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      Could Trump’s 2024 campaign keep his legal troubles at bay?

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      Could Trump’s 2024 campaign keep his legal troubles at bay?Trump’s declaration that he is once again a candidate changes nothing under the law – but the political element could weigh on prosecutors’ success The law is clear. The politics less so.If Donald Trump’s third run for the White House is propelled by large doses of narcissism and revenge, the former US president must also be hoping that a high-profile political campaign may help keep his myriad legal problems at bay before they bury him.January 6 subcommittee to examine criminal referrals it might make to DoJRead moreProsecutors from New York to Georgia and Washington DC have spent months digging into an array of alleged crimes before, during and after Trump was president. Some of those investigations are coming to fruition with indictments expected to follow within months, possibly weeks, on charges that potentially could see Trump become the first former US president to go to prison.His declaration that he is once again a candidate changes nothing under the law. Legal minds broadly agree that while a sitting president is protected from prosecution in office, that immunity disappears when they leave the White House.But then there is the politics of a prosecution against a presidential candidate who has already dismissed the investigations of his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, the hoarding of top secret documents, and allegedly fraudulent business practices, as “politically motivated” and a Democratic “witch-hunt”.Donald Ayer, a former US deputy attorney general under President George HW Bush, said the political element will weigh on prosecutors only to the extent that it affects their ability to persuade a jury to convict him.“Donald Trump declaring his candidacy certainly doesn’t make his prosecution legally impossible or inappropriate, but its impact on the prosecution’s success must be considered. One ultimate judgment the justice department must make – it is specifically set out in the justice manual – is whether it is probable that they can convict by proving their case beyond a reasonable doubt,” he said.“Ultimately, I don’t think that the confusion and uncertainty that Trump is trying to generate with this step will end up being a reason that the government declines to go forward. It is just one more effort to mislead people, and it does not change the extent of his culpability or the urgency of holding the worst perpetrators of these crimes accountable.”Still, justice department officials have discussed whether to appoint a special counsel to take over the Trump investigations in order to head off accusations that any criminal charges are politically driven because the attorney general, Merrick Garland, was appointed by a Democratic president, Joe Biden. But even then the special prosecutor would ultimately answer to Garland.There is plenty of precedent for prosecutors to investigate and indict election candidates. Trump’s opponent in 2016, Hillary Clinton, was under investigation by the FBI through the primaries and again in the days before the general election over her use of a private email server.Candidates can even run with a prosecution hanging over them. Last week, a Trump-backed Republican won a seat in the Texas legislature while under indictment for impersonating a public servant.Four years ago, several candidates won seats in Congress while facing criminal charges. They included two Republicans, Chris Collins of New York and Duncan Hunter of California. Collins later pleaded guilty to insider trading and resigned his seat. Hunter admitted using campaign funds on extramarital affairs and also gave up his seat although he was saved from prison by a pardon from Trump.The Texas attorney general and Trump loyalist, Ken Paxton, has been re-elected twice while under criminal indictment for securities fraud but the trial has been repeatedly delayed.The justice department has a practice of not bringing criminal charges against a candidate within 60 days of an election, but it’s not written into law. The way the criminal investigations against Trump are