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      House paralyzed as Kevin McCarthy fails to win speakership on fifth vote

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      House paralyzed as Kevin McCarthy fails to win speakership on fifth vote Republican leader’s prospects dim as he continues to fall short on the second day of voting The House was paralyzed further on Wednesday, as Republican leader Kevin McCarthy failed again to win the speakership on a fifth ballot that saw his opposition deepen and left no clear path forward to end the stalemate.“It looks messy”, said Congressman Mike Gallagher, a Republican of Wisconsin, in a speech nominating McCarthy for speaker on Wednesday, “but democracy is messy.”On the second day of the 118th Congress, the Republican leader again fell far short of the 218 votes typically needed to win the gavel, marking the first time in a century that the House failed to choose a speaker on the first ballot. McCarthy earned just 201 votes, and all 212 Democrats voting for the minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Twenty conservatives opposed to McCarthy’s bid rallied behind Congressman Byron Donalds of Florida, while Congresswoman Victoria Spartz of Indiana, who had supported the Republican leader in previous rounds of balloting, voted “present”.Explaining her vote, Spartz said Republicans should “stop wasting everyone’s time” and reconvene only when they have enough votes to elect a speaker.House of Representatives: why is it taking so long to elect a speaker?Read moreDespite rounds of negotiations and a plea for unity from Donald Trump, McCarthy’s prospects appeared dimmer as he again braced for another defeat on the sixth ballot. In remarks nominating Donalds for speaker on the fifth vote, far-right conservative congresswoman Lauren Boebert suggested that Trump reverse course and tell McCarthy: “It’s time to withdraw.”With no resolution in sight, Republicans held animated discussions on the chamber floor as Democrats looked on. All House business, including the swearing-in of new members, has come to a halt until the speakership is determined. Joe Biden expressed dismay over the Republican standoff, telling reporters that the gridlock could damage America’s international reputation.“I just think it’s a little embarrassing it’s taking so long,” Biden said before leaving for a trip to Kentucky the same day. “It’s not a good look, it’s not a good thing. This is the United States of America, and I hope they get their act together.”Despite the significant hurdles he faces, McCarthy has voiced confidence that he will ultimately win the 218 votes needed to capture the gavel.“I think we’ll find our way to get there,” McCarthy told reporters on Tuesday night. “This is a healthy debate. It might not happen on the day we want it, but it’s going to happen.”In his floor speech, Gallagher acknowledged the chaos that has consumed the election so far and lamented the party’s narrow majority. Trying to put a positive spin on the situation, he celebrated the intraparty tension as the result of vigorous debate.“The American people gave us an opportunity,” he said. “They’re asking us to do a job, and nobody has laid out a plan – a proactive policy agenda for the direction we want to take this country – in more detail than Kevin McCarthy.”Before the chamber convened on Wednesday, Trump offered McCarthy his full-throated endorsement..“VOTE FOR KEVIN, CLOSE THE DEAL, TAKE THE VICTORY,” Trump said in a post on the social media platform Truth Social, warning that a failure to do so would result in a “GIANT & EMBARRASSING DEFEAT”. But his declaration did little to change the minds of the conservatives dug in against McCarthy, some of whom are the former president’s staunchest allies on Capitol Hill.Other prominent Trump loyalists, including the Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and Ohio congressman Jim Jordan among them, have joined the former president and rallied around McCarthy and called on their conservative colleagues to join them. The continued chaos came after the first three votes held on Tuesday failed to produce a winner. Across those three ballots, the ranks of McCarthy’s Republican detractors only grew, reaching a total of 20 by the time the chamber adjourned on Tuesday evening. After demanding a number of changes to chamber rules, one anti-McCarthy lawmaker suggested the leader’s handling of policy was to blame for his poor standing among certain conference members. Scott Perry, chair of the House Freedom Caucus, specifically cited the passage of the omnibus government funding bill last month, even though McCarthy fiercely opposed the legislation.McCarthy “is falsely selling the media he’s conceded to us in the Rules – not ONE bit will do ANYTHING to stop what just happened in the massive $1.7tn, 4,000-page Taxpayer theft bill from 12 days ago”, Perry said on Twitter. “We’ll continue to seek a candidate who’ll put an end to this horrible practice.”Underscoring the acrimony between the rival Republican camps, Gaetz sent a letter to the building caretakers on Tuesday night suggesting that McCarthy was improperly occupying the speaker’s lobby.“What is the basis in law, House rule, or precedent to allow someone who has placed second in three successive speaker elections to occupy the Speaker of the House Office?” Gaetz wrote. “How long will he remain there before he is considered a squatter?”One strategy under consideration is an attempt to win the speaker’s gavel with fewer than 218 votes, by persuading some holdout Republicans to vote present, thereby lowering the threshold to win a majority.“You get 213 votes, and the others don’t say another name. That’s how you can win,” McCarthy told reporters on Tuesday night.As the Republican conference devolved into chaos, House Democrats rallied around their new leader. Jeffries, who on Tuesday became the first Black American to helm either major party’s House caucus, said Republicans’ failure to elect a speaker was a “sad day” for the institution and democracy.“This is a crisis of the Congress and it’s a crisis at the hands of the Republican dysfunction,” California congressman Pete Aguilar, the House Democratic Caucus chair, said at a Wednesday morning press conference. Aguilar said Democrats were united behind Jeffries, whom party members emphatically nominated as their choice for speaker.Due to the conservative defections, Jeffries won the most votes overall on each of the first five ballots, but he fell short of the 218 needed to be elected speaker.Yet many House Democrats reveled in the dysfunction. Several Democratic members tweeted out photos of themselves enjoying popcorn as the floor fight unfolded on Tuesday. Congressman Jimmy Gomez, a Democrat from California who brought his four-month-old to the Capitol for a swearing-in ceremony that has still not happened, tweeted a photo of his son: “Two bottle feeds and multiple diaper changes on the Democratic cloakroom floor. This speaker vote is taking forever!”TopicsHouse of RepresentativesRepublicansUS politicsUS CongressDonald TrumpDemocratsnewsReuse this content More

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      Trump blaming abortion for midterms flop shows ‘ship is sinking’, insider says

