Former US president Donald Trump claims he can declassify top secret documents just ‘by thinking about it’
Donald Trump heads to Michigan, a state that spurned him in 2020 after he saw a surprise victory there four years earlier, on Saturday.
He’s in the state for a rally in Warren where he hopes to bump the candidacy of Tudor Dixon, his chosen acolyte in the race to unseat incumbent Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The president is eager to have a supporter of his bogus conspiracies about his 2020 defeat in the governor’s mansion should he make another bid for the White House in 2024.
Polls show Ms Dixon badly trailing the governor, who was the intended victim of a shocking kidnapping plot foiled by the FBI in 2020. The most recent poll of the race, from the GOP-aligned Trafalgar Group, showed Ms Dixon down by six points.
In Mr Trump’s other legal news, it was just revealed that he hoarded some 200,000 pages of federal documents at his Palm Beach home. The new court filing was to argue that an early October deadline for scanning and reviewing the documents is unrealistic because they cannot be processed quickly enough. There are reports that Mr Trump is ignoring some of the legal advice he is receiving over the matter.
The devastation in Fort Myers and other cities in Florida has been evident for days, but elicited nothing until now from the West Palm Beach complex of Mar-a-Lago where Mr Trump has taken up residence.
Read more from Andrew Feinberg:
Former president Donald Trump opened a political rally in Michigan by breaking his week-long silence on Hurricane Ian, the category five storm that has devastated his home state of Florida.
Marjorie Taylor Greene gets a shout-out
Donald Trump’s first significant shout-out of the night went to Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right congresswoman from Georgia and rising star on the Maga right.
Mr Trump spoke to his rallygoers about Ms Greene’s visit with January 6 defendants in the Washington DC jail, where he said that accused rioters were being treated horribly in “filthy” conditions.
Calling the accused rioters “political prisoners”, he noted: “Somebody who did go there [to see them] was Marjorie Taylor Greene. She went there, she went there”.
Trump attacks Biden over using Strategic Oil Reserve
Donald Trump’s first attack aimed at Joe Biden on Saturday was perplexingly over his use of the Strategic Oil Reserve to alleviate soaring energy prices, which are resulting from the war in Ukraine and other factors.
The ex-president fumed that the oil reserves were “not supposed” to be used to alleviate surging demand amid low supply — it should only be used for “wartime”, or other emergencies, he insisted.
Donald Trump takes the stage
As Proud to be an American blared on the speakers, the former president took the stage just about 15 minutes late.
He opened up his rally offering his “profound sympathy” to victims of Hurricane Ian.
“Not a good hurricane,” Mr Trump quipped. “This was a bad one.”
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell is in attendance
One of the very few people still pursuing Donald Trump’s false campaign to overturn the 2020 election is Mike Lindell — the pillow-vendor-turned-activist who is one of Mr Trump’s most vocal supporters.
Mr Lindell was a part of Right Side Broadcasting’s pre-rally coverage, and discussed those conspiracies while alluding to how important the Michigan governor’s election would be for future efforts to contest election results that do not turn out in favour of the GOP.
The MyPillow CEO has attended most of Mr Trump’s recent rallies around the country, including his recent appearance in Youngstown, Ohio.
Donald Trump’s rally in Warren, Michigan is beginning
Hundreds of Donald Trump’s fans are pouring in to the Macomb County Community College Sports & Expo Center as the ex-president’s rally is set to get underway shortly.
The ex-president is in town to stump for Tudor Dixon, the Republican running for governor. Donald Trump is eager to have a supporter of his bogus conspiracies about his 2020 defeat in the governor’s mansion should he make another bid for the White House in 2024.
Mar-a-Lago papers: Trump reportedly ignoring advice from lawyer he paid $3m retainer
Weeks after paying a respected Florida defence attorney a $3m retainer to represent him in dealings with the Department of Justice following the 8 August search of his home, former president Donald Trump is reportedly ignoring the attorney’s advice in favour of tactics that are far more combative but place him at greater legal risk.
According to The Washington Post, Mr Trump has largely sidelined ex-Florida solicitor general Chris Kise because the veteran litigator has counseled him to “turn down the temperature” with the Justice Department.
Andrew Feinberg has the latest.
According to The Washington Post, Mr Trump has largely sidelined ex-Florida solicitor general Chris Kise because the veteran litigator has counseled him to ‘turn down the temperature’ with the Justice Department.
Most voters want Trump blocked from 2024 run, poll finds
A new poll shows that the majority of Americans do not believe Donald Trump should be allowed to serve as president again given “what we know about the ongoing investigations” into him.
The Yahoo News/YouGov poll of 1,566 registered voters found that 51 per cent are against the former president running again in 2024.
Bump in Republican support after Mar-a-Lago search also dissipating
Senior Republicans evasive on Biden impeachment demand floated by Trump allies
Calls from Marjorie Taylor Greene and other Trump loyalists in the Republican House caucus to pass an article of impeachment against Joe Biden are growing louder — but aren’t echoing in the halls of leadership just yet.
John Bowden explains why.
Growing noise on far-right has yet to find open endorsement from party elite
Maggie Haberman says Trump tried to have her phone records seized
New York Times writer Maggie Haberman says in her new book about Donald Trump that the former president tried to have officials seize her phone in order to identify her sources for stories about the administration.
Writing in Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America, Ms Haberman says that the then-president was angry about leaks within the White House.
Haberman has unprecedented access to Trump throughout his presidency and since
