Trump news – live: Vance slated for ‘kissing Trump’s ass’ as new details of McCarthy’s Jan 6 call emerge

Former president’s chosen Ohio Senate candidate was once among his most aggressive critics

Tim Ryan calls JD Vance an ‘ass-kisser’ after Trump remarks

Trump-backed Ohio Senate candidate JD Vance was ridiculed by his opponent last night for “kissing ass” to get the former president’s endorsement.

In a televised debate, Mr Vance’s Democratic opponent Tim Ryan quoted Mr Trump himself describing how Mr Vance had gone about securing his support.

Accusing Mr Vance of a “lack of courage,” Mr Ryan declared: “I’m from Ohio I don’t kiss anyone’s ass like him. Ohio needs an ass-kicker, not an ass-kisser.”

Meanwhile, an extract from an upcoming book on the GOP’s support for Mr Trump has revealed new details of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s infamous call with Mr Trump during the January 6 Capitol attack.

According to Politico, when Mr Trump told Mr McCarthy that the people storming the building were “more upset” than his party about the supposed theft of the election, Mr McCarthy responded: “More upset? They’re trying to f***ing kill me!”

Key points

• JD Vance slated for “kissing Trump’s ass"
• McCarthy told Trump Jan 6 rioters were trying to kill him – report
• Cassidy Hutchinson is ‘cooperating’ with Atlanta judge’s probe of Trump
• Trump claims Bill Clinton ‘lost’ the nuclear codes
• Report: Trump lawyer Christina Bobb cooperating with Justice Department

[26 October 2022 01:30 · Oliver O'Connell]

Analysis: Trump will be most worried by Ron DeSantis’s display of Maga-filled meanness

Andrew Buncombe writes about how Florida’s governor shows he has bigger political ambitions.

[26 October 2022 01:15 · Oliver O'Connell]

Penn State under fire after blaming students for violence around Proud Boys founder’s cancelled event

Pennsylvania State University is under fire for chastising students over violence that occurred during protests of a planned campus event featuring Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes, which was later cancelled.

Some observers suggested right-wing demonstrators bore more responsibility for the clashes, which included a fist fight and a crowd of bystanders being sprayed with chemicals.

Josh Marcus reports.

[26 October 2022 00:45 · Oliver O'Connell]

Bob Woodward had ‘no right’ to release recordings, says Trump

Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Tuesday lunchtime to complain about veteran journalist Bob Woodward’s recent release of his recorded conversations with the former president.

[26 October 2022 00:30 · Oliver O'Connell]

Bannon says entire Fauci family will ‘become the hunted’ after midterms

Steve Bannon, a former advisor to Donald Trump, has claimed Anthony Fauci and his entire family will “become the hunted” after the US midterm elections.

“On 8 November, when we destroy the Democratic party as a national political institution and really end the regime, the hunted become the hunters,” Bannon said on his War Room podcast over the weekend.

He then appeared to direct a threat at Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser.

“The whole Fauci family is going to be welcome to the investigations. The entire family.”

[26 October 2022 00:00 · Oliver O'Connell]

Financier navigates friendship with Trump at federal trial

As wealthy financier Tom Barrack built a private equity empire that relied on his close contact with Middle East leaders, he encountered a stumbling block: his friendship with Donald Trump.

Barrack had known Trump for years and admired him. But the Republican former president’s anti-Muslim rhetoric during his 2016 campaign was, in Barrack’s words, a foreign policy “nightmare” that worried some of his biggest investors.

It was a quandary that Barrack, the onetime chair of Trump’s inaugural committee, has sought to explain this week while taking the witness stand on his own behalf at his criminal trial in New York City. Federal prosecutors have accused him of secretly working as a foreign agent who was under orders by the United Arab Emirates to manipulate US foreign policy in its favor.

Read on:

[25 October 2022 23:30 · Oliver O'Connell]

What are NFL star Tom Brady’s political beliefs?

Io Dodds looks at how the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback and seven-time Super Bowl champion has long struggled to distance himself from ties to conservative politicians.

[25 October 2022 23:00 · Oliver O'Connell]

Former-Trump Ambassador Gordon Sondland praises Biden’s Ukraine response

The man whose testimony confirmed Donald Trump’s sham investigations for military aid quid-pro-quo tells Andrew Feinberg that Mr Trump’s successor has done ‘the impossible’ by rallying Nato and the EU in support of Kyiv.

[25 October 2022 22:30 · Oliver O'Connell]

Border wall fraud case retrial begins

A lawyer for a Colorado man accused of cheating donors to a $25 million fund to build a wall along the southern U.S. border told jurors on Tuesday that they should question why his client’s fraud trial is being held in New York, tapping into a theme that may have contributed to an earlier trial ending with a deadlocked jury.

During his opening statement, attorney John Meringolo, defending Timothy Shea, also spoke dismissively of Steve Bannon, the former top adviser to then-President Donald Trump who was charged in the case before Trump pardoned him as he left office last year.

Read on:

[25 October 2022 21:49 · Oliver O'Connell]

Meadows trying to avoid testifying in Georgia election probe

Mark Meadows, former White House chief of staff, is trying to avoid having to testify before a Georgia special grand jury that’s investigating whether then-President Donald Trump and his allies illegally tried to influence the state’s 2020 election.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis opened the investigation early last year, and the special grand jury was seated in May to review evidence and hear from witnesses. Willis filed a petition in August seeking to have Meadows testify before the panel.

[25 October 2022 21:05 · Oliver O'Connell]

Hope Hicks to testify before Jan 6 committee

One of Donald Trump’s onetime closest White House advisers will testify before the Jan 6 committee on Tuesday in a sign that his once tight circle of advisers has now splintered following the attack on the Capitol.

Hope Hicks will meet with the committee’s lawmakers today, NBC News reported, citing a source familiar with the proceedings. Her testimony represents one of the highest-ranking defections in the Trump sphere.

Ms Hicks served a number of roles under Mr Trump after joining his campaing in the early days of the 2016 cycle. She served as White House communications director for a time before ending her service to Mr Trump less than a week after Jan 6 while at the time serving as a “senior counselor”.

John Bowden reports.