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Trump Calls For Speedy Deposition From Rupert Murdoch Because He May Die Before Trial

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David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

President Trump’s lawyers are moving to depose Rupert Murdoch, and quickly.

The president’s attorneys in a new court filing Monday said they wish to speak with the conservative media mogul as part of evidence-gathering efforts in connection with Trump’s lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal, citing concerns about Murdoch’s waning health and advanced age. Murdoch is 94 years old.

This lawsuit arose from The Wall Street Journal’s article that described an album allegedly compiled by Epstein’s former girlfriend and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell for his 50th birthday in 2003.

According to the report, Trump contributed a letter for the birthday collection that included a lewd drawing and referenced the two men sharing a “wonderful secret.” President Trump has dismissed the letter as fake.

The letter bearing Trump’s name, which was reviewed by the Journal, is crude—like others in the album. It contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker. A pair of small arcs denotes the woman’s breasts, and the future president’s signature is a squiggly “Donald” below her waist, mimicking pubic hair.

Trump filed the complaint in federal court in Miami earlier this month against the Journal, the Journal’s publishing firm Dow Jones, parent company News Corp, owner Rupert Murdoch, News Corp CEO Robert Thomson, and the two Journal reporters, Safdar and Palazzolo. He alleges two claims, defamation per se and defamation per quod, and demands $10 billion in damages.

On Monday, Trump filed a motion to compel the expedited deposition de bene esse of Murdoch, a de bene esse deposition is also sometimes called a “preservation deposition,” and is intended to be taken to preserve testimony for trial.

Law and Crime reports:

“[T]here is good cause to expedite Murdoch’s deposition, and the Court should exercise its discretion to authorize the same,” the motion for fast-tracked discovery says.

“Murdoch is 94 years old, has suffered from multiple health issues throughout his life, is believed to have suffered recent significant health scares, and is presumed to live in New York, New York,” wrote Trump lawyer Alejandro Brito. “Taken together, these factors weigh heavily in determining that Murdoch would be unavailable for in-person testimony at trial.”

In the meantime, though, Trump is demanding crucial testimony from the owner of the Journal, whom Trump apparently failed to persuade not to publish the Epstein exclusive in the first place. The plaintiff insists that Murdoch has an “advantage” that Trump does not have, but that the scales would even out were an expedited deposition to occur.

“Murdoch has an advantage over President Trump as Murdoch is able to defend himself because he has access to all the information and documents related to the below-defined malicious and defamatory Article, and the decision behind deciding to publish it,” the motion continued. “On the other hand, President Trump has very limited information related to the Article. For these and other reasons that follow, Murdoch would not suffer any prejudice significant enough to outweigh the good cause that exists to grant this Motion.”

Read Trump’s motion here.

Trump Cabinet Member Opens Up On VP Vance 2028 Possibility

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Secretary of Defense Marco Rubio signaled he’s in favor of Vice President JD Vance’s potential 2028 run for the White House during a recent interview.

In an interview on Fox News’s “My View with Lara Trump,” Rubio sidestepped a question about his own presidential ambitions when asked by the president’s daughter-in-law whether his own sights are “set outside the State Department.” Last week, Trump announced she would not run for Senate in North Carolina after considering jumping inot the race.

“I think JD Vance would be a great nominee… if he decides he wants to do that,” Rubio said during the Saturday interview.

“I think he’s doing a great job as vice president. He’s a close friend, and I hope he intends to do it,” Rubio added.

Pivoting back to his own political future, Rubio said he loves his job as Secretary of State and intends to serve out his full term. He noted that would likely preclude him from running for president in 2028.

“I know it’s kind of early, but being in the role that I’m in here, as the secretary of State, I really don’t play in politics. There’s actually rules against me being involved in domestic politics,” Rubio said.

“And I want to do this job, as long as the president allows me to do it, and stay in that job, which would keep me here all the way through January of 2028,” he added.

By Office of Vice President of the United States – @VP on X, Public Domain,

Rubio, who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2016, did not shut the door to a future White House bid, but he said he would be satisfied if his career of public service peaks with his tenure at the State Department.

“I feel, honestly, you never know what the future holds. You never rule things out or anything, because you just don’t know. Things change very quickly,” Rubio said. “But that said, I believe that if I am able to be here through the duration of this presidency — and we get things done at the pace that we’ve been doing the last six months — I’ll be able to look back at my time in public service and say, ‘I made a difference, I had an impact, and I served my country in a very positive way.’”

