Trump found liable in New York financial fraud lawsuit: Live
A New York judge has found Donald Trump liable for fraud and has canceled his Trump Organization’s business certification after determining that the former president falsely inflated his wealth and assets as he built his business empire.
A ruling from Judge Arthur F Engoron on 26 September partially granted New York Attorney General Letitia James’s motion for a summary judgment that found Mr Trump, his two adult sons and chief business associates provided fraudulent financial statements to lenders and insurers for about a decade to secure deals and financing.
The decision follows a $250m civil suit from Ms James, whose investigation targeted long-running fraud allegations surrounding Mr Trump’s businesses.
Judge Engoron’s ruling deals a major blow to the former president as he seeks the Republican nomination for president while battling several criminal indictments and trials in the coming weeks and months.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump will skip the second Republican primary debate on Wednesday and will instead travel to Michigan to speak to striking autoworkers, one day after President Joe Biden joined a picket line to stand with workers amid the high-profile strike.
Key Points
Donald Trump defrauded banks and insurers by grossly inflating his wealth, judge rules
VOICES: Union Joe versus Donald the mogul in Michigan
Georgia juror names in Trump case will be kept secret following request from prosecutors over security fears
A poll showing Trump 10 points ahead of Biden is being ridiculed. Here’s why
Trump rants against automatic voter registration in Pennsylvania as ‘disaster for Republicans’
Trump lawyers slams gag order request, calling it attempt to ‘unconstitutionally silence’ campaign
07:00 , Gustaf Kilander
Former President Donald Trump’s legal team is arguing that the office of Special Counsel Jack Smith is attempting to “unconstitutionally silence” his political speech with their request for a narrow gag order in the Washington DC federal election subversion case.
Lawyers for Mr Trump argued in a late Monday filing that Judge Tanya Chutkan should reject the suggestion that the former president be barred from making inciting and threatening statements about witnesses, lawyers, and others connected to the case.
The Trump attorneys have called the ploy a “desperate effort at censorship” which would make Mr Trump unable to share his version of events as he runs for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
“The prosecution may not like President Trump’s entirely valid criticisms, but neither it nor this Court are the filter for what the public may hear,” the lawyers said. “If the prosecution wishes to avoid criticism for abusing its power, the solution is simple: stop abusing its power. The Constitution allows no alternative.”
When arguing for the gag order earlier this month, the office of the special counsel noted that Mr Trump has a habit of making “false and inflammatory” statements regarding the case in addition to outbursts intended to threaten those he believes may serve as witnesses for the prosecution.
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Eric Trump claims Mar-a-Lago ‘speculated to be worth over a billion’
06:30 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
Eric Trump, the former president’s second son, has claimed that his father’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida is speculated to be worth “over a billion”.
A judge in New York has found Donald Trump liable for fraud for falsely inflating his wealth and assets as he built his business empire.
The judge said Mr Trump overvalued Mar-a-Lago, estimating it was worth as much as $612.1m, though an assessor said its market value was no more than $27.6m.
“In an attempt to destroy my father, a Judge in New York just ruled that Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach Florida is worth approximate ‘$18 Million dollars’,” Eric Trump wrote on Truth Social.
He then argued that the property was worth “over a billion”, making it “arguably the most valuable residential property in the country”.
“It is all so coordinated and corrupt.”
VOICES: Democrats stood by Bob Menendez in his last corruption trial. Why is it so different now?
06:00 , Eric Garcia
Initially, when a grand jury indicted Sen Bob Menendez (D-NJ) on Friday, it looked like he might once again survive. After all, the last time he was indicted, a hung jury saved him. His colleague from New Jersey, Sen Cory Booker, even testified to his character in 2017 despite the fact that Mr Booker wanted to run for president.
When the trial was done, he returned to his perch atop the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and delivered a quintessentially New Jersey warning to his political foes that would make Tony Soprano tell him to tone it down.
