some of the most exhilarating but also difficult business of leadership. Yet McCarthy is also confronting the limits of his slim hold on power as the promises of a new style of running the House run into the hard realities of governing.

Read more:

Inside McCarthy's House: Famous friends and hard realities

Manhattan DA opens grand jury probe into hush payments to Stormy Daniels

Tuesday 31 January 2023 12:00 , John Bowden

Donald Trump has yet another criminal investigation to add to the long list of legal battles he is waging as he seeks the presidency for a third time.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has impanelled a grand jury and will soon begin presenting evidence that crimes were committed when Donald Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen paid hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016.

Both Mr Cohen and Ms Daniels have said that the money was meant to stop Ms Daniels from spreading her claims of an affair with the now-former president.

Grand Jury to hear evidence on Trump’s porn star payoff scheme, report says

ICYMI: Trump used Freedom of Information Act request to slow IRS release of his taxes

Tuesday 31 January 2023 11:40 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Former president Donald Trump inundated the Internal Revenue Service with a barrage of Freedom of Information Act requests meant to shed light on any internal deliberations agency officials were making as they considered turning his tax records over to the House Ways and Means Committee.

The former president famously claimed to be under audit by the agency for years, and resisted calls to release his financial records publicly until the supposed audit concluded. It never did.

Read more in The Independent:

Trump used Freedom of Information Act request to slow IRS release of his tax returns

Nikki Haley takes veiled shot at Biden and Trump

Tuesday 31 January 2023 11:15 , John Bowden

Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley took a veiled shot at both former president Donald Trump and president Joe Biden over their shared dreams of seeking the presidency in 2024.

The ex-Trump administration official was being interviewed on Fox News when she took the opportunity to say that a “young generation” of leadership was needed in Washington.

“I think we need a young generation to come in, step up and really start fixing things,” she said, adding: “Can I be that leader? Yes, I think I can be that leader.”

Read more:

Nikki Haley calls for ‘new generation’ of leaders in move away from Trump

Donald Trump sues Bob Woodward and book publisher over interview tapes

Tuesday 31 January 2023 10:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Donald Trump is suing journalist Bob Woodward of the Watergate scandal fame for releasing his interview recordings to the public, claiming that he didn’t give him permission to use them for an audiobook.

The former US president filed a lawsuit on Monday against Woodward, the publisher Simon & Schuster and its parent company Paramount Global for releasing the recorded interviews that took place between December 2019 and August 2020.

Mr Trump claimed in the lawsuit that he consented to be recorded for a series of interviews but only for a book Woodward was working on. Woodward’s “Rage” was published in September 2021.

Read the full story here:

Donald Trump sues Bob Woodward and book publisher over interview tapes

GOP congresswoman says there’s a difference between Trump and Biden documents

Tuesday 31 January 2023 09:45 , John Bowden

Republican Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina drew a difference between the investigation into documents found in locations associated with President Joe Biden and documents located at former president Donald Trump’s home.

The Independent spoke to Ms Mace in an exclusive interview for a profile to be published this weekend. The interview came as Mr Biden faces scrutiny after documents from his time as vice president were found both at his home in Delaware and the Penn Biden Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

Read more from Eric Garcia:

GOP Congresswoman Nancy Mace says there’s a difference between Trump and Biden docs

Trump used Freedom of Information Act request to slow IRS release of his taxes

Tuesday 31 January 2023 08:15 , John Bowden

Former president Donald Trump inundated the Internal Revenue Service with a barrage of Freedom of Information Act requests meant to shed light on any internal deliberations agency officials were making as they considered turning his tax records over to the House Ways and Means Committee.

The former president famously claimed to be under audit by the agency for years, and resisted calls to release his financial records publicly until the supposed audit concluded. It never did.

Read more in The Independent:

Trump used Freedom of Information Act request to slow IRS release of his tax returns

Election-denying lawmakers hold key election oversight roles

Tuesday 31 January 2023 06:45 , John Bowden

Republican lawmakers who have spread election conspiracy theories and falsely claimed that the 2020 presidential outcome was rigged are overseeing legislative committees charged with setting election policy in two major political battleground states.

Divided government in Pennsylvania and Arizona means that any voting restrictions those GOP legislators propose is likely to fail. Even so, the high-profile appointments give the lawmakers a platform to cast further doubt on the integrity of elections in states that will be pivotal in selecting the next president in 2024.

Election-denying lawmakers hold key election oversight roles

Trump speaks out on Tyre Nichols killing: ‘Never should have happened’

Tuesday 31 January 2023 05:45 , John Bowden

Donald Trump has described the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols as “horrible” and says that it “never should have happened.”

The former president’s comments came one day after the city of Memphis publicly released video footage of the attack earlier this month.

The video shows a violent confrontation between officers from the unit and 29-year-old Nichols, during which officers can be seen punching him and using batons and taser weapons to subdue him as he cried out for his mother.

Trump says Tyre Nichols killing ‘Never should have happened’

Donald Trump sues Bob Woodward and book publisher over interview tapes

Tuesday 31 January 2023 04:57 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Donald Trump is suing journalist Bob Woodward of the Watergate scandal fame for releasing his interview recordings to the public, claiming that he didn’t give him permission to use them for an audiobook.

The former US president filed a lawsuit on Monday against Woodward, the publisher Simon & Schuster and its parent company Paramount Global for releasing the recorded interviews that took place between December 2019 and August 2020.

Mr Trump claimed in the lawsuit that he consented to be recorded for a series of interviews but only for a book Woodward was working on. Woodward’s “Rage” was published in September 2021.

Read the full story here:

Donald Trump sues Bob Woodward and book publisher over interview tapes

Trump says ‘disloyal’ DeSantis ‘trying to rewrite history’ on Covid

Tuesday 31 January 2023 04:45 , John Bowden

Donald Trump lashed out at Ron DeSantis and called him “disloyal” as the Florida governor weighs a run for the 2024 Republican nomination against his former political benefactor.

Mr Trump spoke to Politico and CNN on his plane as he campaigned in New Hampshire and South Carolina, two states that have the first primary contests in the country.

“When I hear that he might [run] I think it’s very disloyal,” Mr Trump told reporters.

Mr Trump criticised Mr DeSantis for his record during the Covid pandemic.

“There are Republican governors that did not close their states,” Mr Trump said. “They’re trying to rewrite history.”

He added: “Ron would have not been governor if it wasn’t for me.”