A bus covered in pro-Trump signs smashed into a power pole in Staten Island, N.Y., on Sunday, hours before a rally for the former president nearby. The bus, every inch plastered with signs supporting former President Trump, reportedly rolled down an incline and was seriously damaged running into the pole, according to a video of the aftermath. “It was parked by the CVS and it just rolled down,” says a man in the video, off camera. “Nobody was in it.” “This, right after Trump gets declared guilty,” the man jokes. An entire side panel of the bus was ripped off by the crash, and debris including ..read more

Republican National Committee (RNC) co-chair Lara Trump did not say how much fundraising will go to former President Trump's legal fees. The former president quickly fundraised off the jury's verdict last week, raising about $35 million in the first day after he was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records. Lara Trump said Sunday that the RNC raised $70 million in the first 48 hours after the verdict was read. CNN's Kasie Hunt later pressed her on how much of that fundraising will go to paying Trump's legal fees. He still has three other ongoing criminal cases, where he faces 5 ..read more

Former President Trump and his allies have spent the hours since he was convicted in New York arguing the verdict will play out to his advantage in the end. They could easily be wrong. To be sure, nobody knows for certain what the political ramifications of the verdict will be, given that the nation is once again in uncharted waters. Trump is the first former president to be found guilty of a felony — 34 of them, in his case. Team Trump contends that the outcome has enraged his supporters — which is clearly true — and has prompted a surge in fundraising.  The Trump campaign ..read more

Former President Trump’s campaign sent a cease-and-desist letter to House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good’s (R-Va.) reelection campaign to stop producing yard signs and other merchandise that imply his backing of the congressman.  The Trump campaign sent the letter on Friday, a senior Trump campaign official confirmed to The Hill. It was sent after Good’s campaign utilized the former president’s image, name and the president's past support of the candidate to boost his reelection chances.  “To be clear, neither you nor your campaign are authorized to use President Trump’s name or the C ..read more

Former President Trump’s guilty verdict in his New York City hush money trial is supercharging Republican enthusiasm, as his base rallies around him in the aftermath of Thursday’s historic verdict. Trump’s political allies came out in force over the airwaves and social media, while grassroots supporters pulled out their pocketbooks. The GOP fundraising website WinRed even appeared to crash following the verdict.  The enthusiasm could be a sign that a legally devastating outcome for Trump could be a political boon that helps unify a fragmented GOP going into Novemb ..read more

Tuesday’s contentious runoffs laid bare the turmoil in Texas’s state Republican Party.  In elections that saw unprecedented levels of outside spending, the party’s so-called business faction was left battered but still standing as some incumbents hung on, most notably Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan (R) and Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas).  Their positions, however, are precarious. In Tuesday’s vote, conservative hard-liners in the state executive largely wiped the board of holdout members — largely those who had fought the rise of privatization in the state’s massive public school syst ..read more

NEW YORK — Former President Trump’s hush money trial ended in a sweeping conviction, but his historic case is far from over. As Trump vows to appeal, the proceedings will meanwhile move ahead toward sentencing on July 11 — just days before Trump is set to officially become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee. “As far as the trial itself, it was very unfair,” Trump told reporters Friday, speaking from Trump Tower where, nearly a decade ago, the conspiracy underpinning his conviction was formed. Before he returns to court to hear his punishment, expect a flurry of activity. Trump could f ..read more

Vulnerable House Republicans are treading carefully around the bombshell conviction of former President Trump, showing a wariness to wade into the prickly debate over hush money, a porn star and the integrity of a once-treasured criminal justice system that Trump has vilified. While GOP leaders and a long list of rank-and-file Republicans — including a number of front-liners — have raced to Trump’s defense following the guilty verdict on all counts in his New York hush money trial, more than half of the 17 House Republicans representing districts won by President Biden in 2020 have so far rema ..read more

President Biden on Friday brushed off claims from former President Trump that he is responsible for Trump's legal troubles after Trump was found guilty on 34 felony counts in New York. "I didn't know I was that powerful," Biden said when asked by Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy about Trump's assertions. Biden told Doocy he had "no idea" if the conviction in New York will help Trump in November's elections. Asked if he was worried he could one day be indicted after his presidency, Biden said, "not at all." "I didn't do anything wrong. The system still works," Biden said. A jury found Trump g ..read more

Senate conservatives led by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), the chair of the Senate Steering Committee, say they will oppose nonsecurity funding increases that would allow the Department of Justice and other agencies to engage in “partisan lawfare” after a Manhattan jury convicted former President Trump on 34 felony counts Thursday. Lee joined vice presidential aspirants Sens. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and other Senate GOP colleagues in pledging to retaliate against what they say has been the Biden administration’s weaponization of the Justice Department. The eight senators who signed ..read more