Trump – latest news: GOP pushback on Trump’s Constitution remark but stop short of disqualifying him from 2024

Former president Donald Trump claimed on Monday that he never advocated for an end to America’s constitution despite having called for its “termination” just days ago.

He claimed that news organisations, who have accurately reported his words (which are still posted on Truth Social) are “actually trying to convince the American People that I said I wanted to ‘terminate’ the Constitution” and called the accurate reporting of statements he has posted to the internet “disinformation and lies”.

A few minutes later, Mr Trump wrote in another post on the site that an “irrefutably fraudulent” election should “go to the rightful winner” or “should be redone”, even though there is no mechanism to do so under US law.

My colleague Andrew Feinberg has more details below.

Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel went after former president Donald Trump for his many headline-grabbing stories this week, including the report that claims that he failed to disclose a $19.8m loan from a South Korean conglomerate with links to North Korea when he was the president of the US and his remarks on Truth Social where he called for “terminating” parts of the Constitution.

“Trump wants to throw out the Constitution and replace it with this,” the ABC host said, before queuing up a joke version of “Trump’s Constitution”.

High-profile users on Meta platforms, such as Donald Trump, are leaving dangerous content up online longer than should be acceptable and are instead serving the business interests of the company, the Meta Oversight Board said in a report released Tuesday, according to The Hill.

The board, made up of academics, journalists, experts and civic leaders, is now urging the owner of Facebook and Instagram to overhaul its “cross-check” program, which delays enforcing content moderation measures for politicians, celebrities and other high-profile users.

Posts from these users – which from regular accounts would otherwise be “quicky removed” – were found in the 13-month audit to remain up on the platforms, leaving room to cause harm and instead seem poised to “satisfy business concerns”, the board said in the 57-page advisory.

The report arrives just weeks before a decision is set to be made about the former president’s Facebook account and whether it will be reactivated on 7 January or remain suspended, a decision that was made following his incitement of violence ahead of the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot.

Fox chairman Rupert Murdoch has been summoned for questioning under oath in a case related to Fox News coverage during the 2020 presidential elections.

The 91-year-old media tycoon will be deposed next week as part of a $1.6bn defamation suit against his channel over its coverage during the election. Mr Murdoch, the founder of Fox Network and several other TV channels, will become the most high-profile name to be questioned in the case so far.

The lawsuit was brought in by election technology company Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News.

While Fox has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, Dominion has said it has proof the channel was in possession of information that the theories aired by them are baseless, but decided to continue to air them.

As the repercussions of Donald Trump’s incendiary remarks about “terminating” parts of the Constitution in order to return him to power as president continued to ripple across DC, more GOP voices joined their Democratic counterparts in rebuking their fellow Republican.

Sen John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 2 Senate Republican, told CNN on Monday that he disagrees with Mr Trump’s post, adding that “I swear an oath to uphold the Constitution and it is a bedrock principle – it is the principle, the bedrock of our of our country.”

“I couldn’t disagree more,” he said, before walking back his harsh words by noting that he doesn’t believe it should disqualify him from running for president again.

“He’s going to say what he’s going to say. I don’t think anybody’s going to control that, but I do think if you’re one of the other candidates, this is a golden opportunity.”

Republican Sen Mike Rounds of South Dakota said in a post about the former president’s comments shared on Twitter that “Anyone who desires to lead our country must commit to protecting the Constitution. They should not threaten to terminate it.”

Fellow Republican senators John Cornyn of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida similarly followed their South Dakota colleagues careful treading of the line by acknowledging that while they found Trump’s words “certainly irresponsible” they could not comment on whether it disqualified him from the White House.

“I believe in the Constitution,” said Sen Scott, but when asked by CNN if Trump should be prevented from running for office, he added: “I think the voters get to decide those things.”

Elon Musk’s decision to publish internal company files revealing Twitter’s censorship of media reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop was “not healthy”, the White House said.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday that publishing the internal company files about a story the right-wing MAGA enthusiasts have clamoured around for years acted as a “distraction”,

“What is happening — it’s frankly, it’s not healthy. It won’t do anything to help a single American improve their lives,” she said.

“And so look, we see this as an interesting, you know, coincidence, and you know, it’s a distraction,” Ms Jean-Pierre concluded during her Monday briefing.

