Trump slams ‘very foolish’ New York GOP candidate after special election defeat: Live

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the special counsel prosecuting Trump on criminal charges of plotting to overturn his 2020 election loss to respond by 20 February to the former president’s bid to freeze a judicial decision rejecting his immunity claim.

The justices, in a brief order told Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith to file a response to Trump’s request by next Tuesday at 4pm. Smith could file his response sooner. He previously asked the justices to resolve Trump’s immunity claim before a lower appeals court had weighed in – a request they denied.

Trump’s lawyers on Monday asked the justices to temporarily block a decision by a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejecting his claim of presidential immunity from prosecution, pending his bid for the full slate of DC Circuit judges to reconsider the case, and, if necessary, a Supreme Court appeal.

The requests risk further delaying Trump’s criminal trial on four criminal counts. A 4 March trial date in federal court in Washington was postponed, with no new date yet set. Trump has pleaded not guilty and has sought to portray the case as politically-motivated.

Given that Trump is the front-runner for the Republican nomination to challenge President Biden again in November’s election, slowing the case could be to Trump’s benefit.

In their filing to the Supreme Court, Trump’s lawyers said a months-long criminal trial of Trump during “at the height of election season will radically disrupt” his ability to campaign against Biden.

They painted a dark picture of what they said would befall future presidents if Trump’s prosecution is permitted to move forward, warning of partisan prosecutions, extortion, blackmail and more.

Here’s Alex Woodward on what they had to say.

Back in the Republican’s social media wormhole, he was up late accusing his GOP presidential rival of hypocrisy over the military (and appears to have got her on this one) and going up absolutely rabid over his old foe Adam Schiff.

He also attempted to blow on the embers of last week’s report by Republican prosecutor Robert Hur into Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents, which cleared the president of wrongdoing but contained some very unwelcome and unsolicited remarks about his memory.

Here’s more on the House GOP efforts to make political theatre out of Hur’s hatchet job on the commander-in-chief.

Trump’s suggestion over the weekend that he would abandon America’s Nato allies in the face of Russian aggression if they had not met their financial commitments to the military alliance were slammed by Joe Biden last night, as he called on the House of Representatives to hurry up and pass more Ukraine aid, warning them: “History is watching.”

The president called his predecessor’s comments on Nato “dumb”, “shameful”, “dangerous” and “unAmerican” and tantamount to bowing down to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

You can see his comments in full courtesy of IndyTV.

Donald Trump has hit out at New York Republican congressional candidate Mazi Pilip after she lost the race for George Santos’s old seat to Democrat Tom Suozzi, labelling her a “very foolish woman” for not adopting his MAGA brand.

“Republicans just don’t learn, but maybe she was still a Democrat?” Mr Trump seethed on Truth Social.

“I have an almost 99 per cent Endorsement Success Rate in Primaries, and a very good number in the General Elections, as well, but just watched this very foolish woman, Mazi Melesa Pilip, running in a race where she didn’t endorse me and tried to ‘straddle the fence,’ when she would have easily WON if she understood anything about MODERN DAY politics in America.

“MAGA, WHICH IS MOST OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, STAYED HOME – AND IT ALWAYS WILL, UNLESS IT IS TREATED WITH THE RESPECT THAT IT DESERVES.”

He may not be taking the right lesson from last night’s result, however…

Here’s Bevan Hurley on Suozzi’s big win.

On Monday, Mr Trump’s attorneys filed their expected request following last week’s appellate court ruling that rejected his “immunity” from charges connected to his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

“This threat will hang like a millstone around every future President’s neck, distorting Presidential decisionmaking, undermining the President’s independence, and clouding the President’s ability ‘to deal fearlessly and impartially with’ the duties of his office,’” according to Mr Trump’s attorneys.

“Without immunity from criminal prosecution, the Presidency as we know it will cease to exist,” they wrote.

Alex Woodward has the details:

Two judges in separate courtrooms just minutes down the street from one another could deal serious blows to Donald Trump, his business and his campaign schedule this week.

On Thursday, a judge in Manhattan criminal court will preside over a hearing that could set a course for the former president’s trial on charges stemming from hush-money payments to an adult film star during his 2016 campaign.

The judge overseeing a separate civil fraud trial that could imperil his family business and brand-building empire is also imminently expected to issue a final judgment in that case, with potentially tens of millions of dollars in sanctions and the end of his real estate career in New York at stake.

Former president Donald Trump’s latest remarks claiming that he would oversee the disintegration of the Nato alliance Saturday evening in South Carolina divided Republicans on Sunday.

Mr Trump made the remarks at a rally in Conway, South Carolina.

“If we don’t pay and we’re attacked by Russia, will you protect us?” Trump claimed to remember a Nato member-state’s leader asking him when he was president. He then claimed to have responded: “No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want.”

But Republicans — who are already experiencing a major split led by Mr Trump about the role of the United States as a global leader — disagreed about whether his words should warrant alarm when quizzed by The Independent.

On Friday, former president Donald Trump addressed a crowd of supporters at the National Rifle Association’s Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he made several surprising comments, including how he saw a migrant stealing a refrigerator and claimed the state’s name would be changed if he isn’t re-elected president.

The event marked Mr Trump’s first Pennsylvania stop on the campaign trial.

Here are some highlights of Trump’s speech:

Judge Scott McAfee, the presiding justice in the sprawling Fulton County election interference case in Georgia, will hold two days of hearings into the motion to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and lead prosecutor Nathan Wade from the case.

The motion was brought by defendant Michael Roman after allegations of an improper relationship between the two prosecutors came to light, and then joined by several other defendants, including former president Donald Trump.

Here’s our latest reporting on the case, by Alex Woodward:

Mr Romney, now a Utah Senator after being the 2012 Republican presidential nominee and serving as the governor of Massachusetts, told The Independent on Monday: “He says outrageous things to get people riled up. It works at the rallies. Unfortunately, it also has an impact around the world where our friends wonder whether they can rely on America.”