Advertisement

Trump news - live: Ex-president owes National Archives more lost records as Mary says he’s plotting ‘revenge’

Republicans are once again rally behind Trump despite his controversial comments, this time after he seemed to make a death threat earlier this week against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

On Sunday, GOP Senator Rick Scott of Florida refused to condemn the former president.

“I can never respond to why anyone says what they said, but here’s they way I looked at it is, I think what the president is saying is, you know, there’s been a lot of money spent over the last two years,” he told CNN.

Other Republican Senators, like Susan Collins of Maine, say the tone of violent rhetoric in US politics is ratcheting up, to the point where she’s worried a member of Congress might get assassinated.

Meanwhile, historians are arguing Mr Trump may seek “revenge” against rivals and former allies like Florida governor Ron DeSantis if he’s re-elected president in 2024.

The debate on violent words in politics follows another campaign-style rally from Mr Trump, who visited Michigan on Saturday.

In his speech, he lashed out at journalist Maggie Haberman of The New York Timesand praised people like conservative activist Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who lobbied to overturn the 2020 election result.

Key points

  • Trump breaks silence on Hurricane Ian

  • Court filing shows Trump hoarded 200,000 pages of federal records

  • Poll: Majority of Americans want Trump blocked from 2024 run

  • Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ginni Thomas get shout-outs at rally

  • Trump plays video attacking NY AG Letitia James

GOP won’t condemn Trump’s racist attacks

06:00 , Josh Marcus

Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida refused to condemn former president Donald Trump seeming to make a death threat against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

On Friday, Mr Trump criticised Mr McConnell for voting with Democrats on spending legislation.

“Is McConnell approving all of these Trillions of Dollars worth of Democrat sponsored Bills, without even the slightest bit of negotiation, because he hates Donald J Trump, and he knows I am strongly opposed to them, or is he doing it because he believes in the Fake and Highly Destructive Green New Deal, and is willing to take the Country down with him?” the former president wrote on Truth Social.

Read the full story.

GOP senator awkwardly kowtows to Trump after ‘racist’ attack on McConnell’s wife

Will a disclaimer get Donald Trump out of New York’s $250m lawsuit against him?

05:00 , Josh Marcus

Armen Morian, a former prosecutor in the New York Attorney General’s Office, thinks Donald Trump might have a point.

The former president has claimed that New York can’t bring a $250m fraud lawsuit against him and his family company because the Trump Organization consistently warned banks and insurers to rely on their own valuations before offering him business.

“What the disclaimers are saying is, ‘Beware when you read these financial statements,’” Mr Morian told Insider. “That’s all it has to do.”

Here’s more information on the lawsuit.

NY attorney general files $250m lawsuit against Trump and three of his children

Trump finally comments on Hurricane Ian after silence on devastating storm

04:00 , Josh Marcus

Former president Donald Trump opened a political rally in Michigan by breaking his week-long silence on Hurricane Ian, the category five storm that has devastated his home state of Florida.

Speaking in Warren, Michigan, Mr Trump said he wanted to send “profound sympathy and our immense support to everyone back in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas who are struck by this brutal wrath of the hurricane”.

“Not a good hurricane. This was a big one,” he said, adding that he wanted to “say hello to everybody” in the affected area.

“We want to say we love you very much ... please know our hearts are with you and our prayers are with you,” he said.

Andrew Feinberg has the details.

Trump finally breaks silence on Hurricane Ian after devastating storm hits Florida

Trump-endorsed Bolsonaro headed for run-off in Brazil’s presidential election

03:00 , Josh Marcus

Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s right-wing president, who has received endorsements and support from Donald Trump and numerous other US Republicans, appears to be heading for a run-off in his re-election campaign against leftist former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Militia leader plans to use Trump in January 6 defence

02:00 , Josh Marcus

Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers extremist group, plans to invoke a novel legal defence in his trial for charges relating to the January 6 riots at the US Capitol: that he was awaiting orders from Donald Trump.

Mr Rhodes’s lawyers have said the militia leader believed Mr Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act and call up a militia to support him, thus justifying the Oath Keepers’ violent presence at the Capitol during January 6.

