Trump news – live: Trump tells DeSantis to go back to Florida as governor’s campaign fires staff

Donald Trump headlined the first of a two-day conference hosted by right-wing political activist group Turning Point USA alongside far-right lawmakers, candidates and pundits, including Tucker Carlson and Matt Gaetz . The former president’s rambling Saturday night address condemned investigations and criminal indictments against him while telling Ron DeSantis to ‘get home to Florida,’ accusing his rival for the Republican nomination for president of neglecting the governor’s office. The campaign for Mr DeSantis, meanwhile, reported raising more than $20m in the first six weeks of his campaign, but roughly a dozen staffers were recently fired in a shakeup as his polling numbers trail the former president’s. Trump’s remarks came as his legal team presses courts in Georgia to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from investigating him for election interference and to quash the final report of a special purpose grand jury that recommends indictments against those in Trump’s circle. Attorneys filed similar petitions in both the Georgia Supreme Court and Fulton County Superior Court after a separate grand jury was sworn in to hear evidence surrounding attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Key points Marjorie Taylor Greene launches anti-trans speech at Turning Point conference Trump brands US a ‘third-world hellhole’ run by ‘perverts’ and ‘thugs’ in rambling, threatening remarks Trump Organization employee target for obstruction of documents probe No reason to delay Trump trial in documents case, prosecutors say After losing immunity in E Jean Carroll case, Trump fumes about ‘crooked’ DOJ Saturday 15 July 2023 01:45 , Oliver O’Connell Former President Donald Trump reacted with fury to news that the US Department of Justice no longer considers him immune from a defamation lawsuit from E Jean Carroll . Ms Caroll is suing Mr Trump for denying that he sexually assaulted her in Manhattan during the 1990s. In 2019, while serving as president, Mr Trump said that Ms Carroll was ‘not my type,’ and that the alleged assault ‘never happened.’ If a federal employee is sued for defamation over actions connected to their job, the DOJ can step in as the defendant and effectively stop the lawsuit from proceeding on the grounds that the federal government cannot be sued for defamation. Abe Asher explains why Mr Trump can no longer rely on the federal government to defend him. Order limiting Biden administration contact with social media companies paused by court 06:45 , Oliver O’Connell A federal appeals court Friday temporarily paused a lower court’s order limiting executive branch officials’ communications with social media companies about controversial online posts. Biden administration lawyers had asked the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to stay the preliminary injunction issued on July 4 by U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty. Doughty himself had rejected a request to put his order on hold pending appeal. Friday’s brief 5th Circuit order put Doughty’s order on hold ‘until further orders of the court.’ It called for arguments in the case to be scheduled on an expedited basis. Tucker Carlson and Pence clash over Ukraine 04:45 , Alex Woodward Tucker Carlson on Friday appeared to lose his patience with Mike Pence after the 2024 presidential candidate refused to back down from his support for arming Ukraine’s defence forces. Andrew Feinberg has more: They spent roughly half of their discussion sparring over Mr Pence’s view of the nearly 18-month-old war, which the ex-vice president described in stark terms based on his two visits to the region. When he addressed the Turning Point conference on Saturday night, Carlson continued his attacks on the former president and boosted a narrative of Ukraine that has shaped an element of the Republican Party and its base while earning accolades from Russian state media. ‘If you’re a Christian leader and Christians are going to jail for their views, you are required to say something,’ said Carlson, reviving a misleading narrative that accuses Ukraine’s Jewish leader Volodymyr Zelensky of persecuting Christian priests. ‘And if you don’t, you’re not much of a Christian leader.’ ‘How thankful are we for Tucker Carlson revealing true snakes … who do not have our best interests in mind,’ said right-wing commentator Benny Johnson, between cackling over viral clips of President Biden and ‘boos’ directed at Mr Pence. Tim Scott agrees with Tucker Carlson’s dismissal of Russia threat 02:45 , Oliver O’Connell Republican Senator Tim Scott or South Carolina appeared to agree with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s assertion that Mexico poses a bigger threat to the US than Russia in a chummy 2024 campaign trail forum. Eric Garcia has more: Ex-Secret Service agent ‘not surprised’ by White House cocaine find Monday 17 July 2023 00:45 , Oliver O’Connell A day after the Secret Service reached an end to its investigation into the presence of cocaine in the White House, former Secret Service agent Evy