Donald Trump news today: Trump goes after judge in Jan 6 indictment as Pence undermines key defense

Donald Trump attacked Mike Pence as “delusional” just days after the former vice president was revealed to play a central role in the latest federal indictment against him.

Mr Trump appeared to be trying to do damage control on Truth Social after he was charged with four federal charges related to his alleged conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election and the subsequent attack on the Capitol.

“Liddle’ Mike Pence, a man who was about to be ousted as Governor Indiana until I came along and made him V.P., has gone to the Dark Side,” Mr Trump wrote on Saturday.

The statement appeared to be in reference to Mr Pence’s more recent outspoken condemnation of Mr Trump’s behaviour leading up to the 6 January riot.

“I never told a newly emboldened (not based on his 2% poll numbers!) Pence to put me above the Constitution or that Mike was ‘too honest.’ He’s delusional, and now he wants to show he’s a tough guy,” Mr Trump added.

Alex Woodward reports on how a sprawling Justice Department probe into the former president and his allies yielded four criminal charges in a stunning indictment outlining a path to power at whatever cost…

Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Donald Trump’s 2020 election conspiracy case, denied the ex-president’s request to extend his response date from Monday until Wednesday.

The final decision comes after a day’s worth of back and forth between prosecutors in the Department of Justice (DoJ) and Mr Trump’s attorneys.

Prosecutors filed a request for a protective order on Friday night after Mr Trump posted a seemingly threatening statement to Truth Social. Judge Chuktan gave Mr Trump’s legal team until Monday at 5pm ET to which, Mr Trump’s team asked for an extension.

Judge Chutkan denied their request on Saturday evening.

“These guys, what they’re doing with this election interference … the Senate needs to step up. The House is doing a lot of things…They have something on Mitch McConnell,” the former president argued at a an event in South Carolina.

Mike Pence was evasive when answering questions from a CBS reporter in a new interview touching upon Donald Trump’s indictment on charges related to the effort to overturn the 2020 election.

Donald Trump is on the defence after his third criminal indictment was handed to him this past week, lashing out at several people, including Nancy Pelosi, for providing commentary on his federal charges.

The ex-president didn’t hold back against Ms Pelosi in a post on Truth Social on Sunday after the ex-speaker of the house said Mr Trump looked like a “scared puppy” attending his arraignment last week.

“I purposely didn’t comment on Nancy Pelosi’s very weird story concerning her husband, but now I can because she said something about me, with glee, that was really quite vicious,” Mr Trump wrote.

Ms Pelosi told MSNBC on Friday that when she saw Mr Trump emerge from his car for the arraignment in Washington DC she saw “a scared puppy” who “knows the truth that he lost the election”.

Donald Trump was in attack mode as he spoke to supporters Saturday evening in Columbia, South Carolina.

The former president, not known for holding back against his enemies, was more combative than ever as he spoke at a South Carolina Republican Party fundraiser in the wake of his indictment on criminal charges related to his attempt to overturn the 2020 election.

While some moments were clearly scripted and focused his rage against President Joe Biden and the Department of Justice, others were not as he veered into attacks against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republicans tied to leadership in the Senate who have resisted his calls to use their power to help him — both on January 6, and now, as he faces criminal prosecution.

“These guys, what they’re doing with this election interference … the Senate needs to step up. The House is doing a lot of things…They have something on Mitch McConnell,” the former president argued, presumably meaning either Democrats or the Department of Justice, or both.

“There’s no way he’s doing this. They got something on Mitch McConnell.”