Claims Trump misled his lawyers about classified papers as potential indictment looms – live

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The scene outside the Manhattan courthouse where a grand jury is deciding whether to indict Donald Trump has attracted conspiracy theorists:

A protester holds a placard against Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg and billionaire investor George Soros outside Bragg’s office. Photograph: Andrew Kelly/Reuters

A bomb-sniffing dog:

A member of the NYPD emergency unit canine team inspects a building near the Manhattan criminal court. Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

And Alvin Bragg himself:

Alvin Bragg arriving at court today. Photograph: Peter Foley/EPA

And if that’s not enough excitement for you, NY1 reports they’re shooting an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit around the corner:

Alice Herman

Yesterday, the candidates for Wisconsin’s state supreme court election went head to head in a debate. We’ve been closely watching this race, which has huge implications for the entire country when it comes to issues like abortion, education and election law.

Republican-backed candidate for the Wisconsin supreme court Dan Kelly and Democratic-supported candidate Janet Protasiewicz debated in Madison on Tuesday. Photograph: Morry Gash/AP

In a packed conference room at the Wisconsin State Bar Association on Tuesday, candidates Janet Protasiewicz and Daniel Kelly clashed on questions about abortion, redistricting and public safety. The debate reflected the tone of the campaigns, with conservative candidate Kelly casting his opponent as a liar and a partisan, while Protasiewicz reaffirmed her liberal positions on issues like redistricting and abortion and pointed repeatedly to Kelly’s ties to right wing groups as disqualifying.

In a race that has shattered spending records, the candidates diverged significantly on the question of recusal from cases involving funders and partisan supporters.

“I’ve been very clear that we need a recusal rule for our supreme court,” said Protasiewicz, who pledged to recuse herself from cases involving the Democratic party – which has financially supported her campaign. Kelly, on the other hand, implied that he would not recuse himself from cases involving major donors or supporters.

“We have a first amendment for a very good reason,” said Kelly. “You need to have a methodology so that when you analyze cases and write opinions that squeezes out all personal views and personal politics.”

Early voting for the Wisconsin election begins today.

House Republicans may be rushing to Trump’s aid but CNN reports that the Senate GOP is reacting more cautiously:

As it became clear that Donald Trump’s indictment was imminent, House Republicans earlier this week demanded documents and testimony from Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg. That might not have been such a good idea, according to Washington Post columnist Greg Sargent.

He spoke to some of the Democrats serving on the oversight committee, which is one of the three House panels that made the requests of Bragg. According to Sargent, Democratic lawmaker Daniel S Goldman warned that if Republicans try to hold hearings about Bragg’s investigation, Democrats “could dramatize how Republicans are ‘using the official power of Congress to effectively coordinate with a criminal defendant’ – Trump – to ‘obstruct an ongoing criminal investigation’”.

Jamie Raskin, who is the top Democrat on the oversight committee, said something similar. “If and when there is an indictment, we will be able to reconstruct all the facts of this case in a way that makes sense to the American public” in any hearings the oversight committee holds, he told Sargent.

In other words: committee hearings into the Manhattan district attorney’s case against Trump could cut both ways.

Are you among those who would guess that Donald Trump is days away from becoming the first American president to be arrested? Let the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly correct you:

Donald Trump may be preparing to become the first US president to be criminally indicted but should his perp walk for paying hush money to a porn star come to pass – perhaps granting his reported wish to be seen handcuffed – he will not be the first president ever arrested.

In 1872, President Ulysses S Grant was nicked for speeding in his horse-drawn carriage.

The arrest of the 18th president, at the corner of 13th and M streets in Washington DC, was not for “a high crime, but it was – at least theoretically speaking – a misdemeanor”, the Washington Post reported.

Grant became president in 1869, four years after leading the Union armies to victory over the Confederacy in the civil war, the conflict which ended slavery in the US.

One might think that Donald Trump’s legal trouble would be a boon for Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor who is viewed as the former president’s strongest challenger for the Republican presidential nomination next year. One would be wrong, the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports:

Donald Trump may be in legal trouble over his alleged weakness for vice, but his predicament is increasingly placing Ron DeSantis – his chief rival for the Republican presidential nomination – in a political vise.

The Florida governor must join Republican attacks on Alvin Bragg, the Democratic Manhattan district attorney whose indictment of Trump over a hush money payment to a porn star is reportedly imminent, while trying not to lose ground in a primary he has not formally entered.

DeSantis has floated criticism of Trump over the hush money payment – and indeed did so again on Tuesday in an interview with Fox Nation. The same day, however, a new poll showed how Trump, who is also fundraising off his legal peril, has tightened his grip on the primary race.

One reason why Trump may not fight his apparent indictment in New York tooth and nail: it could be lucrative. The Guardian’s Adam Gabbatt reports:

Donald Trump is attempting to capitalize on his anticipated arrest over hush money payments to an adult film star by bombarding supporters with fundraising emails to support his presidential election campaign.

In a series of messages in recent days Trump and his acolytes have urged people to donate to the Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee, established to support Trump’s bid for president in 2024.

The emails paint Trump as the victim of a political agenda of a varying cast of “globalist power brokers”, the “deep state” and “witch hunt-crazed radicals”. Each ends with a plea for donations, the language used changing slightly each time.

Rightwing House Republican Matt Gaetz wants Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis to prevent New York authorities from forcing Donald Trump to travel to the state in the event he is indicted.

The Florida congressman made the case in an appearance this morning on NewsNation – even though reports indicate Trump, a former New Yorker whose official residence is now Florida, appears willing to appear in Manhattan to answer the charges:

Today is the second day of a major hearing in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox News, which stems from the network’s airing of Donald Trump’s unfounded allegation of fraud in the 2020 election. Here’s the latest on the case from the Guardian’s Sam Levine, who is in Delaware to cover the hearing:

Attorneys for Dominion Voting Systems and Fox News will return to court on Wednesday for the second day of a pre-trial hearing previewing many arguments in a closely watched $1.6bn defamation case.

Dominion is suing the rightwing network over its decision to repeatedly air false claims about its voting equipment in 2020 as Donald Trump and allies tried to overturn the election.

Both sides are asking Eric Davis, a Delaware superior court judge, to rule in their favor ahead of trial.

Davis said on Tuesday he had not reached a decision. His ruling will probably set out the scope of issues for a trial scheduled for mid-April.

Seeking 'spectacle', Trump wants to be handcuffed if indicted

It will be a moment many of his foes have anticipated for years – and one Donald Trump is only too happy to make happen. If he is indicted by the grand jury convened by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg to look into whether he falsified records related to a hush money payment made just before the 2016 presidential election, Trump wants to be handcuffed when he appears at the courthouse, the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports.

The reasons are as Trumpian as you’d expect. Here’s more from the story:

Donald Trump has told advisers that he wants to be handcuffed when he makes an appearance in court, if he is indicted by a Manhattan grand jury for his role in paying hush money to adult film star Stormy Daniels, multiple sources close to the former president have said.

The former president has reasoned that since he would need to go to the courthouse and surrender himself to authorities for fingerprinting and a mug shot anyway, the sources said, he might as well turn everything into a “spectacle”.

Trump’s increasing insistence that he wants to be handcuffed behind his back for a perp walk appears to come from various motivations, including that he wants to project defiance in the face of what he sees as an unfair prosecution and that it would galvanize his base for his 2024 presidential campaign.

But above all, people close to Trump said, he was deeply anxious that any special arrangements – like making his first court appearance by video link or skulking into the courthouse – would make him look weak or like a loser.

Special counsel alleges Trump lied to own lawyers as pressure rises over NY indictment

Good morning, US politics blog readers. Donald Trump has not been indicted yet, but the Manhattan grand jury considering district attorney Alvin Bragg’s case is meeting today, meaning we could finally find out if they are ready to issue the history-making charges against the former president. As interesting as that is, there has been a development elsewhere worth paying attention to. ABC News reports that a judge involved in special prosecutor Jack Smith’s investigation of Trump’s possession of classified documents has found that the former president may have misled his own attorneys about what materials he had. We’ll be paying attention to both these matters today.

Here’s what else is going on:

• Ron DeSantis is finally attacking Trump as the Florida governor appears to struggle in the polls.

• The Senate health committee is expected to grill Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel in a hearing at 10am ET, amid reports the pharmaceutical firm plans to quadruple the price of its Covid-19 vaccine.

• White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre briefs reporters at 3pm.