China pushes for rival trans-Pacific trade deal

House Republicans earlier this week in a letter to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg requested that the prosecutor testify and provide documents in connection with the investigation into Donald Trump’s alleged hush money payments to Stormy Daniels.

Braggs, who could issue what would be the first indictment against a former president, is being urged by legal experts to take a hard pass on the letter sent to Bragg by GOP Reps. Jim Jordan, Bryan Steil and James Comer. All three are members of the weaponization of the federal government subcommittee panel.

Former Vice President Mike Pence has tried to dodge a subpoena around the special counsel's investigation of the Jan. 6 attacks on Congress and the attempt to overthrow the election.

He's claiming that as the president of the Senate, he was operating in his role as a legislator, thus he should be safe from testifying due to Article 1, Section 6 of the U.S. Constitution, the "speech and debate clause." It protects lawmakers who are working in the course of their jobs as an elected official. Legal analysts have said that it's a Hail Mary pass that isn't likely to work.

As former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — the latter of whom has not even formally declared his candidacy yet — increasingly duke it out for the 2024 presidential nomination, Republican candidates on the lower rungs are fighting to break through. And they are now gearing up to attack the two frontrunners themselves, POLITICO reported on Wednesday.

"Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and former Vice President Mike Pence have begun more aggressively criticizing positions held by Trump, and now DeSantis, on a range of foreign and domestic issues," reported Natalie Allison and Adam Wren. "They have been aided, their respective teams believe, by DeSantis’ decision to leave little daylight between himself and Trump on key topics, from the war in Ukraine to entitlement reform."