The reverberations of Donald Trump’s triumph in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primaries were felt in the Capitol, where the top Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell,reportedly told his colleagues that they would not be voting on any agreement to tighten immigration policy and also pay for military aid to Ukraine and Israel. The reason, McConnell said, is because Trump wants to campaign against Joe Biden on the issue of immigration, and enacting the deal – which the GOP has been negotiating with Democrats for months, and which has still not been made public – would “undermine” that strategy. Things could nonetheless still change, and McConnell said as much today, when he told a reporter that negotiations are “ongoing”.

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Here’s what else happened today:

“,”elementId”:”065c07be-3852-4ef6-a41a-0576a5b95083″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

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• Peter Navarro, a former Trump White House adviser, has been sentenced to four months in prison for defying the January 6 committee, but will appeal.

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• Nikki Haleyis continuing what looks to be a long-shot bid to clinch the Republican presidential nomination by winning the primary in her home state South Carolina.

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• Trumpbriefly took the stand in the New York City trial of the defamation lawsuit against him by E Jean Carroll.

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• US economic growthcame in better than expected in the final quarter of 2023, despite fears of a slowdown.

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• A lawyer representing Trump in the Georgia election subversion case argued the charges against him should be dropped because district attorney Fani Willis made “provocative and inflammatory extrajudicial racial comments”.

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A lawyer for Donald Trump has asked a Georgia judge to drop the charges against his client brought by the Atlanta-area district attorney Fani Willis, arguing she made “provocative and inflammatory extrajudicial racial comments” in a recent speech.

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In a court filing, the Trump attorney Steven Sadow also asked for Willis to be removed from the case filed in August of last year against Trump and 18 co-defendants, which alleges they plotted to overturn Joe Biden’s presidential election victory in the state three years ago.

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Sadow’s argument came after a lawyer for one of Trump’s co-defendants alleged that Willis has a conflict of interest because she has had travel paid for by a special prosecutor she hired for the case, who she was allegedly in an improper relationship with. Sadow joins that filing, while also arguing that Willis made prejudicial comments about Trump during a speech at a Black church in Atlanta on Martin Luther King Day last week.

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“The DA’s provocative and inflammatory extrajudicial racial comments, made in a widely publicized speech at a historical Black church in Atlanta, and cloaked in repeated references to God, reinforce and amplify the ‘appearance of impropriety’ in her judgment and prosecutorial conduct,” Sadow wrote.

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Donald Trump took the stand in New York City for his much-anticipated cross-examination in author E Jean Carroll’s defamation case against him.

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It was over not long after it began. We have a separate live blog that will tell you all about what he said:

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A senator working on a deal that would tighten immigration policy to discourage migrants and satisfy Republican demands to support aid to Ukraine and Israel says they are “very close” to reaching an agreement.

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That’s according to Kyrsten Sinema, the independent lawmaker from Arizona:

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For months, lead negotiators @ChrisMurphyCT, @SenatorLankford, and I have been working in good faith with DHS, the White House, and party leaders on a bipartisan border security package.

We’re really close – and we’re working carefully to get this right.https://t.co/JrzXxEWvMz

— Kyrsten Sinema (@kyrstensinema) January 25, 2024

nn”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

But the bigger news is that Donald Trump is pressuring Republicans not to support the compromise, despite the fact that the GOP has been negotiating it. Democrats in the Senate are clearly not happy about this, with Connecticut’s Chris Murphy telling CNN he worries that Republicans are allowing Trump to “hand Ukraine to Vladimir Putin”:

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Chris Murphy says he believes it will be clear in next 24-48 hours whether they can get immigration deal.
On Trump trying to kill deal: “I hope we don't live in a world today in which one person inside the Republican Party holds so much power…” pic.twitter.com/1JJwuL9hDR

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 25, 2024

nn”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

California’s Alex Padilla, meanwhile, reacted to the former president’s interference with a reference to everyone in Washington DC’s favorite TV show, Succession:

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https://t.co/SZVjLUnkJgpic.twitter.com/c1Fgch2gYL

— Senator Alex Padilla (@SenAlexPadilla) January 25, 2024

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Judge Amit Mehta, who sentenced Navarro to four months in prison, told the ex-Trump adviser in court that his sentence for contempt of Congress is not the result of “political persecution”.

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Mehta’s comments come as Navarro had refused to comply with a subpoena from Congress as apart of its January 6 probe.