Trump administration Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will testify in UAE lobbying trial

01:40 , Josh Marcus

Rex Tillerson, who served as Secretary of State during the early days of the Trump administration, will be called to testify on Monday in the trial of Thomas Barrack, a former fundraiser for Mr Trump who faces charges of unlawfully acting as a foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates.

The testimony will take place on Monday, Al Jazeera reports.

Trump-endorsed candidate for Nevada governor disavows Big Lie about 2020 election

01:19 , Josh Marcus

During a debate on Sunday, Joe Lombardo, a Republican gubernatorial candidate for Nevada who has been endorsed by Donald Trump, disavowed Mr Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

“It bothers me,” he said.

“I’m not shying away from that,” he added. “I don’t stand by him in that aspect.”

On the whole though, Mr Lombardo said he still stands by Mr Trump.

“You’re never going to agree with anybody 100% and everything they do. Even in my own party, there’s people that don’t agree with 100% of what I present forward, but you know, you gotta look at the totality of the person and their leadership,” the candidate concluded.

Former White House aide condemns ‘despicable’ comments about Mitch McConnell

Monday 3 October 2022 00:40 , Josh Marcus

Former White House aide Alyssa Farah Griffin is one of few Republicans who has called out Donald Trump for comments he made about Mitch McConnell and his wife that struck many observers as violent and racist.

Trump gives racist nickname to ex-transport secretary in rant about Mitch McConnell

“This isn’t some crazy person on the internet, this is the GOP front-runner for President if the Party doesn’t wake up & demand better,” Ms Farah wrote on Twitter on Saturday. “He’s not even trying to hide the racism at this point. Just despicable.”

Other Republicans, like Florida Senator Rick Scott, have declined to criticise the president.

GOP senator awkwardly kowtows to Trump after ‘racist’ attack on McConnell’s wife

Why aren’t Florida Republicans voting for Hurricane Ian relief?

Monday 3 October 2022 00:20 , Josh Marcus

Representative Matt Gaetz voted against legislation that would have provided relief for victims of Hurricane Ian, which left a path of devastation in the congressman’s home state of Florida.

The House of Representatives voted 230 to 201 on a continuing resolution to keep the government open until 16 December on Friday. The continuing resolution also gives the Federal Emergency Management Authority the power to spend money through the Disaster Relief Fund.

DRF pays for repairs and restoration of infrastructure damaged by natural disasters, hazard mitigation initiatives, financial assistance to survivors and Fire Management Grants for large forests or grassland wildfires, according to FEMA.

Only 10 Republicans voted against the continuing resolution in the House on Friday. The bill passed the Senate on Thursday with Florida Senator Rick Scott voting against it. Senator Marco Rubio, the Sunshine State’s other US senator, was not present to vote for it.

Eric Garcia has the details for The Independent.

Matt Gaetz votes against hurricane relief money in home state of Florida

The Trump lawsuits just keep coming

01:53 , Josh Marcus

Lawsuits and investigations hung over Donald Trump throughout his business career, then his presidency, and have continued on through to his current post-presidency phase.

Most recently, there’s the bombshell $250m lawsuit from New York attorney general Letitia James against Mr Trump and three of his children for a host of allegedly fraudulent business practices. But there are plenty more.

Read all about them here.

Here are all 20 major lawsuits and investigations Trump is facing

What Maggie Haberman says Trump learned from the 1990s tabloid world

Monday 3 October 2022 00:00 , Josh Marcus

So much of what Donald Trump did as president was unprecedented, but according to reporter Maggie Haberman, the former president is actually much the same as he’s always been.

Ms Haberman, who has covered Mr Trump for since the 1990s, first as a reporter for New York tabloids, and now for the New York Times, says the former president still acts like he’s a big shot real estate developer with city officials lining up to help him.

“Donald Trump is generally the same, depending on the context,” Ms Haberman, author of the forthcoming Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America, told CBS News. “And he tended to treat the White House as if he was still in a real estate office dealing with local county leaders, as if it was still 1980.”

This perspective made Mr Trump unable to confront losing the election, Ms Haberman continued.

