Trump news – live: Ex-president ‘illegally retaliated’ against impeachment whistleblower, probe concludes

Several Trump-era administration officials unlawfully retaliated against a whistleblower on the National Security Council who raised concerns about Trump’s call with Volodymyr Zelensky that was central to his first impeachment.

From The Independent’s Eric Garcia:

Trump saw many of his preferred candidates triumph in Pennsylvania and North Carolina while others flopped or are in races that are too tight to call; we can expect plenty of arguments about who triumphed and who truly lost.

It’s clear that while Trump’s endorsement helps, it isn’t a guarantee.

With the end of Roe v Wade in sight, Republican legislators emboldened by the loss of federal protections for abortion care are eying severe restrictions on abortion access and criminalising physicians – and patients – while millions of vulnerable Americans’ lives and families are at stake.

One bill in Louisiana proposed charging patients with homicide.

Illinois Republican congressman and Trump critic called the loss of the former president’s pick in North Carolina “good for the country.”

“It’s good for the party. It’s good for the 11th District of North Carolina,” he told CNN.

“DC has become kind of a growing ground for people that are just more interested in fame than governing, that are more interested in becoming famous than in actually doing the really serious work, at a time when we have a lot of challenges here at home and a lot of challenges overseas.”

Kinzinger is notably not running for re-election. He joins Liz Cheney as the only two Republican House members on the congressional committee investigating the Capitol attack. Both of them are routinely attacked by far-right members of their party.

Now the world’s wealthiest person is going to “vote Republican” – though it’s unclear what that means, or for which candidates in what races – as he describes a presidential administration as rudderless and “captured” by labour unions, which he opposes.

President Biden has invoked a national defense law to speed production of baby formula and allow overseas imports for what the White House is calling “Operation Fly Formula.”

Sarah Palin, whose candidacy for Alaska’s at-large seat in the House is backed by Donald Trump, made most of her money last year on the pay-per-shoutout video app Cameo.

She made $211,529 from video requests, nearly $38,000 more than she would receive as her congressional salary, if elected.

The PGA Championship tees off this week but Trump is endorsing the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Investments.

The long, winding road to the beef between Trump and the PGA includes the organization’s withdrawal from his New Jersey estate for the 2022 PGA Championship, which was agreed in the months leading up to his announcement that he would run for president back in 2015.

But the organization pulled out and moved the event to Tulsa in the wake of the Capitol riots, enraging the aspirational golfer, desperate to have a PGA event on his properties.

Golf legend Jack Nicklaus called the decision “cancel culture.”

Less than 24 hours after results rolled in, it appears Congressman Madison Cawthorn is winding down any plans to get back into office after he finishes his current term following his GOP primary election loss on Tuesday night.

His Making A Difference In Service to Our Nation (or MADISON) leadership PAC has filed its termination with the Federal Election Commission, less than 24 hours after results rolled in, according to Business Insider.

The Trump-backed candidate and once-ascendent young Republican in Congress conceded his loss to Chuck Edwards for the Republican nomination for North Carolina’s 11th congressional district race.

Multiple Trump administration officials violated federal whistle-blower protection laws by removing Yevgeny Vindman from his position as a National Security Council lawyer after he made “protected communications” alerting others to the former president’s Ukraine call central to his first impeachment, according to a new report from the Defense Department’s inspector general.