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CNN’s Kaitlan Collins reported that Mehat told Navarro:

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I guess what bothers me ultimately … is that here we are after a year and a half plus, and you still want to suggest to me that this is a political prosecution. You want me to believe this is a political prosecution … You are not a victim.You are not the object of a political prosecution. These are the circumstances of your own making.

n

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Navarro announced that an appeal has been filed by his lawyers after the ex-Trump aide was sentenced to four months in prison on contempt of Congress charges.

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“The top line here is that Mr Woodward has already filed the appeal in this case,” Navarro said in a press conference, referring to his attorney.

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“This is a case of first impressions that I have said from day one is destined for the supreme court. It is a case that really asks the important question of whether a senior White House aide … can be compelled to testify by Congress,” he added.

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lol this is not going well for Peter Navarro pic.twitter.com/3Y4tvFoRX4

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 25, 2024

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The reverberations of Donald Trump’s triumph in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primaries are being felt in the Capitol, where the top Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell,reportedly told his colleagues that they would not be voting on any agreement to tighten immigration policy and also pay for military aid to Ukraine and Israel. The reason, McConnell said, is because Trump wants to campaign against Joe Biden on the issue of immigration, and enacting the deal – which the GOP has been negotiating with Democrats over for months, and which has still not been made public – would “undermine” that strategy. Things could nonetheless still change, and McConnell said as much today, when he told a reporter that negotiations are “ongoing”.

“,”elementId”:”ae4aa94e-97bd-4387-8634-46c981903289″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Here’s what else has happened today so far:

“,”elementId”:”66694c45-d7fd-480c-8055-24d38e3328b2″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

n

• Peter Navarro, a former Trump White House adviser, has been sentenced to four months in prison for defying the January 6 committee.

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• Nikki Haleyis continuing what looks to be a long-shot bid to clinch the Republican presidential nomination by winning the primary in her home state South Carolina.

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• US economic growthcame in better than expected in the final quarter of 2023, despite fears of a slowdown.

n

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Former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro has been sentenced to four months in prison for defying a congressional subpoena issued by the January 6 committee, Reuters reports.

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The sentence caps the long-running prosecution of Navarro, who unsuccessfully argued that Trump’s invocations of executive privilege meant he did not have to comply with the summons. The sentence from federal judge Amit Mehta was in line with the mandatory minimums of two months in prison each for the two charges of contempt of Congress a jury convicted Navarro of in September.

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However, prosecutors in the case had asked for a stiffer penalty of 12 months behind bars and a $200,000 fine.

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If you are wondering what Donald Trump is doing today, the answer is: sitting on a chair in the courtroom where a judge has resumed hearing E Jean Carroll’s defamation case against him.

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Will he take the stand? He was expected to on Monday, until a juror got sick and the day’s hearing was adjourned. Follow our live blog for the latest news from today’s trial:

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Congress has been a place of legislative trench warfare for much of the past decade-plus, but the quandary lawmakers are in right now over aid to both Ukraine and Israel and border policy is unique for the sheer variety of issues at hand.

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It all started in the aftermath of Hamas’s 7 October terrorist attack, when Joe Biden rushed over to Israel, then came back to the White House and made an Oval Office address pleading for Congress to approve assistance to Ukraine and Israel’s militaries, as well as some funds for Taiwan and to bolster border security.

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But in Congress, a growing faction of Republicans had turned against further aiding Kyiv’s defense against the Russian invasion. Biden’s request nonetheless presented an opportunity to get the Democrats to bend on an issue more or less completely separate from the military aid request: immigration policy. Rates of migrants entering the United States from Mexico have surged under Biden, which Republicans have pounced on to argue his administration is failing to protect the country.

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While not everyone in the GOP was behind the effort, a group of Republican and Democratic senators began negotiating over tightening US immigration policy – a topic Congress hasn’t been able to find agreement on for two decades, at least. The idea was that, if Democrats would sign on to policies that may turn out not to be that different from what Donald Trump approved while in office, the Republicans would vote to approve aid to Ukraine.

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Right from the start, there were plenty of reasons to think the deal wouldn’t come together, and with Republican senate minority leader Mitch McConnell’s reported comments yesterday that he won’t support the deal so Trump can run on curbing immigration, it appears the naysayers were right all along.

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Good morning, US politics blog readers. The fallout from Donald Trump’s win in the New Hampshire primary has reached the US Capitol, where reports have emerged that the top Senate Republican is ready to walk away from a deal to send military assistance to Ukraine and Israel. The reason? Republicans now believe Trump has a lock on the party’s presidential nomination, and, on the campaign trail, the former president wants to be able to accuse Joe Biden of failing to stop a surge of migrants crossing the southern border. The agreement under discussion in Congress would have changed immigration policy to discourage migrants, while also unlocking GOP support for military assistance to Israel and Ukraine, a country whose cause the party’s far right has turned against.

