Trump claims he deserves ‘damages’ after tense day at E Jean Carroll defamation trial

Eric Garcia writes:

Three years ago, in the wake of the Capitol riot and with his second impeachment under way, Donald Trump’s political future looked over once and for all. But Republicans, led largely by Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, voted to acquit him, all but giving him permission to continue his dominance in the Republican Party.

Now, after a devastating win over his rivals in the first contest on the road to the White House, he once again holds the Grand Old Party in the palm of his hand. But even in his moment of victory, with some polls suggesting he could defeat Joe Biden in November, he had a stark reminder of the legal dangers facing him this year as he returned to a New York courtroom for just one of the cases he is embroiled in.

The Iowa caucuses officially kicked off the 2024 presidential contest in resounding fashion when the former president overwhelmingly won the contest in the Hawkeye State.

Donald Trump’s supporters continue to adopt his bogus narrative that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, with nearly 70 per cent of his Iowa caucus voters falsely believing President Joe Biden was illegitimately elected.

Asked whether they believed President Biden was legitimately elected to the presidency in 2020, more than two-thirds of Iowa caucus goers said no, according to entrance polls from last night’s caucuses.

That includes 69 per cent of Iowa caucus goers who supported Mr Trump. Only 11 per cent of his supporters in Iowa believe the president was legitimately elected.

Following her performance this week in court, social media users were quick to return to a clip of Ms Habba during a recent interview on a 4 January episode of the PBD podcast, in which she said she would “rather be pretty than smart.”

Read the full story here:

Mr Trump was Monday night’s overwhelming winner, picking up 51 per cent of the vote in the Hawkeye State and bringing him closer to securing the Republican presidential nomination as primary season finally got underway.

Maga Republican lawmaker Anna Paulina Luna lashed out at an immigration expert after he laughed at her defence of the Trump administration’s policies of separating migrant children from their parents.

During a House of Representatives hearing on Wednesday, Ms Luna contested that the policies had inflicted psychological trauma on the children.

Responding to Cato Institute immigration expert David Bier, she said: “You talk about intentional trauma and that the Trump administration caused intentional trauma by separating these children from their quote-unquote ‘parents’.

“The fact is, is that… you don’t know what these people are like.” Ms Luna then paused to ask: “Mr Bier why are you laughing?”

Mike Bedigan reports on how he replied:

Graig Graziosi reports:

Republican candidates for president landed in New Hampshire this week after the bitterly cold Iowa caucuses ended in a landslide victory for Donald Trump early Monday evening.

Mr Trump’s two remaining competitive rivals, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, are now set up for their second showdown with the frontrunner in New Hampshire, which votes in a “semi-open” primary style which allows the state’s sizable population of independent voters to participate in the respective major party primaries.

This is the second chance for either of them to prove that this entire exercise isn’t just one long, drawn-out coronation.

John Bowden reports:

Now the former Elle magazine columnist says she has been branded “a fraud and a whack job” by the same man, who appeared in a federal courtroom in New York City on Wednesday to watch her testimony during a second defamation trial stemming from her allegations against the former president.

“I’m here because I was assaulted by Donald Trump and when I wrote about it, he said it never happened,” she testified.

“He lied,” she said. “And he shattered my reputation.”

Alex Woodward reports on the second day of the trial:

House Republicans have paused their attempts to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress as they try to schedule the president’s son to appear and testify.

Mr Biden’s lawyers and the House Judiciary and Oversight committees have restarted conversations about a date when that might happen, according to Politico.

It comes a week after the Republican-led committees voted to recommend that Mr Biden be held in contempt by the full House for defying a subpoena in the GOP impeachment efforts of his father.

Hunter Biden has offered to testify in public, which has so far been rejected by Republicans, but has refused to take part in any behind-closed-doors hearings.

A spokesperson for the Oversight Committee GOP told Politico that they were working with Mr Biden’s lawyers on a date for him to appear.

Graeme Massie reports:

Fact check: Donald Trump doesn’t have to be in court for a civil case and didn’t show up at all to the first defamation trial.

The former president left his short news conference at 40 Wall St after the day in court to fly to New Hampshire for a campaign event. He did not specify whether he would attend the trial or the funeral tomorrow.