Donald Trump dives back into politics, Rudy Giuliani offers wild new Capitol riot theory

Donald Trump's personal lawyer has offered up a new conspiracy theory about the Capitol riot so wild that even Steve Bannon was stunned.

Former US president Donald Trump is back at work with a new goal in mind, as he identifies his political enemies and forges links with loyal allies.

Mr Trump has repeatedly asked those close to him about efforts to remove Liz Cheney from her position as third-highest ranking Republican in the House of Representatives after she voted in favour of impeaching him, CNN reports.

The former president has reportedly been showing off a poll commissioned by his Save America PAC, which purports to show that the vote by the daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney has damaged her standing in her home state of Wyoming.

Mr Trump also met with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy at his Palm Beach resort Mar-a-Lago on Thursday to discuss the 2022 midterm elections , according to a readout from Save America. The statement claimed Mr Trump "has agreed to work with Leader McCarthy" on retaking the majority in the House for the Republicans.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani has offered up a new, baseless conspiracy theory about the Capitol riot on January 6.

Mr Giuliani was interviewed on a podcast hosted by Steve Bannon, the former White House adviser who received a pardon from Mr Trump before he left office. They discussed the upcoming impeachment trial.

"The defence is going to have to show that this thing was planned, and a lot of the people involved in the planning – Antifa, and then even some right-wing groups were enemies of his – and that they were doing it in order to hurt him," Mr Giuliani said.

"Including some right-wing groups that operate for The Lincoln Project, or have been working for The Lincoln Project at various times.

"You have a couple of wolves in sheeps' clothing."

The Lincoln Project is a group run by anti-Trump Republicans. It's best known for running ads trolling the former president.

"Hold on, hang on, hang on, what – whoa, whoa, whoa. Right-wing groups like who?" Mr Bannon asked, interrupting.

"One of the people who organised this is well known for having worked with The Lincoln Project in the past. And also, also-" Mr Giuliani began, before Mr Bannon cut him off again.

"OK, but who is it? Rudy, we can't just say-" he said.

"You have to let me finish, Steve," Mr Giuliani told him.

Mr Bannon let him speak for a while, before circling back and trying again.

"But who's the guy working with The Lincoln Project?" he asked.

"He's, he's a – I don't know if I can reveal his name. Because we have that from anonymous sources," Mr Giuliani said.

"You're killing me. God, you're killing me," Mr Bannon remarked.

Read on for the latest updates from the US.