“And I would be satisfied with that as the apex of my career,” Rubio said. “And so that’s what I’m focused on right now because what we’re doing some special things that I think are going to bear dividend and fruit for a generation.”

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AOC Campaign Office Vandalized With Anti-Israel Message

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Police responded after a campaign office for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was vandalized with a painted anti-Israel slogan in New York City.

The slogan, written in red paint, read “AOC funds genocide in Gaza.” The vandals had also spread the paint all over the entrance to the campaign office before police arrived at roughly 1 a.m. Monday.

The incident came just days after Ocasio-Cortez voted against legislation from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) that would have cut funding for the Israeli Defense Forces.

The lawmaker, who has been vocally critical of Israel’s war in Gaza, said she voted against the bill because it only cut funding for the defensive “Iron Dome” and did nothing to cut off the “actual bombs killing Palestinians.”

Greene’s legislation would have cut off roughly $500 million in funding for Israel. Her proposed amendment, which failed on Thursday, came after Israeli Defense Forces bombed the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza.

“Israel bombed the Catholic Church in Gaza, and that entire population is being wiped out as they continue their aggressive war in Gaza,” Greene said.

Voting alongside Greene on the amendment were Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) members of the progressive so-called “squad” to which Ocasio-Cortez also belongs.

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Appeals Court Hands Mike Lindell Win

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Mike Lindell via Gage Skidmore Flickr

Mike Lindell just scored a major legal win in his battle to expose election integrity concerns. On Wednesday, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Lindell’s favor, tossing out a $5 million arbitration ruling that sought to award a tech contestant prize money from his 2021 “Prove Mike Wrong” challenge.

In a unanimous decision, the three-judge panel said the arbitration panel overstepped its authority by rewriting clear contract terms to reward software developer Robert Zeidman. “Fair or not, agreed-to contract terms may not be modified,” wrote Judge James Loken in the ruling, reinforcing that legal agreements must be honored—not manipulated for political convenience.

Lindell called the years-long legal fight a “setup” and declared the decision as “vindication.”

“This opens a door that no man can shut. I am so excited. I mean, this is an answer to prayer,” Lindell told The Hill.

The case stemmed from Lindell’s 2021 Cyber Symposium, where he challenged the public to prove that his data—allegedly showing Chinese interference in the 2020 election—wasn’t related to the actual vote. Zeidman submitted a rebuttal, but the internal judges ruled he hadn’t met the challenge’s high bar. When Zeidman took the issue to arbitration, the panel sided with him and awarded the $5 million. Now, that ruling has been reversed by the federal court.

The appeals court made clear: the arbitration panel violated Minnesota contract law by using outside evidence to redefine what kind of data Lindell had to provide.

“The panel effectively amended the unambiguous Challenge contract,” the court said.

The ruling orders a lower court to vacate the arbitration award and halts any effort to force Lindell to pay the $5 million—another setback for those trying to financially crush voices challenging the official 2020 narrative.

While Lindell continues to face ongoing lawsuits from companies like Dominion and Smartmatic, he remains defiant. Just last month, a Colorado jury hit him with a $2.3 million judgment for alleged defamation—but Lindell isn’t backing down.

“You’re going to see the big win will be as you watch me melting down these machines and turning them into prison bars,” he declared boldly.

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RNC Chair Whatley To Run For North Carolina Senate Seat

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    Just in…

    Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Whatley is planning to run for Senate in North Carolina to succeed retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R), a source familiar confirmed to The Hill

    The source said Whatley will run with President Trump’s blessing for the seat. Politico first reported the news. The development comes after former RNC Co-Chair Lara Trump, the president’s daughter-in-law, was openly considering a bid for the seat. Politico reported that she has decided against a run.

    Whatley’s candidacy tees up one of the marquee Senate races of the midterms, as former Gov. Roy Cooper (D) reportedly plans to jump in next week. The Cook Political Report currently rates the seat as a “toss up.”

    The news that Whatley will pursue the seat comes a month after news broke that President Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, was considering entering the race.

    A source confirmed to The Hill that Trump, who is married to Eric Trump, the president’s third child, was weighing her options in the wake of Tillis’s announcement Sunday. NOTUS first reported she was “seriously considering” a bid.

    She was previously floated as a potential Senate candidate when former Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) retired in 2023. However, she opted not to launch a campaign for the seat, leaving the door open to a future run for office.

    Lara Trump served as a co-chair of the RNC during the 2024 campaign, with a focus on fundraising efforts. She stepped down from that position and earlier this year began hosting a weekend show on Fox News.

