Trump news today: DOJ scraps Trump’s immunity in E Jean Carroll lawsuit as Georgia grand jury sworn in

Donald Trump has lost the protection of the Justice Department in his defamation lawsuit brought by magazine columnist E Jean Carroll.

On Tuesday, the DOJ said in a court filing that the former president does not have presidential immunity in the case, saying he was not “acting within the scope of his office and employment as President of the United States” in 2019 when he denied raping Ms Carroll.

This paves the way for the defamation suit to proceed through the courts.

Read the full story here:

After Donald Trump launched a public attack on Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, other GOP presidential candidates have come to her defence – just six months before the Iowa caucus is set to take place.

In a Truth Social post, Mr Trump objected to Ms Reynolds’ decision to remain “neutral”, believing he is owed an endorsement because he backed her when she was running for governor.

A disgruntled Iowa voter asked former Vice President Mike Pence whether he “ever second-guess[ed]” himself after he certified Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory, despite then-President Donald Trump repeatedly urging him to block the transfer of power.

Luann Bertrand, the voter, confronted the former vice president during his campaign stop in Sioux City, Iowa. She falsely claimed that Mr Pence had the power to block the certification.

Former Virginia Representative Denver Riggleman on Sunday said he is now working for Hunter Biden’s legal team with the objective of showing the true origins of the salacious data that supporters of former president Donald Trump say is proof of lurid corruption allegations on the part of Mr Biden and his father, President Joe Biden.

A “whistleblower” who has repeatedly accused the Bidens of corruption has been charged by the Justice Department with arms trafficking, acting as a foreign agent for China and violating Iran sanctions.

Gal Luft, who is a citizen of both the United States and Israel, is accused of paying a former adviser to Donald Trump on behalf of principals in China in 2016 without registering as a foreign agent.

Andrew Feinberg and Graeme Massie have the details.

Gov Ron DeSantis just got some of his worst polling news yet.

A survey of likely Republican primary voters in the Sunshine State by Florida Atlantic University shows him firmly trailing former President Donald Trump, with the pair’s other rivals for the GOP nomination far out in the wilderness. Mr Trump leads Mr DeSantis 50-30 in the survey.

John Bowden reports on the significance:

Former president Donald Trump reportedly further strained his relationship with Republican party leadership in Iowa after failing to show up for senator Joni Ernst‘s annual “Roast and Ride” charity.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar has the story.

Donald Trump wanted to “tap the phones” of White House aides who he suspected of leaking information, according to bombshell claims made by a former Trump administration official.

Miles Taylor, who served as the Department of Homeland Security’s chief of staff under Mr Trump, has claimed in his new book Blowback that the then-president floated the idea “to pursue leakers by tapping phones” at some point in 2018.

Andrew Feinberg and Rachel Sharp report.

The ex-president is working to secure his victory in the Republican nominating contest before it even officially begins, swiping at any rival that dares to pull into competitive territory. At present, that largely means gratuitous attacks aimed at Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, who is the only other Republican consistently pulling double-digit poll numbers.

John Bowden reports on what the former president had to say:

As the Republican presidential primary intensifies this summer, most White House hopefuls are devoting their time to events in Iowa and New Hampshire, the states that kick off the nomination process early next year. Not Ron DeSantis or Donald Trump.