Trump news: White House slams Putin ‘scheme’ as ex-president rejects House speaker plan

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Trump calls for Putin to release dirt on the Biden family

Donald Trump poured cold water on suggestions that he could be elected speaker of the House of Representatives by Republicans after this November’s midterm elections – an idea that has been floated by some of his more hardcore congressional allies. Instead, the president said, “I wanna look at what’s happening and then we’re gonna be doing something else”.

This he did in the same interview where he called on Vladimir Putin to release dirt about the Biden family’s supposed dealings with the wife of the mayor of Moscow. His appeal to the Russian autocrat has drawn outrage given Mr Putin’s current assault on Ukraine, an American ally.

Meanwhile, it emerged that White House phone records from 6 January 2021 obtained by the committee investigating the Capitol riot feature a 7-hour gap in former President Donald Trump’s communications, a span of time that includes the assault on the building by a horde of his supporters.

Later on Tuesday, former national security adviser John Bolton said that contra the ex-president’s denials, Mr Trump was aware of the slang term “burner phone” – and that he used the term on multiple occasions.

Key points today

• Trump speaks out during war in Ukraine to call on Putin to release Hunter Biden dirt
• Bolton claims Trump knew about ‘burner phones’ despite denial over call logs gap
• Judge says Trump tried to ‘subvert this fundamental principle’ of democracy’
• 6 Jan committee report lays down reasons for contempt charges against two former Trump aides
• Former president Trump says he might run for office again

[30 March 2022 21:10 · Andrew Naughtie]

Clarence Thomas still a virtual presence at Supreme Court

After being hospitalised with an infection, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is still participating in hearings only remotely. With the scandal involving his wife Ginni only adding pressure on him to recuse himself from future 6 January-related cases, the justice’s precise condition remains a mystery.

[30 March 2022 22:10 · Andrew Naughtie]

Republican Senator worried Ketanji Brown Jackson may “legislate from the bench"

North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis has come out against Ketanji Brown Jackson in a relatively amicable statement that acknowledges the historic nature of her confirmation, praises “her knowledge, her composure and her character”, and sends good wishes to “her and her wonderful family”.

Mr Tillis’s problem, it seems, is that “she may legislate from the bench instead of consistently following the Constitution as written” – the boilerplate language Republicans have used against Democratic judicial nominees for at least two political generations.

Read his statement below.