Trump suffers blows in two criminal cases as New York attorney general questions fraud bond: Latest

Former US president Donald Trump made a surprise appearance via video at Nigel Farage’s 60th birthday party.

Trump was cheered by a crowd of politicians, journalists and Mr Farage’s family and friends as he appeared on screen with a birthday message for the 60-year-old on Wednesday night (3 April).

Trump said: “You’re a historic figure as a prophetic leader and I know that the people of the UK are grateful for your patriotism and service

“In fact. I’m very much looking forward to watching what your next move is gonna be, it’s gonna be an interesting one.

“You’re not done yet and hopefully the best is yet to come, so Nigel: enjoy this day.”

Former US first lady Melania Trump, who has largely been missing-in-action throughout her husband Donald Trump’s latest presidential run, is due to make her first campaign appearance of 2024 later this month – albeit without leaving the comfort of her own home.

According to Politico, Ms Trump will host a fundraiser for the Log Cabin Republicans (LCB) group on Saturday 20 April, an event being held at the Trumps’ Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida.

LCB describes itself as “the nation’s largest Republican organisation dedicated to representing LGBT conservatives and allies”.

Ms Trump has long-running ties to the collective and was presented with an award at its 2021 gala dinner at Mar-a-Lago while Mr Trump himself addressed its 2022 gathering at the club.

Jimmy Kimmel poked fun at comedian Roseanne Barr after her bizarre Mar-A-Lago rant telling students to drop out of college.

The late show host shared a clip of Barr addressing a camera, telling students to “do me a favour” and “please drop out of college because it’s going to ruin your lives”.

She claimed that colleges “don’t teach you nothing good” and are nothing but “devil-worshipping, baby blood-drinking Democrat donors”.

After her call to action, she offered up her help: “E-mail me or Twitter me or whatever you call me and I’ll help you with your life, but you’ve got to get out of college.”

It’s a view held by members of both parties, though it’s especially common among Republicans.

Overall, only about 2 in 10 Americans say it would be “a good thing” for the next president to be able to change policy without waiting on Congress or the courts.

But nearly 6 in 10 Republicans say it would be good for a future President Donald Trump to take unilateral action, while about 4 in 10 Democrats say the same if Biden is reelected.

The sentiment comes amid escalating polarisation and is a sign of the public’s willingness to push the boundaries of the political framework that has kept the US a stable democracy for more than two centuries. In the poll, only 9 per cent of Americans say the nation’s system of checks and balances is working extremely or very well. It also follows promises by Trump to “act as a dictator” on day one of a new administration to secure the border and expand oil and gas drilling.

The AP-NORC poll also found that voters’ views of which institutions have too much power were colored by their own partisanship. Only 16 per cent of Democrats, whose party currently controls the White House, say the presidency has too much power while nearly half of Republicans believe it does. In contrast, about 6 in 10 Democrats say the US Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, has too much power.

With Congress evenly divided between the two parties — the GOP has a narrow House majority, Democrats a narrow Senate one — Americans have similar views on its power regardless of party. About 4 in 10 from both major parties say it has too much power.

Donald Trump has made the outrageous claim that President Joe Biden was on drugs when he delivered his barn-storming State of the Union address last month, without providing any evidence to substantiate the allegation.

The Republican presidential candidate, who will take on his successor in November in a rematch of the 2020 election contest, made the off-hand remark about the president’s performance at his 7 March address during an appearance on conservative radio show host Hugh Hewitt’s show on Thursday.

Asked by Mr Hewitt about his probable rival, Mr Trump said: “I think what happened is, you know, that white stuff that they happened to find, which happened to be cocaine in the White House, I don’t know, I think something’s going on there.

“I watched his State of the Union, and he was all jacked up at the beginning. By the end, he was fading fast. There’s something going on there.”

Read the full story here:

Melania Trump is finally going to join her husband’s campaign trail after months of absence.

The former first lady is set to hold a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago on April 20 for the Log Cabin Republicans – an organisation which touts itself as the “nation’s largest Republican organization dedicated to representing LGBT conservatives and allies,” Politico reported.

The event will mark her first major political event since Donald Trump announced his 2024 presidential run as she has remained largely out of the limelight since leaving the White House in January 2021.

Ms Trump has been noticeabley absent from the former president’s campaign events so far this year and has rarely been seen in his company.

Tony Bobulinski, Hunter Biden’s former business partner, who testified before the House Oversight Committee in the ill-fated Republican-led attempt to find evidence to impeach President Joe Biden, is now taking legal action of his own.

Mr Bobulinski, represented by Trump-affiliated attorney Jesse Binnall, is suing Democratic Rep Dan Goldman of New York for defamation.

Defendant, Daniel Goldman, has repeatedly lied about Plaintiff, Anthony Bobulinski, saying that Mr. Bobulinski has used a Trump campaign-paid lawyer to lie since October 2020, spreads Russian disinformation, and is a Trump campaign plant. Defendant lied solely to serve his political agenda by deliberately besmirching the character of Mr. Bobulinski and to protect Joseph Biden. Defendant’s assertions are unequivocally false and defamatory. Mr. Bobulinski demanded a complete retraction and deletion of his posts made on X (formerly Twitter) on March 26, 2024, which Defendant wholly ignored. Accordingly, Mr. Bobulinski seeks to hold Defendant accountable for his malicious and knowing lies.

Here’s our previous reporting on the Democrat criticism of Mr Bobulinski’s interview before the committee, which Rep Jamie Raskin memorably described as “chaotic to the point of burlesque”.

Maria Bartiromo’s panel discussion on Fox Business went on quite a journey this morning after the release of the latest jobs report showing a better-than-expected increase in employment for the 39th straight month.

Journalist Aaron Rupar captured what might be described as stages of grief, or perhaps just one long bargaining stage within a wider grief coping mechanism.

First, Bartiromo wondered if the economy was now too good for rates:

Then, the panel got a useful talking point… it’s all about government spending and government jobs!

And finally, Steve Moore of the Heritage Foundation saved the day by giving credit to Donald Trump… who left office more than three years ago…