    This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

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    French President Macron Files Lawsuit Against Candace Owens

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    Image via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron filed a lawsuit against podcaster Candace Owens over her repeated claims that his wife, Brigitte, is a man.

    The lawsuit, which was filed in the Superior Court of the State of Delaware, calls Owens’ claims “devastating lies” and adds that the podcast host “disregarded all credible evidence disproving her claim in favor of platforming known conspiracy theorists and proven defamers.”

    In 2024, Owens —who was then a host at Ben Shapiro’s outlet the Daily Wire — boldly stated that she’d stake her “entire professional reputation” on Brigitte Macron being a man. Since then, Owens has repeatedly insisted that the French first lady is a biological man.

    Owens even launched an eight-episode series called “Becoming Brigitte” to further examine the conspiracy theory.

    That series, the suit alleges, is packed with “outlandish, defamatory, and far-fetched fictions” including “that Mrs. Macron was born a man, stole another person’s identity, and transitioned to become Brigitte; Mrs. Macron and President Macron are blood relatives committing incest; President Macron was chosen to be the President of France as part of the CIA-operated MKUltra program or a similar mind-control program; and Mrs. Macron and President Macron are committing forgery, fraud, and abuses of power to conceal these secrets.”

    “These claims are demonstrably false, and Owens knew they were,” the suit states.

    The lawsuit continues:

    This is nothing new for Owens. She has built a brand on provocation, not truth. Owens labels herself as an independent “investigative journalist” while routinely peddling misinformation under the guise of legitimate reporting. She has promoted a range of conspiracy theories, including anti-vaccine falsehoods, long-debunked antisemitic tropes such as blood libel, and Holocaust distortion — going so far as to dismiss the atrocities of Josef Mengele’s medical experiments as mere “propaganda.” Her content is not intended to inform but to inflame and attract attention through sensationalism and conspiracy theories.

    The Macron family, represented by high-profile American law firm Clare Locke, is seeking damages and is demanding a jury trial.

    A spokesman for Owens told Mediaite that she would respond to the suit on Wednesday’s episode of her podcast.

    “Candace will be officially responding to this on her podcast today,” the spokesman said, “as we are just learning about this in the press.”

    Last week, Candace Owens accused President Donald Trump of thinking that his political base is “stupid” on the latest episode of her show, which she opened by calling the Jeffrey Epstein scandal “terminal cancer” for the MAGA movement.

    After comparing the administration’s attempt at moving on from the Epstein scandal to the stories about Hunter Biden that were dismissed by the “Deep State,” Owens accused Trump of “being guilty of gaslighting the public.”

    “It seems like you think your base is stupid. That’s how I feel. I feel like Trump thinks his base is stupid, or, again, because I don’t think he’s pressing send on these messages, the people around him think that Trump is stupid. And that shouldn’t surprise you given the fact that all of these people were ‘Never Trump.’ They were ‘Never Trump.’ Trump is surrounded by people who hate him and have infiltrated his base,” argued Owens, who went on to submit that Trump — or those around him — had decided to give Ukraine more weapons in order to distract from the conversation about Epstein.

    “Operation: Just Give Them More War. Yeah, war as a distraction. Never mind! We can’t talk about Epstein because guys, guess what? Look at this headline: Trump announces an aggressive, or Trump is to announce an aggressive Ukraine weapons plan. Yeah, he already indicated that in that same press conference that there’s just going to be more weapons sent to Ukraine, they’re going to attack Russia. We’re just going to have to have a world war and another reset, I guess. So, you guys just stop talking about Jeffrey Epstein,” she added. “I am telling you that I will be the very last person that will stop talking about Jeffrey Epstein. I will do his entire genealogy backwards and forwards, including everybody around him, get their genealogy, before we let go of this.”

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    Mike Lawler Announces Re-Election Campaign As Republicans Seek To Defend Razor-Thin Majority

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    Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Republicans are breathing a sigh of relief…

    On Wednesday morning, Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York announced he will seek re-election in next year’s midterms in his crucial battleground House district, which covers a large swath of New York City’s northern suburbs.

    Lawler, who announced his news in an interview Wednesday morning on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends,” had been seriously considering a bid for New York State governor.

    “There’s no question Kathy Hochul is the worst governor in America,” Lawler told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade, before adding, “In 2026, she needs to be defeated. But after months of deliberating over this and really working through it, I’ve decided the right thing to do for me and my family and my district is to run for re-election.”

