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According to a newly released transcript, a White House valet who was with former president Donald Trump on the day Congress certified his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden told the January 6 select committee that Mr Trump threatened then-vice president Mike Pence’s future political viability in a phone call.
The valet says he overheard Mr Trump telling the vice president before he was to preside over the Electoral College ballot count: “Mike, this is a political career killer if you do this”, and later: “Do what’s right”.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump has issued a panicky fundraising memo to his supporters entitled “Keep your filthy hands off Trump Tower!” as the Monday deadline to pay his $464m bond in the New York fraud judgment against him ticks ever closer.
The former president’s lawyers notified an appeals court this week that their client has failed to raise the money to cover the bond, saying finding a surety company to help them was proving a “practical impossibility”.
Asked in an interview with Fox News on Wednesday whether Mr Trump could look to wealthy overseas donors in Russia or Saudi Arabia for help, attorney Alina Habba stunningly did not rule it out.
Key Points
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‘Were you better off four years ago?’
The Biden campaign appears to have a clearer memory of March 2020 than the Trump team…
Oliver O’Connell22 March 2024 06:15
Trump’s candidate triumphed in Ohio’s Republican primary — what does that mean for November?
John Bowden filed this report from Ohio earlier this week:
Oliver O’Connell22 March 2024 04:15
New transcript shows Trump threatened Pence in pre-Capitol riot call
A White House valet who was with former president Donald Trump on the day Congress certified his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden told the House January 6 select committee that Mr Trump threatened then-vice president Mike Pence’s future political viability in a phone call just before Mr Pence was to preside over a joint session of Congress to count electoral college ballots.
Oliver O’Connell22 March 2024 02:15
ICYMI: Melania Trump evasive about campaign role in rare appearance
“Stay tuned,” she told reporters on Tuesday after she was asked if she would return to the campaign trail with her husband, Donald Trump.
The Trumps had just exited a polling location together in Palm Beach, Florida, where the one-term president voted for himself in the Republican primary.
Oliver O’Connell22 March 2024 00:15
‘Keep your filthy hands off Trump Tower!’
Donald Trump has sent out a panicked fundraising message to his supporters as he begs them to help foot his ballooning legal bills.
The desperate memo, titled “Keep your filthy hands off Trump Tower!”, comes as the Monday deadline to pay his $464m bond in his New York fraud trial judgement ticks ever closer.
“KEEP YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF TRUMP TOWER!” the text reads, linking to an accompanying memo that states: “Insane radical Democrat AG Letitia James wants to SEIZE my properties in New York. THIS INCLUDES THE ICONIC TRUMP TOWER!”
Oliver O’Connell21 March 2024 23:15
New Yorkers react to news Trump could lose his namesake building if he fails to pay $464m bond
The Independent’s Kelly Rissman staked out Trump Tower, where tourists, locals, and mask-covered Trump impersonators collide, to take a temperature check on the possibility that the attorney general could seize the golden-plated property.
Oliver O’Connell21 March 2024 22:15
Democrat Jared Moskowitz ratchets up his trolling of GOP impeachment probe
John Bowden reports from Washington, DC:
Democratic lawmaker Jared Moskowitz is increasingly working to turn the GOP’s impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden into a spectacle as the evidence gathered by his committee appears to still lack the votes to pass even the hardline Republican-held House of Representatives.
Oliver O’Connell21 March 2024 21:45
Trump attempts to clarify stance on social security and medicare
Despite saying about ten days ago that he is open to cuts in Social Security and Medicare, Donald Trump has taken to Truth Social to try and clarify his position in an effort to walk back a talking point that could become a serious electoral liability with older voters.
The former president wrote:
Unlike the Democrats, who are KILLING SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE by allowing the INVASION OF THE MIGRANTS, I will NOT, under any circumstance, allow either of these two precious GEMS to be even touched under a Trump Administration. Biden is killing them both with the INVASION, while at the same time destroying our Country! MAGA2024
CROOKED JOE BIDEN IS THE WORST PRESIDENT, BY FAR, IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY. MAGA2024!
Oliver O’Connell21 March 2024 21:30
Stefanik releases statement on NYAG eyeing Trump Westchester properties
Staunch Trump ally (and touted as a possible Veep pick) Republican Rep Elise Stefanik of New York released the following statement on the New York Attorney General’s apparent move to potentially seize Donald Trump’s Westchester County golf property.
The weaponization against Joe Biden’s political opponent, President Donald Trump, is an absolutely unprecedented form of election interference. It is fundamentally un-American that Tish James and Judge Engoron—without even a jury—imposed an unconstitutionally punitive nearly half billion judgment against Trump. And now they are punishing President Trump for exercising his right to appeal by attempting to seize his assets. The New York appellate courts must immediately stop this. Otherwise, key businesses—and crucial jobs—are going to continue to flee our state.
Oliver O’Connell21 March 2024 21:21
How many of Trump’s associates who have gone to prison can you name?
Joe Sommerlad wrote this who’s who of who went to jail:
Oliver O’Connell21 March 2024 21:15