Trump latest news today: Nancy Mace tipped as running mate as John Durham grilled by Congress over Russia probe

A surprise effort by hard-right House Republicans to impeach President Joe Biden has been sidelined for now, but the ability of the likes of Lauren Boebert to force the issue to a House vote demonstrates the ever-escalating challenge House speaker Kevin McCarthy faces in controlling his Republican majority.

Here’s more on yesterday’s political theatre from Washington.

The special counsel who investigated the FBI’s probe of ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign found himself at the center of a heated political fight as he appeared before a congressional committee on Wednesday, with Democrats denouncing his inquiry and Republicans arguing that its findings helped prove an anti-Trump bias within law enforcement.

John Durham, the Justice Department special counsel who recently completed his report, testified before the House Judiciary Committee in a hearing that unfolded against the backdrop of a 37-count indictment of Mr Trump on charges he illegally retained classified documents.

Despite roughly six hours of testimony, the hearing broke little new ground. Under questioning from Republicans, he repeated many of the strongest findings of condemnation in his report and also faced criticism from Democrats over a four-year investigation that produced just one conviction and fell short of Trump’s claims that it would expose “the crime of the century”.

While California representative Ted Lieu dismissed Mr Durham as “a partisan hack”, GOP Trump loyalists like Jim Jordan claimed that reading him the report had given him the jitters.

“They’re never going to stop. Seven years of attacking Trump is scary enough, but what’s more frightening, any one of us could be next,” he complained hysterically.

Here’s an overview of what Mr Durham’s 306-page dossier contained for those asleep at the back.

South Carolina congresswoman Nancy Mace, who was once snubbed by Donald Trump in favour of her primary opponent Katie Arrington and who commented that his political legacy had been “wiped out” by the Capitol riot, appears to have reinvented herself as one of the former president’s most ardent supporters and is now being tipped by Trumpworld insiders as his next running mate, according to Insider.

Speaking to Politico recently, she declared: “We can’t afford four more years of Joe Biden. I’m willing to bury the hatchet to save the country, and I know President Trump is too.”

She has since come out swinging in support of Mr Trump after his indictment on 37 counts of mishandling classified documents, of which the clip below is a fairly typical example.

On Wednesday, Ms Mace ducked a question from CNN’s Poppy Harlow on whether she would continue to support Mr Trump as the Republican nominee if he were to be convicted over the documents case.

“That’s a lo- that’s a loaded question this early in the morning… I haven’t had my coffee yet today,” she sidestepped, adding when pushed:” That’s not a reality yet! That’s not a reality today. And I’m willing to entertain it today. But thank you.”

“The fact that Nancy has been a constant and consistent presence in defence of President Trump has not gone unnoticed,” Trump advisor Chris LaCivita told Politico.

A judge in California barred an expert witness from testifying in the disbarment trial of John Eastman, the former attorney for former president Donald Trump, since the witness was not an expert, The Daily Beast reported.

Mr Eastman is facing a potential disbarment for his involvement in a plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. He attempted to call a man named Joseph Fried, an accountant who wrote an eBook that questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election results, as a witness.

But California State Bar Court Judge Yvette Roland vetoed the attempt.

Donald Trump’s grasp over the GOP primary base appears to be slipping after the news of his second criminal indictment broke this month.

But a new CNN poll shows that even an active prosecution for alleged criminal retention of classified materials hasn’t undone Mr Trump’s lead over his rivals just yet.

Donald Trump was left speechless during his latest interview with Fox News journalist Bret Baier this week when the host pointed out that, had Mr Trump’s proposed policy of executing convicted drug dealers been active during his presidency, among its victims would have been Alice Johnson, a woman to whom Mr Trump granted clemency after being persuaded to do so by a campaign led by Kim Kardashian protesting her innocence.

“No, no. No. Under my pl…. Under that? UHHHHHHHHHHH…” Mr Trump flubbed, subsequently accusing the host of being “hostile” to him.

Donald Trump’s close allies and aides have started using the rat emoji in text message discussions about his former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, a report says.

The phrase – which can be used to describe an informer – became popular in the former president’s inner circle after Mr Meadows’s lawyer was vague about whether he is cooperating with special counsel Jack Smith, reports Rolling Stone.

Graeme Massie reports on the 🐀.

With former President Donald Trump under indictment for mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House, Fox News on Monday played a compilation of Mr Trump promising to protect classified information as president during his 2016 campaign.

Donald Trump declined to commit to attending the first Republican Party primary debate on Fox News in an interview which aired Tuesday evening, even denouncing the channel as “hostile” during a contentious interview with Bret Baier.

The former president was clearly unhappy with Baier’s unmoving explanation of his 2020 election loss, which the former president has long contested despite having been proven wrong in his countless conspiracies about election fraud and malign activity.