“To those who left me, who abandoned me in my darkest moment, I forgive you,” he said. “To those who were digging my political grave so they could jump into my seat, I know who you are and I won’t forget you.”
That seems to have changed over the weekend. New Jersey’s Democratic Gov Phil Murphy called on him to resign, as did much of New Jersey’s Democratic congressional delegation save for his son, Rep Rob Menendez.
Unsurprisingly, the Senate is taking longer in showing Mr Menendez the door. Despite the partisan rancor, the upper chamber of Congress has always been clubbier than the rowdy House of Representatives. With only 100 members, they tend to see each other more and the existence of the filibuster requires them to cooperate more. Oftentimes, if a state has Senators from two separate parties, they won’t campaign against each other since it’s considered a breach of decorum.
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Trump lashes out at attorney general Letitia James
05:31 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar
Donald Trump on Monday lashed out at attorney general Letitia James after a court in New York found him liable for fraud and canceled his Trump Organization’s business certification.
"The widespread, radical attack against me, my family and my supporters has now devolved to new, un-American depths, at the hands of a DERANGED New York State Judge, doing the bidding of a completely biased and corrupt 'Prosecutor', Letitia James, who ran for office based on a 'GET TRUMP' platform, before even knowing anything about me," the former president said on Truth Social.
In a separate post, he added: "My Civil Rights have been violated, and some Appellate Court, whether Federal or State, must reverse this horribe, un-American decision. If they can do this to me, they can do this to YOU.”
Trump claims Fox News is suffering from laryngitis
05:00 , Gustaf Kilander
Donald Trump took to Truth Social to mock Fox News, joking that the network’s “voice” was suffering from an inflammation.
“Fox News was our VOICE, but sadly, that VOICE has developed a serious case of Laryngitis!!!” the former president wrote on Tuesday.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Trump was clearly upset at the focus on the other candidates in the Republican presidential primary.
“I watched Fox & Friends this morning, and it is totally unrecognizable. All they do is ‘gush’ over job seeking candidates that are 50 Points, plus, down to your favorite President, or speak endlessly about people that will never run and, without cheating, could never win…And whatever happened to Steve? No wonder their ratings are way down. MAGA!” he wrote.
Mr Trump also bashed one of the moderators for Wednesday night’s Republican debate, which the ex-president will not attend.
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Trump appears to confuse George W Bush with his brother Jeb in rambling speech
04:00 , Mike Bedigan
Weeks after challenging his political rivals to a mental acuity test, Donald Trump seemed to confuse members of the Bush family as he recalled his 2016 presidential election campaign.
The former US president referred to his previous rival for the Republican nomination, Jeb Bush, as the person who “got us into the Middle East” – apparently mistaking him for his brother, former president George W Bush.
George W Bush, who served as America’s 43rd president, ordered US troops into Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks.
His younger brother Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, ran against Mr Trump for the Republican nomination in 2016, but lost out in the South Carolina primary.
During the primary, Mr Bush received just under 8 per cent of the vote, while Mr Trump stormed to victory with over 32 per cent.
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Fox News cuts away from Trump’s speech as he boasts about Tucker Carlson interview
03:15 , Graig Graziosi
Fox News abruptly cut away from Donald Trump‘s rally speech in South Carolina when the former president began insulting the network’s ratings and boosting its former top host, Tucker Carlson.
Mr Trump campaigned in South Carolina on Monday, and Fox News carried his speech uninterrupted for 20 minutes.
Just after 3.10pm EST, Mr Trump began speaking about the “ridiculous debates that nobody’s watching,” referencing Fox News’ first Republican presidential primary debate.
Mr Trump skipped that debate, and made sure everyone knew he was going to snub the event.
He called the debate “the lowest rated debate in history,” which is a nonsense statistic, before reminding the crowd that he decided to spend his evening with another conservative media figure.
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Georgia juror names in Trump case will be kept secret following request from prosecutors over security fears
02:30 , Alex Woodward
Jurors who will participate in a sprawling criminal case against Donald Trump and 18 of his allies for their alleged efforts to overturn election results in Georgia will not be publicly identified by name, according to a ruling from the judge presiding over the case.
