Donald Trump was asked about his upcoming presidential debate on CNN against Joe Biden.

Trump: When they gave me the option, they said, would you do it and they didn’t want to do it. He didn’t want to do it. So they gave me everything. Fake Tapper.

And lots of other people that were going to, you know, were involved on CNN, they wanted to be seated, which I didn’t like I said we should stand and I think we won that point. But I would have agreed to whatever I had to agree to because they didn’t want to do it. They thought that I wouldn’t do it because it’s CNN but I’ve done plenty of CNN, I did a town hall. Not so long ago was CNN that worked out well. But I think there’ll be fair, I think they’re going to try and be fair.

I mean, it’s fair as they can be. But I think it’s important for there to be a debate. So they said you want to debate Yep, I’ll accept. You don’t even have to tell me that. They said CNN, they said, the different people that are involved, but it let’s see what happens. I used to get along with Jake Tapper. We’ll see what happens. But it doesn’t matter. Whatever it is it is…

[After saying there was a 10 per cent chance CNN would be fair, he continued…]

No, they’re fake news? No, they’re so bad. One of the good terms, right, fake news, but no, I don’t think so. I thought maybe, you know, I had one with Kaitlan Collins, about four or five months ago. It was one of the highest rated shows they’ve ever had. And I really thought they were gonna go maybe sort of in the middle. But I was wrong about, I as I’m getting on and I’m hearing the way I’m being announced they said they these people are playing hardball. They’re making a big mistake, but with the ratings for this debate, I guess will be quite, quite good.

The debate is set for June 27.

Donald Trump was so angry when the guilty verdict was read aloud at his New York hush money trial last month that he was heard afterwards subjecting Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, to a foul-mouthed rant by phone, according to a new report.

Joe Sommerlad has the story:

The former president’s eldest child arrived in Budapest on Thursday morning on an invitation from the Budapest Chamber of Commerce and Industry. There, he met with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and gave a talk entitled “The World According to Donald Trump Jr.,” an event first reported by Hungarian journalist Szabolcs Panyi.

Trump Jr’s visit focused on discussions about “the future of Hungarian-American relations, the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war, and opportunities for peace creation,” according to Zoltan Kovacs, spokesperson for Orbán’s office.

Multiple legal experts say foreign policy discussions between Trump Jr — who is not employed by the US government — and a foreign prime minister raise questions about the Logan Act, which prohibits unauthorized diplomatic activity in certain circumstances.

Donald Trump told Fox News congressional correspondent Aishah Hasnie that he is endorsing Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland for the Senate.

The news is slightly surprising given Hogan’s comments that people should “respect the verdict” in the NY hush money trial and allies of the former president signaled that there would be an impending assault on his candidacy.

Hogan has never been an ally of Donald Trump. He supported both impeachment inquiries into the ex-president, distinguishing himself as a member of a small minority of his party’s elected officials. The ex-governor also issued a scathing condemnation of the Republican then-president after January 6, during which he sent Maryland police to aid law enforcement at the US Capitol.

Nevertheless, Trump said today: “I’d like to see him win. I think he has a good chance to win… I know other people made some strong statements, but I can just say from my standpoint, I’m about the party and I’m about the country. And I would like to see him win.”

Perhaps what is most confusing is that Hogan has previously said he will not vote for Trump and has reaffirmed that an endorsement from the former president is a gift to his Democrat rival Angela Alsobrooks.

Marc Molinaro is the exact type of Republican who should be trying to distance himself from Donald Trump. The Cook Political Report rates his race as a toss-up, and his district — New York’s 19th — voted for President Joe Biden in 2020.

Under typical circumstances, endangered incumbents hope to create some distance from a nominee who may drag them down. Joe Manchin, the now-retiring independent senator who won in coal-friendly West Virginia, famously shot an Obama-era climate bill with a rifle despite being a Democrat. And before she put herself in the running to be Trump’s running mate, Representative Elise Stefanik voted against the Trump tax cuts.

South Carolina Rep Nancy Mace is once again the victory of a Republican primary election against an opponent backed by a prominent foe.

The congresswoman won the Republican primary in South Carolina’s 1st congressional district over challengers Catherine Templeton and William Young; as votes came in, Mace pulled to an early lead and was declared the victor early on Tuesday evening.

Her victory comes after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy targeted her as one of the eight Republicans responsible for kicking him out of the speaker’s chair last fall.

Donald Trump has promoted his upcoming interview with Logan Paul on his Impaulsive podcast by appearing in a video in which he presents the host with a pair of MAGA caps and two T-shirts bearing the infamous mugshot from his arraignment in Fulton County, Georgia, last summer.

John Bowden reports from Washington, DC:

But he did so in a very Trumpian way — by publicly humiliating one of his own allies, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.