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It was a delicate bargain with global implications that senators had been hammering out for months, and it all now appears to be falling apart because of Trump. “We don’t want to do anything to undermine him,” top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell said of the former president in a behind-closed-doors meeting with his colleagues, which Punchbowl News first reported. The deal isn’t quite dead yet, but if it indeed unravels, it’s unclear what it will mean for Ukraine’s beleaguered defense against Russia, or Joe Biden’s controversial effort to arm Israel.

“,”elementId”:”66c56edf-8fdf-4c0a-b041-36056a7d7603″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Here’s what else is going on today:

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n

• Peter Navarro, a former Trump White House aide who was convicted of contempt of Congress for ignoring a subpoena from the January 6 committee, will be sentenced in federal court.

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• Biden is heading to Wisconsin, a state he really needs to win in November, to announce $5bn in transportation investments from the 2021 infrastructure overhaul he championed.

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• Trump may or may not testify today, when the trial of author E Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit resumes against him in New York City.

n

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Closing summary

The reverberations of Donald Trump’s triumph in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primaries were felt in the Capitol, where the top Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell, reportedly told his colleagues that they would not be voting on any agreement to tighten immigration policy and also pay for military aid to Ukraine and Israel. The reason, McConnell said, is because Trump wants to campaign against Joe Biden on the issue of immigration, and enacting the deal – which the GOP has been negotiating with Democrats for months, and which has still not been made public – would “undermine” that strategy. Things could nonetheless still change, and McConnell said as much today, when he told a reporter that negotiations are “ongoing”.

Here’s what else happened today:

• Peter Navarro, a former Trump White House adviser, has been sentenced to four months in prison for defying the January 6 committee, but will appeal.

• Nikki Haley is continuing what looks to be a long-shot bid to clinch the Republican presidential nomination by winning the primary in her home state South Carolina.

• Trump briefly took the stand in the New York City trial of the defamation lawsuit against him by E Jean Carroll.

• US economic growth came in better than expected in the final quarter of 2023, despite fears of a slowdown.

• A lawyer representing Trump in the Georgia election subversion case argued the charges against him should be dropped because district attorney Fani Willis made “provocative and inflammatory extrajudicial racial comments”.

This time next year, Mitt Romney, the Republican senator from Utah who is one of the few avowed Trump foes in the chamber, will probably be out of politics.

The 76-year-old, who lost to Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election, announced late last year that he would not run for office again. He’s keeping up his criticism of Trump as his final year in office begins, saying it’s “appalling” that the former president would try to undermine a compromise on immigration policy to boost his re-election campaign.

Here’s video of his comments, from CNN:

Mitt Romney: “I think the border is a very important issue for Donald Trump. And the fact that he would communicate to Republican senators and congresspeople that he doesn't want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame Biden for it is is really appalling." pic.twitter.com/L1LJex10JY

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 25, 2024

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Mitt Romney: “I think the border is a very important issue for Donald Trump. And the fact that he would communicate to Republican senators and congresspeople that he doesn’t want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame Biden for it is is really appalling.” pic.twitter.com/L1LJex10JY

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 25, 2024

How did a divorce case lead to allegations of conflict of interest against district attorney Fani Willis that could undercut her indictment of Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants for trying to overturn Georgia’s 2020 elections? The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell has the answer:

A Georgia judge on Monday unsealed the divorce case involving a special prosecutor at the center of allegations concerning an improper relationship with the Fulton county district attorney who brought the racketeering case against Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

The judge also stayed the deposition of the Fulton county district attorney Fani Willis in the divorce, until the special prosecutor Nathan Wade – whom she hired for the high-profile Trump case – had first testified about his relationship and financial conditions himself.

Trump’s co-defendant and 2020 campaign elections day operations chief, Michael Roman, has put forward a motion seeking to have the district attorney’s office disqualified from bringing the case because the alleged relationship between Willis and Wade was a conflict of interest.

The judge vacated the consent order sealing the divorce proceeding because no court hearing had been held at the time to shield the records. Roman and a coalition of media organizations, including the Guardian, had separately filed to unseal the case.

The allegations made by Roman threaten to undercut one of the most complex and high-profile criminal cases against Trump that could go to trial before the 2024 election. Trump, who won the Iowa caucuses last week with a 30-point margin, is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination.

In his argument to have Fani Willis thrown off the Georgia election subversion case and the charges against Donald Trump dropped, lawyer Steven Sadow hones in on comments made by the Fulton county district attorney at church.

