Trump questions ‘benefit’ of aiding Ukraine, challenges Biden to cognitive test- live

While Trump can be equally vicious to rivals and Republicans who cross him, he is frequently complimentary of his children — sometimes too complimentary — and lauded Barron’s athleticism in the interview.

Graig Graziosi has the story:

Donald Trump spoke at a meeting of major CEOs as part of his return to Washington, DC on Thursday as the assumed Republican candidate for president.

Several CEOs “said that [Trump] was remarkably meandering, could not keep a straight thought [and] was all over the map,” Sorkin said on Friday morning edition of Squawk Box.

He added that the same CEOs struck by Trump’s lack of focus “walked into the meeting being Trump supporter-ish or thinking that they might be leaning that direction”.

“These were people who I think might have been actually predisposed to [Trump, but] actually walked out of the room less predisposed” to him, Sorkin said.

One CEO who spoke to CNBC said “Trump doesn’t know what he’s talking about” and that he did not explain any of his policy proposals.

Sorkin told MSNBC’s Morning Joe later on Friday morning that at one point Trump discussed his plan to bring the corporate tax rate down from 21 per cent to 20 per cent … and was asked about why he had chosen that number.

“And he said, ‘Well, it’s a round number,” Sorkin reported. “That unto itself had a number of CEOs shaking their heads.”

Trump was reportedly subdued in the meeting and there was no noticeable applause from attendees according to two people. One speculated that a low-key approach may have been an attempt to make the event feel “more like a business meeting than a speech”.

CNBC reached out to the Trump campaign but did not receive any comment.

CNN has released the final details of the upcoming and highly anticipated live debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, due to take place in two weeks time.

The debate will be hosted by network anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash in Atlanta on June 27.

It will mark the first in-person showdown of the 2024 campaign between the president and his predecessor. Both men have accepted the network’s invitation and agreed to accept the rules and format of the debate, CNN said.

The 90-minute debate will include two commercial breaks and campaign staff may not interact with their candidate during that time.

Both candidates have agreed to appear at a uniform podium, and their podium positions will be determined by a coin flip.

Microphones will be muted throughout the debate except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak. While no props or pre-written notes will be allowed on the stage, candidates will be given a pen, a pad of paper and a bottle of water.

Unlike previous events, there will be no studio audience, something that Trump is known to have played off heavily in the past.

George Clooney appears to have mended fences with President Joe Biden as he and fellow A-lister Julia Roberts joined a star-studded Hollywood fundraising gala on Saturday night which raised $28million.

John Bowden has the story:

Donald Trump may be on the verge of setting aside another grudge within the Republican Party and elevating a former rival to be his running mate in 2024, writes John Bowden.

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Donald Trump suggested that Joe Biden “should have to take a cognitive test,” only to confuse who administered the test to him in the next sentence.

During a rally in Michigan on Saturday, the former president and presumptive Republican nominee referred to Texas Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson, who was the White House physician for part of his presidency, as “Ronny Johnson.”

The moment came as Trump was questioning Biden’s mental acuity, something he has done often on the campaign trail and social media.

“He doesn’t even know what the word ‘inflation’ means. I think he should take a cognitive test like I did,” the former president said of Biden during a speech at a convention of Turning Point Action in Detroit.

Trump took the cognitive test in 2018 at his own request, Jackson told reporters at the time. The exam is designed to detect early signs of memory loss and other mild cognitive impairment.