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      Trump blaming abortion for midterms flop shows ‘ship is sinking’, insider saysEx-president says ‘it wasn’t my fault’ Republicans fared poorly in 2022 but political wisdom of citing key rightwing issue questioned Donald Trump’s recent comments about abortion as a political issue show the former president has lost his ability to read Republican voters, a veteran Trump campaign insider said.Trump seems to have a large war chest – but is he struggling to raise money?Read moreIn messages seen by the Guardian, the operative said: “Trump has no political skills left. His team is a joke. The ship is sinking.”Trump kicked off his latest scrap with his own party on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, saying: “It wasn’t my fault that the Republicans didn’t live up to expectations in the midterms.”On the contrary, most observers suggest Trump’s refusal to admit defeat in 2020 and endorsement of backers of his election fraud lie contributed to Republican disappointments in November, including barely scraping a House majority, failing to take the Senate and losing key races in battleground states.Trump said: “It was the ‘abortion issue’, poorly handled by many Republicans, especially those that firmly insisted on no exceptions, even in the case of rape, incest, or life of the mother, that lost large numbers of voters.”In this instance, most observers would agree. It is generally held that Dobbs v Jackson, the supreme court ruling handed down in June which ended federal abortion rights, had a tangible effect at the ballot box.Trump also complained that “people that pushed so hard, for decades, against abortion, got their wish from the US supreme court and just plain disappeared, not to be seen again”, and said the Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, had been “stupid” in how he spent campaign cash.The comments prompted criticism from the political right.The Fox News contributor Ben Domenech said it was “hard to express how many false things Trump says in this one ‘truth’”.He listed stringently anti-abortion Republicans who won, contested Trump’s claim that candidates supported no-exception bans and said Trump should have spent his own money to boost candidates such as Kari Lake, the election denier defeated for governor in Arizona.Pointing to a 2024 primary in which Trump is the only declared candidate but has slipped in polling, in part due to legal exposure for election subversion and his business affairs, Domenech added: “Trump betraying the pro-life cause on Dobbs has been telegraphed for a long time and is a huge opening to bash him in the 2024 stakes which I expect several candidates to seize.“Finally, think how stupid it is for Trump to run left on the pro-life issue. This is the biggest win of his presidency. Huge vested goodwill from pro-lifers. And what does he do? Call them quislings and say they’re too radical! Very dumb.”Trump appointed three hardline conservatives to the court which ended abortion rights. But his own views have long been questioned and even in 2016, in his successful run for the White House, he struggled to follow a consistent line.Trump dodges question over whether any past partners had abortionsRead moreBack then, Trump was asked – by a New York Times reporter – if “when he was a swinging bachelor in Manhattan, was he ever involved with anyone who had an abortion?”Trump said: “Such an interesting question. So what’s your next question?”Six years later, the messages from the veteran operative about Trump’s abortion remarks pointed to a widening perception that the ex-president’s 2024 candidacy is in danger of falling apart a year before the primary.Last month, after New York Magazine portrayed a “sad, lonely, thirsty, broken, basically pretend run for re-election”, Trump disputed the reporting and called the reporter, Olivia Nuzzi, “a shaky and unattractive wack job”.The Trump insider said Nuzzi’s piece contained “some accurate stuff”.TopicsDonald TrumpUS politicsUS midterm elections 2022AbortionReproductive rightsnewsReuse this content More

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      Trump seems to have a large war chest – but is he struggling to raise money?

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      Trump seems to have a large war chest – but is he struggling to raise money? Some high-profile mega-donors have fled, small-dollar donor stream that fueled his past runs is drying up, and he is accused of violating ‘soft money’ lawsWith his 2024 presidential candidacy officially kicked into gear, Donald Trump would seem poised to enter the Republican nomination race a step ahead: his Pacs and committees boast a war chest of about $95m, enough to give pause to the Republican candidates jockeying against him.But a scratch beneath the surface reveals a different reality. About $78m of the $95m cannot be directly used for Trump’s campaign, according to a Guardian analysis of the Trump fundraising web.What’s more, there’s evidence the small-dollar donor stream that fueled his past runs is drying up. Some high-profile mega-donors have fled. And a campaign finance watchdog has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) over Trump allegedly violating “soft money” laws as he appears to play a shell game with his cash.“There are a lot of moving parts, but there are a lot of reasons to believe that Trump is struggling more than he has in recent years to raise money,” said Robert Maguire, research director at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Trump’s fundraising in recent years has raked in eye-popping sums. During the 2020 cycle he raised $882m, and another $500m since then. But the savings have been depleted by Trump spending on his own legal defenses, on Melania Trump’s personal designer, and on helping the January 6 rioters.In recent years, the Trump team and its close allies have worked off an ever-expanding web of at least a dozen similarly named Pacs and committees. Typical examples: the “Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee” and the “Save America Joint Fundraising Committee”.The most prolific entity over the current cycle has been the Save America leadership Pac, which raised about $111m and has about $21m left over post-midterm. But federal rules prohibit Trump from using leadership Pac funds for his campaign because leadership Pacs exist to support other candidates. It can, however, be used to support the large rallies that are a central campaign strategy.Various Super Pacs hold another $57m, and though those can be used to support Trump’s campaign or attack his opponents, the Pacs legally cannot coordinate with the campaign.In total, that means about $78m of the $95m on hand as of 28 November cannot be directly used for Trump’s campaign.Still, that isn’t stopping the former president from trying to move money from leadership Pacs to Super Pacs via a legally questionable shell game. On 3 October, the Save America leadership Pac made a $20m contribution to Make America Great Again, Inc because the latter can spend more freely.But that caught the attention of legal observers who say the move clearly violated “soft money” provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act. On 14 November, the campaign finance watchdog Campaign Legal Center (CLC) filed a complaint with the FEC.It alleges that Trump, based on multiple statements and fundraising totals, was already a presidential candidate when he made the transfer from the leadership Pac to the Super Pac.“Therefore Trump violated federal law that prohibits that kind of soft money transfer,” said Saurav Ghosh, director of federal campaign finance reform for the CLC.Moreover, Trump seems to be circumventing the Super Pac rules that prohibit coordination with his campaign.“Super Pacs are nominally independent of the candidate, but with Trump it is heavy-quotes ‘independent’,” Ghosh said. “Clearly when you have a Super Pac like this, which is organized by allies and folks who worked on prior Trump campaigns, the independence is illusory.”Trump has expressed his disdain for these rules, telling Fox News in an August 2021 interview that “campaign finance laws are extremely complicated and unbelievably stupid”. He also used the interview to strongly hint at his candidacy.“The interview tells you all you need to know,” Ghosh said.The new committee that will act as Trump’s official fundraiser is “Donald J Trump for President 2024”. Filling it with funds from the usual sources, however, may prove more difficult than in the past.That’s because low-dollar donations that fueled previous campaigns – some of which were raised through questionable recurring payments plans – seem to be dwindling. The Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee has fused his Save America leadership Pac and official candidate committee.The joint committee boasted about its $24m haul from July to September, but it spent $22m to get there, records later showed. All told, his Pac network ran $13m in the red over the three-month period leading up to the midterms, fuelling speculation of small-donor fatigue.Moreover, the campaign showed $111m in receipts prior to the election, and is down to about $95m post election as its spending exceeds its fundraising.“He captivates a huge population of small-dollar donors willing to keep giving their money to him,” Maguire said. “He still has the capacity to raise money off the Maga crowd, but the question is ‘Is that going to cool off? Is there enough in the till?’, and that remains to be seen.”Among those defecting from Trump’s large-donor battalion are his top 2016 contributors, Robert and Rebekah Mercer, CNBC reported. The billionaires have instead donated to his likely primary rival, the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis.The hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, who threw around $67m in the midterms, has also backed DeSantis: “I’d like to think that the Republican party is ready to move on from somebody who has been for this party a three-time loser,” Griffin told Bloomberg’s New Economy Forum in September.Meanwhile, Blackstone financier and CEO Stephen Schwarzman, who spent $34m in the midterms, expressed a similar sentiment.“America does better when its leaders are rooted in today and tomorrow, not today and yesterday,” Schwarzman said in a statement. “It is time for the Republican party to turn to a new generation of leaders and I intend to support one of them in the presidential primaries.”But DeSantis faces a similar predicament as Trump. He has raised an enormous amount of money through his state-level Pac, but that can’t be transferred to a federal campaign. Ghosh said he suspects DeSantis will try to transfer the money to a Super Pac, as Trump did.That could prompt another complaint from the Campaign Legal Center, but it’s unlikely to go anywhere: with an equal number of Democratic and Republican commissioners, the agency has been stuck in partisan gridlock for years.“These are serious violations because the federal system is designed to be insulated from spending outside of limits,” he said. “But the FEC rarely enforces the laws, and in the case of Trump they have a particularly awful track record, so I don’t expect that they’re going to change here. Obviously I hope they do as this is a clear violation, but we recognize what we’re up against.”TopicsDonald TrumpUS elections 2024US politicsUS political financingfeaturesReuse this content More

