Trump news – live: Ex-president says Musk won’t buy Twitter at ‘ridiculous price’ as Pence backs Gov Kemp

White House press secretary Jen Psaki shot down a question from Fox News’s Jacqui Heinrich on Thursday after the reporter asked about a federal program long targeted by the right aimed at helping drug addicts avoid overdose deaths.

John Bowden has the story.

The Department of Justice is now investigating whether former President Donald Trump or any of his aides violated federal law by mishandling classified documents which ended up at his Florida home instead of being returned to the National Archives at the end of his term.

According to the New York Times, prosecutors have issued a subpoena to obtain the documents from the archives and have requested interviews with several people who worked in the White House during the waning days of Mr Trump’s presidency.

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The White will host world leaders for another global Covid-19 summit to urge preparedness for the next pandemic, as the US passed the grim milestone of 1 million American deaths from the coronavirus.

In a statement on Thursday, President Joe Biden said each of the million dead represented “an irreplaceable loss ... leaving behind a family, a community, and a nation forever changed”.

“As a nation, we must not grow numb to such sorrow. To heal, we must remember. We must remain vigilant against this pandemic and do everything we can to save as many lives as possible, as we have with more testing, vaccines, and treatments than ever before,” he said, adding that it is “critical” for Congress to “sustain” such resources by passing a supplemental Covid-19 funding bill.

Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, DC.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki says she will miss her briefing room sparring with Peter Doocy of Fox News when she leaves the job this week.

Ms Psaki has been involved in a string of combative confrontations with Mr Doocy during her time as the lead messenger in the Biden administration.

She told a Christian Science Monitor event on Thursday that she “will” miss Mr Doocy’s questioning and insisted that the pair have “a very good professional relationship”.

Graeme Massie reports.

Ron Howard, the man who directed the widely panned film adaptation of JD Vance’s bestselling memior ”Hillbilly Elegy“, said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that he is ‘surprised’ by Mr Vance’s newfound far-right politics.

“I always knew he was conservative, but [he] struck me as a very center-right, a kind of a moderate thinker,” Mr Howard said.

Abe Asher has the story.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, responding to the recent sharp decline in the value of cryptocurrencies, said Thursday that additional federal regulation was needed to respond to the wave of speculative investment in the currency whose secrecy is an essential part of its appeal.

“We really need a regulatory framework to guard against the risks,” Yellen said of cryptocurrencies called stable coins, during a House committee hearing Thursday. Citing the rapid rise in use of digital assets, she added, “Really, we need a comprehensive framework so that there are no gaps in the regulation.”

Stable coins are a type of cryptocurrency pegged to a specific value, usually the dollar, another currency or gold. Its parity with the dollar is what, in theory, makes it stable. However, volatility in the cryptocurrency market this week challenged that premise.

The House select committee investigating the 6 January 2021 attack on the Capitol has issued subpoenas to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and four other Republicans who are close allies of former president Donald Trump: Representatives Jim Jordan of Ohio, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Andy Biggs of Arizona, and Mo Brooks of Alabama.

Representative Bennie Thompson, the select committee’s chairman, said the panel had “learned that several of our colleagues have information relevant to our investigation into the attack on January 6th and the events leading up to it” and had provided each of the GOP members now under subpoena an opportunity to give evidence voluntarily before the committee presents findings in public hearings.

Andrew Feinberg reports.

Former president Donald Trump half-heartedly criticised Republican Senate candidate Kathy Barnette as unelectable, as his preferred candidate in Pennsylvania’s Senate primary continues to have troubles.

Many conservatives criticised Mr Trump for endorsing former television host and physician Dr Mehmet Oz in the primary, despite conservative dissatisfaction. A recent Fox News poll showed that Dr Oz shot up seven points, from 15 per cent in March to 22 per cent in May, but also found that 46 per cent of Republican primary voters had a negative opinion of former television host.

Conversely, the same poll showed that Ms Barnette, a Black woman veteran and conservative commentator, surged from nine per cent in March to 19 per cent, putting her within the margin of error and right behind Mr Trump’s preferred candidate. The Club for Growth released an ad supporting her this week.

Eric Garcia has the full story.

A Florida circuit court judge has blocked the state’s congressional redistricting plan drawn by Governor Ron DeSantis’ administration that would likely eliminate two of the state’s four districts represented by Black Democrats and create four more districts that lean Republican.

Judge Layne Smith, who issued a ruling from the bench on 11 May, said the map violates the state’s constitutional provisions governing the redistricting process because it “diminishes African Americans’ ability to elect candidates of their choice” in Florida’s 5th District, which spans Jacksonville to Tallahassee.

Alex Woodward reports.