Trump to give first speech after leaving office – follow live CPAC updates

Rumours abound that the former president may use his CPAC speech today to announce his candidacy for the 2024 election.

“Trump will be the nominee if he decides to run,” Rick Tyler, a conservative strategist, has said.

Mitch McConnell has said he will “absolutely” support Mr Trump if the former president wins the Republican nomination.

Several Republican lawmakers said they could not attend Congress on Friday to vote for the coronavirus stimulus package due to the pandemic, but were due to appear in-person at the conservative conference taking place in Orlando, Florida, this weekend. 

According to CNN, the Republican lawmakers included those who were former US president Donald Trump’s closest allies – some of whom were scheduled to speak at this weekend’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Florida. 

The group of twelve House Republicans said they were unable to attend a number of votes in the House of Representatives that day “due to the ongoing public health emergency”, in a written letter seen by CNN.

Former Trump administration acting director of national intelligence and ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, teased a possible run for California governor in remarks on Saturday morning.

Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Orlando, Florida, Mr Grenell hinted that he may run to lead the most populous state in the US as current governor Gavin Newsom faces a recall effort by Republicans in the state.

He is reportedly due to discuss the possibility of a run with Donald Trump at dinner at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday night.

Republican congressman Matt Gaetz attacked the way Ted Cruz’s short-lived trip to Cancun, Mexico – amid a record-breaking winter storm – was reported by the media last week.

Former President Donald Trump will speak at the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Sunday, in what will be his first public speech since leaving office on 20 January.

There was confusion at the Conservative Political Action Conference when Marco Rubio’s opening remarks were suddenly removed from the agenda.

The Florida Senator had been scheduled to give the first speech of the day at 8.45am on Saturday, but was taken off the schedule, with no immediate explanation.

Just over twenty minutes after the scheduled start time, Mr Rubio tweeted out that an “unexpected family issue” meant that he was unable to make it to the event.

To fill time, conference organisers played a video package that included segments repeating the big lie about the 2020 election being stolen from Donald Trump, and Korean conservatives discussing blockchain technology voting.

In closing remarks spanning attacks on Joe Biden and outrage over right-wing grievances with The Muppets and Mr Potato Head, Donald Trump Jr said his father’s “Make America Great Again” agenda remains the “the future” of the Republican Party following his loss in the 2020 presidential election.

Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Republican of Tennessee expressed outrage at the CPAC conference that former President Donald Trump was often fact-checked by publications and social media sites, despite him repeatedly making false claims in tweets and speeches. 

During her speech in a segment called “America Uncancelled” she said: “First they decided they were going to fact-check him, the leader of the free world,” Ms Blackburn said. “And then they were going to block him. Send a message. And then they were going to temporarily ban him, then they were going to permanently ban him from Facebook and Twitter. The leader of the free world.”

Danielle Zoellner reports.

Senator Ted Cruz‘s speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference was widely mocked, as critics called the wide ranging talk “embarrassing.” 

Mr Cruz worked his way through numerous topics, including a joke about his trip to Cancun while the millions of people in his home state of Texasfaced massive power outages during single degree temperatures, his complaints about the media setting up a “new galactic empire” and complaints about mask usage during the pandemic a week after the US death count topped 500,000. 

Critics viewed the speech as Mr Cruz’s attempt to save face after his was widely criticised for leaving Texas during a state-wide power catastrophe, and viewed his rhetoric as his attempt to frame himself as a bomb-thrower in the same vein as Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene and Donald Trump Jr.

A crowd at the nation’s largest right-wing summit cheered for US Senator Josh Hawley as he announced that he objected to results from the 2020 presidential election after a deadly insurrection at the Capitol among Donald Trump’s supporters fuelled by his lie that the election was stolen from them.

“On January 6 I objected to the Electoral College certification – maybe you heard about it,” he said to a standing ovation at the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida on Friday. “I stood up, I said, ‘We ought to have a debate about election integrity’.”

He said “the left” has tried to “cancel me, censure me, expel me, shut me down” for his decision to try to block Electoral College results.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he said.

Alex Woodward has the story.