Trump to skip first Republican primary as his lead over rivals grows – live | US politics

On Sunday’s edition of State of the Union, Republican US senator Bill Cassidy said to him it seemed like the classified documents case was “almost a slam dunk”.

“I’m not an attorney,” said Cassidy, who’s a gastroenterologist. But, while referring to an audio recording of Donald Trump discussing military secrets that he had not declassified at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club in 2021, Cassidy remarked: “The mishandling of the federal documents … seems … a very strong case.

They have a tape recording of him speaking of it. If that is proven, then we may have a candidate for president who has been convicted of a crime. I think Joe Biden needs to be replaced, but I don’t think Americans will vote for someone who’s been convicted. So, I’m just very sorry about how all this is playing out.

Cassidy joined six other Senate Republicans who voted to convict the former president when Trump was impeached after his supporters staged the US Capitol attack on 6 January 2021.

Trump had more than enough votes to be acquitted at his impeachment trial despite the lack of support from Cassidy, whom the former president has previously dismissed as a “Rino”, the acronym meaning “Republican in name only”.

Cassidy is in his second six-year term in the Senate and is not up for re-election until 2026.

Donald Trump should drop out of the 2024 race for the White House because polling shows the former US president trailing Joe Biden as he grapples with more than 90 pending criminal charges, according to Republican US senator Bill Cassidy.

Cassidy’s comments to State of the Union host Kasie Hunt were not the first time he has denounced Trump. About two months earlier, he went on CNN and predicted that Trump would lose if his party nominated him to run for the Oval Office again, citing the poor performance of his endorsed candidates during the 2022 midterms.

Cassidy said of his fellow Republican and the ex-president during CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday:

Obviously, that’s up to him … but he will lose to Joe Biden, if you look at the current polls.

The Louisiana senator added that it would do their party no good if Trump “ends up getting the nomination but cannot win a general [election]” against the Democratic incumbent Joe Biden.

Alluding to a Republican presidential candidates’ debate scheduled Wednesday in Milwaukee that Trump intends to skip, Cassidy said: “I want one of them to win.” But he passed on an opportunity to single out any of the expected debate participants as someone he supported.

Martin Pengelly

Offering “free advice” to his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, the former Texas congressman Will Hurd said:

If Donald Trump is leading in the polls, and he’s your opponent, then kissing his butt is not going to help you win.

Hurd has not qualified to debate in Milwaukee but he is one of the few candidates prepared to attack Donald Trump in strong terms, not least over scheduled trials that include civil cases over defamation and a rape allegation and investigations of his business affairs.

On Sunday, Hurd told the MSNBC host Jenn Psaki: “Things are improving and changing.

Had a great time in Des Moines [Iowa] yesterday or this week at the Iowa state fair. And what people want is someone who’s willing to be honest. What people want is folks that are not afraid of Donald Trump and who are going to articulate a vision for a future and talk about the issues of the day that are impacting them, and not just focusing on Donald Trump’s legal baggage.

Hurd was recently booed in Iowa but he said people in the first state to vote also told him “thank you for being honest”.

He said:

Here’s what we’re learning. There’s a good chunk of people that are never going to vote for Donald Trump, and there’s folks that like Donald Trump, voted for him twice, still like him as a person, and don’t think he has a chance in a rematch against Joe Biden.

Hurd said that showed Trump was “afraid to go on the debate stage and answer for being a proven loser. The last time he won was in 2016. He doesn’t want to have to defend his poor record, he doesn’t want to have to defend all of these issues he’s dealing with. These legal issues are self-inflicted wounds.

And that’s what I’m looking forward to talking about: not only his problems but articulating what the GOP needs to be doing, so we prevent a trend that has been happening for the last 20 years. And that’s losing the general election popular vote.

Hugo Lowell

Donald Trump’s team has two overarching priorities for the first Republican primary debate on Wednesday, according to several sources briefed on the situation: to starve the other Republican presidential candidates of attention, and to publicly humiliate Fox News, which is hosting the event with the RNC, because he has been displeased with some of its recent coverage.

The former president has told allies he intends to shun the event and that his sit-down interview with the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, which he taped in recent days, could be released around the same time.

Trump had also considered swaggering into the debate at the last minute – without prior warning – betting that would almost certainly cause the news coverage to be about his surprise visit and not the other candidates’ answers. But he has since soured on that option, people briefed on the matter said.

The Trump team had explored whether Trump could do the ultimate counter-programming by scheduling his surrender to authorities, after the Fulton county district attorney charged him with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia, to take place at the same time.

But even though the political team had pushed for him to be booked at the Fulton county jail on Wednesday, his legal team has been opposed. Trump’s lawyers thought Thursday was a more realistic option and intend to finalize logistics with the district attorney’s office on Monday, the people said.

Good morning, US politics blog readers. In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, Donald Trump confirmed he will skip the first GOP primary debate on Wednesday, amid reports he is weighing up several options in an attempt to upstage the opening event in the Republican party’s nominating contest.

“The public knows who I am & what a successful Presidency I had,” the former president wrote on his social media platform.

I WILL THEREFORE NOT BE DOING THE DEBATES.”

For weeks, Trump has asked his aides privately and rally crowds publicly whether he should attend the debate or engage in counter-programming efforts in a boastful display of his political strength even after being criminally charged four times. The response has overwhelmingly been for him to skip the debate.

A CBS poll released on Sunday showed Trump holding his largest lead over his rivals despite his recent legal troubles. The former president was the preferred candidate for 62% of Republican voters. His closest rival, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, was at 16%. All the other candidates were in single digits.

The GOP frontrunner’s absence from the stage in Milwaukee on Wednesday creates a new layer of challenges for the other candidates, who will aim to use the debate a chance to pitch themselves as the main alternative to Trump.

To qualify for the 23 August debate, candidates need to satisfy polling and donor requirements set by the Republican national committee (RNC). They must have reached at least 1% in three high-quality national polls or a mix of national and early-state polls, between 1 July and 21 August, and a minimum of 40,000 donors, with 200 in 20 or more states. Candidates must also sign a pledge promising to support the party’s ultimate nominee.

So far, the candidates expected to appear on Wednesday are DeSantis, South Carolina senator Tim Scott, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, North Dakota governor Doug Burgum and former vice-president Mike Pence.

Here’s what else we’re watching today:

• 11.40am eastern time. President Joe Biden and the first lady, Jill Biden, will depart Reno, Nevada, to travel to Maui, Hawaii, arriving at 5.10pm. They will meet with federal, state and local leaders; see the damage from wildfires and recovery efforts; and meet with survivors and first responders.

• 12.15pm. Attorney General Merrick Garland will travel to Fargo, North Dakota, to visit the US attorney’s office for the district of North Dakota and meet with federal, state and local law enforcement leaders.

• 11.25pm. The Bidens will leave Maui to return to Reno.

• The Senate and House are out.