Trump news today: FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies before house panel as Christie mocks Trump ‘fantasy situation’

Donald Trump will host a screening of the controversial, QAnon-linked movie Sound of Freedom at his Bedminster golf club.

Here’s our coverage of the movie, purported to be based on a true story.

Mr Biden said efforts were underway to free Mr Gershkovich, who has been detained for more than 100 days on bogus espionage charges, at a joint press conference with Finnish president Sauli Niinistö in Helsinki on Thursday.

The US Department of Justice appears to be seeking longer prison sentences for eight members of a far-right anti-government militia group convicted of treason-related charges in connection with the January 6 attack.

Federal prosecutors have filed brief documents in the cases of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and other members of the group whose prison sentences were set below what the government asked a judge to impose.\

Alex Woodward has the details.

When Ray Epps, now 61, arrived in Washington DC in early January, 2021, he believed he was answering the call of his president.

Mr Epps was one of the thousands of MAGA loyalists who believed former President Donald Trump‘s lie that the 2020 election had been stolen. He also thought he and a throng of conservative allies would protest the election’s certification.

The night before the Capitol riot on Jan 6, Mr Epps told a crowd of fellow Trump supporters that they should enter the Capitol. This exchange was caught on video. He did not call for violence and later claimed that he was encouraging a peaceful protest inside the building.

Nearly 900 people have been arrested for their participation in the failed insurrection that occurred the following day. Though Mr Epps is not among that number, he has nonetheless become the focus of a MAGA-world conspiracy theory placing the blame for the entire debacle squarely on his shoulders.

A Republican lawmaker has a bizarre new label for Hunter Biden – glitter.

Speaking at a House Judiciary Committee hearing with FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday, Rep Wesley Hunt compared President Joe Biden’s son to the sparkly stuff.

“Hunter Biden to me, is like glitter. He is on everything and you cannot get rid of him,” he fumed.

Any readers out there who have spent time with drag queens will know this to be a fact.

Annie Grayer of CNN reports Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene as saying that the Secret Service narrowed its list of suspects in the West Wing cocaine scandal down to 500 people who were present over the weekend (the Bidens were out of town).

Rep Lauren Boebert adds that the 500 includes a mixture of staffers and people on tours of the executive complex.

A former White House aide to President Donald Trump who became a prominent congressional witness against him and his allies in the wake of the January 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol has a book deal.

CNN reports that the Secret Service has concluded its investigation into the small bag of cocaine found at the White House and has been unable to identify a suspect.

The network cites two sources familiar with the investigation.

Secret Service officials examined visitor logs and surveillance footage of hundreds of individuals who entered the West Wing in the days preceding the discovery but could not identify a suspect, one of the sources said.

Further, they were also unable to identify the specific moment or even day when the baggie was left inside the cubby near the lower level West Wing entrance where it was discovered.

The second source told CNN that the leading theory is that it was left by one of the hundreds of visitors who entered the West Wing that weekend for tours and were asked to leave their phones and other devices in those cubbyholes.

The Associated Press adds that no fingerprints or DNA were found on the bag.

A former actor and Broadway star has been cleared of all charges related to his involvement in the Jan 6 Capitol riots.

James Beeks, a member of the Oath Keepers, was facing charges of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and civil disorder.

He was acquitted of both charges on Wednesday, but his co-defendant Donovan Crowl was convicted on both counts.

Maroosha Muzaffar has the story.