An order from Fulton County Supreme Court Judge Scott McAfee on 25 September prohibits filming or photographing jurors and prospective jurors and recording their conversations or statements.
None of the parties involved in the case may disclose any identifiable information about them – including their names, addresses, phone numbers and employment information – or the contents of juror questionnaires or other jury notes and documents, unless permitted by the court.
The response follows security concerns from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, whose office cited fears that the case could be compromised and the defendants’ right to a fair trial “endangered” if “the identities of the jurors become known to the public” after a wave of online threats towards grand jurors who voted to indict the former president.
Prosecutors sought a court order to block the former president and his co-defendants, as well as members of the press and others in the court, from disclosing information about the jury pool.
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Tucker Carlson aired DeSantis dog-kicking claims in book before public denial, author claims
01:45 , Gustaf Kilander
Author Michael Wolff has claimed that Tucker Carlson was the source for his claim that Florida Governor and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis shoved and possibly also kicked the rightwing pundit’s dog during a lunch.
Mr Wolff told Mediaite’s podcast The Interview that Mr Carlson told him about the awkward incident before the broadcaster then chose to deny the allegation.
The author writes in his new book The Fall: The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Dynasty that Mr DeSantis and his wife Casey DeSantis had dinner with Mr Carlson and his wife Susie at their home in Boca Grande on Gasparilla Island on Florida’s western coast.
Mr Wolff writes that the DeSantises didn’t make a great impression on the couple, that the governor spoke in an “outdoor voice indoors,” that he focused on his own achievements, and that they had a complete “inability to read the room”.
The governor also allegedly “pushed” the Carlsons’ dog under the table.
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Trump shouted ‘Hang’ in his office while MAGA mob chanted ‘Hang Mike Pence’ on TV, Cassidy Hutchinson claims
01:00 , Kelly Rissman
Former President Donald Trump was heard repeatedly shouting the word “hang” in his office while live TV showed a mob of his supporters at the Capitol chanting “hang Mike Pence” during the January 6 riot, according to Cassidy Hutchinson’s bombshell new book.
In her new book Enough, the former White House aide recounted the events of the turbulent day — including what went on at the White House. She reported finding her former boss, Mark Meadows, in the oval dining room, where the “group is having a heated conversation about the rioters.”
She heard the president yelling while the TV was on, Ms Hutchinson wrote. “What is he saying? I can’t make it out. I hear him say ‘hang’ repeatedly. Hang? Hang? What’s that about? Mark hands his phone back to me. The cue for me to return to my desk.”
When she returned to her office, she started putting some of the pieces together when she came across a tweet from Mr Trump. The tweet read: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our constitution, giving states a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!”
Ms Hutchinson wrote, “I’m struggling to process what’s happening as Mark [Meadows], [White House counsels] Pat Cipollone, Pat Philbin, and [senior adviser] Eric Herschmann stumble back into the office. I overhear their conversation, and suddenly everything makes sense.”
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Cassidy Hutchinson claims Mark Meadows got drunk on White Claws at White House – as he didn’t know they contained alcohol
Wednesday 27 September 2023 00:15 , Ariana Baio
The first time Mark Meadows became intoxicated from alcohol was after he accidentally drank three White Claws in mid-November 2020, according to his former top aide Cassidy Hutchinson.
In her new memoir, Enough, Ms Hutchinson reveals what it was like working for Mr Meadows, who served as White House chief of staff under Donald Trump from March 2020 until January 2021.
Between her more serious claims of a chaotic work environment, Ms Hutchinson gave readers some insight into a lighthearted moment where Mr Meadows unknowingly drank alcohol.
Mr Meadows, a “dedicated and faithful” practicing Southern Baptist, does not drink alcohol and apparently never had until the moment he pulled a White Claw from his office refrigerator believing it to be a non-alcoholic seltzer.
