Trump news – live: Vance slated for ‘kissing Trump’s ass’ as new details of McCarthy’s Jan 6 call emerge

The Trump Organization, former President Donald Trump’s eponymous real estate business, is going to trial on charges of criminal tax fraud.

The company faces allegations that it enacted a scheme to help executives avoid paying income tax in a case that has entangled the company’s longtime Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg.

The trial comes amid a litany of legal issues facing the former president, who was recently subpoenaed by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot.

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Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has unilaterally acted to block South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham from being compelled to give evidence before the Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury investigating former president Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.

Justice Thomas, whose wife Ginni Thomas recently appeared before the House January 6 select committee to testify as to her involvement in efforts to keep Mr Trump in office against the wishes of US voters, issued a one-page order staying a Georgia district court order permitting enforcement of a Fulton County judge’s subpoena compelling Mr Graham to testify about phone calls he made to Georgia officials in the weeks following Mr Trump’s loss.

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One of the most recognisable images from the January 6 attack was the sight of the Confederate flag being carried through the US Capitol – and now the son of the man carrying it is facing his sentencing. His claim for mitigation? That his father pressured him into joining the crowd.

Donald Trump, a man not necessarily known for his clarity of thought or choice of words, took to Truth Social on Sunday morning to post a bizarre question to his followers.

“Who is going to enter the Trump Quicksand?” the former president began.

“Many have tried, leaving permanently damaged, or never to be heard from again!”

It is unclear what he’s talking about and to whom he is referring.

Oliver O’Connell takes a look.

Pennsylvania gubernatorial hopeful Doug Mastriano is one of the most extreme candidates on the ballot anywhere in the US this election cycle, what with his open embrace of theocracy, his attendance at the January 6 rally and his repeated invokation of debunked election conspiracy theories. His views and behaviour have made him nationally notorious and made it much harder for the GOP to reach the governor’s mansion – but his odd problems go deeper.

Mr Mastriano previously pursued and obtained a PhD in history, but his since-published work has been torn apart for getting basic facts wrong.

Here’s a deep dive from Johanna Chisholm.

Donald Trump and his allies are reportedly preparing challenges to 2022 midterm elections, raising baseless claims of voter fraud that fuelled his failed attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The former president has reportedly convened a series of in-person meetings and conference calls with allies and officials in battleground states to prepare for legal challenges to upcoming elections that could determine the balance of power in Congress ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Pro-Trump factions, right-wing legal groups and GOP activists have attended meetings coordinated by the former president to discuss “scorched-earth legal tactics” that could throw elections into chaos, according to Rolling Stone, citing four people familiar with the meetings.

Alex Woodward reports:

The leader of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, is currently on trial with various of his comrades for seditious conspiracy in connection with the January 6 insurrection. But there’s a spanner in the works: Mr Rhodes has Covid.

The trial has already been sensational, with the jury shown numerous unedfifying messages exchanged between the group’s members around the time of the Capitol riot – some of them highly explicit.

Alex Woodward reports.

Yankees fans delivered a less than warm welcome to Ted Cruz after the visiting senator from Texas stood up to wave to a sea of not-so-thrilled onlookers.

In pictures posted on his own Twitter, he expressed his enthusiasm for attending the game, writing: “Minutes from opening pitch in Yankees Stadium.”

In separate tweets shared online in the hours after the Yankees lost to the Astros, attendees posted about a since-viral moment at the game during which the Republican lawmaker stood up to wave to fans but was instead met by a group of people flipping him the bird.

Johanna Chisholm reports.

Republican US Rep Liz Cheney has warned that the vast number of candidates who have refused to accept the outcome of the 2020 presidential election pose a grave threat to democracy.

In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on 23 October, the Wyoming congresswoman – who lost a GOP primary to a candidate who falsely claimed the election was “rigged” – said she refuses to support or vote for candidates who cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2020 election.

“No one of any party should be voting for people who are election deniers,” she said.

Alex Woodward has the story.

Yesterday’s edition of 60 Minutes featured an interview with the CEO of Dominion Voting Systems, the election machine company that has been relentlessly targeted by Donald Trump and his allies with false claims about the “rigging” of the 2020 election.

In the course of the discussion, John Poulos described how the violent threats against his employees that began with Mr Trump’s election loss continue to this day.

Dominion is suing associates of Mr Trump’s for vast sums of money over what it says are highly defamatory claims about its machines. High up the list is Rudy Giuliani, as well as numerous of Fox News’s most visible commentators, several of whom have already been deposed as the company builds its case.

Donald Trump, however, has no interest in backing away from his false claims. Instead, he is more interested in attacking the media who call attention to their consequences: