Trump news today: Trump touts ‘weight loss’ and ‘excellent’ health in new report – UK Times

The plaintiffs in the Colorado 14th Amendment case that questioned Donald Trump’s eligibility to be on the ballot in the state in the 2024 election after having fermented an insurrection at the US Capitol in January 2021 have filed an appeal of the lower court’s ruling that kept the former president on the ballot.

A statement from CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) reads:

“We always knew this case would end up before the Colorado Supreme Court, and have been preparing for that from the beginning,” CREW President Noah Bookbinder said. “We are planning to build on the trial judge’s incredibly important ruling that Donald Trump engaged in insurrection, and we are ready to take this case as far as necessary to ensure that Donald Trump is removed from the ballot.”

The court held that the six voters stated a claim under Colorado law, that Section 3 may be enforced through state ballot access laws, that the petition does not raise a non-justiciable political question and that the First Amendment does not shield Trump’s incitement. The only question left to be decided is whether the oath Trump took as president-elect subjects him to the 14th Amendment’s disqualification clause.

Trump’s lawyers have already indicated to the Colorado Supreme Court that they will appeal the trial court’s decision.

“While Donald Trump is taking a victory lap claiming he won decisively in district court, it’s telling that his lawyers are attempting to overturn that so-called ’victory,’” Bookbinder said.

You can read their full court filing here and below is our earlier coverage of the judge’s ruling in the case:

Donald Trump is in “excellent” health, according to a note he shared on Monday on social media, as both he and his potential 2024 opponent Joe Biden face continued questions about their age and mental fitness for the White House.

“I am pleased to report that President Trump’s overall health is excellent,” the former president’s physician, Bruce Aronwald, wrote in a letter Mr Trump shared on Truth Social. “His physical exams were well within the normal range and his cognitive exams were exceptional.”

The letter added that Mr Trump was showing improved results on certain tests, likely because of “weight reduction.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson met with former president Donald Trump on Monday night at Mar-a-Lago, according to a person familiar with what happened.

The speaker was attending a fundraiser for close Trump ally Rep Bilirakis of Florida.

The news was announced by the nonpartisan, nonprofit Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) on Monday.

The first debate will take place on 16 September at Texas State University in San Marcos. It will be followed by the second at Virginia State University in Petersburg on 1 October.

The final debate will take place just over a week later at The University of Utah, in Salt Lake City, on 9 October.

Mike Bedigan has further details:

With national and local political races “heating up”, he told the gathering of execs including father Rupert, board members and shareholders that he expected next year’s pivotal election would drive “strong results across our news properties and local stations”.

The meeting rubber stamped Lachlan’s takeover as chair of Fox Corporation, days after he officially took charge of the Murdochs’ publishing division News Corp as the chosen child.

Less than a year out from the 2024 presidential election, with the warning signs for democracy flashing red and Donald Trump declaring his authoritarian intentions if reelected, the 52-year-old arguably has the power to shape US politics more than any other executive in the country.

But the judges also appear likely to narrow the scope of the order, hoping to balance First Amendment protections and political speech against the wave of threats and harassment unleashed by Mr Trump and his supporters towards the prosecutors, judges, witnesses and prospective jurors involved with a growing list of litigation against him.

The gag order imposed by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan last month blocked Mr Trump from launching a “pretrial smear campaign” as he seeks the 2024 Republican nomination for president, the judge wrote.

That order was paused by the appeals court in Washington DC, which heard arguments in the case on Monday during a hearing that lasted nearly three hours. A ruling is not immediately expected.

The former co-chair of the January 6 investigation in the House brawled with Senator Mike Lee, a fellow Republican, on X, formerly Twitter, over the weekend after he resurfaced a conspiracy regarding the attack on the Capitol.

Mr Lee, a conservative on the right wing of the US Senate, pointed to recently-released footage of Capitol Police officers having relatively peaceful interactions with riot participants as evidence that Donald Trump’s supporters were actually welcomed into the Capitol during the attack.

John Bowden reports from Washington, DC:

Donald Trump’s attorney in the sprawling Fulton County election interference case in Georgia has asked District Attorney Fani Willis — who brought the case against the former president and his 18 co-defendants — for help gaining access to lists of evidence disclosed to Mr Trump’s defence team in his federal election interference case.

A protective order handed down by Judge Tanya Chutkan, at the request of Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith, prevents the disclosure of evidence ahead of the trial.

Georgia attorney Steve Sadow has asked Ms Willis to contact Mr Smith and ask if he will disclose discovery letter and lists of evidence to her, which she can then share with him as he builds his defence case in the state criminal indictment.

Given both cases involve interference in the 2020 election, there is potential for crossover between the two criminal cases against the former president.

The federal trial is currently scheduled for 4 March 2024, whereas Georgia prosecutors have asked for a trial date in early August 2024. The timing of Mr Trump’s two other criminal trials is expected to change but the New York hush-money trial is currently scheduled for 25 March, and the federal classified documents trial is set for 20 May.

Elon Musk’s X platform handed over 32 direct messages from Donald Trump’s account with the social media platform to special counsel Jack Smith as part of his election subversion probe.

The former president was a voracious user of his @realDonaldTrump as he tried to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory, but was suspended by the platform, formerly known as Twitter, in the wake of the January 6 attack “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”

Last November, following Mr Musk’s $44bn purchase of the social media app, the billionaire said that banning Mr Trump had been a mistake. The former president, who has a financial stake in Truth Social, said that he would never return to Twitter, but in August posted there for the first time in two years.

But that has not stopped federal prosecutors from getting access to a string of Mr Trump’s private messages from the high-profile account, according to court filings.

Newly released video footage has captured the cruel attacks and terrifying situation that a Capitol police officer endured just two weeks before he took his own life.

In it, the officer is seen facing a barrage of physical and verbal attacks from rioters.

People are screaming and lining the walls of the monument as officers pass by.

One woman is seen telling Smith: “Get a real job. We don’t support y’all anymore.”

Outside, someone else is yelling repeatedly: “You stand with criminals! You stand with criminals!”