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2 days ago

Trump live updates: Ex-Fox News host Pete Hegseth to call for return of ‘American warriors’ at Senate grilling

President-elect’s controversial pick for secretary of defense will face tough questions about his past from senators on Tuesday as he makes case to lead Pentagon

Alexander Butler,Joe Sommerlad
Tuesday 14 January 2025 13:17 GMT
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Senator says there will be ‘shock and awe’ on day one of Trump presidency

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Ex-Fox News host Pete Hegseth will call for the return of “American warriors” as he is grilled by the Senate ahead of his likely confirmation as Defense Secretary.

The 44-year-old veteran will face questions on Tuesday about his lack of management experience, his alleged heavy drinking, as well as his previous opposition to women serving in combat roles in the military.

He could also be asked about accusations that he sexually assaulted a woman in a California hotel room in 2017 - something he has denied.

“We are not Republicans or Democrats — we are American warriors. Our standards will be high, and they will be equal,” he will tell the bipartisan panel of senators in his opening statement, Axios reported.

His confirmation hearing comes hours after President-elect Donald Trump blasted special counsel Jack Smith over a landmark report found Trump tried to criminally overturn the 2020 election.

Smith said Trump “inspired his supporters to commit acts of physical violence” in the January 6 Capitol riot and knowingly spread a false narrative about fraud in the 2020 election.

2 days ago

Trump’s furious 1am response to Jack Smith’s special counsel report

Trump’s furious 1am response to Jack Smith’s special counsel report

Trump slammed Jack Smith as a ‘deranged lamebrain prosecutor’ following his damning DoJ report

Alexander Butler14 January 2025 09:49
2 days ago

Donald Trump’s response in full

Trump slammed US special counsel Jack Smith as a “deranged lamebrain prosecutor” in a furious 1am tirade posted to his social media platform TruthSocial.

He said: “Deranged Jack Smith... is a lamebrain prosecutor who was unable to get his case tried before the Election, which I won in a landslide.

“[He was] was unable to successfully prosecute the Political Opponent of his ‘boss,’ Crooked Joe Biden, so he ends up writing yet another ‘Report”’ based on information that the Unselect Committee of Political Hacks and Thugs ILLEGALLY DESTROYED AND DELETED, because it showed how totally innocent I was, and how completely guilty Nancy Pelosi, and others, were.”

Alexander Butler14 January 2025 09:20
2 days ago

US prosecutor Jack Smith defends criminal case against Trump

US special counsel Jack Smith, who has faced relentless criticism from Trump, has defended his investigation and the prosecutors who worked on it.

“The claim from Mr Trump that my decisions as a prosecutor were influenced or directed by the Biden administration or other political actors is, in a word, laughable,” Smith wrote in a letter detailing his report.

After the release, Trump, in a post on his Truth Social site, called Smith a “lamebrain prosecutor who was unable to get his case tried before the election.”

The report said Trump “inspired his supporters to commit acts of physical violence” in the January 6 riots and knowingly spread a false narrative about fraud in the 2020 election.

It also claimed Trump would have been convicted for the role he played had he not been re-elected by voters in a landslide victory last year.

US special counsel Jack Smith has defended his investigation into Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 US election
US special counsel Jack Smith has defended his investigation into Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 US election (AP)
Alexander Butler14 January 2025 08:30
2 days ago

Trump engaged in criminal effort to overturn 2020 election, report finds

President-elect Donald Trump engaged in an unprecedented criminal effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat, according to a report by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

Mr Smith said Trump “inspired his supporters to commit acts of physical violence” in the January 6 riots and knowingly spread a false narrative about fraud in the 2020 election.

He also claimed Trump would have been convicted for the role he played had he not been re-elected by voters in a landslide victory last year.

Trump encouraged his supporters to ‘fight like hell’ after claiming, incorrectly, the US 2020 election was stolen
Trump encouraged his supporters to ‘fight like hell’ after claiming, incorrectly, the US 2020 election was stolen (Copyright 2020 Jacquelyn Martin. All rights reserved.)
Alexander Butler14 January 2025 08:25
2 days ago

Jan 6 rioter says she will refuse Trump’s pardon

Pamela Hemphill, a grandmother in her seventies who was jailed for taking part in the attempted insurrection at the US Capitol four years ago, has said she will “refuse” a pardon from President-elect Donald Trump once he takes office.

The incoming commander-in-chief has vowed to issue widespread presidential pardons to his supporters convicted for nonviolent offences over the infamous attack on January 6 2021.

Joe Sommerlad has the story.