unfolding, he faces the prospect of multiple trials long before the 2024 presidential election reaches its climax.Federal investigators are building a case against the former president for keeping classified documents, including some marked top secret, at his Mar-a-Largo mansion in Florida after leaving the White House. The potential charges include breaches of the Espionage Act and obstruction of justice.The justice department is also investigating Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results and his part in instigating the 6 January 2021 storming of the Capitol in Washington.Ayer said he expects both investigations to result in charges.“Of the two federal investigations, I think the one that focuses on the outright stealing of the election is the most important one. What’s at stake there is hard to overstate. But the documents case is also very serious because of the national security considerations. Because it is narrower and less complicated to prove, it could be ready for prosecution sooner,” he said.Trump is also facing the threat of serious charges by a local prosecutor in Atlanta, Georgia. The Fulton county district attorney, Fani Willis, has assembled a “special purpose grand jury” that has spent months focused on Trump’s multi-faceted attempt to turn defeat into victory by pressuring officials to overturn his loss in the key swing state.Willis has been building a substantial body of testimony from some of Trump’s closest allies and Republican officials who witnessed the defeated president’s actions. They include the Georgia secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, who was questioned about a call he received from Trump demanding that he “find” enough votes to erase Biden’s victory.Ronald Carlson, a leading Georgia trial lawyer and professor at the University of Georgia’s law school, said the Fulton county investigation “continues to be the most dangerous threat” to the former president.“President Trump continues to denigrate and dismiss this as political theatre. It would be a serious mistake to underestimate what’s going on. It seems to me highly likely this grand jury will report that criminality occurred and we should not be surprised to see an indictment. Remember, Georgia is the only place where the president himself is on tape saying to the [Georgia] secretary of state, ‘Brad, please find me 11,780 votes.’”Carlson does not think the state attorney general’s office will be deterred by political pressure from charging the president, possibly early next year.“They’ve given no sign up to this point of being afraid, and I don’t think they will be,” he said.Carlson believes Willis, a Democrat, is building a case with overwhelming evidence against Trump so that it cannot be dismissed as political. She also needs a watertight case to persuade a jury in a largely Republican state.Ayers said Garland was equally determined to press ahead with charges if the evidence is there.“I believe that the attorney general is highly motivated to secure accountability at the highest levels if it can be proven, and to do so as soon as reasonably possible, consistent with assembling a strong case showing guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. He knows that a failure to achieve a high degree of accountability, meaning criminal prosecution, will send a bad message that the United States of America can’t be counted on to enforce its laws prohibiting these most serious offences of all against the country,” he said.Charges are one thing. Getting to a trial, and securing a conviction is another.Even if Trump is charged, could his lawyers stall any trial until he once again has immunity as president, as he hopes? Debra Perlin, a former Department of Homeland Security attorney who is now policy director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, says not.“Let’s be honest, Trump has played a delay game from the very beginning on every challenge that’s come his way. But I don’t think that they are able to delay those trials. Although I’m sure that there would be a lot of pre-trial filing that his team would make, we are far outside of them being able to delay up until the election,” she said.TopicsDonald TrumpUS elections 2024US politicsLaw (US)featuresReuse this content More

