Trump warns of ‘bedlam’ in Supreme Court filing as E Jean Carroll ends evidence: Live updates

“The Court should put a swift and decisive end to these ballot-disqualification efforts, which threaten to disenfranchise tens of millions of Americans and which promise to unleash chaos and bedlam if other state courts and state officials follow Colorado’s lead and exclude the likely Republican presidential nominee from their ballots,” Trump attorneys wrote in a brief to the court on Thursday.

Alex Woodward has the full story:

Matt Gaetz has argued that the demographic changes between the parties will help former President Donald Trump get back to the White House.

The Florida congressman who incited the ouster of former GOP speaker Kevin McCarthy appeared to suggest on Newsmax on Wednesday that as white women leave the Republican Party under the leadership of Mr Trump, they will be replaced by Latino and Black men moving towards the GOP.

Gustaf Kilander reports:

Alex Hannaford writes:

The paradox couldn’t have been starker. Shortly after midnight on 16 January, ABC News called the Iowa Republican caucuses for Donald J Trump. Entrance poll results indicated that he had “trounced” the competition, the network said – adding that “election deniers and Maga had got him there”. But so had Republican women.

Ten hours later, Trump was in a courtroom in New York City waiting to find out what damages he would have to pay to settle a defamation claim by E Jean Carroll – a woman who, separate juries found, had been sexually assaulted and later defamed by him. It was a classic example of the troubling and complicated relationship that the businessman and former president seems to have had with women for his entire life – both personally and professionally.

The fact that women are winning the primaries for Trump (he won the votes of around half of both men and women in Iowa, far ahead of any other candidate) may have casual observers scratching their heads. Add to this the rumours that he’s considering a female running mate, and you might start to wonder what’s really going on inside the head of one of the world’s most notoriously sexist alpha males.

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Republican committee leads James Comer and Jim Jordan say in a statement: “Hunter Biden will appear before our committees for a deposition on February 28, 2024. His deposition will come after several interviews with Biden family members and associates. We look forward to Hunter Biden’s testimony.”

As part of the impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden, the Committees on Oversight and Accountability and Judiciary will conduct transcribed interviews with several Biden family members and associates in the coming weeks. The Committees are continuing to work with James Biden’s attorney to schedule his appearance.

Week of January 22: Mervyn Yan and Rob Walker

Week of January 29: Eric Schwerin and Joey Langston

Week of February 5: Tony Bobulinski

Additional witnesses to be announced.

Moments after the second day of a jury trial to determine how much money he owes a woman he defamed for lying about sexually abusing her, Donald Trump claimed that he is the one who suffered damages.

The former president – on trial a second time for defaming E Jean Carroll, who has accused Mr Trump of sexually assaulting her and then lying about never meeting her – briefly spoke at his 40 Wall Street property after jurors in a federal courtroom heard several hours of testimony from the former Elle magazine writer.

Mr Trump, who baselessly casts his growing pile of legal challenges as a Democratic conspiracy to keep him away from the White House, called the trial “rigged” and “election interference” based on a “made-up, fabricated story”.

The facts of the case have already been established, and Mr Trump is barred from disputing that he sexually abused Ms Carroll. She is seeking $10m (£7.9m) in compensatory damages and punitive damages, and a jury will determine how much Mr Trump should pay, if anything.

“I frankly am the one who suffered damages,” Mr Trump said on Wednesday. “I should be given money, given damages.”

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Ousted Fox News host Tucker Carlson is “certainly a contender” to be former President Donald Trump’s running mate in the 2024 election, Mr Trump’s eldest son Donald Trump Jr has said.

Mr Carlson is in the running despite the earlier revelation that he privately shared his disgust with the ex-commander-in-chief, writing in a text “I hate [Trump] passionately”.

The host’s candid view of Mr Trump was revealed in the discovery process in the lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News for its defamatory and inaccurate coverage of baseless allegations that the voting machine manufacturer had helped rig the 2020 election in favour of President Joe Biden. They reached a settlement in April last year.

Appearing on Newsmax, Mr Trump Jr said that Carlson as a possible VP pick “clearly would be on the table”.

Gustaf Kilander reports:

Donald Trump has his reasons, as Julia Reinstein explains:

Nearly every Republican senator and 130 GOP House members are urging the US Supreme Court to keep Donald Trump on 2024 ballots as the justices prepare to hear whether he should be disqualified under the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment.

Among the members of Congress who joined Thursday’s brief is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who previously characterised the attack on the US Capitol on January 6 as a “violent insurrection” and, in remarks on the Senate floor during Mr Trump’s impeachment for inciting it, said there is “no question” he was “practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day,” when a mob assaulted the halls of Congress “in his name”.

He was among 42 Senate Republicans telling Supreme Court justices that Congress, not the courts, should decide whether to disqualify a candidate.

Alex Woodward has the story:

Eric Garcia writes:

Republicans in Congress simultaneously got a flashback to life under Donald Trump’s presidency and a preview of what life will be like in the future should he re-take the White House.

For the past few months, a bipartisan group of senators has been negotiating immigration restrictions that Republicans have demanded in exchange for more money to Ukraine.

Many Democrats in the House fear the Senate will give away too much on immigration and that Republicans are acting in bad faith to tie foreign policy to the Rubik’s cube that is American immigration policy, even as the problem continues to vex President Joe Biden. Republicans argue that focusing on Ukraine’s security without securing America’s border and curbing the influx of migrants would be hypocritical, and per usual, House Republicans seem dissatisfied unless they get everything they want.

On Wednesday, Mr Biden held a meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson and the rest of congressional leadership. As Inside Washington reported on Wednesday, Republicans feared Mr Johnson might cave. Then, the Speaker intimated on Fox News that he had spoken with Mr Trump “frequently” about negotiations.

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