    His news is seen as a major relief to the White House and congressional Republicans, who are defending their razor-thin House majority in the 2026 midterms. 

    Top House Republicans as well as President Donald Trump had pressed Lawler to seek re-election, and Fox News confirmed that Lawler met with Trump last week at the White House to discuss his 2026 plans and other issues.

    “While I fundamentally believe I am best positioned to take on Kathy Hochul and offer New Yorkers a real choice for Governor, I have made the decision to run for re-election to the House and continue the important work I’ve been doing over the past two and a half years,” Lawler shared in a statement with Fox News Digital Wednesday morning. 

    The Democratic Governors Association called Lawler’s decision a “humiliating setback” for Republicans, arguing that his choice means he doesn’t believe a Republican can win statewide.

    However, Republicans now seem likely to avoid a hotly contested primary, as they said they hoped only one of Lawler or Elise Stefanik would go forward with a gubernatorial run.

    Elise Stefanik released a statement Wednesday morning, calling Republicans “more unified than ever in our mission to fire the Worst Governor in America Kathy Hochul in 2026” and Lawler a “great, effective, and hardworking Representative for New York’s 17th Congressional District.”

    “As I have previously stated, I am focused on supporting strong Republican local and county candidates on the ballot this November to lay the groundwork with a strong team for next year. I will make a final decision and announcement after this year’s November election which we are all focused on,” Stefanik added. 

    Stefanik seems all but certain to run for governor, with a source familiar with her thinking telling The Hill last month that “it’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.”

    Republicans have been hopeful that they could seriously compete for the office in 2026 after impressive performances in recent years. Hochul only won reelection in 2022 by about 6 points, a much closer margin than observers expected.

    Trump also made significant gains in New York in last year’s presidential election, while still falling short by double digits of victory in the state.

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    Obama Issues Rare Response To Trump Russiagate Allegations

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      The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

      Former President Barack Obama responded to President Donald Trump‘s call to prosecute himself and others in a rare public statement on Tuesday.

      Trump, earlier on Tuesday, claimed that former President Barack Obama was the “ringleader” of Russiagate, calling for him to be criminally investigated amid new claims that members of his administration allegedly “manufactured” intelligence that prompted the Trump–Russia collusion narrative.

      “Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response,” Obama spokesman Patrick Rodenbush said in a statement. “But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one.” 

      “These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction,” Obama’s spokesman continued. “Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes.” 

      He added: “These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.” 

      Rodenbush’s statement on behalf of Obama comes after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard recently declassified documents revealing “overwhelming evidence” that claimed that after Trump won the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton, then-President Obama and his national security team allegedly laid the groundwork for what would be the yearslong Trump–Russia collusion probe. (RELATED: Tulsi Gabbard Declassifies Treasonous Conspiracy By Obama Officials in Trump-Russia Probe)

      The new documents name Obama, top officials on his National Security Council, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, CIA Director John Brennan, national security advisor Susan Rice, Secretary of State John Kerry, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, among others.

      John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, delivers one of several briefings that President Barack Obama received on the attempted Times Square car bombing, in the Oval Office, May 3, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) [Photo Credit: The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons] This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.

      Gabbard, on Monday, sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department related to those findings. Department of Justice officials did not share further details on whom the criminal referral was for.

      In the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump called for “severe consequences” for Obama.

      Trump said:

      The witch hunt that you should be talking about is they caught President Obama. What they did to this country in 2016, starting in 2016 but going up to 2020 of the election, they tried to rig the election and they got caught. There should be very severe consequences for that. When we caught Hillary Clinton, I said, you know what, let’s not go too far here. It’s the ex-wife of a president and I thought it was sort of terrible. I let her off the hook and I’m very happy I did. But it’s time to start — after what they did to me and whether it’s the right or wrong — it’s time to go after people. Obama has been caught directly.

      As for Gabbard’s criminal referral, Trump was asked which specific figures should be under criminal investigation, to which he replied: “President Obama. He started it.”

      “And Biden was there with him, and Comey was there, and Clapper, the whole group was there. Brennan. They were all there in the room right here. This is the room,” Trump said from the Oval Office Tuesday during a meeting with the president of the Philippines. “It was President Obama. It was lots of people all over the place.”

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      Trump Vows To Start Prosecuting Obama For ‘Treason’

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      The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

      On Tuesday, President Trump called to prosecute former President Barack Obama as well as other officials over Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s claim of a “treasonous conspiracy” by the former administration.