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      Could Trump's legal issues derail his 2024 presidential bid? – video explainer

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      Donald Trump has announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, probably sparking another period of tumult in US politics and especially his own political party. His third candidacy comes as he faces intensifying legal troubles, including investigations by the justice department into the removal of hundreds of classified documents from the White House to his Florida estate and into his role in the January 6 attack. But could they derail his bid? The Guardian US politics correspondent Hugo Lowell explains what Trump is facing and whether he still stands a chance

      Rightwing media’s coverage of Trump’s presidential bid shows it just can’t turn away
      Ivanka Trump says she will not be part of Donald’s 2024 campaign More

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      Cheney hits back as Pence says January 6 committee has ‘no right’ to testimony

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      Cheney hits back as Pence says January 6 committee has ‘no right’ to testimonyPanel vice-chair issues statement with chair Bennie Thompson after Trump vice-president gives interview to CBS The chair and vice-chair of the January 6 committee hit back after Mike Pence said they had “no right” to his testimony about the Capitol attack, and claimed they presided over a “partisan” investigation.Trump bills himself as only option but Republicans split on 2024 runRead moreTestimony presented to the panel and to the nation in a series of dramatic public hearings was “not partisan”, Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney said. “It was truthful.”Pence was speaking to CBS, to promote a new book in which he sets out his version of events on the day supporters of his president, Donald Trump, attacked Congress, some chanting that Pence should be hanged.Pence previously said he would consider testifying. But to CBS, he said: “Congress has no right to my testimony on separation of powers under the constitution of the United States.“And I believe it will establish a terrible precedent for the Congress to summon a vice-president of the United States to speak about deliberations that took place at the White House.”Trump supporters attacked Congress after he told them to “fight like hell” to stop certification of Joe Biden’s election win, in service of the lie that it was the result of electoral fraud. Nine deaths have been linked to the riot, including suicides among law enforcement.Trump was impeached a second time but acquitted when Senate Republicans stayed loyal. On Tuesday, he announced a third consecutive presidential run.Pence is also eyeing a run for the Republican nomination. In doing so he must balance promoting his record as vice-president to Trump, thereby appealing to Trump’s supporters, with distancing himself from a former president whose standing is slipping after Republican disappointment in the midterm elections.Pence said he was “closing the door” on the prospect of testifying.“But I must say again, the partisan nature of the January 6 committee has been a disappointment to me. It seemed to me in the beginning, there was an opportunity to examine every aspect of what happened on January 6, and to do so more in the spirit of the 9/11 Commission, non-partisan, non-political, and that was an opportunity lost.”The January 6 committee was appointed by the Democratic House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, after the Republican leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy, tried to appoint Trump allies to a 9/11-style panel. Pelosi rejected those appointments, leading McCarthy to withdraw from the process.The January 6 committee consists of seven Democrats and two Republicans, Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, anti-Trump figures who will soon leave Congress.Who’s next? Republicans who might go up against Trump in 2024Read moreThe panel is wrapping up its work, after it was confirmed on Wednesday that Republicans will take control of the House.In their statement, Thompson and Cheney said: “The select committee has proceeded respectfully and responsibly in our engagement with Vice-President Pence, so it is disappointing that he is misrepresenting the nature of our investigation while giving interviews to promote his new book.“Our investigation has publicly presented the testimony of more than 50 Republican witnesses, including senior members of the TrumpWhite House, the Trump campaign, and the Trump justice department.“This testimony, subject to criminal penalties for lying to Congress, was not ‘partisan’. It was truthful.”TopicsMike PenceJanuary 6 hearingsLiz CheneyUS politicsUS CongressHouse of RepresentativesRepublicansnewsReuse this content More

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      Trump re-enters the battleground for the presidency: Politics Weekly America – podcast

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      Donald Trump has announced his third run for president, and not all Republicans are happy about it. Not only have there been a string of midterm losses by candidates he handpicked and supported – but in the background, federal and state authorities are investigating Trump’s personal, political and financial conduct.
      This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to the political columnist Jonathan Martin of Politico and unpacks how the Republican party can finally break away from Trump’s legacy

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      Trump plays the ousted autocrat struggling to recapture past glory

