Trump asks Supreme Court to grant him ‘absolute immunity’ in election interference case: Latest updates

At one stage of the process, this might have been major news but not now, as the Republican and Democratic nominees-presumptive took five steps further towards the inevitable with more wins in Ohio, Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Arizona on Tuesday.

John Bowden has the highlights of what was, nevertheless, a busy day in those states.

Aha, perhaps this is why.

Like the Prince of Wales, Trump too has a missing wife (although, in all fairness to them, she was seen out voting in Florida yesterday, albeit perhaps for the “none of the above” box on her ballot paper).

Here’s Martha McHardy with the latest from late-night.

Although he was less than sympathetic to Prince Harry in this interview, saying he had broken his late grandmother’s heart and threatening to deport him if he is found to have lied in his US visa application, Trump was rather more gallant to the missing-in-action Kate Middleton.

A false claim from Donald Trump?! What is this world coming to?

Although the US does account for the majority of Nato defence spending, the real figure is approximately 70 per cent.

And when it comes to direct contributions – money provided by members to cover organisational costs – the US contributes 16 per cent of the total, the same as Germany.

Trump was interviewed by Nigel Farage on GB News on Tuesday evening and modified his hostility to Nato, saying he would keep the US in the military alliance provided European countries “play fair” and “pay their fair share”.

The former president appeared to soften his rhetoric after causing alarm in February when he said at a rally that he would “encourage” Vladimir Putin’s Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to countries that did not meet their financial obligations to the defence pact.

Donald Trump’s lawyers have asked the US Supreme Court to grant their client “absolute immunity” from criminal prosecution for acts carried out while serving as president as part of their bid to get the federal election interference case against him dismissed.

Ahead of oral arguments on the question being heard on 25 April, the Republican candidate’s lawyers argued: “The court should restore the tradition and neutralise one of the greatest threats to the president’s separate power, a bedrock of our republic, in our nation’s history.

“The court should uphold the president’s immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts.”

On Monday, Judge Cannon instructed lawyers on both sides to file their proposed jury instructions by Tuesday 2 April on two topics related to two defence motions seeking to have the indictment against the former president dismissed outright.

On Monday, New York Judge Juan Merchan also rejected Mr Trump’s attempts to block testimony from Michael Cohen, his former attorney who allegedly supported a scheme to bury compromising details of Mr Trump’s affairs leading up to the 2016 presidential election.

Judge Merchan also rejected Mr Trump’s attempts to block testimony from former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who allegedly had an affair with Mr Trump before his presidency.

Donald Trump appeared to change his tone on Nato after the uproar over his previous comments saying that he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to members who don’t pay their fair share.

Speaking to former Brexit leader Nigel Farage on GB News, Mr Trump said the US would “100 per cent” back Nato members who pay up.

But he also asked, “Why should we guard these countries that have a lot of money?”

“Now they’re paying because of those comments that you saw two or three weeks ago,” he told Mr Farage.

Gustaf Kilander watched the interview and filed this report:

Donald Trump‘s hopes for a second presidential term may be damaged if he is convicted in a criminal trial, according to a new poll.

A Politico/Ipsos poll found that while a criminal conviction would not put an end to Mr Trump’s electoral ambitions, it could damage his chances in his rematch against Joe Biden in November.

More than a third of independents who responded to the poll said that a criminal conviction would make them less likely to support the former president later this year, according to Politico.

Those sentiments undermine a generally held belief among political analysts that Mr Trump’s legal woes will hurt him with potential voters.

Graig Graziosi has the details: