The opening phase of the Republican presidential primary has largely centered on former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ‘ escalating collision.

But a new wave of GOP White House hopefuls will begin entering the race as soon as next week following a months’-long lull. They include former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who will formally launch his campaign Wednesday.

Former Vice President Mike Pence has said he will finalize his plans in “weeks, not months.” He has kept a busy schedule of early state visits and policy speeches as aides have discussed details of an announcement including dates as early as May, but more likely in June. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who has formed a presidential exploratory committee, is expected to join the race in a similar time frame.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, meanwhile, has been meeting with former aides and returned to New Hampshire this week, where he told the first-in-the-nation primary state that, “Tonight is the beginning of the case against Donald Trump.” He has said he will make a decision “in the next couple of weeks.”

The contenders will enter the race at a critical moment as DeSantis, who hasn’t officially announced a campaign, has struggled to live up to sky-high expectations among some early backers.

Read more from the Associated Press:

Donald Trump offered supporters a bite of his left-over pizza as he visited a Florida restaurant after giving a speech.

Video from the former president’s trip to Downtown House of Pizza in Fort Myers on Friday night showed him biting a slice before asking, “Does anybody want a piece that I’ve eaten?”

No one took him up on the offer as the enthused crowd chanted: “Trump! Trump! Trump!”

Viewers sounding off on social media expressed their horror at the idea of sharing a half-eaten slice.

The Independent’s Graeme Massie reports:

Leaked text messages reveal that operatives for Donald Trump allegedly discussed using breached voter data in Georgia to overturn the 2020 presidential election, according to new a report.

Two men working for the former president in January 2021 also allegedly talked about the possibility of the data being used in an attempt to decertify the state’s pivotal Senate runoffs, according to CNN.

Republicans lost control of the US Senate to the Democrats when Jon Ossoff beat Republican David Perdue, which left the upper chamber of Congress tied at 50 votes each giving vice president Kamala Harris the vote to break all ties.

The news network reports that the messages were exchanged two weeks after the operatives allegedly breached the voting machine in Georgia’s Coffee County.

“Here’s the plan. Let’s keep this close hold,” wrote Jim Penrose, a former NSA official working with Trump lawyer Sidney Powell to access voting machines in Georgia, CNN reports.

Despite Donald Trump’s frequent boasting of his popularity in the 2024 presidential race, a recent poll shows a whopping 44 per cent of Republicans don’t want him to run at all.

The poll from the Associated Press and the University of Chicago’s research centre NORC, released on Thursday, highlights trouble ahead for the former president.

Overall, 70 per cent of Americans said they don’t want Mr Trump to run for reelection.

That includes 93 per cent of Democrats, 63 per cent of independents and 44 per cent of Republicans.

However, the poll showed 68 per cent of Republicans hold a favourable view of Mr Trump – compared with just 4 per cent of Democrats and 34 per cent of respondents overall.

Members of the House Judiciary Committee with be permitted to ask Mr Pomerantz questions under oath on 12 May.

“We are pleased with this resolution, which ensures any questioning of our former employee will take place in the presence of our General Counsel on a reasonable, agreed upon timeframe,” the statement from the Manhattan DA says.

It continued, “Our successful stay of this subpoena blocked the immediate deposition and afforded us the time necessary to coordinate with the House Judiciary Committee on an agreement that protects the District Attorney’s privileges and interests.”

The Independent’s Ariana Baio reports:

Adam Laxalt, the former Nevada attorney general and longtime ally of Donald Trump, appears to be throwing his weight behind rival Ron DeSantis in the 2024 race.

Mr Laxalt will help lead the Never Back Down super PAC encouraging Mr DeSantis to take on Mr Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, the PAC announced Saturday.

Mr Laxalt and Mr DeSantis have a long history, having roomed together at the Naval Justice School years back.

But despite their long friendship, the move to support Mr DeSantis will likely anger Mr Trump, whose campaign Mr Laxalt chaired in Nevada in 2020.

Donald Trump kicked off his Saturday morning with a Truth Social post bragging about his standing in the polls.

According to him, all media outlets aside from the Wall Street Journal show him ahead of President Joe Biden and Ron DeSantis “by a lot”.

“In the Polls, I am beat Biden everywhere, by a lot, except in the Globalist inspired Wall Street Journal, one of the worst, and most partisan, media outlets anywhere,” he wrote.

“It was that way with them in 2016, until I beat Crooked Hillary. Now they are using the same Fake Playbook, that I beat Ron DeSanctimonious easily, but Biden is close.

“All others media outlets have me beating both by a lot. Don’t buy their Bull…. They are FAKE NEWS!!!”

In reality, the latest polling does not show anyone leading by a significant margin, according to data compiled by Race to the White House.

Former president Donald Trump’s social media output in the hours since Fox News reached a $787m settlement with Dominion Voting Systems has included numerous posts promoting a series of digital trading cards he is selling, attacks on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and bizarre complaints about Elon Musk and alleged censorship on Twitter (where Mr Trump’s account has gone unused since it was restored earlier this year).

But Mr Trump has not weighed in on Fox’s decision to offer more than three-quarters of a billion dollars to Dominion rather than allow a Delaware jury to determine how much the right-wing network should pay for broadcasting repeated lies about the company’s products rather than report the truth because it was upsetting their audience.

E Jean Carroll released a memoir in 2019 which contained a list of men she encountered and a bombshell accusation: that she had been raped by the then-president of the United States 30 years earlier.

Not only did the accusation skyrocket her to mainstream media fame, but it sparked several civil lawsuits against Donald Trump.

Next week, Ms Carroll will take on Mr Trump’s attorneys representing him for defamation and rape.

But who is the pioneering advice columnist, author and TV talk show host who took on Mr Trump?

Donald Trump is continuing his attack on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, this time by releasing a list of statistics indicating Florida is not in good shape.

“The real DeSantis record is one of misery and despair,” Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Mr Trump wrote.

What followed was a list of statistics indicating Florida was a bad place to pay taxes, be safe, rent a home, have a baby, retire, die, be a teacher, be a doctor, be a police officer, be a working parent, and more.

Mr Trump resides in Palm Beach, Florida