Trump pressures DeSantis and Haley to drop out of 2024 race as he seeks quick win amid legal troubles, report says – live

Good morning,

Donald Trump is quietly pressuring his Republican opponents to drop out of the 2024 presidential race amid his mounting legal troubles, according to reports.

The ex-president has been calling allies of Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley to convince them that the race is over, Vanity Fair reports.

“The plan is to back all the donors and Fox off [the other candidates] and close it out by next Wednesday,” a Republican source close to Trump told the outlet.

Reports of Trump pressuring rivals to drop out as he seeks a quick win in the race come amid his legal woes surrounding election interference, fraud, defamation and hush money payments, among other charges.

Earlier this week, Trump made a glowering appearance in a Manhattan courthouse as E Jean Carroll testified in her defamation trial against him. At one point, Trump responded to Judge Lewis Kaplan’s threat to kick him out of court by saying: “I would love it.”

Here are other developments in US politics:

• Fulton county judge Scott McAfee, who is overseeing the 2020 racketeering case against Trump and his allies, has scheduled a hearing for next month over district attorney Fani Willis’s conflict-of-interest claims.

• The upcoming 51st anniversary of Roe v Wade has become a focal point for both Democratic and Republican lawmakers as both sides once again turn up the heat on abortion-related campaigning.

• Hunter Biden, who has insisted on testifying publicly, has agreed to appear before House Republicans for a private deposition next month.