Mitch McConnell explains why he will still support Donald Trump
Former president Donald Trump has endorsed 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.”
Meanwhile, the US State Department says Donald Trump and other White House officials left office without providing a record of the gifts they received from foreign governments.
And as investigators continue probing the 2021 Capitol riot, Ali Alexander, the organiser of several “Stop the Steal” rallies, will cooperate with the Justice Department’s investigation of the January 6 insurrection, his lawyer says.
Trump-backed candidate mangles bizarre energy monologue
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.
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
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.
Trump rips into Fiona Hill over NYT interview
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.
Playwright David Mamet joins anti-paedophile paranoia bandwagon
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…
Former Trump adviser “saw thread” between Jan 6 and Zelensky call
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.
Read the full interview below.
ICYMI: Liz Cheney on Jan 6 panel’s approach to Trump
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.
Read more below from Alex Woodward.
Liz Cheney says Trump knew efforts to overturn election were ‘unlawful’
House committee probe reportedly discussing whether to refer ex-president to Justice Department for criminal charges
Was Trump manipulated into endorsing Dr Oz?
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
Former president’s support of Mehmet Oz seen as ‘Apprentice’ star returning to celebrity-focused roots
Could Marjorie Taylor Greene be barred from re-election?
A challenge to stop North Carolina’s Madison Cawthorn running for re-election because of his support for 6 January rioters recently failed in court – but a similar effort focused on Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene may just have a shot.
A federal judge is expected to rule today on Ms Greene’s attempt to dismiss a case against her that alleges she violated the 14th amendment, and is therefore ineligible for elected office. It reads: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath … to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
Read more on the case here.
Trump promises end to vaccine mandates
At his weekend rally, Donald Trump told his supporters that with Republican majorities in Congress, the party would end “every last Covid mandate”, eliciting a huge cheer.
The ex-president has previously confused some of his more ardently anti-vaccine supporters with his endless boasting about the shots being developed during his administration, as well as with his eagerness to declare that he’s received the vaccines himself – something various other Republicans have declined to confirm, with still others claiming to be proudly unvaccinated.
Liz Cheney rakes in campaign cash as she fights for political life
Liz Cheney usually doesn’t have to worry about fending off rivals in her ultra-safe Wyoming seat, but this year’s Republican primary is different. Having voted to impeach Donald Trump for his role instigating the Capitol riot and then joined the 6 January select committee, she has been expelled from the GOP’s House leadership and seen her primary challenger endorsed by party leaders.
However, Politico today reports that the intense effort to get rid of her has raised her nearly $3m just the first three months of this year, bringing her total horde of campaign cash to $6.8m – this in a state where a few hundred thousand dollars a quarter is usually ample.
Read more here.
Source Article from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-news-today-jan-6-capitol-riot-b2055312.html
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