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      AnalysisTrump plays the ousted autocrat struggling to recapture past gloryDavid Smith in Palm Beach, Florida Ex-president appears over the hill at 2024 announcement to an enthusiastic – but dwindling – group of loyalistsFrom plastering his name on buildings to hiring his own children, from salivating over military parades to savaging the media, from befriending fellow strongmen to defying the will of the people, Donald Trump has done much to invite comparisons with autocrats.On Tuesday he continued to play that role to perfection. Only now he was the ousted dictator, drained of power and surrounded by a dwindling band of loyalists in his last redoubt, the opulent Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. As a rule, the grander the palace, the weaker the man.Rightwing media’s coverage of Trump’s presidential bid shows they just can’t turn awayRead moreTo raucous cheers and shrill whistles, the 45th president of the United States announced his intention to become the 47th “in order to make America great and glorious again”. Never before has someone launched a run for the White House in the shadow of so many scandals and criminal investigations. And never before – perhaps! – has Trump been so vulnerable within the Republican party.If he hoped that this hour-long speech would silence the doubters and regain the patronage of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, he will surely be disappointed. The Trump who took the stage seemed an ageing champ returning to centre court only to find he’s holding a wooden racket.In an attempt to appear “presidential” – something that America previously spent four years waiting for in vain – he delivered the kind of low energy performance for which he used to mock Jeb Bush (thus Jeb Bush Jr wrote on Twitter: “WOW! What a low energy speech by the Donald. Time for new leaders! #WEAK #SleepyDonnie”).Here was the spectacle of a man who is over the hill, chasing past glories and raging against the dying of the right. “Just as I promised in 2016, I am your voice,” he told guests, but it did not seem to strike the same chord as six years ago.David Axelrod, a former strategist for Barack Obama, tweeted: “Weird performance. Either he was advised to tone it down or he’s just depressed about all the pounding he’s taken in the past week for the GOP’s performance.”Trump’s long-trailed declaration came just a week after many of his endorsed candidates flopped in the midterm elections, following similar rebukes in 2018 and 2020. Millions of people sent a message that they are sick of the lies, the hate and the conspiracy theories. Whatever he was selling in the midterms, people were no longer buying.Naturally, he did not accept this premise, claiming that he had notched 232 wins and suffered only 21 losses and not been given due credit. “I’m not going to use the term fake news; we’re going to keep it very elegant,” he said. Claiming prematurely that Republicans had just regained a majority in the House of Representatives, he added gleefully: “Nancy Pelosi has been fired!” The crowd of several hundred guests erupted.Trump also embarked on a meandering speculation that “the citizens of our country haven’t realised the full gravity of the pain our nation is going through, and the total effect of the suffering is just starting to take hold”.But, come 2024, they may and act accordingly. The speech felt unlikely to persuade Murdoch’s media outlets or Republican donors now openly flirting with Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, who offers a cleaner, crisper form of Trumpism.Trump steered clear of his “Ron DeSanctimonius” moniker this time but repeated his 2016 claim that America’s malaise calls for an outsider, not a politician (he spoke of “the festering rot of corruption in Washington DC”, prompting crowd chants of “Drain the swamp! Drain the swamp!”). The difference, this time, is that the US knows what four years of Trump in the Oval Office means – two impeachments and an experiment in American carnage.A primary between Trump, DeSantis and possibly Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo and others threatens to be a Republican Lord of the Flies. Trump would start with the disadvantage of multiple federal, state and congressional investigations hanging over him. Maybe he thinks, probably erroneously, that becoming a presidential candidate will shield him from the justice department.Mar-a-Lago itself is allegedly a crime scene: it was here, on the plush 20-acre estate, that Trump stored hundreds of classified documents that should have been given to the National Archives (he has claimed that he could declassify them just by thinking about it).Trump declared Mar-a-Lago his permanent residence in 2019 and has reportedly turned into an unlikely DJ there, with his signature tune being the Village People’s YMCA. As a backdrop to Tuesday’s announcement, it nodded to Trump’s perceived status as a “blue-collar billionaire” – if I can live the American dream, you can too.Oh how Donald Trump has fallen | Cas MuddeRead moreHe delivered his address surrounded by 33 US national flags and elaborate Corinthian-style columns, beneath a ceiling of 16 crystal chandeliers and elaborate gold leaf decoration. The walls boasted mounted faux candelabra and giant Versailles-style mirrors. Giant TV screens proclaimed in white on blue: “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! TEXT TRUMP TO 88022. DONALDJTRUMP.COM.”There were chants of “Trump! Trump! Trump!” and shouts of “We love you!” from hundreds of invited guests sitting or standing on the marble floor – some of them Maga diehards with the suits and red hats to prove it, some the Florida nouveau riche with the tans and jewels to prove it. At least four men wore leather jackets emblazoned with “Bikers for Trump”.Beforehand, Mike Lindell, the My Pillow guy, had prowled the room looking for reporters to berate about his fantastical conspiracy theories about voting machines. Loudspeakers boomed the Trump golden oldies, just as they do at his rallies: Johnny Cash, Elton John, Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, the Rolling Stones, Dusty Springfield, Frank Sinatra (“And now, the end is near/ And so I face the final curtain”).Then, bizarrely, came a deafening roar of Do You Hear the People Sing? from the musical Les Misérables and the more tried and trusted “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood.Once Trump had confirmed his candidacy he warmed up a little, railing against Joe Biden for spurious reasons and reeling off some half-baked policies. Still not quite able to let go of 2020, despite the horrors of January 6 and the repudiation of election deniers last week, he declared: “To eliminate cheating, I will immediately demand voter ID, same day voting and only paper ballots.” This crowd loved it.The former first lady Melania Trump appeared smiling at the former president’s side at the end. But there was no sign of his son and Maga champion Donald Jr or daughter Ivanka, who issued a statement saying she is now staying out of politics. On the night of his great comeback, Trump, like King Lear, had been silently rebuked by his favorite, an absence that suggested: let it go.TopicsDonald TrumpThe US politics sketchRepublicansUS elections 2024US politicsanalysisReuse this content More