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      in Elections

      Trump aide Hope Hicks texted ‘we look like domestic terrorists’ on January 6

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      Trump aide Hope Hicks texted ‘we look like domestic terrorists’ on January 6Text exchange between then communications chief and fellow White House aide reportedly reveals exasperation at Capitol riot Hope Hicks, a former key ally of Donald Trump, texted another White House aide “we all look like domestic terrorists now” as the then president’s supporters overran the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.The fear was expressed in a message sent by Trump’s former communications director to Julie Radford, chief of staff to his daughter and senior adviser, Ivanka Trump, on the afternoon of the deadly Capitol riot.Republican says he ‘fears for the future’ if Trump is not charged over Jan 6 riotRead moreIt is part of revelatory exchange between the pair released as supporting evidence by the January 6 House committee that investigated Trump’s efforts to remain in office following his defeat by Joe Biden.The panel published its final report last month accusing the single-term president of a “multi-part conspiracy” to thwart the will of the people and subvert democracy.According to reporting on Monday by the Hill, Hicks and Radford engaged in an increasingly resigned conversation as the Trump-incited mob overwhelmed security and invaded the Capitol, while Trump himself chose to watch on television and ignore pleas from aides, including Hicks, to call an end to the violence.“In one day he ended every future opportunity that doesn’t include speaking engagements at the local proud boys chapter,” Hicks texted to Radford, in an apparent reference to Trump and the violent rightwing group the Proud Boys.“Yup,” Radford replied.In a further message, Hicks wrote: “And all of us that didn’t have jobs lined up will be perpetually unemployed,” adding that “I’m so mad and upset.”“We all look like domestic terrorists now,” she wrote.“Oh yes I’ve been crying for an hour,” Radford responded.The exchange went on to discuss Alyssa Farah Griffin, Trump’s director of strategic communications who resigned several weeks before the riot after the November 2020 election. Griffin, now a political commentator for CNN and co-host of ABC’s The View, later told reporters she stood down because she “saw where this was heading”.Hicks wrote to Radford: “Not being dramatic, but we are all fucked. Alyssa looks like a genius.”Radford was less complimentary about Stephanie Grisham, a former White House press secretary who became chief of staff to then first lady Melania Trump before resigning abruptly on the day of the riot.Grisham’s resignation was “self-serving”, Radford opined, according to the Hill.TopicsUS Capitol attackTrump administrationDonald TrumpnewsReuse this content More

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      2024 Veepstakes: who will Donald Trump choose as his running mate?

