Trump celebrates 78th birthday with fee-paying fan club as questions linger over mental capacities: Live updates

Donald Trump turns 78 today and will reportedly celebrate his birthday in the company of his “Club 47” fan organisation in West Palm Beach, Florida, with the guests paying between $35 and $60 for the pleasure of paying court to the presidential candidate.

Turning a year older will not help Trump’s argument that it is he that is young at heart and mentally vigorous and Joe Biden who is too senile or cognitively impaired for the White House at 81.

Here’s Jesse Watters on Fox News attempting to pre-empt the argument that Trump’s recent ravings about electric boats and sharks are really just “common sense” being unfairly spun by the media.

And, for balance, here are Michael Cohen’s sweary thoughts on the same incident.

If you missed that wild anecdote from his recent Las Vegas rally, here’s my report on the response it got.

South Carolina Rep Nancy Mace is once again the victory of a Republican primary election against an opponent backed by a prominent foe.

The congresswoman won the Republican primary in South Carolina’s 1st congressional district over challengers Catherine Templeton and William Young; as votes came in, Mace pulled to an early lead and was declared the victor early on Tuesday evening.

Her victory comes after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy targeted her as one of the eight Republicans responsible for kicking him out of the speaker’s chair last fall.

John Bowden was following the race:

Others shouted out “bootlicker” and “don’t drink the Kool-Aid.”

Another protester in a bear costume held up a sign reading “bigger tax breaks, bigger profit.”

Alex Woodward reports on the scene:

Eric Garcia and Katie Hawkinson report:

Donald Trump met with House Republicans on Thursday, marking his first visit to the Hill since before the January 6, 2021 Capitol riots.

The former president met with members of his party behind closed doors, just weeks ahead of the Republican National Convention — where Trump will be named the party’s presidential nominee — and five months ahead of the 2024 election.

Dueling protesters heckled Republicans as they filed into the Capitol Hill Club, where Republicans often hold their meetings.

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump told his party’s members that Democrat Nancy Pelosi ‘sdughter said the two would be “perfect together” – a comment that drew the immediate ire of her family.

“Nancy Pelosi’s daughter is a whacko,” Trump allegedly said on Capitol Hill on Thursday while speaking to House Republicans. “Her daughter told me if things were different Nancy and I would be perfect together.”

Kelly Rissman has the story:

A man’s attempt to trademark the phrase “TRUMP TOO SMALL” has run its course after the Supreme Court ruled that the law protecting individuals from having their name trademarked without their consent does not violate the First Amendment.

In a unanimous decision on Thursday, Justice Clarence Thomas said the law restricting the trademarking of names reflects the, “historic rationale of identifying the source of goods” to ensure “customers know the source of a product”.

“A party has no First Amendment right to piggyback off the goodwill another entity has built in its name,” Justice Thomas added.

Ariana Baio reports on the court’s decision:

Speaking about the weapon, Kimmel said on his Wednesday show: “That could be a violation of his parole and could be another potential felony.” He then joked: “Who does this guy think he is, Hunter Biden?”

Kelly Rissman has the story:

Former Republican Rep Liz Cheney took to X to share her thoughts on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and former president Donald Trump making peace having not spoken since December 2020 — prior event to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

She wrote: “Mitch McConnell knows Trump provoked the violent attack on our Capitol and then ‘watched television happily’ as his mob brutally beat police officers and hunted the Vice President.

“He knows Trump refused for hours to tell his mob to leave and ‘even then with police officers bleeding…he kept repeating his election lies and praising the criminals.’

“He knows Trump committed a ‘disgraceful dereliction of duty’ and is a danger to our Republic. Trump and his collaborators will be defeated, and history will remember the shame of people like @LeaderMcConnell who enabled them.”

Cheney was one of two Republicans — alongside Adam Kinzinger — who joined the House select committee that investigated the event of January 6.

Donald Trump has revealed whether he believes in UFOs during an interview with social media personality Logan Paul released on Thursday.

Trump described meeting with military pilots who had strange encounters with unidentified anomalous phenomena, as the government refers to them.