Poumpouras said she wasn’t shocked that the drug was able to get in. Kelly Rissman reports: Ex-Secret Service agent says she’s ‘not surprised’ by White House cocaine scandal Far-right pundits and lawmakers evangelise and crown Trump and Tucker at Turning Point’s Florida conference Monday 17 July 2023 00:00 , Alex Woodward On the stage of an influential activist group’s two-day conference, far-right conspiracy theorists, Republican presidential candidates and members of Congress veered into Christian nationalist evangelising, QAnon-adjacent conspiracy mongering and a bleak picture of an America in rapid decline under Democratic leadership. The guest speakers at Turning Point USA’s inaugural Turning Point Action Conference in Florida repeatedly denied the existence of transgender people, claimed that support for Ukraine is built on a lie, and characterised President Joe Biden as both a frail and incapable stooge and the most corrupt politician of all time. And they professed their loyalty to both Donald Trump, who delivered rambling remarks in primetime on 15 July, and to Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News pundit celebrated by Turning Point guests as the key figure who can articulate their long list of grievances. More from this weekend’s conference: Trump praises the federal judge he appointed who is now overseeing the Mar-a-Lago case Sunday 16 July 2023 23:45 , Alex Woodward Donald Trump appointed US District Judge Aileen Cannon to the southern district in Florida in 2020. Now, she is overseeing the federal case against him on charges of illegally retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago property after leaving the White House. His legal team has also pressed the judge to issue a continuance in the trial as he seeks to indefinitely delay the case. The filing is awaiting a decision from Judge Cannon. Asked on Sunday Morning Futures on Fox News whether he believes the judge will grant the motion, the former president said he didn’t know. ‘I know it’s a very highly respected judge. A very smart judge, and a very strong judge,’ he said. ‘I’m very proud to have appointed her,’ he added. ‘But she’s very smart and very strong, and loves our country. We need judges that love our country so they do the right thing.’ Turning Point straw poll puts Ramaswamy, not DeSantis, as top No. 2 pick if there’s no Trump Sunday 16 July 2023 23:14 , Alex Woodward Turning Point Action’s attendees notably did not pick Ron DeSantis as a No 2 pick for the Republican nomination in a weekend straw poll. Even though they were asked to pick a different candidate than the first round, which overwhelmingly went for Trump, attendees also picked Trump as a No 2. But Vivek Ramaswamy – a Trump booster who told the crowd that he wasn’t running ‘against’ any candidate – received 51. 2 per cent of the second-choice vote. Unsurprisingly, Trump dominates Turning Point Action’s straw poll Sunday 16 July 2023 23:10 , Alex Woodward With the exception of the candidates running against him (except for Vivek Ramaswamy, a Trump booster who said he is not running ‘against’ anyone), speaker after speaker at the Turning Point Action conference pledged their loyalty to Donald Trump. The results of a straw poll are no surprise, then, with the former presdent getting 85.7 per cent of attendees’ votes. Ron DeSantis, considered his main rival for the 2024 nomination, received 4.3 per cent. The top picks for Mr Trump’s running mate include failed candidate for Arizona governor Kari Lake (30.8 per cent), US Rep Byron Donalds (24 per cent), and Mr Ramaswamy (22 per cent). Sunday 16 July 2023 22:45 , Oliver O’Connell Lawyers for former President Donald Trump are asking Georgia ‘s highest court to prevent the district attorney who has been investigating his actions in the wake of the 2020 election from prosecuting him and to throw out a special grand jury report that is part of the inquiry. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been investigating since early 2021 whether Trump and his allies broke any laws as they tried to overturn his narrow election loss in Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden . She has suggested that she is likely to seek charges in the case from a grand jury next month. Tommy Tuberville’s military blockade over abortion jeopardises national security, US Army veteran senator says Sunday 16 July 2023 21:05 , Alex Woodward Democratic US Senator Tammy Duckworth has warned that Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville’s ongoing and ‘distressing’ blockade against the promotions of hundreds of military officials risks jeopardising national security. Ms Duckworth, a US Army veteran of the Iraq War, has joined Democratic criticism against the Alabama senator and member of the Armed Services Committee who is holding up promotions in protest of US Department of Defense policy to reimburse travel costs for service members seeking abortion care. House Republicans have also advanced a draft of a critical national defence spending bill that would prohibit spending on travel expenses for abortion care, regardless of whether service members are stationed – even