Iowa entrance polls show MAGA fans turned out for caucus: Live updates
Donald Trump holds commanding lead over challengers Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy
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Your support makes all the difference.The 2024 Republican candidates are eagerly awaiting the results of the Iowa caucuses on Monday – though if polling tells us anything, it’s that Donald Trump has a predictable commanding lead over the other candidates.
In a survey, conducted by The Des Moines Register, NBC News and Medicom, 48 per cent of potential voters said the former president was their first choice of Republican presidential candidates.
Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley was behind Mr Trump with 20 per cent support followed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with 16 per cent.
Vivek Ramaswamy had just 8 per cent while only 5 per cent of potential voters said they were still unsure.
Of the survey respondents more than half said they had their minds made up regarding who they would cast their vote for.
But for the 32 per cent who could still be persuaded to support a candidate, the presidential candidates are fighting hard to convince them to join their teams.
Watch: Fox host asks GOP lawmaker if public is getting tired of attempts to impeach Biden
Fox Business host Stuart Varney asked Rep Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota about the future of the flailing House Republican attempts to find a connection between Joe Biden and an impeachable crime.
Varney asked: “Do you think maybe the American public's getting a little tired of this? ... You haven't proved the basic point yet, that President Biden was directly involved. Is the public getting tired of it?”
Watch Rep Armstrong’s response below:
White House spokesman for oversight and investigations Ian Sams, who is also a special assistant to the president and senior advisor to White House Counsel’s Office, tweeted: “When you’re losing Fox hosts...”
Senator John Cornyn announces run to replace McConnell
Senator John Cornyn is the first Republican in the upper chamber to officially announce he’s running to replace Mitch McConnell as leader after the surprise announcement of his upcoming retirement on Wednesday.
“I am asking my Republican colleagues to give me the opportunity to succeed Leader McConnell,” the Texas lawmaker wrote to his fellow Republicans.
This 26-year-old could be Biden’s secret weapon
North Carolina could flip blue this November, for the first time since Obama won the state in 2008. And who’s tasked with making that happen? A 26-year-old from rural Roxboro, North Carolina. Anderson Clayton, the youngest state chair in the country, could be the answer for the Biden-Harris campaign as they struggle to whip up enthusiasm among the 41 million Gen Z eligible to vote in 2024. As the Democrats began to roll out surrogates for the president, we travelled to North Carolina to see how young voters are feeling about voting in the oldest presidential election in history.
Watch LIVE: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin testifies to Congress about failure to disclose illness
Why Nikki Haley’s strategy still makes sense after Michigan and South Carolina
The Republican primary now heads to Super Tuesday with one clear theme: Donald Trump is the party’s first choice for the 2024 general election, even if a majority of Americans look with dismay at the possibility of a rematch between him and Joe Biden.
So why is Nikki Haley, fresh off two latest defeats in Michigan and her home state of South Carolina, still in the race?
John Bowden offers his thoughts.
Why Nikki Haley’s strategy still makes sense after Michigan and South Carolina
Haley is making an obvious gamble. If it pays off, she could be in a prime position to snatch the nomination away from Trump, writes John Bowden
Comer gets into testy exchange with reporter about lack of evidence in Biden probe
House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer got into a testy exchange with reporters as Hunter Biden gave testimony behind closed doors as part of the Republican House impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden yesterday.
Comer had been asked about the lack of evidence that the probe has so far unearthed to support claims that Mr Biden used his political influence to help enrich himself and his family.
Here’s what happened next.
Comer gets into testy exchange with reporter about lack of evidence in Biden probe
‘Okay, calm down, calm down, it’s okay. It’s okay. All the angry liberals ... they’ll be alright,’ Comer tells reporter as he flounders for evidence against Biden
Hunter Biden deposition: President’s son addresses ‘Big Guy’ conspiracy and addiction
Hunter Biden testified for more than six hours behind closed doors on Wednesday in the Republican impeachment probe into his father, President Joe Biden, saying in his opening statement that “I did not involve my father in my business” and that the House GOP has “built your entire partisan house of cards on lies”.
Speaking to the press on Wednesday afternoon, Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell said: “After seven hours of questions, the Republican majority ends the day where they started. They have produced no evidence that would do anything to support the notion that there was any financial transactions that involved Hunter with his father – period.
“It seems to me that the Republican members wanted to spend more time speaking about my client’s addiction than they could ask any question that had anything to do with what they call their impeachment inquiry.”
Andrew Feinberg and Gustaf Kilander report from Washington, DC.
Hunter Biden addresses ‘Big Guy’ conspiracy and addiction in Capitol Hill testimony
‘What he got in return for being a loving and supportive parent is a barrage of hate-filled conspiracy theories that hatched this sham impeachment inquiry,’ Hunter Biden says of father
President Biden passes annual physical as age remains campaign issue
President Joe Biden‘s physician says the 81-year-old chief executive “continues to be fit for duty” after he completed his annual physical at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Wednesday.
In a memorandum distributed by the White House press office, Dr Kevin O’Connor, physician to the president, summarised his findings by stating that Biden is “a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency, to include those as Chief Executive, Head of State and Commander in Chief”.
That didn’t stop Donald Trump’s former White physician Dr Ronny Jackson, now a Texas Republican congressman, going on Fox to pour scorn, without looking too well himself.
Biden himself couldn’t have looked rosier as he joked: “They think I look too young!”
Andrew Feinberg reports from the White House.
Biden ‘continues to be fit for duty’ amid age questions, doctor says
Mr Biden’s doctor again says the president is ‘a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency, ot include those as Chief Executive, Head of State and Commander in Chief’
Raskin says McConnell should have stuck with ‘conviction’ over Trump
Democratic congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland lamented the fact that McConnell did not vote to convict former president Donald Trump at the latter’s second impeachment trial in 2021.
Raskin, the lead impeachment manager for Trump’s trial in the Senate over the US Capitol riot, spoke to The Independent yesterday and commented: “I wish Senator McConnell had shown the courage of his convictions and his real sentiments.”
Here’s more from Eric Garcia.
Raskin says McConnell should have stuck with ‘conviction’ over Trump
EXCLUSIVE: The lead impeachment manager for Donald Trump’s January 6 impeachment trial speaks to The Independent about the retirement of the Senate’s top Republican
Democrats share their fears about Mitch McConnell’s successor
Here’s Eric Garcia on the response of Democratic senators, including former presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, to the news that Mitch McConnell is on the way out.
Democrats share their fears about Mitch McConnell’s successor
The Senate Minority Leader’s announcement that he will step down this year has come as a shock to members of both parties
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