Trump news – latest: Jan 6 texts ‘wiped’ from Pentagon officials’ phones, court documents

Republican Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene has publicly come out in support of the notion that she could hitch a ride on Donald Trump’s potential bid for the presidency in 2024, stating that she’d be “honoured” to run alongside him as his vice-president.

“I think if he asked me I would definitely give that some strong consideration,” she said when asked by hosts during an interview on America’s Real Voice last week whether she’d be interested in being the twice-impeached president’s running mate.

Negative impressions of former president Donald Trump are dragging down Republican candidates for the US Senate in four key swing state races, according to a recent poll commissioned by a political action committee affiliated with a top former Trump adviser.

The survey of 1200 voters — 300 general election voters each in Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina and Georgia — was commissioned by the John Bolton Super PAC. The PAC is run by Ambassador John Bolton, Mr Trump’s third national security adviser.

It found that Trump-endorsed candidates in three of the four states trail their Democratic opponents and have largely unfavourable ratings with “independent and undecided voters”.

Andrew Feinberg reports on the findings.

Speculation continues to swirl regarding whether Donald Trump would face criminal charges resulting from the Jan 6 attack after it became clear that the select committee was laying out a case to prove his various wrongdoings.

Attention has turned in recent weeks to the committee’s chair and vice chair, who have appeared to take the opposite positions from a majority of their respective parties regarding whether the committee itself would formally call for Donald Trump’s prosecution.

Donald Trump has again repeated his claim that he wanted 10,000 troops at the Capitol on January 6, but the request was turned down by Nancy Pelosi and the Mayor of DC Muriel Bowser.

He wrote on Truth Social:

The Unselect Committee of Political Thugs has not devoted one hour to the massive Election Fraud and Irregularities that took place in the 2020 Presidential Election, the reason that hundreds of thousands of people went to Washington on January 6th. When will they start? The Unselects also refuse to look at why Crazy Nancy Pelosi and the Mayor of D.C. turned down from 10-20,000 troops. Why is this, I wonder?

But testimony at the January 6 hearings denies that this order ever happened.

CNN reports that the Defense Department wiped the phones of top departing officials at the end of the Trump administration, deleting any texts from key witnesses to events surrounding the Capitol riot, according to court filings.

The acknowledgment that the phones from the Pentagon officials had been wiped was first revealed in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit American Oversight brought against the Defense Department and the Army. The watchdog group is seeking 6 January 2021 records from former acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller, former chief of staff Kash Patel, and former Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy, among other prominent Pentagon officials — having filed initial FOIA requests just a few days after the Capitol attack.

Here’s Andrew Feinberg with the latest:

Former President Donald Trump couldn’t resist taking a pot shot at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her trip to Taiwan.

He wrote on Truth Social: “Why is Crazy Nancy Pelosi in Taiwan. Always causing trouble. Nothing she does turns out well (Two failed Impeachments, loss of House, etc.). WATCH!”

Former president Donald Trump slammed speaker of Arizona’s state house Rusty Bowers after Mr Bowers’ repeated criticisms of the former president.

The former president criticised Mr Bowers on his social media platform Truth Social this week and called on Republican primary voters to vote him out in a GOP primary.

The former president marked today’s primaries by calling on the electorate to vote out “Impeachment Slime” Jaime Herrera Beutler, Dan Newhouse, and Peter Meijer.

He posted on Truth Social:

Knock out Impeachment Slime Jaime Herrera Beutler, Dan Newhouse, Peter Meijer, TODAY. The rest, including the now disgraced RINO, Liz Cheney, are either gone, or soon will be. Five are already quitters because they were so far behind. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough has torn into Donald Trump for his “heinous” remarks about imprisoned WNBA star Brittney Griner.

“We have Donald Trump calling Brittney Griner ‘spoiled,’ and we have Donald Trump talking about her, quote, ‘loaded up with drugs.’ There’s been no testimony, no evidence, no suggestion that she was, quote, ‘loaded up with drugs’,” Mr Scarborough said during the MSNBC show on Monday morning.

“It once again shows just what a terrible guy this is, what a heinous human being. How cruel it is. And you cannot help but wonder if he’s saying that because she’s a black basketball player,” the former Congressman added.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, the highest-level trip by a US official in 25 years, has sparked a diplomatic crisis between the US and China.

Beijing warned the United States that it was “playing with…