In her book, Ms Hutchinson says a staffer put some of the hard seltzers in the refrigerator to celebrate after the 2020 election but forgot to remove leftover cans.
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Nancy Pelosi says it would ‘probably be a good idea’ for indicted Bob Menendez to resign from Senate
Tuesday 26 September 2023 23:30 , Eric Garcia
Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Monday night that it would likely be best if indicted Sen Bob Menendez would resign.
The former speaker appeared on Inside with Jen Psaki where the former Biden administration press secretary asked about Mr Menendez’s indictment and the fact that numerous New Jersey Democrats called on Mr Menendez to resign.
“I respect their position that they are taking, and the charges are formidable,” she said. She noted that in the House, many Democrats have called on New York Republican Rep George Santos to resign after he was indicted.
“Right now, sadly, because of the challenges that we face, because the skepticism exists in our country about governance about this Republican Party that doesn’t believe in governance,” she said. “We’ve gotta stay focused on that. And for that reason, it would probably be a good idea if he did resign.”
A grand jury indicted the New Jersey Democratic senator on Friday and charged him with bribery and corruption. The indictment said the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and his wife Nadine Menendez enjoyed a “corrupt relationship” with New Jersey real estate developer Fred Daibes and his associated Wael Hana and Jose Uribe.
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Trump visited gun store that sold weapon to racist mass shooter in Jacksonville
Tuesday 26 September 2023 22:45 , Bevan Hurley
Donald Trump visited a South Carolina gun store where a racist mass murderer who killed three people in a mass shooting at a Dollar General in Jacksonville bought at least one of his weapons.
The former president on Monday toured the Palmetto State Armory store in Summerville, where authorities say Ryan Palmeter purchased an AR-15 assault rifle that he used to shoot dead three Black people almost exactly one month earlier on 26 August.
Mr Trump posed with a Glock handgun with his face engraved on the grip, and was heard bragging “I want one” in a video posted to social media by his campaign manager Steven Cheung.
Mr Cheung wrote in a since-deleted post on X that Mr Trump had purchased the gun, before backtracking after the Trump campaign was informed by media that it would be a felony to purchase a firearm while under criminal indictment.
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Cassidy Hutchinson urges Republicans to stand up to Trump: ‘We can’t wait any longer’
Tuesday 26 September 2023 22:13 , John Bowden
Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson excoriated Donald Trump in an interview and urged members of her own party to consider that a second term in office for the ex-president could be a threat to the future of US democracy.
Ms Hutchinson was speaking with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, and asked her fellow Republicans to consider the seriousness of the matter, pointing to Mr Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election even after his legal challenges had all failed in the courts.
“Do we want people who have already shown that they are willing and want to overthrow an election for a duly elected president, which is the pinnacle of our democracy – do we want to put people like that back in power?” she asked.
Ms Hutchinson also touched on the criminal case against Mr Trump for mishandling classified US defence documents, arguing that it was another disqualifying factor against the former president.
“Do we want to put people back in power that have mishandled, and have been showed to have mishandled, the most sensitive national security secrets that our nation has?” Ms Hutchinson continued.
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Cassidy Hutchinson denies Matt Gaetz’s claim they dated: ‘I have much higher standards’
Tuesday 26 September 2023 22:00 , Rachel Sharp
Cassidy Hutchinson has hit back at Matt Gaetz’s claims that the pair used to date by saying that she has “much higher standards in men”.
Speaking to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Monday night, the former White House aide offered a scathing takedown of the MAGA Republican.
“I never dated Matt Gaetz,” she said. “I have much higher standards in men, and Matt, frankly, is a very unserious politician.
“We see that today with the ruckus that he is causing on Capitol Hill with the spending negotiations. And I don’t really have much else to say to somebody that is more concerned about a sound bite than actually passing legislation.”
Ms Hutchinson, who served as an aide to Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, has disclosed several shocking details about her time in the Trump administration in her bombshell new book Enough.