in states where care is effectively illegal. GOP senator ‘jeopardises national security’ with anti-abortion military blockade Report: Special counsel issues criminal warning to Trump Organization employee over alleged obstruction Sunday 16 July 2023 20:45 , Oliver O’Connell The special counsel investigating former president Donald Trump threatened potential criminal charges against a Trump Organization employee suspected of lying to investigators, according to sources of ABC News . Jack Smith transmitted a letter to a staffer that indicated that they might have perjured themselves in an appearance before the federal grand jury that ultimately indicted Mr Trump for allegedly mishandling classified documents. Eric Garcia has the story. Asa Hutchinson greeted with jeers at Turning Point Sunday 16 July 2023 19:36 , Alex Woodward Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president in 2024, was met with boos and ‘Trump’ chants at the Turning Point Action Conference in Florida, where the crowd has effectively coronated the former president in his run for the White House. The ex-president’s eldest son Donald Trump Jr later said on the stage that at least Mr Hutchsinson ‘had the b****’ to show up to the conference, unlike the ‘absentee’ Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is not appearing at the event. Notably, Trump did not attend a Tucker Carlson-led evengelical summit on Friday, where the former Fox News pundit grilled the other candidates. Carlson later appeared at the Turning Point event, where there is unanimous support for the former president. 2020 election probe: Trump prosecutors met with Pennsylvania and New Mexico officials Sunday 16 July 2023 18:45 , Oliver O’Connell Federal prosecutors under supervision of Special Counsel Jack Smith have reportedly spoken with top election officials in Pennsylvania and New Mexico as part of the Justice Department probe into Donald Trump ‘s effort to overturn the 2020 election. According to CNN, Mr Smith’s team has in recent months conducted interviews of Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt and New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, with both officials providing information on ‘matters related to the 2020 election’. Andrew Feinberg has the story. Trump knows he lost 2020 election but ‘ego’ won’t let him admit it, Chris Christie says Sunday 16 July 2023 17:17 , Alex Woodward Trump knew he was losing the 2020 presidential election while asserting a baseless narrative that the results were rigged against him, according to former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Christie, who is running against Trump for the Republican nomination for president in 2024, told ABC News host George Stephanopouls that the former president told him ‘directly’ that he had lost in 2020. His comments follow reports that federal prosecutors investigating the former president’s attempts to upend the results of a democratic election have questioned several witnesses in recent weeks to determine whether he privately acknowledged losing the election he continues to publicly insist otherwise. Trump knows he lost 2020 but ‘ego’ won’t let him admit it, Chris Christie says Ron DeSantis open to ‘make changes’ to Social Security for people in their 30s and 40s Sunday 16 July 2023 16:50 , Alex Woodward In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Ron DeSantis said ‘of course’ he would protect Social Security for seniors, if elected. ‘That goes without saying,’ he added. ‘When people say we’re going to somehow cut senior Social, that’s totally not true.’ But when it comes to the future of the program for people who are in their 30s and 40s and hope to retire in the coming decades, ‘that’s a much different thing,’ he said, casting doubt on the viability of the program for other generations. ‘Talking about making changes for people in their 30s or 40s … that’s a much different thing, and that’s something I think there’s going to need to be discussions on,’ he said. DeSantis to become first GOP candidate to file for South Carolina primary Sunday 16 July 2023 16:45 , Oliver O’Connell Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis plans to file his 2024 candidacy for South Carolina ‘s Republican presidential primary when he’s in the first-in-the-South voting state next week, becoming the first GOP hopeful to do so. DeSantis will file his paperwork at the state GOP headquarters in Columbia on Tuesday, his campaign told The Associated Press on Friday. Trump insists he can end the war in Ukraine as soon as he enters office. He can’t explain how Sunday 16 July 2023 15:56 , Alex Woodward Donald Trump has continued to insist that he can end Russia’s war in Ukraine if he is elected into office, but he hasn’t ever explained how, exactly, he would. Asked directly on Fox News by host Maria Bartiromo, the former president says he has a good relationship with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky. ‘That’s not going to be enough for Putin to stop bombing,’ she interrupted. This is how he explained what his negotiation would look like: ‘I would tell Zelensky, ‘No more, you gotta make a deal.’