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Michael Cohen says Trump kept Mar-a-Lago documents as ‘bargaining chip’

As he considers whether to mount a 2024 presidential campaign, Mike Pence this morning told an audience that he would consider testifying before the 6 January select committee if invited.

“If there’s an invitation to participate, I would consider it,” he reportedly said. “It would be unprecedented in history for a Vice President to be summoned to testify on Capitol Hill, but as I’ve said, I don’t wanna prejudge.”

Mr Pence’s former chief of staff, Marc Short, has already testified to both the select committee and a grand jury convened by the Department of Justice to investigate the attempt to overthrow Joe Biden’s victory.

Tomorrow will see a court hearing on whether or not to unseal the affidavit that provided justification for the search. The Department of Justice has rebuffed demands to release the document, warning that it could “chill” future efforts to secure witness cooperation.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, has speculated that his ex-boss may have kept secret documents at Mar-a-Lago to use as a bargaining chip if and when he is arrested for alleged felonies.

A new poll shows the majority of Americans support the FBI’s raid on the Trump Palm Beach estate.

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Kushner memoir received brutal first review

Jared Kushner’s memoir of his time as a senior adviser to Donald Trump has been labelled “earnest and soulless” in a brutal New York Times review.

Breaking History: A White House Memoir was derided as the self-serving, selective musings of a “cocky young real estate heir who happened to unwrap a lot of Big Macs beside his father-in-law” by the Times book critic Dwight Garner.

Mr Kushner talks up his deal-making shrewdness while rolling out a stream of cliches in the tone of a “college admissions essay”, Mr Garner writes.

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Lindsey Graham seeks stay of ruling on Georgia grand jury testimony

Trump ally and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham has requested a stay of the ruling requiring him to testify before the Fulton County grand jury regarding efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

He is scheduled to appear on 23 August and requested a hearing tomorrow on the matter.

Judge Leigh Martin May has granted a hearing for 9am on Friday morning.

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Michael Cohen: ‘It’s about time…’

Donald Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen has reacted to the news that Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s CFO, will reportedly give evidence against his employer if called to testify.

Mr Cohen tweeted: “It’s about time…”

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Report: Trump Organization executive willing to testify against ex-president’s companies

Allen Weisselberg, the longtime chief financial officer of former president Donald Trump’s eponymous real estate and hotel company, will reportedly give evidence against his employer if called to testify in the company’s upcoming tax fraud trial and will say he conspired with the companies to commit tax fraud when he enters a plea of guilty on Thursday.

According to Rolling Stone, Mr Weisselberg, a veteran of Trumpworld who has worked for the Trump Organization since the days of the ex-president’s father, Fred Trump, “has agreed to testify against The Trump Corporation and the Trump Payroll Corporation” when the two companies go on trial in October.

Andrew Feinberg has the latest for The Independent.

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Voices: Liz Cheney’s speech shows proves she is a patriotic hero

Skylar Baker-Jordan writes:

It was a speech for the ages. Standing amid the stark Wyoming prairie, Congresswoman Liz Cheney conceded her primary race to Trump-backed challenger Harriet Hageman. History will likely not remember Hageman. Her small victory will end up as just a footnote in the story of American patriot Liz Cheney – a woman who last night gave what will come to be considered one of the most important speeches in American history.

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Giuliani departs Fulton County Courthouse

After six hours of testifying before the grand jury today, Rudy Giuliani has left the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta out of sight of TV cameras and reporters.

Here’s the background on today’s testimony:

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Pence calls for Republicans to stop attacking the FBI over Mar-a-Lago search

Former vice president Mike Pence on Wednesday denounced the attacks on federal law enforcement that many of his Republican colleagues have unleashed since the FBI searched former president Donald Trump’s Florida home last week.

In the week since Mr Trump announced that federal agents had searched his home pursuant to a warrant issued as part of a long-running probe into whether he stole classified documents and retained them despite multiple requests for their return, numerous members of Congress allied with the ex-president have called for the FBI to have its funding cut by Congress in retaliation for the search of Mar-a-Lago.

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Watch: Giuliani arrives for Fulton County grand jury hearing

“We will not talk about this until it’s over,” Rudy Giuliani told reporters on his way into the Fulton County Courthouse this morning. He declined to comment on whether Donald Trump was the ultimate target of the investigation.

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Voices: Cheney’s loss proves there will be no post-Trump Republican Party

The Independent’s Eric Garcia writes that there will be no post-Trump Republican Party, and the signs have been there for some time.

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Top Democrat wants answers on probe into Homeland Security watchdog

A top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee is demanding answers about an investigation into the Department of Homeland Security watchdog who has been accused of aiding efforts to cover up text messages sent and received by Donald Trump’s protective detail on the day a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol.

In a letter to Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency chair Kevin Winters, Representative Gerry Connolly said he has “serious concerns” about the “continued silence” coming from the committee regarding DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari in the wake of multiple reports indicating that Mr Cuffari, an appointee of Mr Trump, failed to notify Congress that text messages from Mr Trump’s protective detail had been deleted despite requests that they be preserved.

Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, DC.

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