Donald Trump news today: Trump may skip first televised court date as he considers waiving Georgia arraignment

Donald Trump may avoid what would have been his first ever televised court hearing as he is said to be considering waiving his arraignment in the Georgia 2020 election interference case.

Two sources told CBS News that the former president is mulling entering a plea on the charges and waiving his arraignment appearance.

The arraignment of him and his 18 codefendants is currently scheduled to take place in Fulton County on 6 September.

At least two of his codefendants in the case – attorneys Ray Smith and Sidney Powell – have already waived their arraignment and entered a plea of not guilty to all counts.

The poll, conducted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, asked 807 likely Republican primary voters in the state who they would vote for in the presidential primary.

Kelly Rissman has the details.

With more than a year to go before the 2024 election, a constellation of conservative organizations is preparing for a possible second White House term for Donald Trump, recruiting thousands of Americans to come to Washington on a mission to dismantle the federal government and replace it with a vision closer to his own.

Led by the long-established Heritage Foundation think tank and fueled by former Trump administration officials, the far-reaching effort is essentially a government-in-waiting for the former president’s second term — or any candidate who aligns with their ideals and can defeat President Joe Biden in 2024.

Hundreds of outraged supporters called the office on Monday after conservative talk show host Charlie Kirk inaccurately told his listeners that the state was moving to push out Donald Trump.

Gustaf Kilander has the story.

A federal judge in Washington on Monday appeared unlikely to let ex-White House aide Peter Navarro tell a jury that he was following orders from former president Donald Trump when he refused to honour a subpoena from the House January 6 select committee.

Mr Navarro, who served as Mr Trump’s top trade adviser, is facing two counts of criminal contempt of Congress stemming from his decision not to respond to the House panel’s subpoena.

Andrew Feinberg has the details.

The number two Republican in the House of Representatives announced a diagnosis of blood cancer on Tuesday.

Steve Scalise, leader of the Republican majority and deputy to Speaker Kevin McCarthy, announced the news in a press release Monday morning, and explained that he expected to work through his treatment period.

John Bowden reports from Washington, DC.

The argument suggests a desire to turn at least part of the sprawling prosecution into a referendum on the boundaries of ethical lawyering in a case that highlights anew how Trump’s own attorneys have become entangled over the years in his own legal problems.

But while attorneys do have wide berth to advance untested or unconventional positions, experts say a “lawyers being lawyers” defense will be challenging to pull off, to the extent prosecutors can directly link the indicted lawyers to criminal schemes alleged in the indictment. That includes efforts to line up fake electors in Georgia and other states to falsely assert that Trump, not Democrat Joe Biden, had won their respective contests.

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has included the mugshot in his latest campaign ad, drawing attention to the Republican frontrunner’s indictment in Georgia over election interference allegations.

The spot was produced by the Tell It Like It Is PAC, a third-party group supporting Mr Christie’s bid for the presidency, according to NBC News.

Graig Graziosi has the story.

The 2024 Republican field has officially shrunk by one.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez officially suspended his campaign on Tuesday after failing to make last week’s debate in Milwaukee, the first matchup of the GOP candidates onstage. His suspension came a day after an NBC News report detailed two sharp dropoffs in campaign spending following the announcement of Mr Suarez’s exclusion from the debate and the subsequent event itself.

Republicans have whipped up a storm in a beer glass over baseless fears that Joe Biden’s administration is secretly plotting to limit Americans to no more than two alcoholic drinks per week.

Joe Sommerlad takes a look at where these claims came from…