Don Jr tests positive, as his father dodges media questions

As her father’s legal team outlined false allegations about election fraud to an indoor press conference at the Republican National Committee on Thursday, Ivanka Trump shared details of a government initiative to reduce ocean plastic waste through $2.5 billion in infrastructure investments. 

…and unfortunately, it wasn’t the dolphins that were stealing the limelight. 

Instead, it was the hair dye of Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, who has been put in charge of legal challenges to the results of the 2020 contest lost to Joe Biden, and once again exceeded expectations as he churned through election-related conspiracy theories. 

As part of its investigations into Donald Trump’s tax affairs, the office of New York’s attorney general has issued a subpoena to the Trump Organisation, seeking records for tax deductions taken on consulting fees to the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump.

Almost $750,000 were paid in fees to Ms Trump’s company while she was also a Trump Organisation executive, according to US media reports.

Republican Senator Mitt Romney hit out at Donald Trump for his efforts to overturn election results, and said it is “difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by a sitting American president”.

Joshua Douglas, a law professor at the University of Kentucky who teaches election law, has warned that Republican support for Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the 2020 presidential race was “breaking down” democratic norms. 

“It's very concerning that some Republicans apparently can't fathom the possibility that they legitimately lost this election,” he told the Associated Press. 

"We depend on democratic norms, including that the losers graciously accept defeat. That seems to be breaking down."

Mr Douglas’s remarks come as a number of other legal experts have suggested that the Trump campaign’s latest attempts to challenge the outcome of the presidential election are the final, dying gasps, of their efforts to reverse results. 

But, as the Kentucky professor suggests, while they have made no such success with their claims or lawsuits, both the president and the Republican party risk undoing the democratic process and loosening public faith in the integrity of the election process. 

The legacy of the 46th president has been hotly contested since his refusal to concede the 2020 election to Joe Biden, but there are now signs that close family members are seriously considering a future career in politics, at least.  

According to reports, Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, is eyeing-up a possible Senate run in her home state of North Carolina in 2022.  

A story by the New York Times story cites three allies of Ms Trump, who told the outlet that she has been considering a run for the Senate seat due to be vacated by Senator Richard Burr, who currently holds it, at the end of this term.

While Mr Trump did not win in North Carolina at the election, Ms Trump could prove competitive in a tight race. 

Political commentators have otherwise suspected that, if not the president himself, either Donald Trump Jr or Ivanka Trump could stand as candidates before the next election.

The US cybersecurity official fired by Donald Trump for debunking claims of election fraud, Chris Krebs, said on Thursday that the “path to victory” press conference held by Rudy Giuliani and the remaining cast of the president’s legal team was the "most dangerous" 1 hour and 45 minutes in the history of American television.

Mr Krebs, the former director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, was "terminated" on Tuesday after his agency reported no widespread fraud with the country’s election systems, and said the 3 November vote would “the most secure in American history". 

The president and his allies have, in contrast, alleged conspiracies and irregularities without any evidence. 

The billionaire philanthropist and investor, George Soros, has responded to being name-dropped in the Trump campaign’s “path to victory” conference on Thursday, and said he was happy to irritate people. 

“The fact that I have become involved in so many different issues, and have taken controversial positions, is now actually working against me,” said Mr Soros. “I'm happy that I irritate some people,” he adds.

The US president’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, had claimed that the billionaire was part of a vast conspiracy to steal the 2020 US election for Joe Biden that also involved the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, the Chinese, and a provider of voting systems, among others.

The US president’s niece and a prominent critic, Mary Trump, has said there should be “no immunity” for her uncle once he leaves office in January. 

Tweeting about ongoing investigations into Donald Trump’s taxes, Ms Trump’s tweet came as the New York Times reported that the office of New York’s attorney general has issued a subpoena to the Trump Organisation, seeking records for tax deductions taken on consulting fees to the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump.

Mitt Romney was not the only Republican senator to condemn Donald Trump on Thursday, with Ben Sasse calling the campaign’s “path to victory” press conference “wild”. 

“Wild press conferences erode public trust. So no, obviously Rudy and his buddies should not pressure electors to ignore their certification obligations under the statute,” said the senator, after Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, made a number of false allegations about election fraud. 

"We are a nation of laws, not tweets.”

It comes as president Trump was to meet with Michigan Republicans on Friday as the state moves toward certifying election results, which he hopes can be blocked. 

“When Trump campaign lawyers have stood before courts under oath, they have repeatedly refused to actually allege grand fraud — because there are legal consequences for lying to judges,” added Mr Sasse. "President Trump lost Michigan by more than 100,000 votes, and the campaign and its allies have lost in or withdrawn from all five lawsuits in Michigan for being unable to produce any evidence.”

Donald Trump should “not be embarrassing” and acknowledge he was defeated in the US election, the Czech Republic’s president has said.

Milos Zeman, a right-wing populist, was one of the few European leaders to back Mr Trump ahead of the 2016 vote, but he failed to endorse him this year before the US president’s failed re-election bid against Joe Biden.

Mr Trump has subsequently refused to concede and has baselessly claimed his wide margin of defeat was due to mass election fraud, of which there is no evidence, while launching a number of lawsuits to disrupt the certification of results.