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      2024 Veepstakes: who will Donald Trump choose as his running mate?From familiar faces to breakout Republican stars, 10 contenders for Trump’s vice-presidential pick for his third White House run Donald Trump, the former US president, is making a third consecutive run for the White House. But there is a job vacancy this time: his running mate. No one thinks it will be former vice-president Mike Pence after the pair fell out over the 2020 election and January 6 insurrection. Trump, a 76-year-old straight, white man who needs to broaden his appeal, might look to a person of colour, a woman or a young person for 2024 (or all of the above) – or he might not. Here are 10 potential contenders:Tucker CarlsonThe Fox News host turned up last summer in Iowa, which gets the first say in the Republican presidential nominating process, prompting speculation about his political ambitions. He is a Trump kindred spirit who goads liberals, appeases Russian president Vladimir Putin and promotes the far-right “great replacement” theory that western elites are importing immigrant voters to supplant white people. But Carlson would be sure to turn off moderates and independents.Ron DeSantisSome “Make America Great Again” voters torn between the authentic original and his upstart rival want to see them join forces on a dream Maga ticket. Florida governor DeSantis once made a campaign ad in which he read Trump’s book about getting rich, The Art of the Deal, to one of his children and encouraged them to “build the wall” along the US-Mexico border by stacking toy bricks. But Trump has now branded him “Ron DeSanctimonious” and the pair seem too similar to run together: less yin and yang than yin and yin.Tulsi GabbardThe former Democratic congresswoman and presidential candidate is attempting to launch a new career as a rightwing media personality. She campaigned for election-denier Kari Lake and other Republicans in the midterm elections. Her provocative challenges to western orthodoxy towards dictators such as Putin and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad are likely to strike a chord with Trump. He may also decide he needs a female running mate to make himself less toxic to suburban women.Marjorie Taylor GreeneThe far-right congresswoman from Georgia personifies the age of Trumpism with racist, antisemitic and Islamophobic statements, indications of support for political violence and wild conspiracy theories such as the claim that a Jewish-controlled space laser started a California wildfire. She recently suggested that, if she had led the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, the mob would have been armed and victorious in its efforts to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 victory (she later claimed this was “sarcasm”). She has little experience but her pugnacious campaigning style is right up Trump’s street.Nikki HaleyThe former South Carolina governor was Trump’s first ambassador to the United Nations. She turned against him over the January 6 insurrection but, like many other Republicans, found it easy to forgive him. She also proved willing to campaign for Georgia Senate nominee Herschel Walker despite his glaring incompetence and scandals. Trump’s campaign, meanwhile, might regard the daughter of Sikh immigrants from India as the perfect foil to charges of sexism and racism.Kari LakeShe was the breakout Republican star of the midterms all the way until election day – when she lost the race for governor of Arizona. The charismatic former TV anchor was endorsed by Trump and found a way to repeat his election lies while sounding almost credible. Despite his distaste for losers, Trump has twice welcomed Lake to his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida since her defeat. It would be no great surprise to hear him say she is straight from “central casting”.Kristi NoemThe governor of South Dakota has become another familiar face on the conservative conference and media circuit, railing against targets such as coronavirus pandemic lockdowns and the Chinese Communist party. In July, she told CNN she would support Trump in 2024 and “would be shocked if he asked” her to be his running mate. Noem has experience in elected office and could give Trump a new shot at credibility among Christians, rural Americans and women.Sarah SandersShe was unswervingly loyal as Trump’s White House press secretary, championing his agenda and insisting that he was misunderstood by critics. Last month she was elected as governor of Arkansas, following in the footsteps of her father, Mike Huckabee, creator of The Kids Guide to President Trump. Sanders and Huckabee, a former pastor, might help Trump shore up the Christian evangelical vote against potential challengers such as Pence. Tim ScottThe South Carolina senator is said to be eyeing his own run for the presidency. The Trump campaign might regard Scott as a compelling choice, hoping that he would neutralise accusations of racism and rally “Blacks for Trump”. He told the Republican national convention in 2020 that his grandfather “suffered the indignity of being forced out of school as a third-grader to pick cotton and never learned to read or write … Our family went from cotton to Congress in one lifetime.”Elise StefanikTrump prizes loyalty and few have been more loyal than congresswoman Elise Stefanik of New York, the number three Republican in the House of Representatives. Once a moderate, she staunchly defended the former president during his impeachments and declared this year: “I am ultra-Maga. And I’m proud of it.” Shrugging off disappointing midterm results, she was quick to endorse Trump for 2024. He has described her as “a star” and said: “She looks like good talent.”TopicsDonald TrumpRepublicansRon DeSantisUS elections 2024US politicsfeaturesReuse this content More

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      Republican says he ‘fears for the future’ if Trump is not charged over Jan 6 riot

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      Republican says he ‘fears for the future’ if Trump is not charged over Jan 6 riotAdam Kinzinger said in an interview the former president should be charged with conspiracy over the insurrection Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger said in an interview on Sunday that he believes the Department of Justice “will do the right thing” and bring criminal charges against Donald Trump for his role in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.“I think he will be charged, and I frankly think he should be,” Kinzinger told CNN’s State of Union political talk show on Sunday morning.Last month, the House select committee investigating the attack, on which Kinzinger sits, voted to refer the former president to the justice department on charges of obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the US, conspiracy to make a false statement and “incite”, “assist” or “aid or comfort” an insurrection.January 6 report review: 845 pages, countless crimes, one simple truth – Trump did itRead moreThe recommendations relate to the former US president’s role in encouraging the insurrection at the US Capitol in Washington DC as thousands of his extremist supporters sought to prevent the certification by Congress of Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in the 2020 presidential election.“If he is not guilty of a crime, then I frankly fear for the future of this country because now every future president can say, ‘Hey, here’s the bar.’ And the bar is, do everything you can to stay in power,” Kinzinger said.Kinzinger was one of two Republicans on the Democratic-led January 6 select committee, which wrapped up its investigation prior to dissolving and the new Congress beginning on Tuesday, when Republicans will assume the majority in the House following last November’s midterm elections.Kinzinger led one of the committee’s sessions last June that focussed on pressure allegedly placed on the justice department by Trump or his allies as he strove to persuade them to overturn his 2020 defeat by falsely claiming the election was blighted by widespread fraud.He has represented Illinois in the House of Representatives since 2011 and was speaking following the last sessions held by the committee and on the eve of his departure from Congress.Kinzinger also slammed Republican leaders for maintaining Trump’s influence on the US political landscape, by playing down the significance of the Capitol attack and Trump’s incitement of the riot, and often backing Trump’s lies about elections being rigged in favor of Democrats.He blamed powerful House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, who is currently battling to become the new speaker of the House, as the reason the former president remains such a force in politics.“He is the reason Donald Trump is still a factor,” Kinzinger said. “He is the reason that some of the crazy elements of the House still exist.”McCarthy, he said, had visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago Florida residence shortly after the January 6 insurrection. That show of mutual support at a pivotal moment “resurrected” Trump’s relevance in politics, strengthening the right. In McCarthy making the trip, he said, Republicans went from not knowing what to do about Trump to “begrudgingly” defending him.“Donald Trump should consider Kevin McCarthy his best friend because Donald Trump is alive today politically because of Kevin McCarthy,” Kinzinger added.He noted that Senate then-majority leader Mitch McConnell and other Senate Republicans failed to convict Trump during his historic second impeachment for inciting insurrection. “The Republican party is not the future of this country unless it corrects,” he said. “If you think of a successful America in 20 years, that’s not going to be an America based on what Marjorie Taylor Greene wants or … some of these radicals want,” he added, referring to the far-right Georgia congresswoman, who is sympathetic to the QAnon conspiracy theory, and her ilk.As the 2024 presidential election gradually takes shape, Kinzinger said he was fearful for American democracy, given that “maybe a third of the country” believes the last election was stolen from Trump.The congressman said it was not his intention to run for the Republican presidential nomination. But he conceded that it would be “fun” to run against Trump, who in November declared his 2024 candidacy.“He stands up and just lies. He tells untruths. People love it because it’s entertaining but eventually people have a concern for their country. So, no, my intention is not to run in 2024. But it would be fun,” he said.TopicsRepublicansUS Capitol attackDonald TrumpJanuary 6 hearingsUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      Trump tax returns: key takeaways from the records release

