Trump news today: Donald Trump fills memorial speech for vlogger Diamond with his favourite rally gripes

Donald Trump remains keen to remind his would-be 2024 rivals that he is still the Republican Party base’s top choice for their nominee, at least for now.

The ex-president “truthed” a graphic made by his team from a bimonthly tracking poll taken by Big Village polling; the survey shows Mr Trump supported by more than half of all GOP voters. Mr DeSantis was, once again, the only other Republican cracking double digits.

He has posted such data with more intensity in recent weeks following a dismal showing by many of his chosen candidates and the GOP as a whole in November’s midterms; many party elites have publicly signaled their growing disdain for the former president in the wake of those results.

Donald Trump struggled to meet the mood of a memorial service for Ineitha Lynnette Hardaway, better known as “Diamond” of the pro-Trump duo Diamond and Silk.

Speaking Saturday at the gathering in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the former president at times sounded more like a candidate delivering a stump speech than an ex-president memorialising a valued friend or political ally.

At one point, he even quipped that the service had gone on much longer than the “15 minutes” he was promised to deliver his remarks and leave.

Senior Democrats, dismayed by a steady stream of startling disclosures, expressed criticism Sunday of how President Joe Biden handled classified material after leaving office as vice president and disappointment that the White House has not been more forthcoming with the public.

Lawmakers who might have anticipated questions focusing on the debt limit or Ukraine aid when they were booked last week for the Sunday news shows found themselves quizzed about the latest development over the weekend in the document drama that has put Biden’s presidency on the defensive: During a search Friday of Mr Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, the FBI found additional documents with classified markings and took possession of some of his handwritten notes, the president’s lawyer said Saturday.

It’s an embarrasing situation for Joe Biden as he moves into the new year with a Republican majority in the House for the first time.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has forcefully condemned Donald Trump’s call to jail the Politico journalists who reported on the Supreme Court’s leaked decision to overturn Roe v Wade.

The twice-impeached ex-president, who during his term repeatedly disparaged the press as “the enemy of the people” and suggested White House reporters who reported unflattering information about him and his administration could be tried for treason, took to his Truth Social platform on Thursday after ater a Supreme Court leak investigation failed to identify a person responsible for leaking a draft of the high court’s Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization opinion to Politico last year.

Andrew Feinberg reports from the White House.

The politics world continues to be rocked by new revelations around Republican Congressman George Santos – with a new report claiming that he invited friends over to celebrate his engagement to a man, which he was reportedly still married to a woman.

“Good evening everyone! As you all may already know Pedro and I have decided to join our toothbrushes! Lol and a very few friends have been selected to share this special moment with us,” Mr Santos wrote in the invitation.

Mr Santos and his wife would not divorce until five years later.

The Daily Beast learned of the invitation from Mr Santos’ old roommate, Greg Morey-Parker. Pedro Vilarva, the man mentioned in the invitation, also confirmed that Mr Santos planned the celebration.

The Independent’s Graig Graziosi has more:

This push to jail journalists for doing their jobs — their Constitutionally protected jobs — echoes a speech Trump gave last November, during which he mused about the same reporter being sexually assaulted in jail: “The reporter goes to jail. When the reporter learns he’s going to be married to a certain prisoner that’s extremely strong, tough, and mean, he will say, ‘You know, I think I’m going to give you the information.’”

This isn’t mere idle talk. According to the New York Times, while president, Trump told FBI Director James Comey “to consider putting reporters in prison” during an Oval Office meeting. More recently, Rolling Stone reported that Trump gathered advisors to discuss ways around the First Amendment in order to emulate authoritarian leaders’ crackdowns on journalists.

Madison Cawthorn isn’t keen to fade away from the political scene now that he is once again a private citizen.

The former congressman left the House in January after being booted out in a primary last year — though by all accounts, he had ceased providing constituent services months earlier.

Now, he’s in Florida, attending rallies against the reelection of GOP chair Ronna Romney McDaniel with none other than Congressman Matt Gaetz.

Read more from The Independent’s Gustaf Kilander:

Mitch McConnell is officially Donald Trump’s #1 target on Truth Social — after Joe Biden and the various law enforcement agencies closing in around him.

The ex-president posted another “Truth” about the GOP Senate minority leader on Saturday evening, blaming him for Joe Biden’s success.

“Mitch McConnell has made the Biden Presidency “look” MUCH better than it would have without the Old Crow pushing massive Green New Deal type funding for the Radical Left Democrats. Inflation and Debt will be the end result, however, not good for anybody, especially our Country!” he wrote.

Donald Trump was in Fayetteville, North Carolina this weekend for the funeral of Ineitha Lynnette Hardaway, better known as “Diamond” of the duo Diamond and Silk. The two were top supporters of his during the 2016 and 2020 elections.

Mr Trump was invited onstage to give remarks during the event — and, shockingly, chose to gripe about the length of the funeral service he was sitting through.