Closing summary
Less than a week after Republicans booted them from the Tennessee state house of representatives, Black Democratic lawmakers Justin Jones and Justin Pearson have been reappointed back to their old seats, with the latter’s return confirmed this afternoon by local authorities in Memphis. The episode, which began when the duo joined with a white colleague (who was not expelled) to demonstrate for stricter gun control on the House floor, appears far from over. In Washington, two Democratic senators have called for attorney general Merrick Garland to investigate their expulsion, arguing it appears to have violated free speech and anti-discrimination laws. But if the statements of two Kentucky lawmakers following Monday’s mass shooting in Louisville are any indication, the partisan divide over gun rights remains as wide as ever.
Here’s a look back at what else happened today:
Donald Trump said he’ll “never drop out” of the 2024 presidential race, even if convicted of a crime.
Rupert Murdoch could be on the witness stand as soon as Monday, as Dominion Voting System’s defamation complaint against Fox News heads to trial.
Republican senator Tim Scott inched closer to an all-out presidential run by announcing an exploratory committee.
The new Secret Service director downplayed concerns about politicization of the agency raised by the January 6 investigation in a rare interview.
Trump is suing his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen for $500mn, alleging he unjustly enriched himself and breached attorney-client privilege. You may remember Cohen as being the vehicle for the former president’s hush money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels, which is at the center of the indictment filed by Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg against him.
Updated
There’s news of a link-up between a certain likely candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, Ron DeSantis, and Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán. Flora Garamvolgyi writes for the Guardian:
Hungary’s far-right prime minister, Viktor Orbán, one of Donald Trump’s biggest international supporters, has made overtures in recent weeks to Ron DeSantis and one of the Florida governor’s key billionaire backers.
Orbán has repeatedly voiced strong support for Trump’s policies and political style, even long after he left the White House. But meetings between a key Orbán ally and the DeSantis camp suggest the Hungarian leader is hedging his bets amid uncertainty over Trump’s electoral prospects.
Katalin Novák, the Hungarian president, met DeSantis last month. She also met DeSantis’s wife, Casey, and Republican mega-donor Thomas Péterffy, who has announced he would not be backing Trump’s 2024 presidential candidacy. The Hungarian-born billionaire has called DeSantis his “favorite man” and donated $570,000 to his campaign in 2022, according to the campaign finance watchdog OpenSecrets.
The first female president of Hungary and a close ally of Orbán, Novak previously served as minister for family affairs. Like DeSantis, she has ultra-conservative views regarding family policies, LGBTQ+ rights and abortion. She has been a key part of Orbán’s efforts to make Budapest a hub for discussions between rightwing and far-right forces from around the world, including the US right.
“For the Orbán government, bilateral relations have a strong party-politics angle. They have been contemplating whether it was worth putting all their cards on Trump. The indictment against the former president only confirmed that,” said Daniel Hegedus, a Central Europe fellow at the German Marshall Fund.
Separately to the DeSantis meetings, Hungarian government officials have started to contact other Republican figures, according to a former Hungarian diplomat.
“These outreaches have increased for the past nine months, and more government officials have visited the US than before,” said the diplomat.
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