Related: The competition squaring up to Donald Trump
In a bombshell development in the classified documents case against Donald Trump, federal prosecutors have reportedly obtained an audio recording from a summer 2021 meeting in which the former president acknowledges he held onto a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran.
The recording indicates that Mr Trump knew the papers were retained after he left the White House and suggests he would like to share the information but is aware of limitations on his ability to declassify records post-presidency.
Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, who is investigating the matter, is also looking at Mr Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
In a new development, Mr Smith is examining the ex-president’s firing of cybersecurity official Christopher Krebs, whose office said the vote was secure, The New York Times reports. Mr Krebs was fired by Mr Trump shortly after the election.
Meanwhile, as more Republican contenders join the party’s primary race, Mr Trump has promised a year-long celebration of America to mark 250 years of independence if he wins the presidency again.
Trump trashes Ron DeSantis and Chris Christie on Truth Social
The ex-president has been at it again on his favourite MAGA echo chamber, teasing DeSantis for being short and allegedly altering the pronounciation of his surname and posting an unkind joke about Christie’s weight courtesty of Roger Stone.
Joe Sommerlad1 June 2023 11:30
All the major lawsuits and investigations Trump is facing
Here’s what you need to know about all the major investigations and lawsuits against Donald Trump.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar1 June 2023 11:00
Five takeaways from Ron DeSantis’s 2024 launch
Ron DeSantis is officially running for president, and on Tuesday landed in the early caucus state of Iowa to give voters a preview of what his campaign will look like.
What that shaped up to be in Des Moines was largely what analysts had expected for months: a bid for higher office that leans into Republican culture war battles and as far away from direct confrontation with the incumbent de facto leader of the party, Donald Trump.
Mr DeSantis spoke to an enthusiastic crowd that cheered enthusiastically at his vows to score major wins on those issues like LGBT+ rights and “critical race theory”, but less for his veiled shots at the former president, who was never mentioned by name for obvious fear of losing the audience.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar1 June 2023 10:30
DeSantis under fire over anti-immigration law as boycott pressure grows
Ron DeSantis is facing mounting criticism over a sweeping new immigration law introduced in Florida and coming into effect on 1 July, which has caused the state’s Latino truck drivers to pledge to leave deliveries unmade on Thursday and migrant-owned businesses to shutter their doors in protest.
Senate Bill 1718 imposes strict new employment mandates on businesses and workers, limits access to social services for undocumented immigrants, allocates millions more tax dollars to expand Mr DeSantis’s “Unauthorized Alien Transport Program”, invalidates driver’s licences issued to undocumented people in other states and requires public hospitals to check up on a patient’s immigration status.
In signing the law last month, the governor and aspiring Republican presidential candidate claimed to be “fighting back against reckless federal government policies and ensuring the Florida taxpayers are not footing the bill for illegal immigration”.
Guadalupe de la Cruz, director of the Florida chapter of the American Friends Service Committee, told Mother Jones: “The bill has caused a lot of panic and chaos. Many of our community members are either leaving Florida or considering it.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida has likewise denounced the bill as “cruel, dangerous and overbroad”.
Here’s Alex Woodward on the hostile reaction of civil rights groups to Mr DeSantis’s latest policies.
Joe Sommerlad1 June 2023 10:00
Trump legal team asks for judge in hush-money case to be removed
Donald Trump’s lawyers plan to request the judge presiding over a criminal trial into alleged hush money payments to Stormy Daniels be removed due to his campaign donations and family’s ties to the Democrat Party, according to a report.
It’s the latest in a series of legal manoeuvres by the former president to move the Manhattan criminal trial slated to begin next March away from New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan.
Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty to the 34 counts of falsifying business records related to alleged payments to conceal negative stories about him prior to the 2016 presidential election.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar1 June 2023 09:30
Trump returns to campaign trail in Iowa
Former president Donald Trump returns to the campaign trail today as his chief rival for the GOP presidential nomination, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, is undertaking his first swing through early voting states as an official candidate.
Mr Trump is back in Iowa nearly three weeks after canceling his last event, a large rally near Des Moines, due to a tornado warning, reluctantly ceding the spotlight to DeSantis as the governor crisscrossed the state ahead of his campaign launch.
The former president, who has spent the last few weeks attacking Mr DeSantis on social media and mocking his glitch-filled kickoff announcement, has a series of events scheduled around Des Moines followed by a town hall airing on Fox News.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar1 June 2023 09:00
Pence to announce 2024 White House bid on 7 June, report says
Former vice president Mike Pence is expected to announce his campaign for 2024 president next Wednesday, according to reports.
After weeks of speculation, Mr Pence will make the official announcement on 7 June just before his town hall with CNN in Des Moines, Iowa, a source told ABC News.
Oliver O’Connell1 June 2023 08:15
Hayley Williams says anyone who votes for Ron DeSantis is ‘dead to me’
Paramore’s Hayley Williams has declared that anyone who votes for Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis is “dead” to her.
The 34-year-old lead singer of the alternative rock band shared her stance on stage at the Adjacent Music Festival in Atlantic City, New Jersey, over the weekend.
“I’ll be happy to tell you I’m very f***ing comfortable talking politics,” Williams told the crowd. “If you vote for Ron DeSantis, you’re f***ing dead to me. Is that comfortable enough for anyone?”
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar1 June 2023 07:57
Trump accuses DeSantis of faking his own name
Former president Donald Trump escalated his attacks on competitor Ron DeSantis as the Florida governor began his presidential campaign in Iowa following his glitch-laden Twitter announcement.
The 45th president on Wednesday claimed that Mr DeSantis was looking to “change his name”.
“Have you heard that ‘Rob’ DeSanctimonious wants to change his name, again,” Mr Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar1 June 2023 07:04
Where did it all go wrong for Trump and McEnany?
Ms McEnany, who served as the former president’s fourth press secretary, was known as one of his most loyal aides and staunch defenders, something she continued when she joined Fox News as a contributor after he lost the 2020 election and left office.
Nevertheless, the former president pulled no punches in a Truth Social Post, complaining about a segment in which he claims she misreported his lead over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Oliver O’Connell1 June 2023 06:45