Trump live: Ex-president tells Piers Morgan he ‘threatened’ Putin, as court rules against him

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who generally polls as Republicans’ second choice for president after Donald Trump, has vented his concern that making his state an attractive place to move to could have the negative side-effect of attracting Californian voters whose electoral behaviour has supposedly ruined San Francisco.

However, as Eric Garcia points out, the governor’s logic doesn’t necessarily hold water.

The upcoming book This Will Not Pass has generated story after story with its reporting on the last phase of the Trump presidency, and now it’s thrown up another, detailing the depth of contempt Mitch McConnell felt for Donald Trump by the time his term was over:

Read more below from Andrew Feinberg.

It is unclear whether Donald Trump wants to return to Twitter, but the president’s thinking on that won’t matter if he isn’t allowed back. This is one of the biggest questions confronting the social media giant after Elon Musk’s buyout – and according to CEO Parag Agrawal, it’s one for the buyer, not the management.

“Once the deal closes, we don’t know which direction the platform will go. It’s a question we should address with him [Musk],” Mr Agrawal told a press conference.

Vishwam Sankaran has more.

Full-length conversations with critical interivewers are not the norm for Donald Trump, especially since the end of his presidency – and that was just part of what made last night’s session with Piers Morgan such bizarre viewing.

Andrew Feinberg has a rundown of the most incendiary, off-base and downright strange moments.

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said former president Donald Trump “totally, totally discredited himself” and “put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger” by his actions on the day a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol.

“I feel exhilarated by the fact that this fellow finally, totally discredited himself,” said the Kentucky Republican, who was speaking to New York Times journalist Jonathan Martin just hours after rioters had been cleared from the Capitol by law enforcement and National Guard soldiers.

Mr McConnell’s comments were revealed in a forthcoming book by Martin and fellow New York Times scribe Alex Burns, This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the battle for America’s Future. A copy of the book was obtained by The Independent ahead of its 3 May release date.

After Elon Musk took over Twitter for a whopping $44 bn, Republicans pressed the billionaire to unfreeze former president Donald Trump’s account.

“Hey, Elon Musk, it’s a great week to free Donald Trump (sic),” House Republicans wrote on the social media platform.

“Bring back President Trump. Bring back my personal account. Bring back Dr Robert Malone. Bring back Alex Jones. Bring back Milo Yiannopoulos. Bring back the cancelled nation. Bring back freedom of speech. Bring back America,” congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote.

“I am not going on Twitter, I am going to stay on TRUTH. I hope Elon buys Twitter because he’ll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on TRUTH,” Mr Trump told Fox News.

Vincent Gillespie, the son of renowned postwar American artist Gregory Gillespie, has been charged for taking part in the 6 January insurrection.

He was among a mob trying to force its way through a tunnel at the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol – an assault that almost succeeded by his own description, investigators said.“We were almost overpowering them,” Mr Gillespie with visible blood visible on his scalp, told Associated Press at the scene that day.

“If you had like another 15, 20 guys behind us pushing I think we could have won it.”Mr Gillespie added that he and others tried to burst through an opening.

“I was with some other guys. And then we were starting to push against them and they were beating us and putting that pepper spray stuff in your eyes. But there were a bunch of people pushing behind us,” he added.

Former president Donald Trump has not stopped fundraising since moving from Washington DC to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, amassing a war chest of well over $100m.

He has been back out on the road this year ahead of the midterm elections, holding MAGA rallies in state after state with candidates he’s endorsed, insisting to crowds that he did not legitimately lose to Mr Biden and repeatedly hinting that he plans on avenging his defeat by running again.

Today, Mr Trump’s hold on the Republican party is overwhelming, and none of this year’s major candidates have broken from the former reality TV host.

Graeme Massie explains the legal struggles that could possibly hinder Donald Trump from running for a second term.

An array of text messages from former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows between the election day and president Joe Biden’s inauguration shows how former president Donald Trump’s allies went from pleading for a stop to the violence on 6 January to affirming their support.

The trove of over 2,300 texts offers a glimpse into how Mr Trump’s inner circle, Republican lawmakers and Fox News hosts worked behind the scenes to overturn the election results, CNN reported.

On 6 January, congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote to Mr Meadows: “Mark I was just told there is an active shooter on the first floor of the capitol please tell the president to calm people This isn’t the way to solve anything.”Other House members also texted Mr Meadows to call for a stop to the Capitol riots.

Former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said: “TELL THEM TO GO HOME!!!”

Former president’s son Donald Trump Jr sent: “This one you go to the mattresses on. They will try to f*** his entire legacy on this if it gets worse.”

The Independent’s Holly Baxter watched it so you don’t have to.

“And I can confirm that the Piers/Donald interview is the most toe-curlingly embarrassing TV you’ll ever see in your life. If you’re the kind of person who has to turn away during the worst parts of Borat, you won’t even get through the opening sequence.”