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      Donald Trump announces 2024 run for president nearly two years after inspiring deadly Capitol riot

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      Donald Trump announces 2024 run for president nearly two years after inspiring deadly Capitol riotTwice-impeached ex-president makes expected election announcement despite shaky midterms and surge from rival Ron DeSantis00:52Donald Trump on Tuesday night announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, likely sparking another period of tumult in US politics and especially his own political party.“In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” Trump said from ballroom of his private Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he stood on a stage crowded with American flags and Make America Great Again banners.Vowing to defeat Joe Biden in 2024, he declared: “America’s golden age is just ahead.”The long-expected announcement by a twice-impeached president who incited a deadly attack on Congress seems guaranteed to deepen a stark partisan divide that has fueled fears of increased political violence.Who’s next? Republicans who might go up against Trump in 2024Read moreBut it also comes as Trump’s standing in the Republican party has suddenly been put into question. Trump spoke at Mar-a-Lago a week after midterm elections in which his Republican party did not make expected gains, losing the Senate and seeming on course for only a narrow majority in the US House.In his remarks, Trump took credit for Republicans’ performance victory in the House, even though they are poised to capture a far narrower majority than anticipated. “Nancy Pelosi has been fired. Isn’t that nice?” he said. The Associated Press has not yet projected which party will win the majority.In a party hitherto dominated by Trump, defeats suffered by high-profile, Trump-endorsed candidates led to open attacks on the former president and calls to delay his announcement or not to run at all. As Trump’s standing has slipped, Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, has surged into strong contention after sailing to reelection last week.Trump’s announcement also coincided on Tuesday with the release of Mike Pence’s memoir, So Help Me God, in which the ex-president’s once-faithful lieutenant criticizes him for his conduct on January 6. The former vice-president is also maneuvering toward a possible 2024 run despite falling out of favor with the Maga base.Brushing past Republican setbacks in 2022 and his defeat in 2020, Trump insisted that he was the only candidate who could deliver a Republican victory in 2024.“This is not a task for a politician or a conventional candidate,” he said. “This is a task for a great movement.”His third candidacy comes as he faces intensifying legal troubles, including investigations by the justice department into the removal of hundreds of classified documents from the White House to his Florida estate and into his role in the 6 January attack. Trump has denied wrongdoing and used the attacks to further his narrative that he has been unfairly targeted by his political opponents and a shadowy “deep state” bureaucracy.“I’m a victim,” Trump said, making reference to the Russia investigation and the raid on his Mar-a-Lago estate. On Tuesday, Trump nevertheless pressed forward with his run.Painting a bleak portrait of the United States, with “blood-soaked” city streets and an “invasion” at the southern border, Trump said his campaign was a “quest to save our country.”In the less than two years since Biden took office, a period Trump referred to as “the pause”, he accused his successor of inflicting “pain, hardship, anxiety and despair” with his economic and domestic policies.Trump offered an alternative vision, which he called the “national greatness agenda”. Among the policy proposals he endorsed on Tuesday were the death penalty for drug dealers, term limits for members of Congress and planting an American flag on Mars. And wading into the social fights he enjoys inflaming, Trump promised to protect “paternal rights” and keep transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.Though he made no explicit mention of his stolen-election lies, he promised to overhaul the nation’s voting laws, vowing that a winner would be declared on election night. In close contests, it can take several days before enough votes are tabulated in a state to project a winner, but Trump and his allies have seized on the delay to spread baseless conspiracy theories about results.Despite promising to deliver remarks as “elegant” as the gold-plated room he was standing in, Trump’s rambling, hourlong speech turned to name-calling and ridicule, lashing the “fake news”, mocking the former German chancellor Angela Merkel’s accent and accusing Biden of “falling asleep” at international conferences. At one point, he appeared to confuse the civil war with the reconstruction period that followed and scoffed at climate science.Without acknowledging his 2020 defeat, Trump insisted that beating Biden in 2024 would be much easier because “everybody sees what a bad job has been done.”He called Biden the “face of left-wing failure and government corruption” and accused him of worsening inflation and “surrendering” America’s energy independence. He also slammed the administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan as “the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country”.