Trump tries to block Stormy Daniels from testifying at hush money trial as DA requests gag order: Live

According to The Daily Beast, three people familiar with the incident said Mr Trump, who is the eldest son of the former president, opened the letter and caused the white power to fly out of the envelope.

Michelle Del Rey reports:

Special Counsel Jack Smith has refuted Donald Trump’s claims that he’s being selectively prosecuted in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.

“There have been many government officials who have possessed classified documents after the ends of their terms in office—often inadvertently, sometimes negligently, and very occasionally willfully. There have also been a very small number of cases in which former government officials who have been found in possession of classified documents have briefly resisted the government’s lawful efforts to recover them. But there has never been a case in American history in which a former official has engaged in conduct remotely similar to Trump’s. He intentionally took possession of a vast trove of some of the nation’s most sensitive documents—documents so sensitive that they were presented to the President—and stored them in unsecured locations at his heavily trafficked social club.

“When the National Archives and Records Administration (“NARA”) initially sought their return (before learning that they contained classified national defense information), Trump delayed, obfuscated, and dissembled. Faced with the possibility of legal action, he ostensibly agreed to comply with NARA’s requests but in fact engaged in additional deception, returning only a fraction of the documents in his possession while claiming that his production was complete.

“Then, when presented with a grand jury subpoena demanding the return of the remaining documents bearing classification markings, Trump attempted to enlist his own attorney in the corrupt endeavor, suggesting that he falsely tell the FBI and grand jury that Trump did not have any documents, and suggesting that his attorney hide or destroy documents rather than produce them to the government. Failing in his effort to corrupt the attorney, Trump enlisted his trusted body man, codefendant Waltine Nauta, in a scheme to deceive the attorney by moving boxes to conceal his (Trump’s) continued possession of classified documents.

“As a result, Trump, through his attorney, again returned only a portion of the classified documents in his possession while falsely claiming that his production was complete. The obstructive conduct even persisted from there. In June 2022, knowing that he had arranged for Nauta to move boxes to conceal them from Trump’s attorney, and knowing that the government had subpoenaed the security video footage that would reveal that surreptitious box movement, Trump, now joined by not only Nauta but also codefendant Carlos De Oliveira, attempted to have the information-technology manager at Mar-a-Lago delete the video footage that would show the movement of boxes.”

A lecturer at Trump University by any chance?

It’s almost as bad actually: the cluprit is the one and only Jonathan Turley, attorney, professor at George Washington University Law School and prominent conservative pundit, whom you may recall from Trump’s impeachment trials.

Here’s Mike Bedigan with more on his latest crackpot theory.

Here’s one man who appears not to be on the shortlist after all.

John Bowden has this on Meatball Ron.

Nothing has captured the American conservative political imagination in recent weeks more than the Trump veepstakes.

Given that the Orange One is all but guaranteed to be the nominee, the choice to be his vice president will explain to the voting public what we can expect from a future administration.

And this year’s CPAC offered the perfect exhibition match for would-be administration officials.

Jeffrey Lord, a political strategist who worked in the Reagan and Bush administration, told The Independent at the conference that most likely Trump would pick either a female running mate or Senator Tim Scott, the sole Black Republican senator who endorsed him last month.

But what about the rest of his prospective Cabinet?

Eric Garcia and Holly Baxter take a look.

Joe Biden and Donald Trump are both set to visit the US-Mexico border on Thursday following the breakdown of congressional talks on immigration legislation and as immigration takes centre stage for their 2024 campaigns.

Andrew Feinberg and Gustaf Kilander have more.

The Ukrainian president has given an interview to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and expresses pessimism about the prospect of a second Trump administration, saying that Trump has never understood the Russian dictator he professes to admire.

Although the House Republicans’ failure to sign off on any further aid to Ukraine has been little short of a disgrace, it has at least brought Russia back to the top of the MAGA agenda – albeit in the dumbest way possible.