Trump news: Eastman filing says ex-president handwrote notes about overturning 2020 election

Illinois Republican congressman and Trump critic called the loss of the former president’s pick in North Carolina “good for the country.”

“It’s good for the party. It’s good for the 11th District of North Carolina,” he told CNN.

“DC has become kind of a growing ground for people that are just more interested in fame than governing, that are more interested in becoming famous than in actually doing the really serious work, at a time when we have a lot of challenges here at home and a lot of challenges overseas.”

Kinzinger is notably not running for re-election. He joins Liz Cheney as the only two Republican House members on the congressional committee investigating the Capitol attack. Both of them are routinely attacked by far-right members of their party.

With the end of Roe v Wade in sight, Republican legislators emboldened by the loss of federal protections for abortion care are eying severe restrictions on abortion access and criminalising physicians – and patients – while millions of vulnerable Americans’ lives and families are at stake.

One bill in Louisiana proposed charging patients with homicide.

From The Independent’s Eric Garcia:

Trump saw many of his preferred candidates triumph in Pennsylvania and North Carolina while others flopped or are in races that are too tight to call; we can expect plenty of arguments about who triumphed and who truly lost.

It’s clear that while Trump’s endorsement helps, it isn’t a guarantee.

Several Trump-era administration officials unlawfully retaliated against a whistleblower on the National Security Council who raised concerns about Trump’s call with Volodymyr Zelensky that was central to his first impeachment.

The US Department of Justice has updated its indictment against Thomas Barrack, a Trump ally and chair on his inauguration committee who is alleged to have sought investments from United Arab Emirates while illegally lobbying the administration on its behalf.

This week, federal prosecutors replaced an initial charging document with a 55-page superseding indictment that details how the billionaire allegedly relied on his proximity to the Trump universe to facilitate his dealings with the UAE.

Prosecutors allege that he sought money from the UAE for an investment fund to elecate the Trump agenda and “garner political credibility for its contributions” of the administrations policies, according an aide to Mr Barrck included in the indictment.

The fund would make money by “sourcing, financing, operationally improving and harvesting assets” in areas that would “benefit the most” from Trump being in office, according to the filing.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland held a meeting with officials from the Justice Department and Supreme Court officials “to discuss the security needs of Justices and the Court since the unauthorized release” of a draft opinion that could overturn the landmark ruling from Roe v Wade, according to an announcement from the Justice Department on Wednesday.

The US Marshals Service has “accelerated the provision of around-the-clock security at the homes of all Justices, among other actions” and officials discussed ways to “enhance coordination, intelligence sharing, and technical support as it relates to judicial security.”

“The rise of violence and unlawful threats of violence directed at those who serve the public is unacceptable and dangerous to our democracy,” according to Mr Garland. “I want to be clear: while people vote, argue, and debate in a democracy, we must not – we cannot – allow violence or unlawful threats of violence to permeate our national life. The Justice Department will not tolerate violence or threats of violence against judges or any other public servants at work, home, or any other location.”

The meeting came after demonstrations outside the homes of conservative justices who have joined the opinion to end constitutional protections for abortion care, which is likely to trigger laws banning the procedure outright in more than a dozen states.

Less than 24 hours after results in the GOP congressional primary for North Carolina’s 11th district showed the incumbent Trump-endorsed congressman losing definitively, it appears Madison Cawthorn is winding down any plans to get back into office after he finishes his current term.

His Making A Difference In Service to Our Nation (or MADISON) leadership PAC has filed its termination with the Federal Election Commission, less than 24 hours after results rolled in, according to Business Insider.

The Trump-backed candidate and once-ascendent young Republican in Congress conceded his loss to Chuck Edwards for the Republican nomination in the race.

Russian analyst and Donald Trump‘s former adviser Fiona Hill has revealed new details about her past encounters with Russia’s Vladimir Putin saying the former president “frustrated” him with his lack of knowledge of geopolitical affairs.

“You could see that he got frustrated many times with President Trump because he had to keep explaining things, and Putin doesn’t like to do that,” Ms Hill said on Tuesday at a Chicago Council on Global Affairs event.

“Even though he loves to be able to spin his own version of events, he wants to have predictability in the person that he’s engaging with.”

Ms Hill, who has recently accused Mr Trump of emboldening Mr Putin on the issue of Ukraine, also talked about the timing of Moscow’s attack on Ukraine saying that Mr Putin thought Joe Biden, “who knows all about NATO, who actually knows where Ukraine is” would be the “right person to engage with”.

It would otherwise have been quite unremarkable, expect that Mastriano, 58, a right-wing state senator who was present for Trump’s January 6 speech that preceded the storming of the US Capitol has been one of the most outspoken critics of his state’s election system, and those elsewhere.

Former President Donald Trump blasted Pennsylvania’s elections procedures on social media on Wednesday, even though there are no indications of any wrongdoing with those ballots other than a printing error that was slowing the tally in one county.

He has relentlessly criticised the state’s voting procedures since his loss in Pennsylvania two years ago when it took several days to tally the results from all mailed ballots.

Here’s an explainer on how the state’s mailed ballot system works and what is causing the delay: