Trump calls Biden ‘lying machine’ and ‘fact checker’s dream’ as CNN debate looms

Adam Kinzinger, the former Illinois Republican congressman, has announced he is endorsing Joe Biden for the presidency in 2024 and attacked the incumbent’s Republican challenger Donald Trump as a threat to American democracy.

Describing himself as a “proud conservative” in a new social media video explaining his decision, the former representative sought to carve out a path for other anti-Trump Republicans to follow his example and reject the GOP contender at the ballot box in November.

Donald Trump is being ridiculed on social media after claiming in a fundraising email to supporters that he was “tortured” at his Georgia arraignment last August.

“They tortured me in the Fulton County Jail, and TOOK MY MUGSHOT. So guess what? I put it on a mug for the WHOLE WORLD TO SEE!”

Biden and Trump debated four years ago at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, on September 29 and again at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, on October 22, with another scheduled in between but canceled after the Republican tested positive for the coronavirus and then refused to participate remotely.

Joe Sommerlad looks at the highlights from those face-offs.

The Supreme Court is poised to allow abortions in medical emergencies, a draft opinion briefly published on the court’s website and obtained by Bloomberg Law revealed.

Ariana Baio and Alex Woodward have been closely following the court’s rulings for The Independent.

We should find out pretty soon, as Alex Woodward reports.

Possibly a metaphor for how we’ll all feel around 10.30pm tomorrow?

The Democratic National Committee is seeking to remind voters ahead of tomorrow’s debate the Donald Trump has attacked American democracy.

Here’s what the DNC had to say in a statement released this afternoon:

Tomorrow, President Biden and convicted felon Donald Trump will lay out their visions for America’s future on the debate stage. President Biden’s vision is one where working families don’t have to worry about putting dinner on the table, where prescription drugs and health care are accessible and affordable, where women have more rights than their grandmothers did, not fewer, and where the rights of American voters are safeguarded and our democracy is protected. On the other hand, Trump’s vision is one of revenge and retribution, where violent insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol are called “patriots,” and where he will always put himself ahead of American voters and American democracy.

DNC Spokesperson Maddy Mundy released the following statement:

“Donald Trump wants power for himself, full stop. Over and over, Trump has sought to undermine trust in American democracy for his personal gain. Trump can’t admit that voters rejected him in favor of a candidate who answers to them, not to billionaire donors. Not only did Trump inspire the violent insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, he spent months campaigning on election conspiracies because he was afraid of another rejection at the polls. In 2024, he has doubled down on this dangerous strategy, fanning the flames with violent rhetoric, promising to be a dictator on ‘day one,’ and spewing unhinged conspiracies. A Trump presidency represents a dangerous threat to our constitution and American democracy. In November, voters will remember this as they cast their ballots for President Biden.”

At least one House Republican has gone directly to the Supreme Court to support Bannon’s last-ditch appeal to avoid having to turn himself into federal prison authorities on July 1.

House Speaker Mike Johnson — whom Bannon once called a “revolting loser” — also is working with GOP leadership to file a brief to a federal appeals court to undermine Bannon’s conviction for contempt of Congress, after he defied a subpoena from a congressional committee investigating January 6.