Trump’s ex-defense secretary says he didn’t ask for 10,000 Capitol troops
Donald Trump has threatened to sue CNN for branding him a liar and calling his unfounded claims about the 2020 election the “Big Lie”. In an extended letter released last night, he complains that the network defamed him in its coverage of the 2016 and 2020 elections, the investigation into his ties to Russia, and the 6 January attack on the US Capitol.
Mr Trump has also lashed out at reports that the US Department of Justice is investigating his actions as he tried to subvert the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, with Attorney General Merrick Garland confirming that the department has no qualms about any political blowback as a result of criminally indicting Mr Trump.
Meanwhile, Democratic Congressman and 6 January committee member Jamie Raskin told C-Span he believes Mr Trump’s campaign to overturn the election and preserve his presidency was in fact rooted in financial self-interest.
“Donald Trump was really engaged in a lot of for-profit money-making activities in his administration, which would also explain his determination to stay in office at all costs,” said the congressman.
A key nugget from Trump’s CNN threat
Donald Trump’s threat to sue CNN is based on a long list of familiar grievances, mainly related to the network’s coverage of the 2016 and 2020 elections and what the ex-president has taken to referring to as the “Russia, Russia, Russia hoax”.
But buried in the furious 26-page letter his lawyers have sent to the network is a genuinely important claim: that Mr Trump’s conviction that the 2020 election was illegitimate is more important than the truth:
Whether or not the lawsuit actually goes ahead (remember: many cases Mr Trump has launched over the decades have not), this claim could turn out to be a sign of things to come.
If Mr Trump relies on this “subjective belief” line in future litigation or criminal cases over the events of 6 January 2021 and his efforts to overturn the election, a great deal could hang on the 6 January committee’s evidence and witness testimony about Mr Trump’s state of mind between November 2020 and the end of his presidency.
Should he premise any future criminal defence on the claim that he genuinely believes what’s come to be known as the “Big Lie”, it will fall to the select committee and other investigators to provide evidence to the contrary.
Andrew Naughtie28 July 2022 10:55
‘Sorry Jared, there’s nothing I can do’ Murdoch told Kushner after Fox News called Arizona for Biden
In his new book, Jared Kushner writes about the moment that he called Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch on election night in November 2020 to ask why the network had just called Arizona for President Joe Biden.
Breaking History: A White House Memoir by Mr Kushner is set to publish on 23 August. New York Times reporter Kenneth Vogel tweeted several of the pages from the book on Wednesday.
Jared Kushner called Rupert Murdoch when Fox called Arizona for Biden: ‘Sorry Jared’
“The shocking projection brought our momentum to a screeching halt,” writes Kushner in his new book
Andrew Naughtie28 July 2022 10:15
Days after News Corp editorials…
Read More: Trump news – latest: Ex-president threatens CNN with lawsuit over ‘repeated defamatory statements’