Ad trolls Trump over January 6 committee developments
Former US attorney general Bill Barr says Donald Trump has “shown he has neither the temperament nor persuasive powers to provide the kind of positive leadership that is needed” in a new book.
Mr Barr calls on the Republican Party to move on from Mr Trump and directly blames him for the violence at the US Capitol on 6 January in One Damn Thing After Another.
The former president fired Mr Barr when he refused to go along with his claims that the election had been stolen.
Mr Barr writes that his former boss “lost his grip” after the election, and that his false claims of voter fraud led to the attack on the US Capitol.
On Saturday, Joe Biden laughed off Donald Trump’s praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I put as much stock in Trump saying that Putin’s a genius as I do when he called himself a stable genius,” Mr Biden said in an interview released Saturday.
The former president hailed Mr Putin as “smart” and blamed Mr Biden for allowing the invasion to occur.
“He [Mr Putin] was going to be satisfied with a piece and now he sees the weakness and the incompetence and the stupidity of this administration,” Mr Trump said while speaking with Fox News presenter Laura Ingraham. “As an American I am angry about it and I am saddened by it. And it all happened because of a rigged election.”
Trump says his White House doctor knew ‘every inch of my body – he thinks it’s a beautiful sight’
Former President Donald Trump had some amusing praise for Ronny Jackson, his former White House doctor and a currently-serving congressman from Texas.
Mr Trump joked that Mr Jackson, who was a White House physician under both him and President Barack Obama, should tell audiences which president was in better shape. The former president made the remarks on Saturday at CPAC.
“He knows every inch of me – and he thinks it’s a very beautiful sight,” joked Mr Trump.
Read more from The Independent’s Bevan Hurley:
John Bowden27 February 2022 20:26
Trump claims he knows nothing about desperate text messages sent to his team by Sean Hannity during Capitol riot
Former President Donald Trump dodged questions on Saturday about the desperate text messages that Sean Hannity, other Fox hosts, as well as members of Congress were furiously sending members of his staff on 6 Jan as rioters stormed the US Capitol.
Mr Trump was confronted about the texts by a reporter at CPAC during a news conference; the former president told her in response: “I don’t know what messages you’re talking about”.
Read more from The Independent’s Bevan Hurley:
John Bowden27 February 2022 19:53
Trump claims his border wall could be completed in three weeks – despite not finishing it in four years
Former president Donald Trump on Saturday claimed the US-Mexico border wall his administration was unable to finish in four years was “just about finished” and could be completed in under a month were he to be elected once again.
Mr Trump made the comments at CPAC during his address Saturday evening. In reality, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) maps show wide swathes of the border do not have physical barriers.
Read more from The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg:
John Bowden27 February 2022 18:53
Trump wins CPAC straw poll, DeSantis lags far behind
Former President Donald Trump was the wide favourite to seek the GOP nomination for president in 2024 at the 2022 CPAC gathering in Orlando, Florida.
A straw poll conducted over the weekend and released on Sunday indicated that Mr Trump held the support of nearly 6 in ten attendees.
The Florida governor lagged more than 30 points behind him. No other potential candidate received more than a small smattering of support.
Read more from The Independent’s Richard Hall:
John Bowden27 February 2022 18:30
Barr hits ex-boss for ‘pettiness’
According to former Attorney General William Barr, Donald Trump’s failure to defeat Joe Biden had its roots in basic personality issues that the president exhibits.
The former Trump administration official is joining the ranks of Republicans who insist the party needs to move on from his former boss.
In his book, Mr Barr argues that Mr Trump could have won reelection had he “just exercised a modicum of self-restraint, moderating even a little bit of his pettiness”.
Many have speculated why Mr Trump focused on criticism of Mr Biden’s son and his former 2016 rival, Hillary Clinton, instead of challenging Mr Biden directly on the issues of his performance managing Covid-19.
Read more from The Independent:
John Bowden27 February 2022 17:55
Intelligence committee Dem: Putin is isolated, getting bad advice
Sen Mark Warner, a Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, joined NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday alongside Republican Sen Rob Portman to discuss the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The senator refused to comment on specific intelligence but said that reports indicated that Vladimir Putin has spent much of his time at vacation or personal properties and is likely isolated from many of his Kremlin advisers as the war continues.
“[W]hat we do know is that over the last couple of years, Putin has been more and more isolated. He’s not been in the Kremlin for the most part. He’s been down at his place in Sochi, or at his dacha outside of Moscow,” said Mr Warner. “And when you are an authoritarian leader and you have less and less inputs, and you’re only hearing from people that want to say to the boss, ‘Hey, you’re right,’ I think that leads to miscalculation.”
He added that such a “miscalculation” was what likely led to Mr Putin’s decision to go ahead with an invasion.
John Bowden27 February 2022 16:38
White House responds to Biden’s low poll numbers
White House press secretary Jen Psaki joined ABC News on Sunday where she was confronted by This Week host George Stephanopoulos about President Joe Biden’s flailing poll numbers, which are now at the lowest they’ve been since Mr Biden took office.
Democrats are looking at that polling nervously as they prepare for an unfriendly midterm map and the possibility of losing one or both houses of Congress in November.
“The president is approaching his State of the Union in a pretty difficult political position right now, 37 percent approval rating, Democrats trailing badly in the midterm polling,” said Mr Stephanopoulos, adding of Tuesday’s State of the Union address: “How is he going to turn that around on Tuesday night?”
Ms Psaki responded: “Leaders lead during crises. That’s exactly what President Biden is doing. He’ll speak to that, but he’s also going to speak about his optimism about what’s ahead and what we all have to look forward to.”
John Bowden27 February 2022 16:09
UN ambassador claims Human Rights Council will act against Russia
US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, previewed the response she says the United Nations will take to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Sunday.
Speaking with CNN’s State of the Union, Ms Greenfield said that the US was pursuing a number of efforts in the UN to keep up diplomatic pressure on Russia’s government.
“[W]e will be having a discussion in Geneva at the UN Human Rights Council, bringing Russia before the Human Rights Council as well. And there’s another resolution that we’re bringing before the General Assembly in a special emergency meeting that we’re requesting tonight,” said Ms Thomas-Greenfield.
“So we’re keeping the pressure up on the Russians,” she claimed.
John Bowden27 February 2022 15:41
MSNBC contributor insinuates Russia ‘installed’ Trump as president
Sarah Kendzior, a liberal guest on Joy Reid’s show Sunday on MSNBC, attacked Donald Trump and insinuated baselessly that he had been “installed” as president of the United States.
Russian operatives were found to have worked to denigrate Hillary Clinton’s public image in 2016, but her defeat to Donald Trump on Election Day is the result of many factors, Russian efforts included.
On Sunday, Ms Kendzior made the claim that Mr Trump was placed in charge of the US for the purpose of weakening NATO.
“Trump was installed as the president of the United States in order to weaken the alliances that were preventing Putin from achieving his goals. Alliances like NATO, our relationship with our European partners…with Ukraine,” she said.
John Bowden27 February 2022 14:50
Bill Barr launches says Trump’s erratic behaviour should disqualify him from running in 2024
Former US attorney general Bill Barr has unleashed a volley of criticism at Donald Trump in a new book, saying the ex-president has “shown he has neither the temperament nor persuasive powers to provide the kind of positive leadership that is needed” and that the Republican Party should move on from him.
“The absurd lengths to which he took his ‘stolen election’ claim led to the rioting on Capitol Hill,” Mr Barr writes.
Follow this developing story below.
Bill Barr launches blistering attack on Trump in new book
Former US attorney general Bill Barr has unleashed a volley of criticism at Donald Trump in his new book, saying the ex-president has “shown he has neither the temperament nor persuasive powers to provide the kind of positive leadership that is needed” and that the Republican party should move on from him.
Bevan Hurley27 February 2022 14:09