“Whether it was his father helping navigate systems for him or helping him financially, or elected officials lining up for him, he always believed things would work out,” she said. “And after November 3, 2020, it became clearer with each passing day that that was not going to happen, and he did not know how to handle it.”

The former president saw the White House the “ultimate vehicle to fame,” she went on, just like tabloids where he was once a fixture.

William Barr says Trump is going overboard on executive privilege claims

Sunday 2 October 2022 23:40 , Josh Marcus

Former Trump administration Attorney General William Barr is one of a number of legal observers saying Donald Trump is probably going too far by claiming executive privilege prevents investigators from examining his efforts to keep White House documents and overturn the 2020 election results.

“There is a decent argument” that making such privilege claims infringes on the powers of current preisdent Joe Biden, Mr Barr told The New York Times on Sunday.

Others interviewed by the Times said such privilege claims are in a legal grey area, as no current or former president has ever invoked executive privilege to stop other members of the executive branch, in this case the Justice Department, from accessing documents.

“This is tricky stuff,” Mark J Rozell, a George Mason University professor and author of Executive Privilege: Presidential Power, Secrecy and Accountability. “That gets to the point where the Trump era changed things and raised these kinds of questions that before were unthinkable to us.”

Even Republicans are worried about violent political rhetoric

Sunday 2 October 2022 23:10 , Josh Marcus

Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine warned about increasing violent threats against lawmakers in an interview with The New York Times, the day after Donald Trump made what some interpretted as a death threat against Senator Mitch McConnell.

The Republican senator spoke about her concerns in the wake of a man smashing a brick through her home in Bangor, Maine, and as political figures like Donald Trump and his supporters deploy increasingly incendiary language.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if a senator or House member were killed,” he said. “What started with abusive phone calls is now translating into active threats of violence and real violence.”

The threat against Ms Collins came amid escalating threats against lawmakers. In 2018, after she voted to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, she received a message that featured a beheading.

Susan Collins issues dark warning: ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if a senator were killed’

Michael Fanone tears into Trump and ‘weasel’ GOP in profane Rolling Stone interview

Sunday 2 October 2022 22:52 , Josh Marcus

Michael Fanone, a former Washington, DC, police officer who was seriously injured during the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol, slammed Donald Trump and his GOP enablers in a profane new interview in Rolling Stone, ahead of the release of his forthcoming memoir.

The former officer and current CNN contributor said that since January 6, he’s been “waging a one-man war against Donald Trump and the f***ing people that refuse to accept reality” about what happened at the Capitol.

Among that group, Mr Fanone said, is House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, who the former officer said lied and equivocated during a meeting with him and the mother of officer Brian Sicknick, who was killed on January 6, about forming a bipartisan January 6 committee.

In the interview, Mr Fanone described, that “weasel b**** named Kevin McCarthy, with his fake f***ing spray-on tan, whose f***ing claim to fame, at least in my eyes, is the fact that he amassed a collection of Donald Trump’s favorite-flavored Starburst, put them in a Mason jar, and presented them to f***ing Donald Trump. What the f***, dude?”

The former officer also claimed that “history is going to s*** on Mike Pence’s head.”

National Archive says it is still missing some Trump administration records

Sunday 2 October 2022 22:36 , Josh Marcus

The National Archives and Records Administration sent a letter to Congress saying that it is still missing records from the Trump administration, despite the FBI’s execution of a search warrant at former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.

Acting Archivist of the United States Debra Streidel Wall sent a letter to House Oversight & Government Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney. “While there is no easy way to establish absolute accountability, we do know that we do not have custody of everything we should,” the letter stated.

The letter was in response to one sent by Ms Maloney asking the agency to “conduct an urgent review of presidential records from the Trump Administration to identify any Presidential record” that might still be outside of its control and to seek a written certification from Mr Trump that he had surrendered all presidential records or classified materials; had not made any copies and hadn’t transferred them to anyone but NARA or the Department of Justice.

Eric Garcia has the full story.

National Archive says it is still missing some Trump administration records

Will Trump exact revenge against Ron DeSantis?