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      AnalysisTrump tax returns: key takeaways from the records releaseAssociated Press in WashingtonThe former president had a bank account in China, failed to donate in 2020 and claims Democrats ‘weaponized’ his taxes In one of its last acts under Democratic control, the House of Representatives on Friday released six years of Donald Trump’s tax returns, dating to 2015, the year he announced his presidential bid.Trump tax returns show China bank account as six years of records releasedRead moreThe thousands of pages of returns were the subject of a prolonged legal battle after Trump broke precedent by not releasing his tax returns while running for, and then occupying, the White House.Here are some key takeaways from a review of the documents:Trump had a bank account in ChinaDuring a 2020 presidential debate, Trump was asked about having a bank account in China. He said he closed it before he began his campaign for the White House four years earlier.“The bank account was in 2013. It was closed in 2015, I believe,” Trump said. “I was thinking about doing a deal in China. Like millions of other people, I was thinking about it. I decided not to do it.”The tax returns contradict that account. Trump reported a bank account in China in his returns for 2015, 2016 and 2017.The returns show accounts in other foreign countries including the UK, Ireland and St Martin in the Caribbean. By 2018, Trump had apparently closed all his overseas accounts other than the one in the UK, home to one of his flagship golf properties.The returns do not detail the amount of money held in those accounts.No reported charitable giving in 2020In the final year of his presidency, Trump reported making no charitable donations. That was in contrast to the prior two years, when Trump reported about $500,000 (£414,060) worth of donations. It is unclear if any of the figures include his pledge to donate his $400,000 presidential salary back to the US government. He reported donating $1.1m in 2016 and $1.8m in 2017.Money from the arts worldTrump collected a $77,808 annual pension from the Screen Actors Guild and a $6,543 pension in 2017 from another film and TV union, and reported acting residuals as high as $14,141 in 2015, according to the tax returns.Trump has made cameo appearances in various movies, notably Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, but his biggest on-screen success came with his reality TV shows The Apprentice and The Celebrity Apprentice.Trump reported paying a little more than $400,000 from 2015 to 2017 in “book writer” fees. In 2015, Trump published the book, Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again, with a ghostwriter. The same year, Trump reporting receiving $750,000 in fees for speaking engagements.Trump vows paybackTrump broke political tradition by not releasing his tax returns as a candidate or as president. Now Republicans warn that Democrats will pay a political price by releasing what is normally confidential information.Trump underscored that in a statement on Friday morning, after his returns were made public.Kayleigh McEnany a ‘liar and opportunist’, says former Trump aide Read more“The great USA divide will now grow far worse,” he said. “The Radical Left Democrats have weaponized everything, but remember, that is a dangerous two-way street!”Republicans on the House ways and means committee, which has jurisdiction over tax matters and released the Trump documents, warned that in the future the committee could release the returns of labor leaders or supreme court justices. Democrats countered with a proposal to require the release of tax returns by any presidential candidate – legislation that is unlikely to pass, given that Republicans take control of the House next week.Republicans cannot disclose Joe Biden’s tax returns – because they are already public. Biden resumed the longstanding bipartisan tradition of releasing his tax records, disclosing 22 years’ worth of filings during his 2020 campaign.TopicsDonald TrumpTrump administrationUS politicsUS taxationUS CongressHouse of RepresentativesDemocratsanalysisReuse this content More

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      Trump says tax returns release will ‘lead to horrible things for so many people’ – as it happened

