House Speaker, Ukraine War, Border Wall: Trump’s Influence Reaches a Post-Presidency Peak
A Republican leadership vacuum has allowed the former president to exert power over his party — and in the country — in a way that lacks much historical precedent.
From a House leadership contest to the southwestern border and a foreign war, Donald J. Trump’s influence this week seemed to pervade the nation’s politics more than it has since the first weeks after his exit from the White House.
Not since Jan. 27, 2021, when Representative Kevin McCarthy flew to Mar-a-Lago to mend the rift with Mr. Trump, has the former president’s sway been as widespread or as palpable.
More on the Investigations of Donald Trump (NYT)
- Under Strain: Former President Donald Trump’s legal defense team has found lawyers for others caught up in his prosecutions and has paid many of their legal bills. That arrangement may not be sustainable.
- The Trials: Three different prosecutors want to put Trump on trial in four different cities next year, all before Memorial Day and in the midst of his presidential campaign. It will be nearly impossible to pull off.
- Divergent Strategies: The election interference cases in Washington and Georgia rely on many of the same facts, documents and witnesses. But the approaches of the two prosecutors could not be more different.
- Trump’s Lies: The former president faces multiple charges related to his falsehoods about the 2020 election. We fact-checked some of his most repeated claims.