Key events
A Trump ally has been fired from his role as a special envoy hours after it was reported that he had engaged in a months long email fight with the deputy secretary of state.
Paolo Zampolli, an Italian born former modelling agent and a personal friend of the president, was ousted from his as the United States special representative for global partnerships on Thursday after a story by Politico showed that he had been clashing with Christopher Landau.
Messages obtained by Politico showed that the pair disagreed on numerous issues, including Zampolli overstepping his remit, and Landau blocking him from making certain trips, which Zampolli threatened to complain to Trump about. Throughout the feud, emails exchanged between the two were also sent to “more than a dozen government officials”, including the presidential personnel director Dan Scavino.
Zampolli also accused Landau of leaking information, which the latter denied, replying: “Your threats and accusations are getting more and more bizarre, defamatory, and inappropriate for broad dissemination on email. I have no idea what you are talking about and categorically deny being the source of anything.”
Trump blames Republicans for Ken Paxton struggling in Texas senate election
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Donald Trump has accused fellow Republicans of “doing everything possible to make it hard” for Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee in the Texas Senate race.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump lambasted incumbent senator John Cornyn and political strategist Karl Rove, claiming that they were “sadly, and very stupidly” working against Paxton due to personal jealousy towards him, and accused the pair of “hurting Texas and, more importantly, hurting the United States of America!”
He added: “If Ken Paxton loses, it will be because of WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Political Hacks like John Cornyn and Karl Rove, who have ineffectively opposed me for my entire political career.”
Despite Texas being seen a Republican safe seat by many in the party, polls show the Democratic nominee James Talarico having a slight lead on Paxton, who has served as the attorney general of Texas since ۲۰۱۵.
A loss for Paxton would be seen as a major blow for Trump and the GOP, and would be the first time that a Republican hadn’t won a senate election in Texas since ۱۹۸۸.
In other developments:
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Katie Zacharia, the White House’s new press secretary, has stated that it is “unknown” how much she will engage with the press or hold briefings with reporters, as questions about her legal credentials continue to be asked following revelations that she failed to pass failed the California bar exam after graduating from law school.
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Donald Trump has labeled a series of Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries as a “disgrace” while describing the the country’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “more difficult to deal with than Putin”.
