Trump news – live: Jan 6 committee finds gaps in White House call logs as president denies destroying records
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Your support makes all the difference.It has emerged that the committee investigating the 6 January insurrection at the US Capitol has identified gaps in the White House call logs from the day of the riot, posing another obstacle to establishing what Mr Trump said and did in the hours before and during the event. According to the New York Times, there is no evidence the records were deliberately deleted, but it is well known that Mr Trump frequently used his own and others’ cellphones to talk to his allies while in office.
Meanwhile, as the saga of the Trump administration documents wrongly taken to Mar-a-Lago continues to deepen, an new book has reported that Donald Trump himself clogged a White House toilet with torn-up documents that should have been preserved.
The story is featured in Confidence Man, a soon-to-be-released account of the president’s White House years written by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman. Mr Trump has called the story “fake news” and accused Ms Haberman – whose work he follows closely – of making it up for publicity.
Morning Joe hosts mock Trump over Kim Jong-un ‘love letters’ and sharpie-adapted map he was hoardingTrump’s 2020 election lies could lead to civil war, says Adam Kinzinger
Biden mocks Trump with quip about ‘windmills causing cancer’ during White House meeting
Why investigating Trump and the 6 January insurrection still matters
ICYMI: Rudy Giuliani under new pressure over election machine seizures
The 6 January select committee was intending to depose Rudy Giuliani in its investigation this week, but he has not appeared. In the absence of his official testimony, ever more stories are emerging about the role he played in efforts to seize voting machines after Donald Trump lost the election to Joe Biden.
Catch up on the story here:
Rudy Giuliani pressured Michigan prosecutor to turn over voting machines
Officials say the Antrim County, Michigan election night error is the result of a clerical mishap, not fraud
Can Congress crack down on its own conflicts of interest?
Some of the most unedifying congressional scandals of recent years have revolved around the same problem: sitting members trading millions of dollars of stock in companies directly affected by matters of which they have advance warning. The issue is so toxic that in these poisonously partisan times, fixing it has become one of the only points of bipartisan agreement.
Even Nancy Pelosi, herself a fabulously wealthy member, seems to be coming on board.
Pelosi flips on stock trading ban as momentum builds for new legislation
‘This is not a highly complex area of law,’ Democratic senatorJon Ossoff tells The Independent
The story of the Trump toilet papers
According to the New York Times’s Maggie Haberman, White House staffers have recounted to her how they more than once found the president’s toilet blocked with torn-up documents. The president has naturally denied the report: “Another fake story, that I flushed papers and documents down a White House toilet, is categorically untrue and simply made up by a reporter in order to get publicity for a mostly fictitious book.”
Could Mar-a-Lago documents trip up Trump’s re-election bid?
Speaking to MSNBC’s Joy-Ann Reid, former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner explained that Mr Trump shouldn’t just be worried about the Presidential Records Act – which is “largely toothless” – but about a closely related federal statute that makes the removal of certain documents criminal.
And anyone convicted under that statute, he pointed out, is barred from holding federal office. Watch the discussion below.
Right-wing campaign groups recruiting supporters for “School Board Activism"
In the last two years, school boards all over the US have been increasingly inundated by outraged right-wing protesters spouting variously bizarre, racist and violent conspiracy theories and demanding that they be given control of the curriculum. Not all these people are parents, or local – and as Run For Something co-founder Amanda Litman explains, the supposedly organic “protests” have very organised origins.
Biden on inflation: “All hands on deck"
Joe Biden has responded to the grim data on inflation confronting the US with a statement that tries to strike a balance between realism and optimism.
“On higher prices, we have been using every tool at our disposal, and while today is a reminder that Americans’ budgets are being stretched in ways that create real stress at the kitchen table, there are also signs that we will make it through this challenge,”
Prices for common consumer goods in the US are now 7.5 percent higher than this time last year – the biggest jump since the start of the 1980s. Andrew Feinberg has the story.
Biden vows to keep ‘all hands on deck’ after dismal inflation report
‘My administration will continue to be all hands on deck to win this fight’
Lindsey Graham keeps distance from Mar-a-Lago story
Asked about the reports emerging of Trump administration documents stashed at Mar-a-Lago, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham – who went from being one of Donald Trump’s most caustic critics to a devoted ally – has refused to defend or condemn his erstwhile friend.
Breaking: Jan 6 committee finds gaps in crucial White House phone records
It has emerged that the 6 January select committee has identified gaps in White House call logs from the day of the Capitol attack – that is, precisely the period where the investigation needs to establish Donald Trump’s conduct and his contact with others inside and outside the White House.
The New York Times reports that there are few records of any calls made by Mr Trump during the insurrection, posing a major obstacle to the committee’s investigation.
Read more:
Trump evaded White House call logs on day of Capitol riots, committee finds
Mr Trump’s habit of using mobile phones belonging to his aides is causing a headache for investigators
Adam Kinzinger cuts ad calling out childish behaviour in DC
Retiring Congressman Adam Kinzinger, who has been censured by his party for daring to participate in the investigation into the 6 January Capitol attack, has put out an ad for his political action committee, Country 1st.
The usually acerbic congressman’s commentary is upbeat and optimistic – but the analogy between Washington politics and juvenile fighting is pushed pretty hard.
Nancy Mace implores Maga fans to back her regardless of Trump’s preference
Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace, who has previously broken with Donald Trump over the Capitol insurrection, is facing a primary challenge from a Trump-backed right-wing candidate aiming to take her down for her apostasy. But rather than come out swinging against the president, Ms Mace has instead travelled to the foot of Trump Tower in Manhattan to beg for the #Maga base’s forgiveness:
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