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

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!”

While at a Thanksgiving dinner event commending US troops serving at the Southern Border, former President Donald Trump jokingly complained that organisers didn’t save him a plate of food.

“The food looked very good,” the former president said at a luncheon for Texas State Patrol officers. “I wanted to have some but they didn’t have any for me.

“They had none left. That’s not good. That’s my kind of food too.”

Mr Trump later took to Truth Social, his social media platform, to thank the officials.

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.

Left-leaning activists in Virginia and Ohio in particular appeared energised by their victories, a much-needed boost to their confidence and optimism after heartbreaking defeats for the party in 2022 and 2021. Ohioans saw the election of author and Trump convert JD Vance to the US Senate, while Virginians witnessed the downfall of Terry McAuliffe, their state’s former governor, as he sought to defeat Republican Glenn Youngkin. Both were considered blows to Joe Biden for different reasons — in Virginia, Mr McAuliffe ran aligned with Mr Biden and was beaten soundly just months into the latter’s presidency, and in Ohio the president lost a much-needed opportunity to pick up a vote for his agenda in the US Senate.

But 2024 is on the horizon, and Democrats are looking ahead to the future — though not without some considerable sense of unease. Their incumbent president remains in serious trouble, if the polling is to be believed, based on concerns about his age and ability to represent America through a time of multiple global crises. At the same time, the prospect of a Trump victory — with the former president openly plotting to unleash the powers of the federal government on his political enemies — presents a real reason to be concerned about the country’s future.

Enthusiastic as they are about the party’s victory on a ballot initiative enshrining abortion rights in the state’s constitution, Ohio Democrats are cognizant of the fact that no such issue will be as directly on the ballot next year. What that means for Joe Biden and other Democrats is simple: they’ll be running on their own political reputations, and that of the national Democratic Party.

If you listen to former Congressman Tim Ryan, that’s a real problem.

When Donald Trump was inaugurated in January 2017, he became the oldest commander-in-chief sworn in at the age of 70 years and 220 days old.

That was surpassed by his successor Joe Biden, who was 78 years and 61 days when he became the country’s 46th president in January 2021.

Before Mr Trump, Ronald Reagan was the oldest person to assume the presidency at 69 years and 349 years old at his first inauguration in 1981.

Reagan was the oldest president when he left office at the age of 77 in 1989, just 22 days away from turning 78.

But depending on who wins the 2024 presidential election, a new record could be set as both Mr Biden and Mr Trump are running for reelection.

Speaking in Fort Dodge on Saturday, the former president brought up the mostly-debunked 2016 dossier in which ex-British spy Christopher Steele alleged Mr Trump had paid sex workers to urinate on him in a Moscow hotel.

Speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday, the Florida governor and 2024 hopeful claimed that he is in the “prime of my life” while his two rivals are far from it.

“I just think that that’s something that has been shown with Joe Biden. Father Time is undefeated. Donald Trump is not exempt from any of that,” he said.

Mr DeSantis, 45, said that running the White House is “not a job for somebody that is pushing 80”.

“I will serve two terms, deliver big results, and get the country moving again,” he told CNN.

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.