Trump news latest: Furious Trump denounces Garland’s special counsel appointment as ‘disgrace’ and ‘unfair’

Having claimed that Donald Trump raped her in a New York department store in the late 1990s, E Jean Carroll has spent years trying to sue Donald Trump for defamation after he publicly accused her of lying about the alleged incident.

However, Mr Trump’s most recent attempt to delay Ms Carroll’s defamation lawsuit failed, meaning he had to sit for a deposition on 19 October and answer questions under oath.

Roberta Kaplan, Ms Carroll’s attorney, said in a statement: “We are pleased that Judge Kaplan agreed with our position not to stay discovery in this case.”

Outgoing House speaker Nancy Pelosi included a dig at former President Donald Trump during her leadership farewell address on the floor of the House on Thursday morning.

“It’s been my privilege to play a part in forging extraordinary progress for the American people,” Ms Pelosi said. “I have enjoyed working with three presidents.”

She was speaker during four administrations.

Former President Donald Trump will make a statement tonight on the appointment of a special prosecutor to oversee the investigations against him.

Shortly before that announcement he posted: “Here we go again! I thought that the Unselect Committee on January 6th was a dead issue, especially with the record setting loss off Liz Chaney in the Great State of Wyoming, and likewise felt that the document hoax case, after reviewing the Clinton Socks Case & the Presidential Record Act, was dead, or at least dying fast. The Democrat Department of “Justice” had nothing, except Trump haters, so they just appointed a Special Prosecutor to go after me further. Disgraceful!”

E Jean Carroll, the writer who accused Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her in a New York department store several decades ago, is again pursuing a legal challenge against the former president, accusing him of battery and defamation.

On Thursday, a lawyer representing the 78-year-old former Elle advice columnist said in a court filing that his client would bring a new defamation lawsuit against for the one-term president for statements he made on social media last month that painted Ms Carroll as a liar and accused her case of being “a complete con job”, The New York Times reported.

Johanna Chisholm has the details.

Maggie Haberman, The New York Times specialist on Donald Trump, notes: “Trump got a huge rallying effect when the FBI search took place in August. So far since the special counsel announcement, there’s a more muted reaction.”

A federal judge on Friday sentenced an Ohio man who claimed he was only “following presidential orders” from Donald Trump when he stormed the US Capitol to 3 years in prison.

Dustin Byron Thompson was convicted in April by a jury that took less than three hours to reject his novel defense for obstructing Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s presidential victory.

The jury also found Thompson guilty of all five of the other charges in his indictment, including stealing a coat rack from an office inside the Capitol during the 6 January 2021 riot.

Thompson apologised and said he was ashamed of his actions.

US District Judge Reggie Walton told Thompson he could not understand how someone who had a college degree could “go down the rabbit hole” and believe “so much in a lie.” The judge said Thompson had to pay a price for a “serious crime” that undermined the “integrity and existence of this country.”

The maximum sentence for the obstruction count was 20 years imprisonment. The government had recommended a sentence of 70 months while the defense sought a year and a day in prison.

Thompson testified at trial that he joined the mob’s attack and stole the coat rack and a bottle of bourbon. He said he regretted his “disgraceful” behavior. But he also said he believed Trump’s false claim that the election was stolen and was trying to stand up for him.

Thompson was charged and convicted on six counts: obstructing Congress’ joint session to certify the Electoral College vote, theft of government property, entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a Capitol building and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

More than 770 people have been charged with federal crimes arising from the riot. Over 250 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors. Thompson was the fifth person to be tried on riot-related charges.

Jack Smith,the experienced war crimes prosecutor who is returning to the US to oversee investigations into former president Donald Trump, is no stranger to high-profile probes of public figures.

Andrew Feinberg profiles the Department of Justice veteran who is taking on possibly the most high-profile case of his career.

Donald Trump has slammed the appoint of a special counsel to head the investigations into his handling of classified information and the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.

“I have been going through this for six years — for six years I have been going through this, and I am not going to go through it anymore,” Mr Trump told Fox News Digital on Friday after the counsel was revealed. “And I hope the Republicans have the courage to fight this.”

Gustaf Kilander reports on the former president’s reaction.