“I’m a little confused. I appointed three special counsel, as is my right to do. Paid them all the same hourly rate. They only attack one,” Willis said, during a Martin Luther King Day service at Big Bethel AME Church, a historic Black church in Atlanta.

Willis continued, in part:

I hired one white woman, a good personal friend and great lawyer. A superstar, I tell you, I hired one white man, brilliant, my friend and a great lawyer. And I hired one black man. Another superstar a great friend and a great lawyer. Oh, Lord, they’re going to be mad when I call them out on this nonsense. First thing they say. Oh, she going to play the race card now? But no. God, isn’t it them who’s playing the race card when they only question one? Isn’t it them playing the race card when they constantly think I need someone from some other jurisdiction in some other state to tell me how to do a job I’ve been doing almost 30 years. God why don’t they look at themselves and just be honest?

In a statement to reporters, Sadow said Willis’s “attempt to foment racial animus and prejudice against the defendants in order to divert and deflect attention away from her alleged improprieties calls out for the sanctions of dismissal and disqualification.”

Alleging ‘provocative and inflammatory’ comments by Fani Willis, Trump lawyer asks judge to drop charges in Georgia election subversion case

A lawyer for Donald Trump has asked a Georgia judge to drop the charges against his client brought by the Atlanta-area district attorney Fani Willis, arguing she made “provocative and inflammatory extrajudicial racial comments” in a recent speech.

In a court filing, the Trump attorney Steven Sadow also asked for Willis to be removed from the case filed in August of last year against Trump and 18 co-defendants, which alleges they plotted to overturn Joe Biden’s presidential election victory in the state three years ago.

Sadow’s argument came after a lawyer for one of Trump’s co-defendants alleged that Willis has a conflict of interest because she has had travel paid for by a special prosecutor she hired for the case, who she was allegedly in an improper relationship with. Sadow joins that filing, while also arguing that Willis made prejudicial comments about Trump during a speech at a Black church in Atlanta on Martin Luther King Day last week.

“The DA’s provocative and inflammatory extrajudicial racial comments, made in a widely publicized speech at a historical Black church in Atlanta, and cloaked in repeated references to God, reinforce and amplify the ‘appearance of impropriety’ in her judgment and prosecutorial conduct,” Sadow wrote.

Trump took stand for brief cross-examination in E Jean Carroll defamation case

Donald Trump took the stand in New York City for his much-anticipated cross-examination in author E Jean Carroll’s defamation case against him.

It was over not long after it began. We have a separate live blog that will tell you all about what he said:

Senator says immigration deal ‘really close’ as Democrats angry over reports of Trump meddling

A senator working on a deal that would tighten immigration policy to discourage migrants and satisfy Republican demands to support aid to Ukraine and Israel says they are “very close” to reaching an agreement.

That’s according to Kyrsten Sinema, the independent lawmaker from Arizona:

For months, lead negotiators @ChrisMurphyCT, @SenatorLankford, and I have been working in good faith with DHS, the White House, and party leaders on a bipartisan border security package.

We’re really close – and we’re working carefully to get this right.https://t.co/JrzXxEWvMz

— Kyrsten Sinema (@kyrstensinema) January 25, 2024

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But the bigger news is that Donald Trump is pressuring Republicans not to support the compromise, despite the fact that the GOP has been negotiating it. Democrats in the Senate are clearly not happy about this, with Connecticut’s Chris Murphy telling CNN he worries that Republicans are allowing Trump to “hand Ukraine to Vladimir Putin”:

Chris Murphy says he believes it will be clear in next 24-48 hours whether they can get immigration deal.
On Trump trying to kill deal: “I hope we don't live in a world today in which one person inside the Republican Party holds so much power…” pic.twitter.com/1JJwuL9hDR

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 25, 2024

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Chris Murphy says he believes it will be clear in next 24-48 hours whether they can get immigration deal.
On Trump trying to kill deal: “I hope we don’t live in a world today in which one person inside the Republican Party holds so much power…” pic.twitter.com/1JJwuL9hDR

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 25, 2024

California’s Alex Padilla, meanwhile, reacted to the former president’s interference with a reference to everyone in Washington DC’s favorite TV show, Succession:

https://t.co/SZVjLUnkJgpic.twitter.com/c1Fgch2gYL

— Senator Alex Padilla (@SenAlexPadilla) January 25, 2024

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As Navarro was delivering remarks to reporters, a group of protesters clanged cow bells and used whistles to drown him out.

One demonstrator held a sign, reading: “Lock Him Up”. Others chanted “Liar”, as Navarro spoke.

