Donald Trump News Today: Mar-a-Lago employees receive subpoenas as Trump unveils 2024 plan to end World War III

At least two dozen people close to Donald Trump, from aides in the inner circle to staff at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, have been subpoenaed as part of the special counsel’s investigation into the former president’s handling of classified documents, CNN reports.

“They are casting an extremely wide net – anyone who might have seen anything,” an anonymous source familiar with the investigation told the broadcaster.

Investigators have spoken to a Mar-a-Lago employee seen in security footage of moving boxes and called Trump adviser Margo Martin to appear before a grand jury in Washington on Thursday, CNN adds.

Federal officials have been investigating Mr Trump’s behavior at the Florida estate since the summer of 2022, when the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago in August and uncovered numerous documents marked as classified by federal archivists after a lengthy back-and-forth in which the former president allegedly did not complied.

More details in our full story.

Donald Trump was so desperate to defend allegations of voter fraud that he would have believed aliens stole ballots, his close ally and Senator Lindsey Graham reportedly told a jury.

In conversation with the Constitution of the Atlanta Journalfive of the 23 members of Fulton County’s grand jury provided details of eight months of testimony about the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

Alisha Rahaman Sarkar has the story.

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

Ralston, who has since passed away, reportedly deflected the outgoing president’s plea, allegedly telling Mr Trump, “I will do everything in my power as I see fit,” according to the juror who spoke to him Constitution of the Atlanta Journalwhat first reported the news of the call.

A special session was never called, although Republicans in the state organized a plan for it serve as unauthorized sham voters and cast their Electoral College votes for Donald Trump despite Mr. Biden winning the state’s vote.

Josh Marcus has the story.

The main contenders are almost all women …

CNN reports that at least two dozen people at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, ranging from staffers to aides to members of the former president’s inner circle, have been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury investigating the surrender of classified documents that were found in the Florida estate.

The network cites multiple sources familiar with the investigation.

On Thursday, Margo Martin, a communications assistant who worked at the White House and followed Mr Trump to Florida, appeared before the Washington, DC grand jury.

When approached by CNN, she declined to answer questions.

A source described the Justice Department’s efforts as “casting an extremely wide net.”

Justice Department officials are reviewing indictments for up to 1,000 other potential defendants in connection with the pro-Trump insurgency that attempted to interfere with the certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory, the District of Columbia’s top attorney general said.

Andrew Feinberg reports for The Independent from Washington, D.C.

Florida Gov. 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’s the first time Mr. DeSantis has come under serious scrutiny, both nationally and internationally, while preparing an upcoming presidential bid.

In two post-lunch posts on Truth Social, Donald Trump first lashed out at some of his favorite cable news enemies, claiming that HBO/CNN talk show host Bill Maher’s ratings were dying … before saying he wouldn’t talk about it anymore . He clarified that this was because he now believes Maher now realizes he is leading in the polls and the investigation against him is a hoax. Happy Bill Maher.

Instead, the former president hit out at (for the umpteenth time) Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski over on MSNBC morning joesay their ratings were at an all-time low.

Mr Trump wasn’t done yet and moved on to more serious matters. In the second post, he included one of his campaign-style video speeches, this one about… preventing World War III.

Here is his synopsis, which amazingly only has one word in all caps:

There MUST be an unreserved commitment to dismantling the entire globalist neocon establishment that is constantly dragging us into endless wars and pretends to be fighting for freedom and democracy abroad while transporting us to a third world country and world Transform dictatorship here at home!

You can check out the full three and a half minute screed below, which includes sections on how we are our own worst enemy and a little bit about fertility:

Alex Woodwart follows how troubles, doom, world war and the former president’s bleak visions of an impending civil war color his response to possible impeachments and the aftermath of an election if he loses.

Donald Trump’s super PAC announced Wednesday that it had filed a state-level ethics complaint against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, accusing him of “shadow campaigning” for the GOP nomination without failing to formally submit documents for the presidential candidacy.

The complaint, which took the form of a letter from the Make America Great Again PAC to the Florida Ethics Commission, calls for an investigation by the state governor for allegedly receiving gifts in support of a “shadow” presidential campaign the Trump PAC alleges will run in parallel with Mr. DeSantis’ duties as Governor.