Trump news today latest: Jan 6 panel weighs calling ex-president while top aides hit with subpoenas and phones seized

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Former Trump lawyer believes ex-president is in legal jeopardy

The Justice Department has said it is willing to accept one of Donald Trump’s candidates for a special master in his legal dispute with the FBI.

Federal prosecutors submitted a legal filing on Monday evening signing off on the suggestion of Raymond Dearie, a 78-year-old former US District Court judge appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1986.

The special master is a trusted third party who will review top-secret documents taken from Mr. Trump’s Florida home at Mar-a-Lago to determine whether anything should be excluded from the case.

It came after the Department of Justices investigation into the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021 expanded in dramatic fashion as dozens of current and former Trump aides were subpoenaed for testimony and documents, with some even having their phones seized.

It was the first concrete step taken by the DoJ to center the agency’s January 6 probe around the White House and the president, rather than just the riot itself.

Meanwhile, in a separate filing, Donald Trumps lawyers speculated that the papers marked classified found at Mar-a-Lago may not have been classified at all and argued that even if they are, Mr Trump has an absolute right to access them under the Presidential Records Act.

Key pointsShow latest update 1663058700Trump insists Mondays DC venture was working trip amid fevered speculation over his legal troubles

Donald Trump has insisted that an unannounced visit to Washington DC is a working trip amid a mountain of online speculation about the reason for his visit to the US capital region. He was seen with Trump organization officials at his Sterling, Virginia property, although at no point was he actually seen golfing.

In an apparent bid to stamp out speculation about his activities, he wrote on Truth Social: Working today at Trump Washington DC on the Potomac River. What an incredible place!

Twitter, meanwhile, ran rampant with theories about the visit and heated debate regarding the president’s lack of golf clubs during the visit.

Read more from Gino Spocchia in The Independent:

Trump insists DC visit is work trip amid speculation over his legal troubles

Look, its kind of weird that Trump flew to DC tonight and no one seems to know why, says government ethics watchdog amid radio silence on Truth Social

John Bowden13 September 2022 09:45

1663056000 Commissioner hits out at unacceptable and disappointing tweets by local division

A US Customs and Border Protection division in Texas is off social media after its account used a homophobic slur to attack Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

The account also favorited and retweeted messages from Stephen Miller, a far-right member of the Trump White House.

The tweets do not reflect the values ​​of this administration and our work to rebuild a humane, orderly, and secure immigration system, a spokesperson for the agency said of the messages, one of which claimed that President Joe Biden had ended nearly 250 years of constitutional government.

Read more about this developing scandal in Texas:

Local Border Patrol retweets of Stephen Miller unacceptable and disappointing

West Texas CBP office has deactivated its Twitter account over offensive tweets

Andrew Naughtie13 September 2022 09:00

1663053300ICYMI: A big day looms Tuesday for the Jan 6 committeee

Lawmakers on the January 6 committee will discuss the potential of calling Donald Trump and/or Mike Pence to testify when they meet in person today on Capitol Hill.

The gathering will be the first of the panel members since the August recess. Preparations are underway for the select committees next set of public hearings on Jan 6 and the efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Read more in The Independent from John Bowden:

Jan 6 committee may call Trump to testify when they meet this week, report says

Investigation has proceeded for months with testimony from other witnesses

John Bowden13 September 2022 08:15

1663047900Biden: ‘Difficult 2 years’ ahead if Dems lose Congress

Joe Biden is predicting a major showdown in Washington if Republicans take the House and/or Senate in November’s midterm elections.

Analysts say Republicans are favored to take the lower chamber while issues developing within the campaigns of some of the parties’ Senate nominees have dampened the parties’ fortune somewhat.

The president is hoping to rally his party to keep either of those possibilities from coming true, and urged supporters as much as possible at a fundraiser.

If we lose the House and we lose the Senate its going to be a really difficult two years, he told a crowd of about 30 donors and guests. “Ill be spending more time with the veto pen than getting anything done.

Read more in The Independent:

Biden: ‘Difficult 2 years’ ahead if Dems lose Congress

President Joe Biden says if Democrats lose the upcoming midterm elections, it’s going to be a difficult two years, and he’s going to be spending a lot of time with the veto pen.

John Bowden13 September 2022 06:45

1663042500Biden’s midterm self-edit: Less talk about inflation woes

Joe Biden has toned down his rhetoric vowing to battle consumer prices as he attempts to drive the focus on his recent legislative wins as well as the embarassing criminal investigations into his likely 2024 opponent.

