Trump opened up a marginal two percentage point lead over Joe Biden this week in the race for the White House, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, as voters consider the recent criminal convictions of both the Republican candidate and the president’s son Hunter Biden.

An estimated 41 per cent of registered voters in the two-day poll, which closed on Tuesday, said they would vote for Trump if the election were held today, while 39 per cent opted for the Democratic incumbent.

Some 20 per cent of voters said they remained undecided, were leaning toward third-party options or might not vote at all on November 5.

The Republican was so angry when the guilty verdict was read aloud at his New York hush money trial last month that he was heard afterwards subjecting Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House of Representatives, to a foul-mouthed rant by phone, according to a new report.

Politico’s Playbook newsletter recounts that the GOP presidential contender was overheard “dropping frequent F-bombs” in his call with Johnson on May 30 as he told the speaker: “We have to overturn this.”

Here’s our report.

A fundraising email blast from the chief political action committees supporting Trump shared a troubling new message yesterday: “Haul out the guillotine.”

The email went on to blast “sicko” Kathy Griffin for her 2017 image holding a mock-severed Trump head and instead accused his Democratic rivals of wanting to behead him.

“The SAD and HORRIFIC TRUTH is that this is STILL the Sick Dream of every Trump-Deranged lunatic out there!” the message says.

“And it’s not just me they want gone, THEY’RE REALLY COMING AFTER YOU! SICK SICK SICK!”

You would think it is surely not a good idea to be conjuring the image of a gallows on the day Trump returns to the US Capitol for the first time since his supporters demanded the lynching of Mike Pence but here we are.

Alex Woodard has this report.

The former Trump aide and far-right podcaster, who was recently sentenced to prison, is asking a judge to intervene and keep him out of jail so that he can fulfill his “important” role in the Trump campaign.

Bannon filed an emergency motion to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday, asking it to overturn a lower court’s order for him to report to prison on July 1.

He has asked for more time to appeal his contempt of Congress conviction – up to the Supreme Court if necessary – and continue serving as a “top advisor” to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.

Ariana Baio reports.

Here’s more on Trump’s interestingly rueful tone as he handed a stack of merch to Logan Paul and co-host Mike Majlak earlier.

A group of House Democrats has launched a task force to combat a right-wing think tank’s roadmap for Trump’s agenda if he returns to the White House.

Project 2025 – a blueprint for Trump’s presidency spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation and Trump’s former aides and allies – is essentially a wishlist for his administration with plans to expand his executive authority and replace civil servants with ideologically-aligned appointees.

At the core of the plan is the gutting of checks and balances that would give Trump unprecedented, concentrated executive authority over federal agencies.

Alex Woodward has more.

Desperate to return to the presidency for a belated second season, the Republican is selling off his legislative agenda to donors – even when that means reversing old promises.

Richard Hall and Andrew Feinberg report.

Almost half of all Americans approve of Trump’s conviction at his New York hush money trial last month, a new AP-NORC poll shows.

Forty-eight percent approve of the verdict, according to the survey, while 29 per cent disapprove and 21 per cent say they have no opinion.

Gustaf Kilander takes a closer look.

Nathan Wade gave an interview to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins last night in which he said of the prospect of a future President Trump facing justice in his state: “I don’t believe it looks good to the rest of the world. But I don’t think there is anything that would prevent that from happening.”

He also said that his personal relationship with Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis, which forced him to leave the Trump case, was simply a matter of “bad timing”.

Here’s Alex Lang’s report.

While the former president plans to address the Republican congressional conference today in the hope of unifying the party, his detractors don’t plan to listen to him at all, writes Eric Garcia.