Third Trump call in Georgia emerges, as Stormy Daniels questioned over pay-off – live

Paris Hilton has addressed her controversial fib about having voted for former US President Donald Trump in the 2016 election.

During an interview with an Australian TV station days after Trump won the election, the American media personality said that she had voted for the Republican nominee, who she said she’s known “since she was a little girl”.

Now she has admitted the full truth, as Inga Parkel reports.

Former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are emerging as leading rivals for the Republican presidential nomination. But when it comes to Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine, they are united in arguing that stopping the aggression isn’t a vital US strategic interest.

This puts them at odds with many others in the Republican Party.

Former President Donald Trump has been out of office for two years, and is already itching to go back.

But one figure from his first run for president has refused to go away, and may end up being a major headache for him as he pursues a third White House bid.

We’re talking, of course, about adult film star Stormy Daniels, also known by her real name, Stephanie Clifford. Ms Daniels made headlines in 2018 when she came forward with an allegation that she had been in a romantic extramarital relationship with the president in 2006, and had been threatened and later bribed to keep her mouth shut.

At the time, the basis of her claim took on an interesting angle thanks to a lawsuit she filed against then-President Donald Trump. Alleging that the hush agreement was invalid because Mr Trump had not signed it, she sued him and triggered what would become a years-long investigation into whether the scheme was legal at all points. That question remains unanswered today, as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is reportedly considering charges against the former president and possibly others as part of the long-running probe into the 2016 payment.

Let’s go back to the beginning, and look at the major milestones of the Trump-Stormy relationship:

Hosts and guests appearing on air on the right-wing network mentioned Mr Trump more than Mr DeSantis every week until last week when the Florida governor was mentioned 177 times and Mr Trump 142 times, according to Media Matters, which noted that the shift may reveal a change in focus towards the 44-year-old governor as he gears up to announce his expected run for president.

Gustaf Kilander has the details.

A special grand jury in Georgia reportedly heard a recording of Donald Trump attempting to get then-state House Speak David Ralston to convene a special session of the legislature to overturn Joe Biden’s narrow 2020 election win in the state.

Ralston, who has since passed away, reportedly deflected the outgoing president’s request, allegedly telling Mr Trump, “I will do everything in my power that I think is appropriate,” according to jurors who spoke with the Altanta Journal-Constitution, which first reported the news of the call.

A special session was never called, though Republicans in the state did organise a plan to serve as unauthorised fake electors and cast their votes in the Electoral College for Donald Trump, even though Mr Biden won the state’s vote.

More details in our full story.

An imminent decision from US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk to potentially block access to mifepristone, even temporarily, could upend access to medication abortion nationwide, even in states where access to care is legally protected. Abortion rights advocates are protesting the challenge in a series of demonstrations in Texas.

Alex Woodward is following the case.

Conservative author Bethany Mandel was widely mocked after she appeared on the Rising morning show broadcast by The Hill and was seemingly unable to define “wokeness” – the slogan some on the right have used as a cudgel against liberals.

Gustaf Kilander has the story.

Donald Trump’s lawyer has defended the former president and said he lied about payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels to avoid breaking a confidentiality agreement.

In an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday, Mr Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina was asked to address the former president denying a $130,000 payment made to Ms Daniels during the 2016 presidential election to buy her silence over an alleged affair.

“He lied about it,” said MSNBC host Ari Melber, referring to the hush payment allegedly made to Ms Daniels.

Mr Tacopina responded that a lie is only one when said under oath.

Sravasti Dasgupta reports:

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is now feeling the heat – both from former president Donald Trump and over the governor’s remarks about Ukraine’s war with Russia as he prepares his run for the White House…

…It amounts to Mr DeSantis’ first time facing serious scrutiny both nationally on the world stage as he prepares an impending presidential bid.

Michael Cohen has finished testifying again before the Manhattan grand jury, saying that he complied with everything prosecutors asked of him.

In total, the former fixer for Donald Trump testified for more than five hours over two days this week