‘Meet the Press’ anchor reveals the ‘most powerful person’ shaping the 2024 election
Donald Trump is reportedly poised to return to Twitter as part of his 2024 campaign and representatives have petitioned Facebook parent Meta for his account on that platform to be reinstated, according to reporting by NBC News.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump’s former “fixer” Michael Cohen has met with New York prosecutors as part of an investigation into the Trump Organization’s involvement in paying hush money to Stormy Daniels.
Mr Trump’s former personal attorney arrived for a meeting with the Manhattan district attorney’s office on Tuesday, leaving roughly 90 minutes later where he told CNN he would likely be meeting with investigators again.
The apparent ramping up of the probe comes as newly-released logs reveal who paid a visit to Mr Trump’s White House in the days running up to the January 6 Capitol riot.
The visitor logs, which were obtained by the House select committee investigating Jan 6, reveal the president met with several far-right election deniers and conspiracy theorists including Sidney Powell.
The former president also continues to sound off about the parallel investigations into the discovery of classified materials at Mar-a-Lago and classified documents at President Joe Biden’s home and an office he once used.
Trump poised to return to Twitter as campaign demands Facebook reinstatement, report says
While Donald Trump was granted access to his Twitter account back on 19 November following the takeover of the company by Elon Musk and the decision to reverse the ban imposed on the former president in the wake of the Capitol riot, he has to tweet.
That could all change according to reporting by NBC News, which states that his 2024 campaign advisers have been workshopping ideas for his first tweet.
In addition, the campaign has also approached Facebook parent Meta to unblock his account on that platform which was also suspended two years ago.
“We believe that the ban on President Trump’s account on Facebook has dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse,” Trump’s campaign wrote in its letter to Meta on Tuesday, according to a copy reviewed by NBC News.
The campaign would like a meeting to discuss reinstatement. Meta has said it will announce a decision in the coming weeks.
Since his ban from the principal social media platforms, Mr Trump founded his own — Truth Social — but does not enjoy the audience and bully pulpit he had on the other sites. While he has 4.8 million followers on Truth Social, he had 88 million on Twitter and 34 million on Facebook.
Oliver O’Connell18 January 2023 14:26
Full story: Trump preparing return to Twitter and Facebook, report says
As the 2024 race for the White House nears, the former president is set to once again use some of the largest and most influential social media platforms after he was booted from them following the January 6 insurrection, according to NBC News.
Oliver O’Connell19 January 2023 03:30
‘You have the right to remain silent, you know’: Conway schools Trump over latest post
Conservative lawyer George Conway reminded Donald Trump that all of his posts — be they on Truth Social or perhaps soon another platform — could come back to haunt him in a court of law.
Mr Conway, a longtime Trump foe, reminded the former president of the most basic of rights — the right to remain silent if one is suspected of a crime as set out by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.
People are protected from being compelled to give testimony that could incriminate them. Mr Trump offers written testimony on social media in written form often multiple times a day.
“You have the right to remain silent, you know. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law,” posted Mr Conway on Truth Social in response to the former president’s most recent attempt at explaining away the presence of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
“Do you understand these rights, @realDonaldTrump?”
Oliver O’Connell19 January 2023 02:30
Trump calls classified folders ‘cool keepsake’ while lashing out at ‘Gestapo’ FBI
Another day, another protestation of innocence from former president Donald Trump regarding the trove of classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago.
Mr Trump argues that he kept the inexpensive folders marked “classified” or “confidential” as a “cool” keepsake before accusing the “Gestapo” — the FBI — of taking these empty folders and counting them as classified documents.
Further, the former president then floated the conspiracy theory that “Trump Hating Marxist Thugs’ would “plant documents while they’re in possession of the material”.
He ended with a defiant: “I DID NOTHING WRONG. JOE DID!”
Oliver O’Connell19 January 2023 01:30
How ominous is the debt limit problem?
On the brink of hitting the nation’s legal borrowing limit on Thursday, the government is resorting to “extraordinary measures” to avoid a default.
But — take a breath — the phrase technically refers to a bunch of accounting workarounds. Yes, accounting.
Oliver O’Connell19 January 2023 00:30
Voices: Why Kevin McCarthy can’t quit George Santos
Another day, another George Santos headline. Several of them, actually.
Eric Garcia explains why Kevin McCarthy – let alone the rest of GOP leadership – likely can’t afford to quit Mr Santos for one simple reason.
Oliver O’Connell18 January 2023 23:30
Renewed Stormy Daniels hush money probe see Cohen meet with Trump prosecutors
Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, said he met for 2½ hours Tuesday with Manhattan prosecutors who have revived a years-old investigation into payments made to a porn star to keep her quiet about an alleged extramarital tryst.
Cohen said he had been “ordered not to disclose” any of the people present at the meeting or to discuss prosecutors’ area of interest in any detail.
Cohen meets Trump prosecutors amid renewed hush money probe
Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen says he met Tuesday for about 2½ hours with Manhattan prosecutors, who are again investigating hush money payments he made to a porn star who said she had an extramarital affair with the former president
Oliver O’Connell18 January 2023 23:00
Voices: The dangerous troll under the Republican House bridge
Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has repeated his intention to keep Democratic representatives Eric Swalwell, Adam Schiff, and Ilhan Omar off the House intelligence committee. The move is widely seen as revenge for Democrats removing Republicans Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar. It is also, though, a reiteration of Republican commitment to government by trolling.
Oliver O’Connell18 January 2023 22:30
Trump wants Obama questioned on classified papers
In a busy day of Truth Social posts, former president Donald Trump wonders:
Why aren’t they asking President Obama what’s going on with his Administration? Crooked Hillary took and illegally deleted and acid washed 33,000 Emails AFTER getting a Subpoena for those Emails from the United States Congress, and who knows how many Classified Documents Joe took, especially pertaining to Ukraine and China. Maybe Trump Hating Special “Prosecutor” Jack Smith, who is doing the dirty work for his Marxist Democrat friends, should do the right thing for our Country!
He adds in a follow-up post:
Our Country has become the Investigation Capital of the World. Actually, that’s all we do, and it’s only good for our many enemies. They could not be happier as they brilliantly plot our demise!!!
Oliver O’Connell18 January 2023 22:11
Trump claims he kept classified folders as ‘cool’ keepsakes
Donald Trump insisted on Wednesday in posts on Truth Social that many of the documents marked “classified” found at Mar-a-Lago — of more than 300 in total — were in fact empty folders marked “classified” that he had taken as “cool” keepsakes.
Mr Trump went on to reiterate his baseless accusation claiming that federal law enforcement agents would plant more classified documents among the seized materials in order to further incriminate him.
John Bowden has the details.
Oliver O’Connell18 January 2023 22:00