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

[18 October 2022 19:30 · Oliver O'Connell]

Trump indulges in narcissistic Truth Social 'retruthing’ blitz

Donald Trump had a busy Tuesday morning on his social media platform “retruthing” posts from followers at times literally lionising him, channelling biblical terminology, and displaying cult-like devotion.

[18 October 2022 19:04 · Oliver O'Connell]

Audio reveals Trump showed Kim Jong-Un letters to Bob Woodward

A recording from a new audiobook by Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward reported by CNN on Tuesday reveals that former President Donald Trump gave the journalist copies of letters from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

“Nobody else has them, but I want you to treat them with respect,” Mr Trump says on the recording. “And don’t say I gave them to you, okay?”

Abe Asher has the story.

[18 October 2022 18:30 · Oliver O'Connell]

Kellyanne Conway endorses Dr Oz

Former Trump senior aide Kellyanne Conway has joined her one-time boss in endorsing Dr Oz in the Pennsylvania Senate race.

She wrote on Twitter that this rival Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman is “the most dangerous man in Pennsylvania, apart from the criminals he released”.

[18 October 2022 18:00 · Oliver O'Connell]

Trump aides “bullied CDC staff” to downplay Covid

A damning new report from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus investigating the Trump administration’s response to the Covid crisis unearthed new details that describe how top aides in the White House bullied Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff in service of the former president’s political goals.

“Evidence obtained by the Select Subcommittee documents how Trump Administration officials usurped control of CDC communications and blocked public health officials from providing accurate information about the coronavirus to the American people,” the report released on Monday by the committee, which is being led by Democratic Rep Jim Clyburn, began.

In its third investigation into the government response to the coronavirus pandemic, the panel also uncovered evidence that showed how the Trump administration systematically, and oftentimes with great success, attempted to stifle the scientific integrity of the federal agency tasked with handling the public health response.

Johanna Chisholm reports.

[18 October 2022 17:34 · Oliver O'Connell]

Trump asked about Kanye West comments

Former President Donald Trump was asked about Kanye West’s recent attack on his son-in-law Jared Kushner and other anti-Semitic statements.

Mr Trump was being interviewed by Salem News’s Larry O’Connor over the phone in an interview released today, Mediaite reports.

The former president claims to have not seen the statements and instead talks about how West was always nice to him and the MAGA movement...

“He’s been saying some really offensive things lately about your own son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and about Jewish people. Jewish Americans writ large. Could you react to that? Because is this the guy that you knew?” Mr O’Connor asked.

“Well, I haven’t really seen the statements he’s made. I did watch the Tucker Carlson interview and he was really nice to me. Beyond anybody, he was. He was great to me,” Mr Trump replied, mentioning the interview West did on Fox News.

He continued: “And he was great, really, to MAGA, to the MAGA movement, which was very impressive. I was, you know, not surprised. I always got along with him. I liked him. I’ve always gotten along with him.”

Mr Trump then added: “So I don’t really know what statements he made. Sometimes he’ll make a statement and a lot of people will think it’s worse, than he means it to be. But I think that, you know, I was I was certainly very you know, what I’m talking about. He was really high on a guy named Donald Trump.”

[18 October 2022 17:15 · Oliver O'Connell]

Kinzinger says Jan 6 panel will pursue Secret Service testimony

Illinois Representative Adam Kinzinger on Monday suggested members of the agency charged with protecting presidents and their facilities may have engaged in misconduct in the run-up to the January 6 attack and tried to hide it afterwards.

The January 6 select committee member was speaking to CNN on The Situation Room when he told host Wolf Blazer something appears to be amiss at the US Secret Service.

Andrew Feinberg has the story.

[18 October 2022 16:40 · Andrew Naughtie]

Fox Business hosts scorn Biden impeachment talk

Senior members of the House GOP leadership, Elise Stefanik in particular, are becoming increasingly bellicose in their promises to investigate the Biden administration during the next Congress should they get a majority – and their plans may even extend to impeaching the president himself.

The supposed offences they would impeach him for are not always clear, but they remain at least publicly committed to the idea. Yet even some of the party’s dedicated media outriders are expressing scepticism about it, and openly wondering what gain is to be had.

[18 October 2022 16:10 · Andrew Naughtie]

Trump back on fake election conspiracy theories in re-Truthing spree

Donald Trump is Truthing and re-Truthing busily sharing furious and sometimes deluded posts by other users pushing false claims about the theft of the 2020 election, Hunter Biden and others.

Among them is a strange meme about the darkness of the “deep state”, which Mr Trump has captioned with a rambling paragraph about a nonspecific “cancer that is purposely destroying our nation”.

This is typical of the occasional sessions where he appears to scour his bespoke semi-cloistered platform for sympathetic content, however obscure or dubious its origin. Most posts are being retruthed without comment, but he’s adding his own words here and there.

[18 October 2022 15:40 · Andrew Naughtie]

Netanyahu holds back on Trump’s comments about Jews

Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu was pressed on Mr Trump’s latest antisemitic comments while promoting his memoir on MSNBC’s Morning Joe today.

“Well, you know, he has a Jewish son-in-law and his daughter converted to judaism, his grandchildren are raised as Jews,” said the former prime minister, adding that in his estimation, Mr Trump’s antisemitic comment “reflects his frustration” for not getting “credit for the things he did”.

[18 October 2022 15:10 · Andrew Naughtie]

Oath Keepers leader’s Jan 6 shopping list revealed

As the Oath Keepers’ trial continues, jurors have been shown a map illustrating founder Stewart Rhodes’s journey to Washington, DC in advance of the January 6 attack – and alongside it, a list of items he bought to bring with him as the group convened in advance of the election certification.