Sunday 2 October 2022 18:36 , David Taintor

Mary Trump, niece of former president Donald Trump, has predicted that the former president will take revenge against Florida governor Ron DeSantis if Mr Trump secures another term in the White House.

Mr Trump is perhaps most responsible for Mr DeSantis’s political rise, but the Florida governor now threatens to overshadow the former president as both men jockey for position ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Trump plans to take ‘revenge’ on Ron DeSantis if reelected, Mary Trump says

GOP senator Rick Scott’s awkward interview

Sunday 2 October 2022 17:10 , David Taintor

Sen Rick Scott, chair of the GOP Senate’s campaign arm, refused to confront former president Donald Trump over recent attacks againt Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his wife, Elaine Chao, who served as Mr Trump’s transportation secretary.

GOP senator awkwardly kowtows to Trump after ‘racist’ attack on McConnell’s wife

Marjorie Taylor Greene under fire for Trump rally comments

Sunday 2 October 2022 14:06 , David Taintor

Conservative firebrand Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene has been sharply criticised for her violent rhetoric at last night’s Trump rally.

Read more here:

Marjorie Taylor Greene under fire for incendiary comments at Trump rally

Trump thanks wife of Supreme Court justice for sticking to stolen election lies

Sunday 2 October 2022 13:05 , John Bowden

Donald Trump gave his first public commendation to Ginni Thomas, the deeply controversial wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, on Saturday.

At his rally in Michigan he shouted out the activist Ms Thomas, who testified before the January 6 committee this week about her newly-reported efforts to help Mr Trump overturn the election in states he rightfully lost. And Mr Trump thanked her for sticking to those nonsensical conspiracies during his remarks.

The praise was likely heartfelt but could complicate matters for Ms Thomas and her husband, who sits on the nation’s highest court and faces questions about whether she used her connection to him while pressing Mr Trump’s lies about the 2020 election in conversations with state lawmakers around the US.

Read more from Andrew Feinberg in The Independent:

Trump thanks Ginni Thomas for sticking to stolen election lies

Trump attacks Maggie Haberman book as ‘disgusting’

Sunday 2 October 2022 11:05 , John Bowden

Donald Trump took special time at his rally on Saturday to attack Maggie Haberman, a New York Times reporter well-sourced in the Trumpworld beat who has continued to speak with the ex-president since he left office.

She is set to publish a number of embarrassing claims and bits of reporting about the ex-president in her upcoming book Confidence Man.

One particular part of the book was denounced by Mr Trump as “disgusting”.

Read more from Josh Marcus in The Independent:

Trump attacks Maggie Haberman book as ‘disgusting’ and denies he nearly fired Ivanka

Senator Susan Collins warns of violent threats: ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if a senator or House member were killed’

01:46 , Josh Marcus

Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine warned about increasing violent threats against lawmakers in an interview with The New York Times.

The Republican senator spoke about her concerns in the wake of a man smashing a brick through her home in Bangor, Maine, and as political figures like Donald Trump and his supporters deploy increasingly incendiary language.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if a senator or House member were killed,” he said. “What started with abusive phone calls is now translating into active threats of violence and real violence.”

The threat against Ms Collins came amid escalating threats against lawmakers. In 2018, after she voted to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, she received a message that featured a beheading.

Susan Collins issues dark warning: ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if a senator were killed’

Archives: Records from Trump WH staffers remain missing

Sunday 2 October 2022 07:00 , John Bowden

The National Archives and Records Administration informed lawmakers in Congress on Friday that a number of electronic communications from Trump White House staffers remain missing, nearly two years since the administration was required to turn them over.

"While there is no easy way to establish absolute accountability, we do know that we do not have custody of everything we should," wrote the acting archivist.

It’s the latest confirmation that the former president has documents without the permission of the agency that has absolute legal control of such records.

Read more from Farnoush Amiri in The Independent:

Archives: Records from Trump WH staffers remain missing

Maggie Haberman says Trump tried to have her phone records seized to expose sources

Sunday 2 October 2022 05:09 , John Bowden

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said that Donald Trump went above and beyond in his attempts to stop her widely-sourced reporting of Trumpworld.

In her upcoming book Confidence Man, she claims: “Trump, angry about my published stories, would bellow that he wanted administration officials to obtain my phone records and identify my sources.”

Read more from Oliver O’Connell in The Independent:

Maggie Haberman says Trump tried to have her phone records seized to expose sources

Trump reportedly ignoring advice from lawyer he paid $3m retainer for Mar-a-Lago documents case

Sunday 2 October 2022 03:05 , John Bowden

Weeks after paying a respected Florida defence attorney a $3m retainer to represent him in dealings with the Department of Justice following the 8 August search of his home, former president Donald Trump is reportedly ignoring the attorney’s advice in favour of tactics that are far more combative but place him at greater legal risk.

Sources close to Mr Trump told theThe Washington Post that Chris Kise remains on the ex-president’s team but is likely to have “a less public role” in the Mar-a-Lago documents matter because Mr Trump “seems ... to be heeding advice from those who have indulged his desire to fight”.

Read more from The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg:

Trump reportedly ignoring advice from $3m lawyer in Mar-a-Lago documents case

Trump rally ends with ex-president touting ongoing movement

Sunday 2 October 2022 02:05 , John Bowden

Former President Donald Trump ended his rally Saturday evening touting the ongoing Maga movement as he continues to clearly set himself up for a 2024 presidential run.

The de facto leader of the GOP called the Maga right “one movement, one People, one family and one glorious American nation” before his fans mouthed along with his vow to “make America great again”.

The rally ended at just about 9pm est on the dot.

Trump winds down rally vowing to take back White House in 2024

Sunday 2 October 2022 01:53 , John Bowden

Donald Trump winded down his rally with a vow that the GOP would retake the White House in 2024, while being careful to not say that it would be he himself that would run.

And he once again lashed out at his supporters’ Democratic political opponents, blasting them for creating a “failing nation”.

“This nation does not belong to them. It belongs to you,” he told his cheering supporters.

Trump calls for death penalty for all drug dealers

Sunday 2 October 2022 01:28 , John Bowden

Claiming that “we don’t have a choice”, Donald Trump spoke at length at his rally on Saturday about the supposed need for the US to implement a draconian policy of punishing convicted drug dealers with the death penalty.

Mr Trump spoke about his conversations with China’s Xi Jinping and called for “quick trials” for accused drug dealers, which he quipped had a “100 per cent conviction rate”. And he then spoke about how any American who sells a controlled substance of any kind should be put to death, which he said would be necessary to scare off other criminals.

It’s hard to imagine most natonal Republicans signing on to that idea, which would likely be unconstitutional given the requirements for proportionate punishments in the US justice system.

Trump attacks Maggie Haberman book as ‘disgusting’ and denies he nearly fired Ivanka via tweet

Sunday 2 October 2022 01:01 , John Bowden

During a rally in Michigan on Saturday, Donald Trump continued his attacks on a forthcoming book about him from New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.

“I had a story the other day that I wanted to fire my daughter Ivanka, that didn’t happen,” he told the crowd, calling the story “disgusting.”

“No, but how do you how do you call your daughter and explain this?” he added, as the audience laughed.

Read more from Josh Marcus:

Trump attacks Maggie Haberman book as ‘disgusting’ and denies he nearly fired Ivanka

Trump thanks Ginni Thomas for sticking to stolen election lies

Sunday 2 October 2022 00:53 , John Bowden

Former president Donald Trump on Saturday offered a shout-out to the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for continuing to parrot his lies about the 2020 election in an interview with the House January 6 select committee.

Mr Trump praised Ms Thomas during remarks at his most recent political rally in Michigan, calling her “a great woman” who is the wife of “a great man”.

Read more from Andrew Feinberg:

Trump plays video attacking NY AG Letitia James

Sunday 2 October 2022 00:49 , John Bowden

The ex-president played a video attacking the credibility of New York Attorney General Letitia James’s civil lawsuit against him, his family and company during his rally Saturday evening.

His video came after a diatribe attacking Ms James as “racist” and describing her as “one of the worst” AG’s in the country.