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Donald Trump defrauded banks and insurers by grossly inflating his wealth, judge rules
Tuesday 26 September 2023 21:38 , Alex Woodward
A New York judge has determined that Donald Trump committed fraud by falsely inflating his wealth and assets by billions of dollars, a partial conclusion to a sweeping lawsuit and a years-long investigation from the state’s attorney general taking aim at the former president’s business empire.
The ruling from Judge Arthur F Engoron on 26 September found that the former president and his company defraud banks and insurers by grossly overvaluing assets and exaggerating his network on documents to secure deals and financing.
The decision follows a $250m civil suit from New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose investigation targeted long-running fraud allegations surrounding Mr Trump’s business practices.
A decision arrived days before the start of a non-jury trial.
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With a government shutdown just days away, Congress is moving into crisis mode
Tuesday 26 September 2023 21:30 , Lisa Mascaro, Stephen Groves
With a government shutdown five days away, Congress is moving into crisis mode as Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces an insurgency from hard-right Republicans eager to slash spending even if it means curtailing federal services for millions of Americans.
There’s no clear path ahead as lawmakers return with tensions high and options limited. The House is expected to vote Tuesday evening on a package of bills to fund parts of the government, but it’s not at all clear that McCarthy has the support needed to move ahead.
Meanwhile, the Senate, trying to stave off a federal closure, is preparing its own bipartisan plan for a stopgap measure to buy some time and keep offices funded past Saturday’s deadline as work in Congress continues. But plans to tack on additional Ukraine aid have run into trouble as a number of Republicans in both the House and Senate oppose spending more money on the war effort.
Against the mounting chaos, President Joe Biden warned the Republican conservatives off their hardline tactics, saying funding the federal government is “one of the most basic fundamental responsibilities of Congress.”
Biden implored the House Republicans not to renege on the debt deal he struck earlier this year with McCarthy, which set the federal government funding levels and was signed into law after approval by both the House and Senate.
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As Gen. Milley steps down as chairman, his work on Ukraine is just one part of a complicated legacy
Tuesday 26 September 2023 21:00 , Lolita C. Baldor
On a frigid U.S. air base in Germany, the top U.S. military officer was in his element. Striding along the training area in his fatigues, Army Gen. Mark Milley bellowed at the Ukrainian troops gathered around him.
“Slava Ukraini!” he hollered, again and again, the “glory to Ukraine” battle cry. A bit nervously, the Ukrainians shouted back the traditional response, “Heroyam slava,” meaning glory to the heroes.
It was a classic scene of a powerful general rallying the troops, but one that would have made Biden administration officials wince. They’ve consistently stressed that this is Ukraine‘s war, not America’s, as they fear further escalating tensions with Moscow.
But Milley can’t help himself when he is in battle mode. He yelled encouragement and bantered with the soldiers as they learned how to use American weapons. Soon they’ll be back on the front lines fighting the Russians, he told them, so they’ll need to fight hard and use what they have learned.
As chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Milley has spent the better part of the last two years rallying allies to provide weapons for the Ukrainian forces. But as he leaves office at the end of the month, his work to support Ukraine will be just one part of a complicated and fractious legacy.
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Donald Trump, skipping GOP debate, eyes California delegate sweep in the state he loves to hate
Tuesday 26 September 2023 20:30 , Michael R. Blood
Few corners of the U.S. may be less hospitable to Donald Trump than California, where he lost by more than 5 million votes in the 2020 election. But as the former president seeks to return to the White House, the liberal bastion may give him an unlikely boost.
A state GOP rule change has opened the possibility that Trump could sweep each of the state’s 169 delegates on March 5, when California is among more than a dozen states participating in the so-called Super Tuesday contests. With Trump already leading his rivals in many state and national polls, a dominant performance in California could move him much closer to the GOP nomination.
“This race is quickly consolidating,” said GOP fundraiser Charles Moran, a Trump delegate in 2016 and 2020. With a win in California, he added, “I truly think Trump could take the nomination on Super Tuesday — then this is over.”