“Our country is being destroyed before your very eyes,” he said, casting his four years in office as a glowing success, despite leaving behind a nation shaken by disease and political turmoil.Now 76, Trump was long seen as a colorful if controversial presence in American life, a thrice-married New York real-estate mogul, reality TV star and tabloid fixture who flirted with politics but never committed.But in 2015, after finding a niche as a prominent voice for rightwing opposition to Barack Obama – and a racist conspiracy theory about Obama’s birth – Trump entered the race for the Republican nomination to succeed the 44th president.Proving immune to scandal, whether over personal conduct, allegations of sexual assault or persistent courting of the far right, he obliterated a huge Republican field then pulled off a historic shock by beating the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, in the 2016 election.Trump’s presidency was chaotic but undoubtedly historic. Senate Republicans playing political and constitutional hardball helped install three supreme court justices, cementing a dominant rightwing majority which has now removed the right to abortion and weakened gun control laws while eyeing further significant change.Trump is running for president again – but these legal battles might stand in the wayRead moreTrump’s third supreme court pick, replacing the liberal justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with Amy Coney Barrett, a hardline Catholic, came shortly before the 2020 election. That contest, with Obama’s vice-president, Joe Biden, was fought under the shadow of protests for racial justice and the coronavirus pandemic, the latter a test badly mishandled by Trump’s administration as hundreds of thousands died.Trump was conclusively beaten, Biden racking up more than 7m more votes and the same electoral college win, 306-232, that Trump enjoyed over Clinton, a victory Trump then called a landslide.But Trump’s refusal to accept defeat, based on his “big lie” about electoral fraud, fueled election subversion efforts in key states, the deadly January 6 attack on the US Capitol by supporters and far-right groups, a second impeachment for inciting that insurrection (and a second acquittal, if with more Republican defections) and a deepening crisis of US democracy.01:41With a third White House bid, Trump hopes to defy political history. Only one former president, Grover Cleveland, has served two nonconsecutive terms. Cleveland was elected in 1884 and 1892, but, unlike Trump, he won the popular vote in the intervening election of 1888.Trump flirted with announcing a new run throughout Biden’s first two years in power, ultimately delaying until after midterm elections, which did not go as he or his party expected. But while high-profile backers of Trump’s stolen election myth were defeated, among them his choice for Arizona governor, Kari Lake, more than 170 were elected, according to the Washington Post.Until his midterms reversal, Trump dominated polling of potential Republican nominees for 2024. His closest rival in such surveys, DeSantis, reportedly indicated to donors he would not compete with Trump. But the landscape has now changed. DeSantis won re-election by a landslide, gave a confident victory speech to chants of “two more years” and has surged in polling – prompting attacks from Trump. At least one Republican mega donor, Ken Griffin, has said he backs the Florida governor.Should Trump dismiss DeSantis as he has so many other challengers and win the nomination, the 22nd amendment to the US constitution would bar him from running again in 2028. But a rematch of 2020 remains possible. Though Biden will soon turn 80 and has faced questions about whether he should seek a second term himself, he is preparing a re-election campaign.TopicsDonald TrumpUS elections 2024US politicsRepublicansRon DeSantisJoe BidenUS midterm elections 2022newsReuse this content More

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      Ivanka Trump says she will not be part of Donald’s 2024 campaign

