President Joe Biden would be vaulted to a massive lead over Donald Trump if the former president faces further criminal charges from the federal and state criminal investigations into his conduct, according to a new poll obtained by The Independent.

The poll of 1,571 registered voters was conducted by WPA Research, a Republican polling firm. The CEO of WPA is an adviser to Never Back Down, the Super PAC supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, but the survey was conducted independently without his input and was not sponsored by the Super PAC.

It found that voters currently prefer Mr Biden over Mr Trump by a margin of 47 per cent to 40 per cent, including a 14-point lead for the sitting president among registered independents.

FBI officials repeatedly violated their own standards when they searched a vast repository of foreign intelligence for information related to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol and racial justice protests in 2020, according to a heavily blacked-out court order released Friday.

FBI officials said the violations predated a series of corrective measures that started in the summer of 2021 and continued last year.

But the problems could nonetheless complicate FBI and Justice Department efforts to receive congressional reauthorization of a warrantless surveillance program that law enforcement officials say is needed to counterterrorism, espionage and international cybercrime.

The Georgia prosecutor investigating whether former president Donald Trump and his allies broke the law while trying to overturn his 2020 election in Georgia is seemingly hinting that any grand jury indictments in the case would likely come in August.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis sent a letter on Thursday to other Fulton County judges indicating that she plans to have much of her staff work remotely during the first three weeks of August.

In the letter, Ms Willis asked that judges not schedule trials and in-person hearings during part of that time.

“Thank you for your consideration and assistance in keeping the Fulton County Judicial Complex safe during this time,” Willis wrote in the letter, first reported by The New York Times.

The Georgia investigation is one of several that threatens his campaign for 2024 president.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is confident in his abilities to win the 2024 presidential election, according to statements he made on a call as heard by The New York Times.

On Thursday, Mr DeSantis reportedly called donors and supporters to unofficially declare his campaign.

On the call, Mr DeSantis allegedly said, “You have basically three people at this point that are credible in this whole thing,- Biden, Trump and me.”

“And I think of those three, two have a chance to get elected president — Biden and me, based on all the data in the swing states, which is not great for the former president and probably insurmountable because people aren’t going to change their view of him,” Mr DeSantis added.

Donald Trump has again complained that he is the “victim” of what Republicans baselessly claim is the “weaponisation” of the federal government.

The one-term president made the remark in response to the Jim Jordan-led House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government hearing on Thursday.

The committee descended into chaos with lawmakers shouting at each other as two suspended FBI agents and one fired agent spoke about how the agency had retaliated against them for claims they had made about it.

The Georgia prosecutor investigating former president Donald Trump and his allies’ possible interference in the 2020 election has indicated there could be an indictment by August.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis sent a letter to Fulton County judges asking to not schedule trials during the first three weeks of August and announced remote working days for most of her staff.

Already, Ms Willis has requested additional security around the courthouse.

Ms Willis and her office have spent more than two years investigating the case.

Chris Christie, the former Governor of New Jersey and former presidential candidate, is apparently gearing up to announce another bid for 2024 president.

Mr Christie, who has been outspoken about his disdain for Donald Trump, told supporters last month during an event in New Hampshire that, “Tonight is the beginning of the case against Donald Trump.”

“You’re not going to beat someone by closing your eyes, clicking your heels together three times and saying, ‘There’s no place like home.’ That’s not going to work. In American politics, you want to beat somebody? You have to go get them,” he added.

Though Mr Christie has not formally announced a campaign, rumours are swirling that he may announce next week as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is also expected to.

CNN’s town hall with Donald Trump proved so divisive that even its own staff have taken issue with the event – with Christiane Amanpour the latest of the network’s high-profile names to voice their dissatisfaction.

The New Hampshire event drew 3.3 million viewers, who watched as the former president sparred with CNN moderator Kaitlan Collins, whom Mr Trump referred to as a “nasty person”.

Speaking in an address to Columbia Journalism School on Wednesday, Amanpour said if she were Collins, she would have “dropped the mic” as soon as Mr Trump called her nasty, adding that she had spoken with the network’s CEO Chris Licht and told him the ex-president should not have been able “to appear in that particular format”.

Former president Donald Trump’s campaign used the entrance of Sen Tim Scott (R – South Carolina) into the 2024 Republican presidential race to hit his main rival, Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

Mr Scott, the Senate’s sole Black Republican, filed paperwork to run for president. He is largely expected to announce his candidacy on Monday.

But Mr Trump’s campaign spokesman Taylor Budowich used Mr Scott’s planned announcement to continue the campaign’s attacks on Mr DeSantis.

A pair of federal law enforcement veterans who accused the FBI of drumming them out of service because of their conservative political beliefs have admitted to receiving money from a prominent ex-aide to former president Donald Trump, Kash Patel.

The shocking admission came during a Thursday hearing of the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponisation of the Federal Government.

The GOP-led panel has largely devoted its time to investigating conspiracy theories about social media companies’ cooperation with law enforcement, as well as advancing allegations that the Department of Justice probes into prominent Republicans who may have committed crimes are politically motivated.

Eric Garica and Andrew Feinberg report: