Trump heads to Greensboro, North Carolina to rally supporters: Live

The US Supreme Court might have just insured that Donald Trump will not face a criminal trial for his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election before the next one. And he may end up avoiding a trial altogether, if he wins the presidency in November and tries to tell his administration to shut down the cases against him.

The former president has repeatedly claimed that he is “immune” from prosecution for actions committed while in office, including, allegedly, leading a multi-state scheme to pressure officials to overturn election results, and failing to stop a mob of his supporters from storming the US Capitol to do it by force.

A federal judge and a federal appeals court have knocked down that defence in damning rulings that outline why, exactly, the president can’t evade liability for crimes committed while in office. But on Wednesday, the nation’s highest court – where three justices were appointed by Mr Trump – agreed to take up the case after he asked them to hit pause on those orders, giving the former president yet another victory in his time-tested legal strategy: delay, delay, delay.

One of the seven Republican senators who voted to convict Donald Trump for inciting a riot at the US Capitol on January 6 endorsed Nikki Haley’s bid for president.

Lisa Murkowski, the senior senator from Alaska, announced her support for the former governor of South Carolina and US ambassador to the United Nations.

“America needs someone with the right values, vigor, and judgment to serve as our next President—and in this race, there is no one better than her,” Ms Murkowski said in a statement. “Nikki will be a strong leader and uphold the ideals of the Republican Party while serving as a President for all Americans.”

Murkowski is one of only four Republicans left in the Senate who voted to convict Mr Trump after three of them resigned. Utah Senator Mitt Romney, whom Ms Haley supported in the 2012 Republican presidential primary, will retire at the end of the year.

The endorsement comes even though Ms Haley has failed to win a single primary contest. So far, only one member of the US House of Representatives – Representative Ralph Norman of South Carolina – has endorsed her run.

Ms Haley thanked Ms Murkowski for the endorsement.

“Murkowski represents the best of Alaska—she is a trailblazer and a strong, independent voice who doesn’t bow down to the powers that be in Washington,” Ms Haley said in a statement. “As president, I will fight to make Alaskans—and all Americans—proud by restoring fiscal sanity, energy dominance, and limited government.”

Alex Woodward watched proceedings on Friday and filed this report:

Lawyers for Donald Trump and his co-defendants in a sprawling election interference case in Georgia have been accused of relying on salacious rumours, gossip and innuendo to “embarass and harass” the prosecutor overseeing the case against them.

Closing arguments concluded on Friday in a high-stakes series of hearings to determine whether Fani Willis should be disqualified from criminally prosecuting the former president and his allies for their scheme to overturn Georgia’s election results in 2020.

Andrew Feinberg reports on the duelling visits to the border:

Both Mr Trump and President Joe Biden held duelling campaign trips to the southern border on Thursday in an attempt to seize the narrative around immigration.

The former president, speaking from Eagle Pass, Texas, wildly claimed that there were “millions of people from places unknown” coming into the US that “don’t speak languages”.

Donald Trump is well-known for a lot of things: his divisiveness, his career in real estate, The Apprentice, his lawsuits, for being the only president to be impeached twice. But perhaps nothing has infiltrated society more than Mr Trump’s unique linguistic style.

Whether he’s posting on Truth Social, speaking at a campaign rally, or testifying in court, Mr Trump never seems to be at a loss for words — and sometimes, he even makes up new ones.

From uttering gaffes to tweeting typos (like “covfefe”) to misreading words (like “Nambia”) to dismissing his opponent with a harsh nickname, his terminology quickly turns iconic.

Here, The Independent offers a dictionary guide to the Mr Trump’s most memorable phrases:

Eric Garcia and Gustaf Kilander report from Capitol Hill:

After they got over the initial shock of McConnell’s announcement on Wednesday, the race to replace him – namely among the “Three Johns,” Senate Minority Whip John Thune, Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso and Senator John Cornyn of Texas – has begun at a quick pace. Friends of The Independent’sInside Washington newsletter Stef Kight and Stephen Neukam at Axios reported that Trump wants National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Steve Daines of Montana to run for the job.

But Republicans expressed scepticism about Trump playing a role in replacing McConnell, his longtime nemesis.

On Wednesday, Circuit Judge Tracie Porter of Cook County issued a ruling in a challenge to Mr Trump’s eligibility which was brought by four Illinois voters and the organisation Free Speech For People.

Much like the near-identical lawsuits brought in other states, the group of voters claimed Mr Trump was ineligible to appear on the state’s primary ballot due to his actions leading up to and on January 6 2021 – a violation of Section Three of the 14th Amendment known as the “insurrection clause”.

The judge agreed and said the former president should not appear on the ballot.

A spokesperson from Mr Trump’s campaign called the Illinois decision “unconstitutional” and accused the judge of having a Democratic political agenda.