Trump news today: Trump gives ‘bravado’ defence for classified documents tape as he sues E Jean Carroll

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy demurred on the question of whether Donald Trump is best candidate Republicans can put forward to face Joe Biden in 2024 — before backlash from Magaworld forced him to walk back his criticism and call the former president to apologise.

Donald Trump sued E Jean Carroll for defamation on Tuesday after a jury held him liable for sexually abusing her.

The former president filed a counterclaim in Manhattan federal court, accusing the author of tarnishing his reputation publicly. He has sought retraction as well as unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

Maroosha Muzzafar reports.

A New York appeals court dismissed Ivanka Trump on Tuesday from a wide-ranging fraud lawsuit brought against her father and his company last year by the state’s attorney general.

The civil lawsuit, brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, accused former President Donald Trump of padding his net worth by billions of dollars and misleading banks, insurance companies and others about the value of his assets, including golf courses and the Mar-a-Lago estate. It named his three eldest children — Ivanka, Donald Jr and Eric Trump — as defendants, along with multiple Trump Organization executives.

The US Supreme Court has shot down a fringe legal theory supported by Republican officials and Donald Trump’s allies that was invoked to try to toss out election results and radically reshape the nation’s elections.

A 6-3 decision in Moore v Harper on 27 June determined that Republican-drawn congressional districts in North Carolina amounted to a partisan gerrymander that violated the state’s constitution, but the majority dismissed the so-called “independent state legislature” theory that fuelled the state’s arguments.

A new report from the Senate Homeland Security Committee offers a withering look at the inability of America’s intelligence agencies to guard against insurrection following the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

The report was finally released this week, more than two years after hundreds of Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol and prevented, for several hours, the certification of the 2020 election while lawmakers hid in fear for their lives. Helmed by Democratic Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, the committee spent months investigating a fundamental question that has remained despite months of hearings in the House last year by the select committee to investigate the attack on the Capitol: Why DC-area law enforcement, including US Capitol Police, were caught so off-guard by the violence.

John Bowden has the details.

Classified documents could be heard loudly rustling with laughter filling the room as the former President appeared to casually commit multiple federal crimes. This newly released audio of Donald Trump not only showcases the strength of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s case, it also undercuts Trump’s shifting defenses. This tape has some key new details that weren’t previously reported or included in Trump’s federal indictment.

Reading the previous reporting on the tape’s transcript is one thing, but hearing the brazen hubris as Donald Trump exposed America’s secrets to people without a security clearance is another thing entirely.

The judge overseeing the federal case against Donald Trump has denied special counsel Jack Smith’s motion to seal the list of witnesses that the former president is barred from contacting.

In a ruling on Monday, US District Judge Aileen Cannon – who was appointed by Mr Trump and is now overseeing the criminal case over his handling of classified documents on leaving the White House – said that the government had not provided a reason as to why the list needed to be kept from public view.

Eric Garcia explains why.

Graeme Massie has the story.