Trump news - live: Trump to testify in E Jean Carroll defamation case as feds raid Pence home

Follow the latest developments in Trumpworld

Trump says he will target medical staff offering care to trans children if re-elected

Donald Trump is set to testify in the defamation case brought against him by E Jean Carroll, an author who claims the former president raped her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990’s.

Mr Trump has also so far remained silent on his newly-restored Facebook and Instagram accounts – despite the revelation that two of his administration’s top officials have been subpoenaed in special counsel probes investigating the former president.

On Thursday, multiple reports confirmed that Mike Pence has been subpoenaed by special counsel Jack Smith who is in charge of overseeing multiple Department of Justice investigation.

Hours later, it emerged that former national security adviser Robert O’Brien had also been subpoenaed in the investigation into both classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago and the probe into Mr Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

The former president is yet to comment on the revelations – which came the same day his Facebook and Instagram accounts were restored.

It has also emerged that Mr Trump has finally offered to hand over his DNA in his upcoming rape trial with Ms Carroll – but only after the deadline passed to submit evidence in the case.

Key Points

• Former NSC official subpoenaed in special counsel Jan 6, classified documents probes
• Mike Pence subpoenaed by special counsel in charge of Trump probes
• Trump remains silent on newly-restored Facebook and Instagram
• Trump offers to submit DNA in E Jean Carroll rape case – after deadline passes
• Ex-Twitter staff say Trump White House attempted to get Chrissy Teigen post removed
• DeSantis responds to Trump’s ‘defamatory claims'

[11 February 2023 14:00 · Graig Graziosi]

Trump’s proposed new energy plan vows to ‘hunt down’ regulations he deems ‘unnecessary’

Donald Trump unveiled his energy plans should he become president in 2024 in a new video he posted. In the video, he vows to “deploy a team of warrior lawyers to hunt down every unnecessary regulation in the federal registry that hampers domestic production,” and “issue approvals for all worthy energy infrastructure projects with a focus on maximum speed to bring prices down rapidly.”

He also downplayed the ongoing threat posed by the climate crisis.

In the video he said he will “restore hope and aspiration to America’s young people, instead of being irrationally terrified by political predictions of climate apocalypse.”

[11 February 2023 13:00 · Graig Graziosi]

Brazilian president calls Bolsonaro a ‘copy cat’ Donald Trump

In a wide-ranging interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, a “faithful copycat of Donald Trump.”

He listed the men’s alleged numerous similarities, saying they “don’t enjoy trade unions … they don’t like workers, don’t like women. They don’t like Black people.”

[11 February 2023 12:00 · Graig Graziosi]

Donald Trump to testify in E Jean Carroll defamation case

Donald Trump is slated to defend himself during testimony he will give in the defamation case brought against him by author E Jean Carroll.

New court filings show that both Ms Carroll and Mr Trump will be called for testimony when the trial begins on 25 April.

Mr Trump’s lawyers also apparently plan to call CNN‘s Anderson Cooper as a witness.

Ms Carroll published a memoir accusing Mr Trump of raping her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990’s.

Read more in Graig Graziosi’s story here:

[11 February 2023 11:00 · Graig Graziosi]

FBI agents searching for classified documents at Mike Pence’s home

Special agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation are currently searching the Carmel, Indiana, home of former vice president Mike Pence as part of a Department of Justice probe into how classified documents from the Trump administration ended up there at the end of his term.

According to local television station WHTM, agents arrived at Mr Pence’s home at approximately 8.45 am local time.

Attorneys for the former vice president had been in talks to arrange a voluntary search of his home after his representatives notified the National Archives of classified documents that were inadvertently transferred there when he left office in January 2021.

Read more in Andrew Feinberg’s story here:

[11 February 2023 10:00 · Graig Graziosi]

Lawmakers introduce legislation to end Trump-era tax cuts for businesses who ship jobs overseas

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and and Congressman Lloyd Doggett introduced legislation today that would end tax cuts on businesses that outsource jobs.

If pased, the No Tax Breaks for Outsourcing Act would end the 50 per cent tax discount companies receive on foreign profits, and block future tax cuts for companies that operate foreign factories.

[11 February 2023 09:00 · Graig Graziosi]

Trump receives presidential endorsement from Oklahoma Senator

Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma is getting his 2024 presidential endorsement in early. On Friday, he endorsed Donald Trump as his favoured candidate in the upcoming race.

“President Trump is the architect of our America First movement,” Mr Mullin said. “He is a proven champion for our conservative values, and a fearless leader on the world stage.” “In just four years, President Trump delivered great results for the American people. He lowered taxes, secured American energy independence, protected our Second Amendment, and never backed down from the radical Left threatening our way of life,” he added. “President Trump is exactly the president we need to lead this country through the tough road ahead. Not only am I proud to endorse President Trump, I’m proud to call him my friend.”

[11 February 2023 08:00 · Graig Graziosi]

Trump political groups spent nearly $1m at his properties since leaving office

Donald Trump’s political action committees have spent nearly $1m at Trump-owned properties since the former president left office, according to Federal Election Commission filings reported by HuffPost.

The money was spent at properties such as Mr Trump’s hotel on Central Park in New York City and his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

[11 February 2023 07:00 · Graig Graziosi]

Pelosi says Biden’s State of the Union nullifies Democratic competition in 2024 and there will be ‘no challenger’

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told CNN that President Joe Biden would face no Democratic primary challenger in 2024, after his State of the Union address.

Ms Pelosi, who stepped aside as leader of House Democrats but whom the caucus elevated to the honorary title of Speaker Emerita, spoke to CNN after the president delivered his joint address to Congress.

The address comes as Mr Biden weighs whether to run for a second term in 2024. But Ms Pelosi told CNN she did not think that Mr Biden would face any Democratic challenger.

[11 February 2023 06:00 · Graig Graziosi]

Ron DeSantis say he’s too busy ‘delivering results’ to respond to ‘defamatory’ Trump claim

Florida governor Ron DeSantis said he’s too busy “delivering results” to respond to Donald Trump’s recent social media post amplifying a suggestion the Republican leader “groomed” teen girls and drank with his students while he was a high school teacher.

The ugly attack came this week as new polls have shown Mr DeSantis leading the former president in a head-to-head matchup for the 2024 nomination.

[11 February 2023 04:59 · Graig Graziosi]

VOICES: Republicans revealed their true selves at State of Union – and it ain’t pretty

Like most State of the Union speeches, this one was notable not for its content but for the drama that was unleashed on the margins. It began with a CNN report that Mitt Romney had gone up to George Santos in the chamber and told him, “You don’t belong here,” and it ended with Marjorie Taylor Greene heckling the president while dressed as Cruella de Vil.

But let’s rewind. Al Weaver, a reporter at The Hill who covers the Senate, asked Romney to confirm whether he had called Santos “an embarrassment”, and got the reply: “I don’t know the exact words I said. He shouldn’t have been there. Look, he’s a sick puppy. He shouldn’t have been there.”

Mitt clearly hadn’t gotten the memo that you shouldn’t mention sick puppies around George Santos. (For anyone who hasn’t been following the latest on Congress’s most fascinating liar, one of the many, many allegations recently made against Santos is that he stole $3,000 from a GoFundMe intended for a veteran’s sick dog. Then again, Santos has never admitted to those allegations – whereas Romney himself once readily admitted to strapping the family dog to the luggage rack of his car before driving six hours down the highway.)