With less than four months before the Iowa caucuses officially kick off the GOP nomination process, the dynamics of the race could still change. But Trump is keeping a close eye on the state, where his most prominent Republican rivals will gather without him on Wednesday for the second presidential debate. While Trump is skipping the event, he has made sure to be in California on Friday to appear at the state’s GOP convention, where many of the people who will ultimately serve as delegates will be in attendance.
In what would be an ironic twist, the state where the former president is widely loathed outside his conservative base could help him tighten his grip on the Republican White House nomination.
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VIDEO: Trump bizarrely claims windmills are driving whales ‘crazy’ in South Carolina speech
Tuesday 26 September 2023 20:00 , Oliver Browning
Donald Trump said that windmills are “driving whales a little batty” and causing marine mammals to die “in numbers never seen before” as he went on a bizarre tirade in South Carolina.
The former president also attacked Joe Biden’s regulations on speed boats as he spoke at a rally in the town of Summerville on Monday 25 September.
Vowing to overturn the regulations on “day one” of a return to the White House, he criticised the speed limits put in place “to stop whale strikes”.
Mr Trump then turned the focus on “windmills” and said they are “causing whales to die in numbers never seen before”.
How the Post Office could decide the presidency in 2024
Tuesday 26 September 2023 19:30 , Richard Hall
The result of the next US presidential election could be decided by the efficiency of the humble postal service.
Since the coronavirus pandemic, voting by mail has become the norm for millions of Americans, and the practice is now central to each political party’s path to the White House. As legislative battles rage across the country over laws governing the practice, new research suggests that the performance of the postal service can have a small but noticeable impact on election turnout.
Put simply, this archaic, lumbering and traditionally apolitical institution may play a crucial role in the functioning of American democracy, and on the result of a vote to appoint the most powerful person on the planet.
“Across the board, this study shows that having better postal administration makes it more likely there will be more positive voter turnout outcomes linked to all mail voting laws,” said researcher Michael Ritter, of Washington State University, who published the study in the Election Law Journal this summer.
“Postal service administration is important for shaping the ability of people to vote by mail,” Mr Ritter told The Independent. “For example, it can capture, you know, how easily or readily people are able to receive election mail at their homes, how quickly that mail is transported to distribution facilities and to election ballot counting sites,” he added.
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Utah bookstore hit with bomb threat before drag queen story hour
Tuesday 26 September 2023 19:00 , Mike Bedigan
A Utah bookstore was forced to cancel an event featuring story-telling from a drag queen and evacuate its premises, following a bomb-threat.
Officers from the Salt Lake City Police Department responded to the incident at the King’s English Bookstore on Sunday morning.
Along with the force’s K-9 team, officers evacuated the building, but later determined that there was no threat to the community.
In a statement the SLCPD said an investigation into who made the threat and why was “ongoing”.
The event, promoted on the King’s English Bookstore’s social media, had been set to feature an appearance from drag-performer Tara Lipsyncki.
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Mike Lindell roamed Trump White House saying ‘we can still win’ days before Biden inauguration, book claims
Tuesday 26 September 2023 18:30 , Gustaf Kilander
Pillow salesman and election denier Mike Lindell was roaming the halls of the White House asserting that then-President Donald Trump would be able to remain in office just days before the inauguration of President Joe Biden.
Former aide to Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Cassidy Hutchinson, who later became a top witness for the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot, writes in her new memoir Enough that she encountered the MyPillow CEO at the White House on 15 January 2021 – nine days after the insurrection.
“We can still win,” Mr Lindell said as he walked around the building unescorted.
Worried about the “deep state,” the Trump White House was obsessed with secrecy, but still was relatively uncontrolled, allowing Mr Lindell to explore the compound.
Loyalty to Mr Trump was so important in his White House that staffers set up “leak traps” to find out who was giving information to the press, the book states.