Jan 6 rioter Pamela Hemphill says she will refuse Trump’s pardon

Reformed ‘MAGA Granny’, who spent 60 days in jail for her role in the attempted insurrection at the US Capitol, has since washed her hands of the president-elect’s movement, calling it a ‘cult’

Oliver O'Connell14 January 2025 08:20
2 days ago

Donald Trump slams ‘deranged Jack Smith’

Donald Trump has hit out at US special counsel Jack Smith after a landmark report found the US president-elect tried to criminally overturn the 2020 US election.

Mr Smith said Trump “inspired his supporters to commit acts of physical violence” in the January 6 riots and knowingly spread a false narrative about fraud in the 2020 election.

He also claimed Trump would have been convicted for the role he played had he not been re-elected by voters in a landslide victory last year.

“Deranged Jack Smith... is a lamebrain prosecutor who was unable to get his case tried before the Election, which I won in a landslide,” Trump said.

Alexander Butler14 January 2025 08:10
2 days ago

Trump hits out at Nancy Pelosi in bizarre rant

US president-elect Donald Trump, who will take office on 20 January, has hit out at Nancy Pelosi in a bizarre rant following a damning report which found he tried to overturn the 2020 election.

Trump insisted Pelosi was “completely guilty” as he slammed US attorney and author of the report Jack Smith as “deranged”.

Mr Smith said Trump “inspired his supporters to commit acts of physical violence” in the January 6 riots and knowingly spread a false narrative about fraud in the 2020 election.

It also concluded he would have been convicted for allegedly trying to overturn the US election if he had not been re-elected in 2024.

Alexander Butler14 January 2025 07:47
3 days ago

Trump would have been convicted over attempt to overturn 2020 election if he hadn’t been re-elected, special counsel’s report says

Special counsel Jack Smith said his team “stood up for the rule of law” as it investigated President-elect Donald Trump‘s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, writing in a much-anticipated report released Tuesday that he stands fully behind his decision to bring criminal charges he believes would have resulted in a conviction had voters not returned Trump to the White House.

“The throughline of all of Mr Trump‘s criminal efforts was deceit — knowingly false claims of election fraud — and the evidence shows that Mr. Trump used these lies as a weapon to defeat a federal government function foundational to the United States’ democratic process,” the report states.

The report, arriving just days before Trump is to return to office on January 20, focuses fresh attention on his frantic but failed effort to cling to power in 2020.

With the prosecution foreclosed thanks to Trump‘s election victory, the document is expected to be the final Justice Department chronicle of a dark chapter in American history that threatened to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, a bedrock of democracy for centuries, and complements already released indictments and reports.

Trump responded early Tuesday with a post on his Truth Social platform, claiming he was “totally innocent” and calling Smith “a lamebrain prosecutor who was unable to get his case tried before the Election.” He added, “THE VOTERS HAVE SPOKEN!!!”

Trump had been indicted in August 2023 on charges of working to overturn the election, but the case was delayed by appeals and ultimately significantly narrowed by a conservative-majority Supreme Court that held for the first time that former presidents enjoy sweeping immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts.

Though Smith sought to salvage the indictment, the team dismissed it entirely in November because of longstanding Justice Department policy that says sitting presidents cannot face federal prosecution.

Tom Barnes14 January 2025 07:17
3 days ago

What tough questions might Pete Hegseth face at his confirmation hearing?

Pete Hegseth is preparing to face a panel of bipartisan senators on Tuesday who will grill him over allegations from his past and his credentials at the first of the Senate confirmation hearings.

President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Hegseth for one of the most senior jobs in the administration: secretary of defense.

But since the day Trump announced his unorthodox choice to head up the Pentagon, there have been serious questions hanging over the 44-year-old Fox News host.

Rhian Lubin reports.

The tough questions Pete Hegseth will face at his Senate confirmation hearing

Since Trump announced his unorthodox choice to head up the Pentagon, there have been serious questions hanging over the 44-year-old Fox News host

Oliver O'Connell14 January 2025 06:50
3 days ago

Trump’s inauguration: Who is Christopher Macchio, the singer performing the national anthem?

As President-elect Donald Trump takes the oath of office once again at his second Inauguration ceremony on January 20, he will be serenaded by a host of performers, including Christopher Macchio, who will sing the national anthem.

Macchio, 46, a classical-crossover vocalist from New York City, takes on the honor from Lady Gaga, who performed the national anthem at President Joe Biden’s 2021 swearing-in ceremony.

Inga Parkel reports.

Who is Christopher Macchio, the singer performing at Trump’s inauguration?

Macchio takes over for Jackie Evancho, who performed ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ at the President-elect’s 2017 inauguration

Oliver O'Connell14 January 2025 05:50

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