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      Donald Trump has responded to the release of his tax returns by Democrats on the House ways and means committee, saying that they “show how proudly successful I have been”.In a statement released by his campaign, Trump pushed back against the move, saying: “The Democrats should have never done it, the supreme court should have never approved it, and it’s going to lead to horrible things for so many people.”He continued: “The great USA divide will now grow far worse. The radical, left Democrats have weaponized everything, but remember, that is a dangerous two-way street!“The ‘Trump’ tax returns once again show how proudly successful I have been and how I have been able to use depreciation and various other tax deductions as an incentive for creating thousands of jobs and magnificent structures and enterprises.”It’s nearly 4pm in Washington DC. Here is a round-up of today’s developments on Trump’s tax returns and more:
      Despite Trump previously pledging that he would forgo his $400,000 salary if he became president, his tax returns indicate otherwise. According to Trump’s tax returns, he reported $0 in charitable giving in 2020 – his last year in office. In 2017, Trump donated $1.8 million and approximately half a million dollars in 2018 and 2019 each.
      The Biden administration on Friday finalized regulations to protect hundreds of thousands of streams, wetlands and other waterways across the country. The new rules repeal a Trump-era rule federal courts threw out and environmentalists said left waterways vulnerable to pollution.
      In addition to listing China as a foreign country that had a Trump-tied bank account, Trump also listed business income, taxes and expenses in several other countries on his tax returns. Those include Israel, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, India, Qatar, Panama, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, South Korea and Brazil, among others.
      Texas Democratic representative Lloyd Doggett has responded to the release of Tump’s tax returns, saying that “Americans should be outraged” by how little the former president paid in federal taxes in recent years.“I think it’s really outrageous… Here is the most powerful man in the world, the self-described clever genius who brags of his wealth almost daily and he did not pay taxes that the most modest wage earner in this country would pay,” he told MSNBC.
      Daniel Goldman, now a congressman-elect from New York but in a former role lead Democratic counsel in Donald Trump’s first impeachment, has a question about what the Trump tax returns released today show: “Trump had bank accounts in China while he was in office until 2018. Generally, you only have bank accounts in a foreign country if you are doing transactions in that country’s currency.”
      President Joe Biden is granting full pardons to six people, the White House has announced. In a statement released on Friday, a White House spokesperson said that the pardons are for six individuals “who have served their sentences and have demonstrated a commitment to improving their communities and the lives of those around them.”
      On Thursday, in a recount triggered by the closeness of the first count, the Democratic candidate for attorney general, Kris Mayes, was declared the winner for a second time, beating the Republican candidate, Abe Hamadeh. As the Associated Press reports, though, Mayes won the recount by less than she won the first count, finishing “280 votes ahead … down from a lead of 511 in the original count [with] the reason for the discrepancy not immediately clear.”
      Donald Trump’s tax returns indicate that he held overseas bank accounts while he was president. One page of the returns indicate the United Kingdom, Ireland, China and Saint Martin as foreign countries where Trump’s financial accounts were located. Tax records reviewed by the New York Times in 2020 revealed that Trump paid nearly $200,000 in taxes to China, according to the outlet.
      The House ways and means Republican leader Kevin Brady of Texas has responded to the release of Donald Trump’s tax returns, calling it a a “political weapon” and a “regrettable stain.” “Going forward, all future Chairs of both the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee will have nearly unlimited power to target and make public the tax returns of private citizens, political enemies, business and labor leaders or even the Supreme Court justices themselves,” he said.
      Democratic representative Don Beyer of Virginia has compared Donald Trump to former president Richard Nixon in light of Trump’s tax returns release. In a statement released on Friday regarding Trump’s returns, Beyer, who sits on the House ways and means committee, said: “Despite promising to release his tax returns, Donald Trump refused to do so, and abused the power of his office to block basic transparency on his finances and conflict of interest which no president since Nixon has foregone.”
      Donald Trump has responded to the release of his tax returns by Democrats on the House ways and means committee, saying that they “show how proudly successful I have been”. In a statement released by his campaign, Trump pushed back against the move, saying: “The Democrats should have never done it, the supreme court should have never approved it, and it’s going to lead to horrible things for so many people.” He continued: “The great USA divide will now grow far worse. The radical, left Democrats have weaponized everything, but remember, that is a dangerous two-way street!”
      The release of Donald Trump’s tax returns follows a congressional report released earlier this month that revealed that Trump and his wife Melania did not pay any federal income tax in 2020. The report also found for a few years, the couple reported negative income and little or no tax liability. In addition, it found that the Internal Revenue Service failed to carry out mandatory audits of Trump during his first two years as president.
      House Democrats have released former president Donald Trump’s tax returns that span over six years. The release of the returns marks the latest blow for Trump who was impeached twice by the Democratic-led House and was later acquitted by the Senate. In a written statement, Representative Richard E. Neal of Massachusetts, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee said, “Our findings turned out to be simple — I.R.S. did not begin their mandatory audit of the former president until I made my initial request,” the New York Times reports.
      An Arizona man who participated in the January 6 riots told the January 6th Select Committee that the “crazy” conspiracy theories about him working with the government has deeply affected his life. In an interview released on Thursday, Ray Epps told the committee that he has received death threats and that his grandchildren were bullied at school following far-right conspiracy theories that he was working for the FBI.“The only time I’ve been involved with the government was when I was a Marine in the United States Marine Corps,” Epps, who was a supporter of Donald Trump, said.
      Donald Trump’s former communications director has called Kayleigh McEnany, Trump’s last White House press secretary a “liar and an opportunist.” According to testimony released on Thursday, Alyssa Farah Griffin was asked by the January 6th Select Committee where McEnany “fell” after the 2020 election. In response, Farah Griffin said, “I’m a Christian woman…so I will say this. Kayleigh is a liar and an opportunist.”
      That’s it from me, Maya Yang, as we end today’s live blog on the politics of Capitol Hill and beyond. Have a great weekend! Despite Trump previously pledging that he would forgo his $400,000 salary if he became president, his tax returns indicate otherwise.According to Trump’s tax returns, he reported $0 in charitable giving in 2020 – his last year in office.In 2017, Trump donated $1.8 million and approximately half a million dollars in 2018 and 2019 each, the tax returns indicate.The Biden administration on Friday finalized regulations to protect hundreds of thousands of streams, wetlands and other waterways across the country.The Associated Press reports: The new rules repeal a Trump-era rule federal courts threw out and environmentalists said left waterways vulnerable to pollution.The rule defines which “waters of the United States” are protected by the Clean Water Act. For decades, the term has been a flashpoint between environmental groups that want to broaden limits on pollution and farmers, builders and industry groups that say extending regulations too far is onerous for business.The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Army said the reworked rule was based on definitions in place before 2015. Federal officials said they wrote a “durable definition” of waterways to reduce uncertainty.More from the Associated Press here:Biden administration drafts new rules to protect streams and wetlandsRead moreHere’s some interesting lunchtime reading from Andrew Lawrence about Maxwell Frost, the Florida congressman-elect who is set to become the first Gen Z member