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Related Video: Trump calls for ‘biggest protest ever’ if prosecutors investigating him do ‘anything illegal’
Donald Trump floated the idea of a blanket pardon for January 6 rioters before leaving office, according to a report by Politico.
The news comes as the former president has turned on one of his most loyal Republican allies, Lindsey Graham, after he dismissed Mr Trump’s latest suggestion that he would pardon rioters who stormed the US Capitol that have faced criminal sentences should he return to office in 2024.
The former president floated the idea over the weekend, putting him at odds even with many Republicans. When Mr Graham also took against it, Mr Trump told a Newsmax interviewer that his dogged ally “doesn’t know what he’s talking about” and even called him a “RINO”.
Senator Graham stands by his comments, reiterating his position without mentioning Mr Trump.
As the 6 January House Select Committee looks into the former president’s role in sowing distrust over the outcome of the 2020 election, Democrat congressman Pete Aguilar of California, who is on the investigation panel, was asked if the comments about pardoning Capitol rioters amounted to witness tampering.
He replied: “Absolutely.”
Follow the latest developments.
Donald Trump is reportedly ready to “burn it all down” as several investigations into his and his family’s conduct begin to close in on him.
The former president’s role in sewing distrust over the outcome of the 2020 election result is being looked at by the 6 January Select Committee, while his company’s financial affairs are also being forensically examined by investigators in New York.
Read more:
Former president widely expected to run for office once again in 2024, even amid ongoing investigations
ICYMI: Former President Donald Trump will be speaking at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on 24-27 February in Orlando, Florida, according to a press release from organisers.
Mr Trump has previously confirmed in a video message he would be attending the event.
ICYMI: Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman has filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump Jr, ex-New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and two former Trump White House officials, Julia Hahn and Daniel Scavino, for allegedly conspiring to retaliate against the decorated combat veteran after he testified during the 2019 House hearings that led to the first impeachment trial of former president Donald Trump.
Andrew Feinberg in Washinton, DC has the details for The Independent.
The former National Security Council official is seeking monetary damages from former president Donald Trump’s eldest son and three of the ex-president’s associates for conspiring to wage a smear campaign against him after he testified during the ex-president’s first impeachment
California Democratic Representative Pete Aguilar has said that former President Donald Trump is “absolutely” tampering with witnesses as he dangles possible pardons if he gets elected again in 2024.
Mr Trump said at a rally in Texas over the weekend that “if I run and if I win” in 2024, “we will treat those people from January 6 fairly. We will treat them fairly. And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly”.
Gustaf Kilander has the story.
‘I think the question is more for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle – where are they? Do they support this? When is enough enough?’
One of Donald Trump’s biggest remaining supporters in Washington DC, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, blasted Senator Lindsey Graham on Sunday for his critique of the former President.
Mr Trump recently stated that he would look to pardon the 6 January insurrectionists if re-elected, a move which Senator Graham labelled as “dangerous” during a Sunday morning appearance on CBS.
Tom Fenton reports.
The representative from Georgia, who was previously banned from Twitter, has consistently defended Mr Trump
Former President Donald Trump appears to have soured on one of his most ardently oleaginous supporters, South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, after the Palmetto State Republican said pro-Trump rioters who attacked the Capitol on 6 January 2021 should be jailed and not pardoned as the twice-impeached ex-president has suggested.
Andrew Feinberg reports.
Trump is hitting back after the South Carolina senator said he hopes members of the mob that sacked the Capitol will ‘go to jail’
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said she may consider running for US president in the future after conspiracy theorist Alex Jones encouraged her to seek the nation’s highest office.
During an interview on Wednesday advertised as the “most censored broadcast in the world,” Mr Jones told Ms Greene that she would make a good candidate for president.
Graig Graziosi reports.
‘Can we get you to run for president in the next few years?’ Mr Jones asked Ms Greene
The National Archives has written to former President Donald Trump informing him that it will turn over the records of former Vice President Mike Pence to the House select Committee investigating the January 6 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
Unless a court intervenes they will be handed on 3 March 2022, according to a letter from National Archivist David Ferriero sent to Mr Trump on Tuesday.
The son of a New York judge who stormed the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 while dressed as a caveman has pleaded guilty to three counts during a virtual court hearing.
Aaron Mostofsky, 35, of Brooklyn, is charged with one felony count of civil disorder, one count of theft of government property, and one count of entering and remaining in a restricted building.
Mostofsky donned abandoned Capitol Police riot gear over caveman costume
Donald Trump called CNN boss Jeff Zucker ‘a sleaze bag’ but, Andrew Buncombe asks, does he owe him his political success?
Trump called CNN boss ‘a sleaze-bag’ but does he owe him his political success, asks Andrew Buncombe
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Former US president Donald Trump speaks at a Save America Rally, held outdoors at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Conroe, Texas, USA, 29 January 2022
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