Trump calls Jan. 6 a “beautiful day” during CNN town hall
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A top lawyer for former President Donald Trump is abandoning his legal defense effort, blaming top Trump aide Boris Epshteyn for allegedly being dishonest and not forthcoming in his work to help the former president’s lawyers in his defense against an investigation into whether it kept classified. documents illegally.
His departure comes as the National Archives announced it found a trove of records showing Donald Trump and his advisers knew they were breaking the rules by taking these classified documents to Mar-a-Lago, according to a report.
The agency sent a letter, obtained by CNN, to Mr. Trump this week in which he disclosed that it had found 16 records that showed he and his top advisers were aware of the proper declassification process when he was president.
“The 16 records in question reflect communications involving close presidential advisers, some of them directed to you personally, about whether, why, and how you should declassify certain classified records,” archivist Debra Steidel Wall wrote.
Those records will be turned over to Special Counsel Jack Smith as part of the criminal investigation into Mr. trump
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Trump’s ex-lawyer reveals fights among ex-president’s legal team
A lawyer working with Donald Trump’s legal team has resigned, citing infighting among the former president’s inner circle.
In an interview with CNN on Saturday, Timothy Parlatore explained that the reason for his departure was ongoing friction with Boris Epshteyn, another Trump legal adviser.
Epshteyn, according to Parlatore, has been shutting down the legal team in its attempts to find out whether all the presidential records that Mr. Trump took with him when he left the White House had been turned over to the National Archives.
John Bowden has the story:
John BowdenMay 22, 2023 08:00
Trump’s lawyer leaves legal team
One of Donald Trump’s lawyers, Timothy Parlatore, has left the former president’s legal team and in a statement on Saturday accused a top Trump adviser of being dishonest.
In an interview with CNN, he said that Trump aide Boris Epshteyn was blocking members of the legal team and preventing them from adequately defending the former president in an investigation into whether he illegally retained classified documents.
“The real reason is because there are certain people who made defending the president much more difficult than it had to be,” Mr. Speaker on Saturday. “There is one person who works for him, Boris Epshteyn, who had really gone out of his way to try to block us, to prevent us from doing what we could to defend the president.”
John BowdenMay 22, 2023 08:00
CNN’s Christiane Amanpour slams the network on Trump’s town hall
CNN’s town hall with Donald Trump proved so divisive that even its own staff has come out against the event, with Christiane Amanpour the latest of the network’s high-profile names to express the his dissatisfaction
The New Hampshire event drew 3.3 million viewers, who saw the former president clash with CNN moderator Kaitlan Collins, whom Trump referred to as a “disgusting person.”
In an address at Columbia’s journalism school on Wednesday, Amanpour said that if she were Collins, she would have “dropped the mic” as soon as Mr. Trump called her nasty, adding that she had spoken to the CEO of the network’s Chris Licht and told him that the former president should not have been able to “appear in this particular format.”
John BowdenMay 22, 2023 07:00
Townspeople slap Trump with cease and desist after his “Macho Man” dance.
1970s disco band the Village People have called on Donald Trump to stop using impersonators while playing their music without consent.
The wife of one of the gang members sent a cease and desist letter to the former president on Monday, according to reports.
Mr. Trump has used the band’s songs like “YMCA” and “Macho Man” at his events and rallies for years.
John BowdenMay 22, 2023 06:00
Trump campaign slams DeSantis over Disney’s canceled Florida expansion
Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign is going after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over news that Disney is canceling a $1 billion plan to expand its business in Florida.
The campaign to bring the former president back to the White House sent out a fundraising email on May 18 after news broke of the planned relocation of thousands of staff to the Orlando area. .
Entitled: “President Trump is always right,” the email included an April 18 Truth Social post by Mr. Trump.
Oliver O’Connell i Alex Woodward report:
John BowdenMay 22, 2023 05:00
The most disturbing allegations in the Giuliani lawsuit
Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City and Donald Trump’s personal attorney, has been hit with a $10 million lawsuit alleging sexual assault and harassment by a former aide who worked for him between 2019 and in 2021.
In a civil complaint filed Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court, former Giuliani employee Noelle Dunphy, 43, alleges he began sexually abusing her almost immediately after hiring her as director business development and off-the-books public relations consultancy. January 2019, he then routinely harassed her for sex, binge drinking, withheld her salary, boasted that he could sell presidential pardons for $2 million each, and engaged in alcohol-fueled racist rants.
John BowdenMay 21, 2023 8:15 p.m
New damning evidence spells trouble for Trump in classified Mar-a-Lago documents probe
Donald Trump’s legal troubles could escalate after the National Archives found a trove of records showing the former president knew he shouldn’t have brought classified documents to Mar-a-Lago, according to a report.
The National Archives sent a letter, obtained by CNN, to Mr. Trump this week in which he disclosed that it had found 16 presidential records that showed he and his top advisers were aware of the proper declassification process when he was in the White House .
John BowdenMay 21, 2023 7:30 p.m
Chris Christie could enter the 2024 presidential race in a matter of days
Chris Christie is said to be entering the 2024 presidential race soon.
The former Republican governor of New Jersey will make an announcement within days and focus on the key swing state of New Hampshire, according to New Hampshire Today, citing multiple unnamed sources with knowledge of the campaign.
Josh Marcus has more at The Independent:
John BowdenMay 21, 2023 6:49 p.m
Trump uses Tim Scott’s ad to mock Ron DeSantis
Former President Donald Trump’s campaign used Sen. Tim Scott’s (R – South Carolina) entry into the 2024 Republican presidential race to bash his primary challenger, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Scott, the only black Republican in the Senate, filed paperwork to run for president. He is widely expected to announce his candidacy on Monday.
But Trump campaign spokesman Taylor Budowich used Scott’s planned announcement to continue the campaign’s attacks on DeSantis.
John BowdenMay 21, 2023 6:04 p.m
Trump-supporting congressman sidesteps six-week abortion ban
Rep. Byron Donalds, a freshman Republican from Florida who became a prominent member of his caucus during the speaker’s gavel negotiations in January, would not pledge Sunday to support an abortion ban of six weeks at national level. This ban has been introduced as legislation by Republicans in numerous states, including Florida, where it recently became law.
Watch the moment, via Meet the Press:
John BowdenMay 21, 2023 5:10 p.m