Trump news live: Snoop Dogg says he has ‘nothing but love’ for ex-president

Senior Trump adviser Chris LaCivita poured cold water on reports that they had approached Robert F Kennedy Jr to be on the ticket in a post on X on Saturday night.

“This is 100% FAKE NEWS – NO ONE from the Trump Campaign ever approached RFK jr (or ever will) – one of the most LIBERAL and radical environmentalists in the country,” Mr LaCivita wrote.

David Lister, for Independent Voices, writes:

“Johnny Marr, once guitarist and co-songwriter with 1980s band The Smiths, has blown a gasket. He is furious that Donald Trump is using a Smiths song “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” as his campaign music. Marr does not want his song associated with a man who is politically on the right. And Trump is even further to the right than Marr’s former bandmate Morrissey….

“But I believe that rock stars are quite wrong to be irked when their music is used by politicians they disapprove of. It’s not just that it can be interpreted as virtue signalling, it’s something much more important: limiting their music to one side of the political spectrum diminishes it – and them – somewhat.

Great music is art – and art, once it is “out there”, belongs to everybody. Like a play or a novel or a painting, it belongs to everyone to make their own interpretations, to use and to love.”

Read David’s full piece below.

On Truth Social, the former president wrote: “The drone attack on a U.S. Military Installation in Jordan, killing 3 American Servicemembers, and wounding many more, marks a horrible day for America.

“My most profound sympathies go to the Families of the Brave Servicemembers we have lost. I ask all Americans to join me in praying for those who have been wounded. This brazen attack on the United States is yet another horrific and tragic consequence of Joe Biden’s weakness and surrender….”

Leslie Vinjamuri writes for Independent Premium:

“Fear struck across Europe, a continent that is home to more than 746 million people, as just over 300,000 people turned out to vote in a small state in the upper northeast corner of the United States and delivered a resounding 11-point victory (a lead of just over 36,000 votes) for former president Donald Trump. With the result in the New Hampshire primary contest, the hope that Nikki Haley could turn the tide and bring a degree of normalcy back to the Republican Party quickly collapsed.

“Moderate Republicans, Democrats, independents and America’s closest allies in Europe and Asia had been watching this picturesque New England state to see if voters would catapult Haley into being a serious contenderfor the Republican nomination. In a high-stakes election that could have a dramatic effect on democracy in the United States, and for long-standing US global commitments on everything from climate change to Europe’s security, the defence of Ukraine, and US security commitments to both South Korea and Japan, there is no shortage of onlookers.”

Read the full story here.

Eric Garcia looks at how Donald Trump’s need for loyalty could upend any possible agenda in a White House return…

What are the chances that Donald Trump will be swapping his signature suit and tie for an orange jumpsuit?

The Independent’s John Bowden weighs up the former president’s legal exposure.

For decades, E Jean Carroll wrote columns advising women never to structure their lives around men. Then a rape allegation against the world’s most powerful man upended hers.

Attorneys for Donald Trump joined a legal effort from one of his co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case to disqualify Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis from prosecuting them.

A complaint filed by Mr Trump’s defence attorneys on Thursday accuses Ms Willis of injecting “racial animus” in the case and violating her prosecutorial responsibilities, pointing to allegations that she hired an outside prosecutor with whom she was romantically involved.

The motion from Mr Trump’s lawyers Steve Sadow and Jennifer Little follows allegations from co-defendant Mike Roman, who alleged in a court filing that Ms Willis appointed Nathan Wade as lead prosecutor in the case while engaging in a romantic relationship with him.

Donald Trump took credit for scuppering a bipartisan border security deal at a political rally in Las Vegas on Saturday.

“As the leader of our party, there is zero chance I will support this horrible open borders betrayal of America,” Mr Trump told a crowd days out from the state’s presidential caucus on 8 February.

“I’ll fight it all the way. A lot of the senators are trying to say, respectfully, they’re blaming it on me. I say, that’s okay. Please blame it on me. Please.”

Mr Trump also praised Speaker Mike Johnson, who has said the Senate bill would be “dead on arrival” in the House.

Ms Carroll said she would not “waste a cent” of the eyewatering sum, and would take her time to work out how best to spend it once the appeals process had concluded.

She told the Times that she would finally be able to afford luxury pet food for her two dogs, a pit bull and a Great Pyrenees.

Mr Trump has avoided mentioning Ms Carroll’s name since the verdict was reached on Friday, instead claiming the legal system was “out of control”.

Ms Carroll told the Times she had no clue whether the eight-figure damages payout would deter him from attacking her in the future.

She added that her victory was for women everywhere.

“This win, more than any other thing, when we needed it the most — after we lost the rights over our own bodies in many states — we put out our flag in the ground on this one. Women won this one. I think it bodes well for the future,” she told the news site.