Trump calls for Putin to release dirt on the Biden family
Donald Trump has poured cold water on suggestions that he could be elected speaker of the House of Representatives by Republicans after this November’s midterm elections – an idea that has been floated by some of his more hardcore congressional allies. Instead, the president said, “I wanna look at what’s happening and then we’re gonna be doing something else”.
This he did in the same interview where he called on Vladimir Putin to release dirt about the Biden family’s supposed dealings with the wife of the mayor of Moscow. His appeal to the Russian autocrat has drawn outrage given Mr Putin’s current assault on Ukraine, an American ally.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that White House phone records from 6 January 2021 obtained by the committee investigating the Capitol riot feature a 7-hour gap in former President Donald Trump’s communications, a span of time that includes the assault on the building by a horde of his supporters.
Later on Tuesday, former national security adviser John Bolton said that contra the ex-president’s denials, Mr Trump was aware of the slang term “burner phone” – and that he used the term on multiple occasions.
Report: Truth Social’s traffic is a disaster
Truth Social, Donald Trump’s own-brand social media platform that’s presented itself as a censorship-free haven for right-wingers disgusted by big tech, was launched to much fanfare earlier this year – but whatever promise it held for Mr Trump and his supporters appears to have gone unrealised.
According to a new report from The Wrapthe platform has seen a dramatic drop in traffic and signups since it launched, and is failing to compete with already-popular platforms like Gettr.
Andrew Naughtie30 March 2022 15:03
The single Trump tweet playing a major role in the Jan 6 probe
Donald Trump may have gone dark for much of 6 January 2021, but among the many messages he blasted out between the 2020 election and that fateful day, one tweet is increasingly the focus of investigators’ attention: a 19 December call on supporters to attend his DC rally on 6 January, telling them: “Be there, will be wild!”
On MSNBC last night, the New York Times’s Luke Broadwater described how the tweet is increasingly being connected with an uptick in activity by extremist groups who ultimately participated in the insurrection.
In this piece from 2021, Josh Marcus looks at the story of two Pennsylvania men indicted for their role in the riot who specifically described the event as a “call to action” from “the Don himself”.
Andrew Naughtie30 March 2022 14:33
Trump dismisses plan to make him House speaker
There have been murmurings among the more hardcore elements of the House GOP that Donald Trump could be elected speaker once his party retakes the majority. The speaker does not technically have to be an elected member in their own right, meaning that the ex-president could legally assume the office if elected. However, in his interview with Just the News, the president seemed nonplussed by the idea.
Andrew Naughtie30 March 2022 14:01
Trump hedges bet on his own endorsements
Donald Trump’s endorsement is highly coveted among GOP candidates in this year’s elections, but it does not come with any guarantee of victory in a competitive primary. That’s becoming abundantly clear in Georgia, where Mr Trump has backed a former senator, David Perdue, to take on Governor Brian Kemp because of the latter’s refusal to sign up to the false claim that his state was stolen by Joe Biden in 2020.
Mr Perdue is falling badly short in both polling and fundraising, a sign that even people the president regards as sworn enemies might not be so easily displaced just because he puts them in his sights.
In his interview with right-wing outlet Real America’s Voice yesterday, Mr Trump began what looked very much like an effort to shrug off Mr Perdue’s likely loss – as well as the defeat of any other of his preferred outriders.
Andrew Naughtie30 March 2022 13:33
GOP Senator sees future despite Trump impeachment vote
The handful of Senate Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump have naturally become unwelcome people in much of their party, but not all of them are giving up on the prospect of continued careers in the GOP. Among the more optimistic is Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy, who tells Politico in an interview that he is considering running for governor of his state next year.
Cassidy insisted impeachment is a “mixed bag” for him in the state, not a disqualifier, saying it’s likely to be overshadowed by the rest of his record and that a voter may want “somebody that can help run the state, provide some vision.”
“There’s obviously going to be some people who carry [hard feelings about the impeachment vote]but there’s some people who applaud it,” Cassidy said. “I suspect there are some people who say, ‘Well, you know, maybe I don’t care about the vote, but I certainly like the fact that we’re going to have universal access to affordable high speed internet’ because of what I worked on.”
Andrew Naughtie30 March 2022 13:01
Questions remain after bombshell story on Jan 6 phone logs
Robert Costa, one of the reports who broke the story of a seven-hour-plus gap in the White House phone logs from 6 January 2021, has spelled out what remains to be established about Donald Trump’s communications that day.
Read more on the story below courtesy of John Bowden.
Andrew Naughtie30 March 2022 12:19
Jan 6 committee member: evidence implicates members of Congress
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, who sits on the select committee investigating the 6 January insurrection, confirmed to MSNBC last night that her panel is indeed in possession of evidence that implicates other members of Congress in the events leading up to the attack on the US Capitol – but that so far, they are not moving to subpoena their own colleagues.
“Certainly the documentary evidence does indicate some involvement from some of our colleagues. We have asked several of them to come in and talk to us. We have not yet issued subpoenas, and actually there are other individuals that it’s becoming clear have information that will be helpful to our investigation.”
Andrew Naughtie30 March 2022 11:45
Trump’s request to Putin for dirt on Hunter Biden draws outrage
Donald Trump’s casual musing that Vladimir Putin should reveal compromising information about the Biden family has met with both astonishment and outright disgust. Here’s a sampling of the reaction…
Andrew Naughtie30 March 2022 11:10
Ted Cruz claims Nancy Pelosi is plotting to launch a “stop the steal” campaign of her own
Ted Cruz, who was one of the only senators to formally object to the 2020 election results after the 6 January insurrection, has claimed that Nancy Pelosi is preparing to declare that the midterm elections were stolen – this more than seven months before polling day, and despite the continued campaign by Donald Trump to delegitimise the 2020 result in the absence of any convincing evidence to back up his case.
Here he his speaking to Fox News’s Laura Ingraham last night.
Andrew Naughtie30 March 2022 10:45
Trump’s accusations against Hunter Biden playing well in Russian media
Daily Beast columnist and Russian media analyst Julia Davis has spotted – yet again – one of Donald Trump’s anti-Biden claims circulating on Russian state media, this time his remarks about Hunter Biden. Here, she shares a clip of TV hosts openly calling for Joe Biden to be replaced by his predecessor.
As a reminder, here’s what Mr Trump said in an interview with a right-wing outlet that was released yesterday…
Andrew Naughtie30 March 2022 10:15