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      Ivanka Trump says she will not be part of Donald’s 2024 campaignTrump skips father’s announcement and says she is prioritizing her family after serving as adviser during his presidency Ivanka Trump has decided to bow out of US politics and not actively join her father’s bid to retake the White House in 2024, saying she has chosen “to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family”.Donald Trump launched his 2024 bid for the Republican nomination on Tuesday night at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Members of his family, including his wife, Melania, and son Eric were present. Even Ivanka’s husband, Jared Kushner, was in attendance. But Ivanka was not.Trump announces 2024 run nearly two years after inspiring deadly Capitol riotRead moreIn a statement, Ivanka Trump said: “I love my father very much. This time around, I am choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family. I do not plan to be involved in politics.”She added: “While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena. I am grateful to have had the honor of serving the American people and will always be proud of many of our administration’s accomplishments.”Ivanka Trump and Kushner played key roles in Trump’s administration and became a lightning rod for anger at many of its excesses, in part due to their previous lives as mainstays of Manhattan’s elite social scene, which is heavily Democratic.00:52Since Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020, Ivanka Trump and her family have moved to an expensive mansion in Florida.She recently testified before the January 6 committee, the special congressional panel investigating the insurrection at the US Capitol in 2021 in which extremist supporters of Trump attempted to overturn his election defeat.Ivanka Trump was with her father in the White House that day and is one of more than 800 witnesses the committee has interviewed. Congressman Bennie Thompson, the committee’s chairman, described her testimony as not “chatty” but helpful.TopicsIvanka TrumpUS politicsDonald TrumpRepublicansUS elections 2024newsReuse this content More

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      January 6 panel considers next steps after Trump fails to attend deposition

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      January 6 panel considers next steps after Trump fails to attend depositionPanel chair Bennie Thompson says contempt of Congress referral ‘could be an option’ after former president skips interview The special US House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack is weighing whether to issue a contempt of Congress referral for Donald Trump after the former president skipped a closed-door deposition with the panel that was scheduled for Monday.Midterm elections 2022: Republicans edge towards slim House majority as last results trickle in – liveRead moreThe committee’s Democratic chair, Bennie Thompson, said that the contempt of Congress referral targeting Trump “could be an option” – though the Mississippi congressman added that the panel would have to first address a lawsuit filed against it by Trump’s lawyers on Friday. The suit challenged the subpoena ordering Trump to appear at the deposition as a violation of executive privilege.In a joint statement with Liz Cheney, the outgoing Republican congresswoman and vice-chair of the committee, Thompson said that Trump’s lawsuit “parades out many of the same arguments that courts have rejected repeatedly over the last year”.“The truth is that Donald Trump, like several of his closest allies, is hiding from the select committee’s investigation and refusing to do what more than a thousand other witnesses have done,” which is to testify in accordance with panel-issued subpoenas, they said.Four Trump allies have already been held in contempt of Congress after refusing to comply with committee subpoenas.The US justice department has declined to charge two who were held in contempt of Congress: former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino.Two others, Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, were indicted. Navarro’s trial is scheduled for January while Bannon was found guilty by a jury and was sentenced to four months in prison as well as a fine of $6,500. Bannon earlier this month appealed the trial and sentence.With Republicans on Tuesday sitting on the cusp of getting majority control in the House after the recent midterm elections, the committee will dissolve in January.Along with the pressure from the January 6 committee, Trump has also been facing attacks from fellow Republicans over the midterm election as several of his endorsed candidates failed to win their races. Trump is expected to announce his candidacy for the 2024 presidential race, though any signs of strong support from his party have been dim.A new poll from conservative group Club for Growth, once a Trump ally, showed Trump polling behind Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, by double digits in hypothetical runs in Iowa and New Hampshire.In an interview with ABC News released on Monday, Trump’s former vice-president, Mike Pence, said that the US would have “better choices in the future” than Trump. Pence said that he and his family are taking “prayerful consideration” of whether he should run himself in 2024.“People in this country actually get along pretty well once you get out of politics,” Pence said. “And I think they want to see their national leaders start to reflect that same compassion and generosity of spirit.“So in the days ahead, I think there will be better choices.”TopicsDonald TrumpUS politicsRepublicansUS elections 2024newsReuse this content More