Donald Trump news today: Republicans unleash on Trump, say he could have stopped Jan 6 attack earlier

Georgia’s top elections official appeared Thursday before a special grand jury investigating whether former president Donald Trump and others illegally tried to meddle in the 2020 election in the state.

Secretary of state Brad Raffensperger was summoned to the Fulton County courthouse where the special grand jury has been meeting, according to a subpoena obtained by The Associated Press through an open records request. Other subpoenas seek documents and testimony from five other people in his office.

Raffensperger arrived at the courthouse in downtown Atlanta on Thursday morning. When asked by a reporter how the day would go, he replied: “Hopefully short.”

Mr Raffensperger left after more than five hours by another exit, avoiding reporters. It’s unclear if Raffensperger’s testimony concluded Thursday or if he will be called back.

Some Democratic voters are taking it upon themselves to prevent Donald Trump’s loyalists from taking key positions in state governments that would give them oversight of election systems.

The Associated Press looked at the victory of Brad Raffensperger, the Trump-bucking attorney general in Georgia, and how Democrats used the state’s open primary system to successfully block a Trump-backed challenger from ousting him.

Donald Trump’s former adviser Peter Navarro on Thursday indicated that he will refuse to respond to a subpoena, saying it demanded “fruit of the poisonous tree”.

Mr Navarro has been subpoenaed to give evidence to a federal grand jury that is investigating the events leading up to the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

“What we’re talking about now, Ari, is the case law itself and the constitutionality of executive privilege, testimony, immunity. A second key issue in the case is the separation of powers,” Mr Navarro told MSNBC host Ari Melber.

“This kangaroo committee has clearly violated the separation of powers. They’re not supposed to act as judge, jury, and executioner. They’re only supposed to pursue a legislative function.”

When Melber said he’d take Mr Navarro’s premise seriously, the former adviser replied: “You should. This is why I’m fighting. This is why I’m willing to go to jail for this.”

The January 6 committee has published a document in which a lawyer connected to the Trump campaign outlined a plan in which Vice President Mike Pence would recuse himself and allow the Senate’s most senior Republican member, Chuck Grassley, to interfere in the certification of the 2020 election.

Under the plan, Mr Grassley would have been called upon by Trump supporters to refuse to certify votes from states where the Trump campaign had alleged, without evidence, that Mr Trump had indeed won and that vote totals showing Mr Biden in the lead were fraudulent.

Read more from The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg:

Democratic representative Lucy McBath made an impassioned plea for Congress to act on gun violence, citing the shooting of her son, who was killed at the age of 17.

Ms McBath’s words came during the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing on various pieces of gun legislation after the shooting in Uvalde, Texas killed 19 children and two adults.

Ms McBath said she could empathise with parents in Uvalde who learned their children died.“The phone call that confirms our fear, our singular fear that my child is dead, that I was unable to protect them,” she said.

“Because I know that phone call. Parents across the country know that phone call. It’s a sucker punch to my stomach every time I learn there’s another phone call.”

New York’s legislature on Thursday passed a bill raising the age to buy or possess semi-automatic rifles to 21, in wake of the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde.

The bill was taken up for debate on Thursday to raise the age limit, which passed the senate along party lines 43-20 and in the assembly 102-47, The Hill reported.

According to the bill, anyone buying a semi-automatic rifle would be required to get a license.

Republicans slammed Democrats for pushing more gun restrictions than governor Kathy Hochul had originally proposed. Senator Alexis Weik pointed out that an 18-year-old could still buy the assault rifle from a different state.

Republican Florida representative Greg Steube pulled out several guns as he took part in a debate on gun violence via Zoom.

The House Judiciary Committee was discussing a package of gun control measures following a series of mass shootings across the United States.

The Florida lawmaker was taking part via video call when he showed off his firearms while arguing against specific measures in the package that would institute limits on magazines.

“I hope to God that gun isn’t loaded,” Texas Democrat Sheila Lee said. “I’m at my house. I can do whatever I want with my guns,” Mr Steube responded.

Gustaf Kilander has more.

Ex-attorney Michael Avenatti is now facing another prison term after being convicted earlier this year for defrauding Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who shocked the US in 2018 with claims that Donald Trump had an affair with her. Mr Trump denies her claims.

Mr Avenatti was found to have swindled Ms Daniels out of more than a quarter million dollars in proceeds from her memoir. He expressed regret at his sentencing hearing on Thursday, exclaiming: “I have destroyed my career, my relationships and my reputation.”

The Sacramento-born Avenatti sparred publicly with Donald Trump on Twitter and other platforms in defence of his then-client, but fell out of the public spotlight after Ms Daniels accused him of fraud. He was incarcerated last year and sentenced to 30 months in prison in an unrelated case in which he was convicted of attempting to extort sportswear brand Nike.

Read more in The Independent from Nathan Place:

An attorney working with Donald Trump’s former lawyer Rudolph Giuliani drafted a plan for vice president Mike Pence to step aside from presiding over the counting of electoral votes on 6 January 2021 so the senate’s most senior Republican could refuse to count votes from swing states won by Joe Biden.

The plan, laid out in an email to Mr Giuliani which was forwarded to ex-law professor John Eastman, was drafted by attorney John Cheseboro and made public by the House 6 January select committee in a court filing last week.

It called for Mr Pence to ignore procedures laid out in the 1878 electoral count act and instead force the joint session to allow the “president of the Senate” sole authority to open and count electoral votes submitted by each state.

Donald Trump has made his endorsement in the Arizona Republican US Senate primary, backing Blake Masters in the crowded primary field which includes the state’s attorney general, Mark Brnovich.

Mr Trump is seeking to defeat Mr Brnovich, who until recently was the frontrunner in all polling of the race, due to Mr Brnovich’s refusal to back his falsehoods about the 2020 election. Mr Masters is polling in third place according to most surveys of voter support in the race, but a Trump endorsement could energise his campaign just as it did for another candidate backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, JD Vance, who catapaulted into the lead in Ohio’s US Senate primary after the ex-president’s endorsement.

Read more from The Independent’s Eric Garcia: