Trump news: Rattled Trump lashes out as Jan 6 panel finishes investigation and tax return release looms

Cassidy Hutchinson has come forward as the first January 6 committee witness to say that her attorney sought to minimize her testimony before it occurred.

Her revelation comes as the January 6 committee’s members warned this week that they were in contact with the Justice Department as well as prosecutors in Georgia over the effort by Mr Trump’s legal team to dangle possible future employment in the hopes of altering their testimony.

John Bowden reports.

Cassidy Hutchinson doubled down on her testimony about the Donald Trump-Secret Service altercation in deposition after the bombshell public hearing: “I have no doubts in the conversation I had with Mr Ornato on January 6th. I have no doubts in how I’ve relayed that story privately and publicly.”

She also mentioned additional times in which former White House deputy chief of staf Anthony Ornato mentioned the incident.

More MAGA drama in the House of Representatives, an open feud has erupted between Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene, a supporter of Kevin McCarthy’s bid to be Speaker, and her frequent ally Matt Gaetz.

The controversial Georgia lawmaker torched him in an op-ed for The Daily Caller over his hopes that a consensus candidate would emerge to challenge the GOP leader.

Mr Gaetz and a number of other conservatives are pushing for a Speaker who is further to the right than Mr McCarthy.

John Bowden has the latest.

A federal judge in Florida has smacked down former president Donald Trump’s request to keep New York State Attorney General Letitia James and her staff from viewing documents related to a trust that holds most of his assets as part of an ongoing fraud lawsuit against him, his family and his eponymous company.

Andrew Feinberg reports.

The House took action Thursday after disclosures that the IRS never fully reviewed Donald Trump’s tax returns during his presidency, passing a bill that would require audits of any president’s income tax filings. The legislation would turn what had been a long-standing post-Watergate norm into established federal policy.

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Cassidy Hutchinson asked for financial help from her father, a Trump supporter, to get her own lawyer from outside the former president’s orbit, but her father refused to help her, a transcript of her testimony shows.

Gustaf Kilander has the story from the release of her transcripts.

Gustaf Kilander writes:

While the witnesses in general chose not to go along with the committee’s questioning, the published transcripts reveal the sheer amount of evidence the panel has collected and some new aspects of how the investigators went about their work.

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Two founding members of the band Journey are in a legal dispute after the keyboardist performed at Donald Trump’s estate.

The band’s guitarist, Neal Schon, has sent a cease and desist letter to his bandmate Jonathan Cane, who performed their songs at America First Policy Institute’s Experience and Gala at Mar-A-Lago last month.

Caine, who is the keyboardist in the band, is married to an advisor to Donald Trump.

Megan Graye reports.

Far-right extremist and Sandy Hook denier Alex Jones claimed he was “too stressed out” to spell his own name during testimony before the January 6 House select committee, according to his interview transcript.

The committee investigating the Capitol riot released a trove of interview transcripts from 34 Donald Trump supporters and allies on Wednesday, ahead of the release of the full report on Thursday.

Rachel Sharp has the story.