Trump speaks at Iowa rally as Giuliani accused of sex assault on Jan 6 – latest news

After Florida Gov Ron DeSantis was accused of kicking Tucker Carlson’s dog in Michael Wolff’s new book, the former Fox News host pushed back, calling the claim “absurd.”

The forthcoming book, The Fall: The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Dynasty, details many prominent individuals in the world of Fox. According to The Daily Beast, which obtained a copy of the book, Wolff outlined one particular incident during a lunch between the former Fox News host and Mr DeSantis, who was reportedly considered to be Fox owner Rupert Murdoch’s “favoured candidate” for the 2024 election.

Mr DeSantis and his wife Casey DeSantis were invited to the Carlsons’ Florida home, where Wolff reported that the Florida governor failed the “Susie Carlson test.”

As a candidate for a party that has in recent years pivoted toward framing itself as the voice of the forgotten blue-collar worker, this might not be the vote-winner that he thinks it is, but nevertheless, in his pursuit of the White House, Republican candidate Tim Scott is weighing in on current issues like the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike to try to prove to voters that he would make a good president.

However, Mr Scott may have stumbled over his understanding of the strike while speaking with potential voters in Iowa on Monday – claiming they were federal workers who should be fired for striking.

Calling on the likeness of Ronald Reagan, Mr Scott said if he were president he would be dealing with the strikers in a much different manner.

“I think Ronald Reagan gave us a great example when federal employees decided they were going to strike. He said, ‘you strike, you’re fired,’” Mr Scott said.

GOP presidential hopeful Governor Ron DeSantis has leapt on Donald Trump‘s recent comments about abortion, arguing that the former president’s less-extreme views are out of step with modern-day Republican values.

Mr Trump recently took the position that six-week abortion bans — bans that Mr DeSantis signed into law in Florida — were a “terrible mistake.” He told NBC’s Meet the Press that he would sit down with people from “both sides” of the abortion debate and negotiate a deal that would leave everyone in “peace” on the long-contested issue.

Mr DeSantis called the soundbite a “terrible statement” and questioned Mr Trump’s loyalty to the Republican project of using state power to force women into giving birth.

“Donald Trump may think it’s terrible. I think protecting babies with heartbeats is noble and just and I’m proud to have signed the heartbeat bill in Florida and I know Iowa has similar legislation,” the Florida governor told Radio Iowa. “I don’t know how you can even make the claim that you’re somehow pro-life if you’re criticising states for enacting protections for babies that have heartbeats.”

He went on, saying Mr Trump was “changing in a way that is not consistent with the values of the people in Iowa” and moving away from promises he made in 2016.

Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and a top witness for the House Select Committee investigating January 6, writes in her new book Enough that Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani sexually assaulted her on the day of the insurrection.

An adviser to Mr Giuliani forcefully rejected the allegations in a statement to The Independent.

The former New York mayor was “like a wolf closing in on its prey”, Ms Hutchinson, 27, writes according to a copy of the book obtained by The Guardian ahead of it being published on Tuesday.

John Fetterman says that he will return to wearing a suit in Congress if his “jagoff” Republican critics stop threatening to shut down the government.

The US senator from Pennsylvania has come under fire after the high chamber relaxed its dress code to seemingly allow the burly Democrat to wear his trademark shorts and hoodie on the floor.

“If those jagoffs in the House stop trying to shut our government down, and fully support Ukraine, then I will save democracy by wearing a suit on the Senate floor next week,” the Democrat wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Graeme Massie reports on the latest from the sartorial star of the Senate.

FBI and IRS officials have cast fresh doubt on allegations of political interference in the criminal investigation into Hunter Biden’s taxes, according to a CNN report.

In closed-door testimony before a House Republican-led inquiry, several officials reportedly told lawmakers they could not remember US Attorney David Weiss saying he lacked the authority to prosecute the president’s son or was denied special counsel status, the network reported.

The claims made by IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley had been central to GOP’s efforts to uncover evidence of bias in the criminal probe into Hunter Biden and led to Kevin McCarthy opening an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden last week.

The report came as US Attorney General Merrick Garland appeared before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to answer Republican accusations that the Justice Department had been “weaponised”.

Lin Wood, a prolific conspiracy theorist who joined spurious efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, appears to be cooperating with prosecutors in Georgia as the state’s sprawling criminal case against Donald Trump and 18 others heads to at least two trials.

A special grand jury tasked with reviewing evidence in the case surrounding the former president recommended that Mr Wood face criminal charges connected to an alleged criminal scheme to subvert the outcome of Georgia’s election results, but Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis ultimately declined to do so.

Special Counsel David Weiss, who is investigating President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, has objected to his request to enter a not-guilty plea virtually: “An in-person hearing is important to promote the public’s confidence that the defendant is being treated consistently with other defendants in this District and in other Districts.”

Mr Weiss argues that since the expiration of Covid-19 pandemic protocols in June 2022 “the Court has almost always held in-person initial appearances and arraignments for defendants”.

“This defendant should be treated no differently,” he adds.

Here’s Alex Woodward reporting on the not-guilty plea:

The former president was happy to see that, after his endorsement, “some talented and professional people, but not talented and professional in a league with Jim, all drooped out of the race” [sic].

Here’s the full Truth Social post:

Endorsing Congressman Jim Banks for the U.S. Senate from the Great State of Indiana was a very easy thing for me to do. I was happy to see that, after the Endorsement, some talented and professional people, but not talented and professional in a league with Jim, all drooped out of the race. Jim has no choice but to be GREAT because Indiana’s other Senator, Todd Young, has been weak & ineffective! Jim will be replacing a very good and talented Senator, Mike Braun, who is running for Governor!

Mr Garland, who appeared on Capitol Hill for a scheduled oversight hearing before the GOP-led panel, opened his remarks with a defence of his department’s work and its’ independence from both the White House and the US legislative branch.

“Our job is not to take orders from the president, from Congress, or from anyone else, about who or what to criminally investigate,” he said.

“I am not the president’s lawyer. I will add I am not Congress’s prosecutor. The Justice Department works for the American people”.