      President Donald Trump called for the prosecution of former President Barack Obama and others, saying from the White House that it’s “time to go after people.”

      In the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump called for “severe consequences” for Obama.

      Trump said:

      The witch hunt that you should be talking about is they caught President Obama. What they did to this country in 2016, starting in 2016 but going up to 2020 of the election, they tried to rig the election and they got caught. There should be very severe consequences for that. When we caught Hillary Clinton, I said, you know what, let’s not go too far here. It’s the ex-wife of a president and I thought it was sort of terrible. I let her off the hook and I’m very happy I did. But it’s time to start — after what they did to me and whether it’s the right or wrong — it’s time to go after people. Obama has been caught directly.

      Gabbard released a declassified report last week, claiming that Obama and his administration officials pushed concerns about Russian interference in the election in public while privately knowing it was not a major concern in the 2016 election. Gabbard, who also called for officials to be prosecuted, accused officials of trying to “usurp” Trump and American voters.

      “The intelligence community assessed — and this is what the documents detail — essentially Russia doesn’t have the tools, the capability, or the intent to try to change the outcome of the US presidential election,” she told Fox News on Saturday.

      Gabbard said she referred her information to the Department of Justice.

      CBN host David Brody asked House Speaker Mike Johnson about the matter, “I’ve heard Stephen Miller call this a ‘seditious conspiracy.’ I’ve heard Tulsi Gabbard call it a ‘treasonous conspiracy.’ You’re a constitutional guy; what do you see in this exactly? How do you term it?”

      “Well, I don’t know how to summarize it in — by way of description — in a snappy phrase, but I will tell you it is deeply problematic,” Johnson replied. “Before I became Speaker of the House I served on the House Judiciary Committee, which had jurisdiction over a lot of this, and we knew what was happening. We knew intuitively and we were gathering the evidence as we were investigating all of this ourselves. We knew the Russia collusion thing was a hoax. They used it as a basis to attack the president mercilessly.”

      Noting that he had served on Trump’s impeachment defense teams twice, Johnson recalled, “As we were preparing for those defenses, as we were investigating with our oversight responsibility in the Judiciary, we recognized that the people who are being called out now were involved in a scheme. We knew that it was a shameless, false, set of accusations, and yet, they perpetuated the lie on the American people. And they looked right under the camera and just lied, clearly. And they knew what they were up to the whole time so there must be accountability for that.”

      “People want to see subpoenas; they want to see depositions,” Brody posited. “They want to see, whether it be Brennan, Clapper, potentially the former President of the United States. Are you willing to go down that route? Cause a lot of people want to see some of these folks questioned under oath.”

      “Of course,” Johnson answered immediately. “I think we have a responsibility to follow the truth where it leads and to do it in an unbiased fashion, to do effectively the opposite of what that other team did.”

      “Does it get tricky at all with the former president, President Obama, looking at what his role in this is and bringing him in for some sort of deposition, potential subpoena?” Brody asked.

      “Well, listen, we have no concern about that,” Johnson said bluntly. “If it’s uncomfortable for him, he shouldn’t have been involved in overseeing this, which is what it appears to us has happened. There’s a lot of allegations on the table. Our job is to go and follow each of those trails and to find out the truth. And so those are very serious allegations with very serious implications, but we’re gonna have very serious people working on it and we will get the answers.”

      Watch:

      Years After Public Feud Trump Endorses South Dakota Senator

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      Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

      In an unexpected move, President Trump has endorsed Sen. Mike Rounds for re-election despite vowing to “never endorse” him again years ago.

      Trump previously endorsed Rounds in 2020, but later eviscerated the senator in 2022 after Rounds appeared on ABC’s “This Week” and described the 2020 election as “fair.”

      “‘Senator’ Mike Rounds of the Great State of South Dakota just went woke on the Fraudulent Presidential Election of 2020,” Trump declared at the beginning of a lengthy statement in January 2022.

      “Even though his election will not be coming up for 5 years, I will never endorse this jerk again,” Trump later said in the statement.

      “The Radical Left Democrats and RINOS, like ‘Senator’ Mike Rounds, do not make it easy for our Country to succeed. He is a weak and ineffective leader, and I hereby firmly pledge that he will never receive my endorsement again!” Trump asserted in that statement several years ago.

      But in a surprising turnaround, President Trump is now endorsing Rounds.

      In a Monday Truth Social post, the President called the South Dakota Senator “An America First Patriot,” declaring, “Mike Rounds has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election – HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”

      Sen. Rounds responded to Trump, thanking him for the endorsement.