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Trump set to return to social media as Meta lifts ban
Donald Trump reportedly made a secret $1m donation to a partisan-driven“audit” of Arizona’s election results in his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
According to The Guardian, it was Mr Trump who largedly bankrolled the discredited review of election results which the president hoped would support his baseless claims that the election was “stolen” from him and swing the outcome in his favour.
The revelation comes as it also emerged that Mr Trump’s attorney John Eastman is facing disciplinary charges and potential disbarment in California over his involvement in the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
This weekend, Mr Trump set to begin his 2024 presidential campaign trail this weekend with back-to-back appearances in New Hampshire and South Carolina on Saturday.
It comes at the end of a week where parent company Meta announced that it would reinstate his Facebook and Instagram accounts in the “coming weeks”.
A $1m donation to the group responsible for the sham “audit” of Arizona’s Maricopa County election results in 2020 came from Donald Trump’s Save America PAC, according to analysis of publicly available data by the watchdog group Documented.
The analysis was based on campaign finance disclosures, tax filings, and communications records obtained by another transparency group.
It contradicts statements made by the former president’s associates who denied he had anything to do with the effort to “audit” election results in Arizona’s most populous county.
The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg reports:
The sham “audit” recieved a million-dollar donation from Mr Trump’s Super PAC
Trump was once dependent on Fox News for favourable coverage, but he has more recently experienced a more fractious relationship with the conservative broadcaster and preferred its upstart right-wing rivals like Newsmax and One America News.
But, on Wednesday, AT&T’s DirecTV announced that it would be dropping Newsmax from its lineup, just as it had previously ditched OAN.
On Friday, he once again lashed out at Fox News – which he labelled “FakeFoxNews” – and said the network is “not with me, and I’m not with them”.
The ex-president froths as right-wing channel removed from DirecTV service
has called out Elon Musk for spreading bogus claims about the horrific hammer attack on Paul Pelosi after police bodycam footage was released on Friday.
In the aftermath of the assault, Mr Musk amplified a “deranged” conspiracy theory that the two men were romantically involved.
“There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye,” Mr Musk tweeted, before quietly deleting the post days later.
“You spread the big conspiracy,” Mr Kinzinger said on Friday.
“Hey @elonmusk care to react to the Pelosi video? You spread the big conspiracy,” the former member of Congress wrote on Twitter
Donald Trump congratulated Ronna McDaniel after she won re-election to chair the Republican National Committee, a role that the former president helped her secure in 2016.
“Congratulations to Ronna McDaniel on her big WIN,” he wrote on his Truth Social on Friday. “Now we have to STOP THE DEMOCRATS FROM CHEATING IN ELECTIONS.”
His congratulatory message suggests he will keep pushing the GOP to adopt his baseless narrative of widespread voter fraud, a message that bombed Trump-backed candidates in midterm elections last year.
The movement of election-denying candidates failed to gain any significant ground, with victories in fewer than one in six races across the US in statewide roles that oversee election administration, including governor, secretary of state and attorney general – roles that will be critical in 2024 elections.
Julian Khater, who pleaded guilty to pepper spraying US Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick on 6 January, 2021, has been sentenced to 80 months in prison, or eight years and six months, following statements from the officer’s family and his longtime partner.
“This defendant committed cowardly and premeditated assault on at least three uniformed officers,” Assistant US Attorney Gilead Light said on Friday.
Sicknick died one day after he was pepper sprayed and experiences a series of seizures; a coronor’s report attributed his death to natural causes.
Gladys Sicknick, his mother, asked Mr Khater in court whether he felt “like a tourist … watching my son fighting for his life”.
“I was lucky to find a family who helped my heart to become better. And you, Mr Khater, snuffed all that out with a spray can of chemicals,” his sister-in-law Nicholle said. “You destroyed the hearts of every member of Brian’s family just because it suited your whims.”
In his remarks to the court, the 33-year-old defendant described his time in jail “long, agonizing, humbling.”
“I understand that to many people January 6 is not just a date in history, but a day that lives on in people’s minds and memories,” he said.
Donald Trump said he would build an “impenetrable dome” to protect the US from nuclear missile attacks as he also claimed he could end the Russian invasion of Ukraine “within 24 hours.”
The one-term president released a video saying that foreign powers were now openly “using the nuclear word all the time” because “they have no respect for our leadership.”
He added that “it is a word you are never allowed to use” and insisted it had never been said when he was in the White House.
The former president told his followers in the Friday video about the serious impact of any future global conflict.
“World War Three would be a catastrophe unlike any other. This would make World War One and World War Two look like very small battles,” he added.
One-term president says America needs own version of Israel’s ‘Iron Dome’ air defence system
Former vice president Mike Pence said he takes “full responsibility” for the presence of documents with classification markings at his Carmel, Indiana home that were turned over to the FBI earlier this month.
Speaking at an event at Florida International University, Mr Pence said the documents “should not have been in my personal residence”.
“Mistakes were made, and I take full responsibility, and I’ve directed my counsel to work with the National Archives with the Department of Justice, and with the Congress to fully cooperate in any investigation,” he said.
“Our national security depends on the proper handling of classified and sensitive materials, and I know that when errors are made, it’s important that they be resolved swiftly and disclosed”.
Comes as Joe Biden faces criticism for documents in his home
In a video statement, the former president argued that parents should be able to elect and remove school principals, a far-reaching demand targeting the so-called “parental rights” movement that has sought a radical transformation of the nation’s school system.
Galvanised by Covid-19 guidelines, far-right activists have mounted anti-LGBT+ campaigns and efforts to remove “critical race theory” from classrooms, while Republican officials advance sweeping policies targeting libraries and curriculum discussing race and racism, gender and sexuality.
Mr Trump said he would implement “the direct election” of school principals by the parents of schoolchildren.
“The parents should be able to vote to fire them,” he said.
In a Twitter post sharing the video, Donald Trump Jr added that “it’s time to end wokeness in our schools”.
His father “wants to implement direct elections of school principals by the parents, as the ultimate form of local control,” he added.
Across nine brief videos posted simultaneously on his Truth Social account, Trump has issued statements about combatting crime, protests in Atlanta, the classified documents cases and Russia’s war in Ukraine, among other issues.
He suggested building an “impenetrable dome” to protect the US from missile attacks.
“World War III … would make World War I and World War II look like very small battles,” he said.
In another video, he addressed the indictment facing former FBI officials Charles McGonigal, who is accused of violating US sanctions on Russia.
“May he rot in hell,” Mr Trump said.
In one video, he said “patriots” jailed for crimes connected to the attack on the US Capitol are being “destroyed” by the criminal justice system; in another, he called Joe Biden’s possession of sensitive documents that were discovered at his office and home a “disgrace to our country” that constitutes election interference.
“They created this document mess for themselves,” he said in yet another video. “By being so totally deranged about me, and I did absolutely nothing wrong. It’s really incredible to watch, isn’t it?”
Ronna McDaniel has been re-elected to lead the Republican National Committee following a challenge from Harmeet Dhillon and conspiracy theorist and pillow salesman Mike Lindell to lead the GOP conference.
Members of the conference voted 111-51 for Ms McDaniel. Mr Lindell got four votes.
Lee Zeldin, who led a close challenge for New York governor against Kathy Hochul last year, received one vote, though he was not on the ballot.
Ms Dhillion received support from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis when he called for “new blood” to lead the GOP less than 24 hours before party members convened for a vote on Friday.
Trump, who picked Ms McDaniel for chair of the RNC following his 2016 victory, stayed out of the race.
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