of Congress. Safe to say, Frost’s move to Washington has not proved entirely smooth sailing…When the Guardian last visited 25-year-old Maxwell Alejandro Frost, in September, he was campaigning to become the first Gen Z member of the US Congress, and driving Uber shifts to make ends meet in the meantime. In early November he defeated his Republican rival, Calvin Wimbish, by a considerable margin, winning 59% of the vote in Florida’s 10th congressional district, which includes Orlando and many of its surrounding theme parks.Frost’s life has only become messier since. Chiefly, he has yet to sort out his living accommodation in Washington DC, and must decide whether to keep paying rent for the Orlando home he shares with two others, as well as working out how to foot these bills until his $174,000 (£142,000) federal salary kicks in. He says: “I’ll probably crash on someone’s couch in DC for the first month at least.”Even finding potential roommates among his fellow representatives brings unforeseen challenges for the congressman-elect, who has been back and forth for freshman orientations. “A lot of people are looking to get their roommates before 3 January,” says Frost. “I just can’t operate on that timeline. Even after I start getting paid it’s not like I’m flush in one day. I have a lot of debt.” Earlier this month he vented on Twitter about being turned down for a DC apartment due to bad credit: “This ain’t meant for people who don’t already have the money,” he wrote.Read on:‘I’ll be crashing on someone’s couch till I get paid’: life as the first Gen Z congressmanRead moreIn addition to listing China as a foreign country that had a Trump-tied bank account, Trump also listed business income, taxes and expenses in several other countries on his tax returns. Those include Israel, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, India, Qatar, Panama, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, South Korea and Brazil, among others. In response to the release, Democratic representative Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois tweeted: .css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“Releasing six years’ worth of Donald Trump’s tax returns…should help us understand any connections to foreign entities that may have influenced his decision-making as president.”Releasing six years’ worth of Donald Trump’s tax returns ensures transparency with the American people, and should help us understand any connections to foreign entities that may have influenced his decision-making as president. https://t.co/4jqYmofdf9— Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (@CongressmanRaja) December 30, 2022
      Texas Democratic representative Lloyd Doggett has responded to the release of Tump’s tax returns, saying that “Americans should be outraged” by how little the former president paid in federal taxes in recent years. .css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“I think it’s really outrageous…both with regard to Trump personally and with regard to Trump’s Internal Revenue Service administration. Here is the most powerful man in the world, the self-described clever genius who brags of his wealth almost daily and he did not pay taxes that the most modest wage earner in this country would pay,” Doggett told MSNBC.
      “Nothing in one year, $75o dollars a year and others, all of this related to claims for big losses, big deductions, big credits, taking advantage of every loophole and because of the sorry job that Trump’s IRS did, we don’t know how many of these were legal loopholes, for the rich and how many of them were unjust and illegal” he said, adding, “Americans should be outraged by that.” “Here is the most powerful man in the world…and he did not pay the taxes that the most modest wage earner in this country would pay…Americans should be outraged by that”: Rep. Lloyd Doggett on Trump’s tax returns. pic.twitter.com/dWLS2FMpxo— MSNBC (@MSNBC) December 30, 2022
      Daniel Goldman, now a congressman-elect from New York but in a former role lead Democratic counsel in Donald Trump’s first impeachment, has a question about what the Trump tax returns released today show:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}Trump had bank accounts in China while he was in office until 2018. Generally, you only have bank accounts in a foreign country if you are doing transactions in that country’s currency.
      What business was Trump doing in China while he was president?On the subject of Republicans, China and investment arrangements, here’s some further reading from the Guardian’s Lloyd Green:American muckrakers: Peter Schweizer, James O’Keefe and a rightwing full court pressRead moreOur Washington bureau chief, David Smith, and Sam Levine have filed their first report on today’s main politics news, the release of Donald Trump’s tax returns.Six years of Donald Trump’s tax returns were made public by a congressional panel on Friday, ending the former president’s long-running effort to break precedent and keep them secret.The returns date from 2015 to 2020 and span nearly 6,000 pages, including more than 2,700 pages of individual returns from Trump and his wife, Melania, and more than 3,000 pages from Trump’s businesses. Sensitive information such as social security and bank account numbers have been redacted.A House of Representatives report released earlier this month analyzed the documents and showed Trump and his wife Melania paid no federal income tax in 2020, the last full year he was in office. From 2015 to 2020, Donald and Melania Trump had several years in which they reported negative income and little or no tax liability.The report also found that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) failed to conduct mandatory audits of Trump during his first two years in office. By contrast, there were audits of Joe Biden for the 2020 and 2021 tax years, according to the White House.Richard Neal, the Democratic chairman of the ways and means committee, said in a statement: “A president is no ordinary taxpayer. They hold power and influence unlike any other American. And with great power comes even greater responsibility.”He added: “We anticipated the IRS would expand the mandatory audit program to account for the complex nature of the former president’s financial situation yet found no evidence of that. This is a major failure of the IRS under the prior administration, and certainly not what we had hoped to find.”Full story:Six years of Donald Trump’s tax returns made public by US House panelRead morePresident Joe Biden is granting full pardons to six people, the White House has announced.In a statement released on Friday, a White House spokesperson said that the pardons are for six individuals “who have served their sentences and have demonstrated a commitment to improving their communities and the lives of those around them.”.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“President Biden believes America is a nation of second chances, and that offering meaningful opportunities for redemption and rehabilitation empowers those who have been incarcerated to become productive, law-abiding members of society,” the statement added.
      “The President remains committed to providing second chances to individuals who have demonstrated their rehabilitation – something that elected officials on both sides of the aisle, faith leaders, civil rights advocates, and law enforcement leaders agree our criminal justice system should offer.”The pardoned group include individuals who served in the US military, survived domestic abuse, and volunteer in their communities.More elections news from Arizona, a swing state where pro-Trump Republicans have of late caused a lot of trouble with claims of electoral fraud in races in which they were beaten.On Thursday, in a recount triggered by the closeness of the first count, the Democratic candidate for attorney general, Kris Mayes, was declared the winner for a second time, beating the Republican candidate, Abe Hamadeh.As the Associated Press reports, though, Mayes won the recount by less than she won the first count, finishing “280 votes ahead … down from a lead of 511 in the original count [with] the reason for the discrepancy not immediately clear”.In a statement, Mayes said she was “excited and ready to get to work as your next attorney general and vow to be your lawyer for the people”.The AP continues:.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“Outside court, Mayes attorney Dan Barr said the results should give the public confidence in elections, despite the adjustments in vote totals as a result of the recount.
      ‘They didn’t just do a rubber stamp of what it was,’ Barr said. ‘They did a careful evaluation of the votes and they came up with a different result. And so I think people should have a lot of confidence in the process.’
      Hamadeh said the discrepancies in the latest results from his race were shockingly high. ‘My legal team will be assessing our options to make sure every vote is counted,’ he said. Hamadeh hasn’t conceded to Mayes.The Arizona governor’s race was also close, but not close enough to trigger a recount. The Democratic candidate, Katie Hobbs, won it, by a little more than 17,000 votes. The Republican candidate – the pro-Trump election denier Kari Lake – went to court over her defeat, but lost.Some further reading:Arizona judge declines to sanction Kari Lake for lawsuit challenging electionRead moreDonald Trump’s tax returns indicate that he held overseas bank accounts while he was president. One page of the returns indicate the United Kingdom, Ireland, China and Saint Martin as foreign countries where Trump’s financial accounts were located. A bank account in China.#TrumpTaxReturns pic.twitter.com/CLdBvFhK9U— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) December 30, 2022
      Tax records reviewed by the New York Times in 2020 revealed that Trump paid nearly $200,000 in taxes to China, according to the outlet. During the 2020 presidential campaign, Trump accused his oppponent Joe Biden of being “weak on China” and claimed that the Biden family was “selling out our country” to China. The House ways and means Republican leader Kevin Brady of Texas has responded to the release of Donald Trump’s tax returns, calling it a a “political weapon” and a “regrettable stain.”In a statement issued on Friday, Brady said: .css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“With the publicly released transcript of Democrats’ secret executive session, Americans now have confirmation that there was never a legislative purpose behind the public release of these confidential records and that the IRS was conducting audits prior to Democrats’ request.
      “Despite these facts, Democrats have charged forward with an unprecedented decision to unleash a dangerous new political weapon that reaches far beyond the former president, overturning decades of privacy protections for average Americans that have existed since Watergate.
      “Going forward, all future Chairs of both the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee will have nearly unlimited power to target and make public the tax returns of private citizens, political enemies, business and labor leaders or even the Supreme Court justices themselves.
      “This is a regrettable stain on the Ways and Means Committee and Congress, and will make American politics even more divisive and disheartening. In the long run, Democrats will come to regret it.”Democratic representative Don Beyer of Virginia has compared Donald Trump to former president Richard Nixon in light of Trump’s tax returns release. In a statement released on Friday regarding Trump’s returns, Beyer, who sits on the House ways and means committee, said: .css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“Despite promising to release his tax returns, Donald Trump refused to do so, and abused the power of his office to block basic transparency on his finances and conflict of interest which no president since Nixon has foregone.” Beyer went on to add: .css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“Trump acted as though he had something to hide, a pattern consistent with the recent conviction of his family business for criminal tax fraud. As the public will now be able to see, Trump used questionable or poorly substantiated deductions and a number of other tax avoidance schemes as justification to pay little or no federal income tax in several of the years examined.” Donald Trump has responded to the release of his tax returns by Democrats on the House ways and means committee, saying that they “show how proudly successful I have been”.In a statement released by his campaign, Trump pushed back against the move, saying: “The Democrats should have never done it, the supreme court should have never approved it, and it’s going to lead to horrible things for so many people.”He continued: “The great USA divide will now grow far worse. The radical, left Democrats have weaponized everything, but remember, that is a dangerous two-way street!“The ‘Trump’ tax returns once again show how proudly successful I have been and how I have been able to use depreciation and various other tax deductions as an incentive for creating thousands of jobs and magnificent structures and enterprises.”The release of Donald Trump’s tax returns follows a congressional report released earlier this month that revealed that Trump and his wife Melania did not pay any federal income tax in 2020.The report also found for a few years, the couple reported negative income and little or no tax liability.In addition, it found that the Internal Revenue Service failed to carry out mandatory audits of Trump during his first two years as president.For more details, read Sam Levine’s reporting here:Donald Trump’s tax returns released by US House committeeRead moreTrump previously responded to the committee’s decision to release his returns, calling it an “outrageous abuse of power”..css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“There is no legitimate legislative purpose for their action. And if you look at what they’ve done, it’s so sad for our country,” he said, adding, “It’s nothing but another deranged political witch hunt which has been going on from the day I came down an escalator in Trump Tower.”House Democrats have released former president Donald Trump’s tax returns that span over six years. The release of the returns marks the latest blow for Trump who was impeached twice by the Democratic-led House and was later acquitted by the Senate. In a written statement, Representative Richard E. Neal of Massachusetts, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee said, “Our findings turned out to be simple — I.R.S. did not begin their mandatory audit of the former president until I made my initial request,” the New York Times reports.Stay tuned for more details as we review the returns. An Arizona man who participated in the January 6 riots told the January 6th Select Committee that the “crazy” conspiracy theories about him working with the government has deeply affected his life. In an interview released on Thursday, Ray Epps told the committee that he has received death threats and that his grandchildren were bullied at school following far-right conspiracy theories that he was working for the FBI. .css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}”The only time I’ve been involved with the government was when I was a Marine in the United States Marine Corps,” Epps, who was a supporter of Donald Trump, said. .css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“We had a tour bus come by our home and our business with all these whacked out people in it…There are good people out there that was in Washington. Those aren’t the people that’s coming by our house. This attracts — when they do this sort of thing, this attracts all the crazies out there,” he added. In his interview, Epps identified Republican representatives including Kentucky’s Thomas Massie, Florida’s Matt Gaetz and Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene as congress members who helped spread the conspiracy theories about him. .css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“I mean, it’s real crazy stuff, and [Massie] brought that kind of stuff to the floor of the House. When that happened, it just blew up. It got really, really bad…Him and, gosh, Gaetz and Greene, and, yeah, they’re just blowing this thing up. So it got really, really difficult after that. The crazies started coming out of the woodwork.”Donald Trump’s former communications director has called Kayleigh McEnany, Trump’s last White House press secretary a “liar and an opportunist.”According to testimony released on Thursday, Alyssa Farah Griffin was asked by the January 6th Select Committee where McEnany “fell” after the 2020 election.In response, Farah Griffin said, “I’m a Christian woman…so I will say this. Kayleigh is a liar and an opportunist.”Farah Griffin went on to add that McEnany was a “smart woman” and “not an idiot.”.css-cumn2r{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}“She knew we lost the election, but she made a calculation that she wanted to have a certain life post-Trump that required staying in his good graces. And that was more important to her than telling the truth to the American public.”For more details on Farah Griffin’s testimony, check out Martin Pengelly’s reporting here:Kayleigh McEnany a ‘liar and opportunist’, says former Trump aide Read moreGood morning, Guardian readers!The House ways and means committee is scheduled to release the former president’s tax returns today, after the panel’s vote last week.The documents are expected to include Trump’s tax returns from 2015 to 2021 and will be the first formal release of his financial records from his time as president. Last month, the Democrat-controlled committee obtained the returns as part of an investigation into Trump’s taxes, following a lengthy court battle that resulted in the supreme court ruling in the committee’s favor.The committee’s report released last week revealed its findings that the Internal Revenue Service broke its own rules by not auditing Trump for three of the four years of his presidency. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump broke decades of precedent by refusing to release his tax returns.We will be bringing you the latest updates surrounding the release, so stay tuned. More