The president is re-tooling his strategy ahead of a midterm fight that will determine whether he has any shot of continuing to pursue his legislative agenda last November.

Read more in The Independent:

Biden’s midterm self-edit: Less talk about inflation woes

In recent speeches, President Joe Biden has stopped talking so much about inflation worries

John Bowden13 September 2022 05:15

1663038944Poll shows Tim Ryan slightly ahead of JD Vance in Ohio Senate race

Donald Trumps pick for US Senate in Ohio is the latest Republican struggling to perform against a Democrat as his party faces a crucial midterms election test.

JD Vance, the author of Hillbilly Ellegy, currently trails his Democratic opponent Tim Ryan by single digits. Its a close race, but a lot closer than Republicans were hoping for given that the seat is currently held by a retiring GOP senator, Rob Portman.

If Republicans lose this seat in November, they will stand almost no chance of taking the Senate from Democrats.

Read more from The Independents Eric Garcia:

Poll shows Tim Ryan slightly ahead of JD Vance in Ohio Senate race

Former president Donald Trump will hold a rally with Mr. Vance in Youngstown on Saturday

John Bowden13 September 2022 04:15

1663035344CNN host under fire for saying Trump should be invited to Queens funeral: Stop normalising treason

CNN host Jake Tappers comments about Joe Biden potentially extending an invitation for Donald Trump to attend the Queens funeral were loudly pilloried over the weekend.

The comment, which the primetime host made during a Friday night panel discussing the state funeral scheduled for September 19 at Westminster Abbey in London, drew the ire of individuals who described themselves as longtime viewers of his program. It even led to the hashtag #boycottCNN to begin trending over the weekend.

Read more from The Independents Johanna Chisholm:

CNNs Jake Tapper under fire for saying Trump should be invited to Queens funeral

Jake Tappers comments that it would be clever for President Biden to invite his predecessor who has been met with vitriol

John Bowden13 September 2022 03:15

1663031744Random people are asking to be Trumps special master in secret papers case

Random members of the public have put their names forward to become special master to review documents seized by the FBI at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.

The former presidents legal team and the Justice Department have submitted their picks for who will get the role as part of the criminal investigation.

But both parties have to agree on a candidate unless the judge in the case rules that they have reached an impasse and selects her own choice. Thats led to a flurry of people jokingly submitting their own names for the job.

Read more from The Independent:

Random people are asking to be Trump’s special master in secret papers case

Former president requested role be filled after FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago

John Bowden13 September 2022 02:15

1663029455 Justice Department accepts Trump’s special master pick

The Justice Department has said it is prepared to accept the special master candidate put forward by Donald Trump’s legal team, Graeme Massie reports.

In a legal filing, federal prosecutors gave the nod to Raymond Dearie, a 78-year-old jurist appointed by Ronald Reagan who served in the US District Court from 1986 to 2011.

Referring to Mr Dearie alongside their own nominees, Barbara Jones and Thomas Griffith, the prosecutors said: Each have substantial judicial experience, during which they have presided over federal criminal and civil cases, including federal cases involving national security and privilege concerns.

They respectfully opposed Mr Trump’s second pick, Paul Huck Jr, a judge’s son who is listed as a contributor by the arch-conservative Federalist Society.

(Jones Day law firm)

He also happens to be the husband of Barbara Lagoa, a first generation Cuban-American judge in Florida who was one of Mr Trump’s candidates to replace Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg when she died within the last few months of his presidency in 2020.

Read Graeme’s full story here.

Io Dodds13 September 2022 01:37

1663027868Trump goes golfing with aides but no golf clubs drawing comparisons to mobsters and Oceans Eleven

Donald Trump was spotted on the greens of his Virginia golf course on Monday in a sighting that prompted wild speculation due in no small part to recent events.

The former president was seen in pictures touring the grounds of the Sterling property alongside a number of men including Brad Enie, his director of grounds for the club. It wasn’t immediately clear, but pictures appeared to indicate that Mr. Trump was inspecting or giving a tour of his clubs golf course with Trump Organization figures.

That wasn’t enough of an explanation for Twitter, however, which began a frenzy of speculation early Monday morning after it was announced first that Mr. Trump was flying to the DC area.

The trip to DC, of ​​course, occurred as Mr Trump is thought to be the subject of two separate criminal investigations one into the potentially illegal retention of classified materials at Mar-a-Lago, and another regarding the events of January 6.

Read more from John Bowden in The Independent:

Trump goes golfing with aides but no golf clubs drawing comparisons to mobsters

Presidents trip to DC area sparks speculation

John Bowden13 September 2022 01:11

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