Trump Georgia co-defendant avoids jail over harassing tweets: Live

Congressman George Santos’ tenure has been anything but dull — his rise to power and fall from grace have been equally mired in controversy.

After less than two years in Congress, his list of lies and scandals appears to have finally grown too long for him to defend anymore, as he announced he wouldn’t seek re-election in 2024 after the release of a damning House Ethics Committee report.

The committee said it found “substantial evidence” that Mr Santos had broken federal laws after finding “additional uncharged and unlawful conduct,” which included using campaign funds to make purchases at Hermes, Sephora and OnlyFans.

In 2022, Mr Santos was elected as the Republican Party’s first openly gay, non-incumbent member of Congress, and touted himself as a living embodiment of the American dream.

But he has since been exposed as a serial fabricator, and now an accused criminal.

Here’s what we know about the rise and demise of George Anthony Devolder Santos.

Bevan Hurley writes:

As anointed son Lachlan Murdoch took the stage at Fox Corporation’s annual meeting in Los Angeles on Friday, he touted the potential windfall the company hoped to see from the 2024 US presidential election.

With national and local political races “heating up”, he told the gathering of execs including father Rupert, board members and shareholders that he expected next year’s pivotal election would drive “strong results across our news properties and local stations”.

The meeting rubber-stamped Lachlan’s takeover as chair of Fox Corporation, days after he officially took charge of the Murdochs’ publishing division News Corp as the chosen child.

Less than a year out from the 2024 presidential election, with the warning signs for democracy flashing red and Donald Trump declaring his authoritarian intentions if reelected, the 52-year-old arguably has the power to shape US politics more than any other executive in the country.

Read the full article.

Newly released video footage has captured the cruel attacks and terrifying situation that a Capitol police officer endured just two weeks before he took his own life.

Officer Jeff Smith’s body camera footage reveals the harrowing reality of what unfolded in the halls of the Capitol building on January 6 2021.

In it, the officer is seen facing a barrage of physical and verbal attacks from rioters.

People are screaming and lining the walls of the monument as officers pass by.

One woman is seen telling Smith: “Get a real job. We don’t support y’all anymore.”

Outside, someone else is yelling repeatedly: “You stand with criminals! You stand with criminals!”

Kelly Rissman has the story.

Elon Musk’s X platform handed over 32 direct messages from Donald Trump’s account with the social media platform to special counsel Jack Smith as part of his election subversion probe.

The former president was a voracious user of his @realDonaldTrump as he tried to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory, but was suspended by the platform, formerly known as Twitter, in the wake of the January 6 attack “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”

Last November, following Mr Musk’s $44bn purchase of the social media app, the billionaire said that banning Mr Trump had been a mistake. The former president, who has a financial stake in Truth Social, said that he would never return to Twitter, but in August posted there for the first time in two years.

But that has not stopped federal prosecutors from getting access to a string of Mr Trump’s private messages from the high-profile account, according to court filings.

Graeme Massie reports.

The former co-chair of the January 6 investigation in the House brawled with Senator Mike Lee, a fellow Republican, on X, formerly Twitter, over the weekend after he resurfaced a conspiracy regarding the attack on the Capitol.

Mr Lee, a conservative on the right wing of the US Senate, pointed to recently released footage of Capitol Police officers having relatively peaceful interactions with riot participants as evidence that Donald Trump’s supporters were actually welcomed into the Capitol during the attack.

John Bowden reports from Washington, DC.

Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform has filed a lawsuit against 20 media organisations for making what it claims to be defamatory statements about the company’s financial losses.

In the lawsuit, filed in the 12th Judicial Court of Sarasota County, Florida, on Monday, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) accuses the “reckless and malicious” outlets of falsely reporting that the company had lost $73m since its launch.

The company claims that the “false reporting” was part of a “seemingly coordinated effort to destroy TMTG and Truth Social”.

“This case is about an unprecedented and seemingly coordinated media campaign, by no less than 20 major media outlets, to attack Trump Media & Technology Group (“TMTG”) and its social media platform, Truth Social, by falsely reporting that TMTG had lost $73 million,” the lawsuit reads.

“This number was an utter fabrication. Each defendant, in apparent coordination, reported the exact same false number within approximately 24 hours of one another, each citing to a public Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filing, in which the mystery $73 million loss appears nowhere.”

Rachel Sharp has the details.

When Donald Trump was inaugurated in January 2017, he became the oldest commander-in-chief sworn in at the age of 70 years and 220 days old.

That was surpassed by his successor Joe Biden, who was 78 years and 61 days when he became the country’s 46th president in January 2021.

Before Mr Trump, Ronald Reagan was the oldest person to assume the presidency at 69 years and 349 years old at his first inauguration in 1981.

Reagan was the oldest president when he left office at the age of 77 in 1989, just 22 days away from turning 78.

But depending on who wins the 2024 presidential election, a new record could be set as both Mr Biden and Mr Trump are running for reelection.

Graeme Massie reports.

Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis made her debut arguing before a judge and questioning witnesses in a case surrounding Donald Trump’s sprawling election interference case as she pressed a judge to revoke a bond order for one of the former president’s co-defendants.

Her appearance previewed the arguments, evidence and list of witnesses expected to testify in the upcoming trial, among several criminal cases surrounding the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination for president.

Harrison Floyd, the leader of Black Voices for Trump, has “engaged in a pattern of intimidation” against his co-defendants and witnesses since he was released on bond in August, according to the office of Fulton County District Attorney.

But following a three-hour hearing on Tuesday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee declined to send Mr Floyd back to jail and directed the parties to draft an order that reels in his public statements.

Alex Woodward has been following the case for The Independent.

Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide under the Trump administration, issued a grim warning about the state of democracy in the US should Donald Trump win the presidential election in 2024.

“If Donald Trump is elected president again in 2024, I do fear that it will be the last election where we’re voting for democracy because if he is elected again, I don’t think we’ll be voting under the same Constitution,” Ms Hutchinson told Jen Psaki onInside with Jen Psaki.

Ms Hutchinson worked in close proximity to Mr Trump, especially toward the end of his presidency when the events on January 6 unfolded. She testified to Congress that Mr Trump knowingly said and did things leading up to the attack on the Capitol that encouraged the mob.

Now she’s warning voters to choose wisely next year, should the election be another matchup between President Joe Biden and Mr Trump.

Ariana Baio has the story.