“We see this as an interesting, or a coincidence, if I may, that he would so haphazardly — Twitter would so haphazardly push this distraction that is full of old news, if you think about it,” she said.

Donald Trump lamented losing Fox News as an ally on Truth Social after his daughter-in-law was dropped by the network.

Lara Trump, the wife of Mr Trump’s son Eric Trump, was let go as a commentator for the network.

“Lara Trump was one of the smartest, quickest, nicest, and most professional people on Television. Her delivery, both in terms of presentation and content, was unbelievable—a true natural,” wrote Mr Trump on Truth Social.

“Fox News is a much different place now than it was just a short time ago, but the audience loved Lara, her insight and vision—and so does the Trump Family!” he added.

Fox News portrayed the parting with Ms Trump as amiable and said that since Mr Trump announced he will run for president for a third time on 15 November, Ms Trump could not continue to be a part of the network.

The former president’s son and husband of Ms Trump echoed those sentiments on his own Truth Social account Monday, writing: “I am so incredibly proud of @laraleatrump. She built an unbelievable following, represented herself with grace and dignity and was truly loved by her colleagues, and millions across America.”

“Politics can be “complicated” but Lara is a rockstar in front of the camera, in the gym, as a mom and as a wife. She is incredible on every front and is such a solid voice to so many women across our country. I am proud of her and I can’t wait to be by her side for her next adventure!”

The White House has condemned Donald Trump’s weekend remarks that called for suspension of constitutional rules, and urged more Republicans to come forward to rebuke the former president.

“Every president and every member of Congress swears to ‘defend’ the constitution of the United States,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said.

“Asking Members of Congress to reaffirm their oath of office and uphold the constitution should not be a heavy lift. Congressional Republicans need to do that immediately, instead of repeatedly refusing to answer the most basic question,” Mr Bates said.

Some Republicans condemned the remarks made by Mr Trump on Saturday on his Truth Social online platform but many remained silent or did not condemn him by name.

“A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” Mr Trump had said on Saturday, reiterating his false claims that the 2020 election he lost to president Joe Biden was rigged.

Asked to respond to Donald Trump’s threat to “terminate” the US Constitution during a radio interview on Monday, former vice president Mike Pence said he and other officials have taken an oath to “commit ourselves to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

“I think everyone that serves in public office, everyone that aspires to serve or to serve again, should make it clear we will support and defend the Constitution of the United States, which I believe by God’s grace I was able to do during not only my tenure as vice president but during those tumultuous days at the end,” Mr Pence said.

Those “tumultuous days” include Trump’s pressure campaign to get his then-vice president to subvert the outcome of the 2020 election, and a violent riot fuelled by Trump’s rejection of those results; Mr Pence was escorted out of the Capitol on 6 January, 2021, as a mob chanted “hang Mike Pence” and stormed the halls of Congress.

Hours later Mr Pence presided over the certification of electoral college votes.

It’s one ballot, former president Donald Trump would rather not be associated with: the verdict sheet at his company’s criminal tax fraud trial.

Deliberations are spilling into a second day as jurors weigh charges that the Trump Organization helped executives dodge personal income taxes on perks such as Manhattan apartments and luxury cars.

The case went to the jury Monday follow a monthlong trial featuring testimony from seven witnesses, including the company’s longtime finance chief Allen Weisselberg and senior vice president and controller Jeffrey McConney.They deliberated for about four hours on Monday and returned to the courtroom with a question just once as they sought to clarify one of the charges.

Prosecutors charged the Trump Organization in July 2021, seeking to hold the company accountable for the actions of some of its most loyal, longest-serving executives.

Mr Weisselberg, charged in the same indictment, subsequently pleaded guilty and testified at the company’s trial that he conspired with Mr McConney to hide company-paid perks, in part by adjusting payroll records to deduct their cost from his salary.

Mr Weisselberg, a Trump Organization employee since 1986, said the arrangement reduced his tax liability while also saving the company money because it didn’t have to give him a hefty raise to cover the cost of the perks and additional income taxes he would have incurred.

Other executives were also accused of avoiding taxes on company perks, but no one else was charged.

Jurors are being asked to decide if Mr Weisselberg was a “high managerial agent” acting on the company’s behalf when he hatched his tax dodge scheme, as prosecutors allege, or if he was acting in his own interest, as Trump Organization lawyers contend.

They must also determine if he intended to benefit the company’s bottom line, not just his own.