People from Navarro’s team attempted to quiet protestors, but to no avail.

The whistle and the cowbell drown out Peter Navarro as he attempts to speak to media pic.twitter.com/bLGzIjvCxi

— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) January 25, 2024

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Judge tells Navarro: ‘You’re not a victim … these are the circumstances of your own making’

Judge Amit Mehta, who sentenced Navarro to four months in prison, told the ex-Trump adviser in court that his sentence for contempt of Congress is not the result of “political persecution”.

Mehta’s comments come as Navarro had refused to comply with a subpoena from Congress as apart of its January 6 probe.

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins reported that Mehat told Navarro:

I guess what bothers me ultimately … is that here we are after a year and a half plus, and you still want to suggest to me that this is a political prosecution. You want me to believe this is a political prosecution … You are not a victim.You are not the object of a political prosecution. These are the circumstances of your own making.

Navarro announces he is appealing four-month sentence

Navarro announced that an appeal has been filed by his lawyers after the ex-Trump aide was sentenced to four months in prison on contempt of Congress charges.

“The top line here is that Mr Woodward has already filed the appeal in this case,” Navarro said in a press conference, referring to his attorney.

“This is a case of first impressions that I have said from day one is destined for the supreme court. It is a case that really asks the important question of whether a senior White House aide … can be compelled to testify by Congress,” he added.

lol this is not going well for Peter Navarro pic.twitter.com/3Y4tvFoRX4

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 25, 2024

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Peter Navarro, who was recently sentenced to four months in prison for contempt of Congress charges, has said he is not asking or expecting a pardon from Donald Trump if Trump is elected president in 2024.

From the Messenger’s Nolan D. McCaskill:

Navarro says he’s not asking or expecting to be pardoned if Trump returns to the White House next year pic.twitter.com/QKI2izSpSY

— Nolan D. McCaskill (@NolanDMcCaskill) January 25, 2024

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Navarro is speaking now following Thursday’s sentencing.

The day so far

The reverberations of Donald Trump’s triumph in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primaries are being felt in the Capitol, where the top Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell, reportedly told his colleagues that they would not be voting on any agreement to tighten immigration policy and also pay for military aid to Ukraine and Israel. The reason, McConnell said, is because Trump wants to campaign against Joe Biden on the issue of immigration, and enacting the deal – which the GOP has been negotiating with Democrats over for months, and which has still not been made public – would “undermine” that strategy. Things could nonetheless still change, and McConnell said as much today, when he told a reporter that negotiations are “ongoing”.

Here’s what else has happened today so far:

• Peter Navarro, a former Trump White House adviser, has been sentenced to four months in prison for defying the January 6 committee.

• Nikki Haley is continuing what looks to be a long-shot bid to clinch the Republican presidential nomination by winning the primary in her home state South Carolina.

• US economic growth came in better than expected in the final quarter of 2023, despite fears of a slowdown.

A good comparison for Peter Navarro is Steve Bannon, the Donald Trump confidant who was also convicted of contempt of Congress for defying the bipartisan House committee investigating the January 6 attack.

Like Navarro, Bannon was sentenced to four months in prison on two charges of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the lawmakers. But Bannon is not in jail – his sentence has been suspended as he appeals it, a situation Navarro probably hopes to replicate.

It’s unclear what happens next for Peter Navarro.

Politico reports that federal judge Amit Mehta has not yet decided if Navarro will be jailed while he appeals the sentence:

MEHTA does not immediately rule on whether Navarro's 4 month sentence will be stayed pending appeal. He wants further briefing before he decides.

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 25, 2024

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MEHTA does not immediately rule on whether Navarro’s 4 month sentence will be stayed pending appeal. He wants further briefing before he decides.

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 25, 2024

NAVARRO now huddling with his lawyers in the courtroom after Mehta leaves the bench.

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 25, 2024

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NAVARRO now huddling with his lawyers in the courtroom after Mehta leaves the bench.

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 25, 2024

Federal judge sentences former Trump aide Peter Navarro to four months in prison

Former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro has been sentenced to four months in prison for defying a congressional subpoena issued by the January 6 committee, Reuters reports.

The sentence caps the long-running prosecution of Navarro, who unsuccessfully argued that Trump’s invocations of executive privilege meant he did not have to comply with the summons. The sentence from federal judge Amit Mehta was in line with the mandatory minimums of two months in prison each for the two charges of contempt of Congress a jury convicted Navarro of in September.

However, prosecutors in the case had asked for a stiffer penalty of 12 months behind bars and a $200,000 fine.