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Biden joins striking auto workers on picket line in Michigan
Tuesday 26 September 2023 18:23 , Andrew Feinberg
President Joe Biden on Tuesday joined a United Auto Workers picket line outside a General Motors factory in Michigan, making a visible show of support for striking autoworkers and the US labor movement as the workers push for the “big three” automakers to honour their demands for better pay and benefits.
Mr Biden, speaking through a bullhorn, acknowledged the history of the moment by noting that he’d joined picket lines while a senator and as vice president, but never before as America’s chief executive.
The president told the workers that they deserved credit for helping save the American auto industry by agreeing to concessions during the 2008 financial crisis, and said that the automakers’ record profits since then should be used to reward the workers who helped earn those profits.
“The fact of the matter is is that you guys — the UAW — saved the automobile industry back in 2008 ... you gave up a lot and the companies were in trouble, but now they’re doing incredibly well,” he said. “And guess what? You should be doing incredibly well, too”.
The president said the workers should “stick with it” because they “deserve a significant raise and other benefits,” and to “get back what [they] lost” during the crisis.
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Trump ‘wants’ Glock pistol he can’t legally purchase during South Carolina gun store visit
Tuesday 26 September 2023 18:00 , Alex Woodward
Donald Trump, who is facing two separate federal indictments and dozens of criminal charges in four states, posed with a handgun with his face engraved on the grip during a tour of a gun store in South Carolina.
A social media post from a spokesperson for the former president said he bought the weapon, then clarified that he only wanted to, then deleted the post with a video of the exchange, in which Mr Trump can be heard telling the seller “I want to buy one” as he points to a bronze-coloured Glock pistol.
The clip was preserved by a social media account for the National Rifle Association, with a post stating that the leading candidate for the 2024 Republican nomination for president “falls in love with a Trump edition gun”.
Mr Trump posed with the gun alongside South Carolina’s Republican Attorney General Alan Wilson before a campaign rally.
Federal statutes prohibit firearm sales to any person who is under felony indictment, and lying on a transaction form to determine eligibility could also include additional criminal charges.
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Trump lawyers slams gag order request, calling it attempt to ‘unconstitutionally silence’ campaign
Tuesday 26 September 2023 17:30 , Gustaf Kilander
Former President Donald Trump’s legal team is arguing that the office of Special Counsel Jack Smith is attempting to “unconstitutionally silence” his political speech with their request for a narrow gag order in the Washington DC federal election subversion case.
Lawyers for Mr Trump argued in a late Monday filing that Judge Tanya Chutkan should reject the suggestion that the former president be barred from making inciting and threatening statements about witnesses, lawyers, and others connected to the case.
The Trump attorneys have called the ploy a “desperate effort at censorship” which would make Mr Trump unable to share his version of events as he runs for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
“The prosecution may not like President Trump’s entirely valid criticisms, but neither it nor this Court are the filter for what the public may hear,” the lawyers said. “If the prosecution wishes to avoid criticism for abusing its power, the solution is simple: stop abusing its power. The Constitution allows no alternative.”
When arguing for the gag order earlier this month, the office of the special counsel noted that Mr Trump has a habit of making “false and inflammatory” statements regarding the case in addition to outbursts intended to threaten those he believes may serve as witnesses for the prosecution.
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Trump shoutout to Lindsey Graham is drowned out by boos at South Carolina rally
Tuesday 26 September 2023 17:00 , Graig Graziosi
Donald Trump was met with a chorus of boos during a campaign visit to South Carolina when he mentioned the name of the state’s Senator Lindsey Graham.
The former president was campaigning in Summerville, South Carolina when he was forced to tamp down a sea of jeers after mentioning his “friend” Mr Graham.
“Another man who’s always there, he’s always — I tell you what, when I need help on the left, he’s great, he’s great. And he’s my friend too — Lindsey Graham,” Mr Trump said.
Boos immediately poured in from the crowd.
“Oh, no, no,” Mr Trump said, literally handwaving the crowd’s reaction.
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Cory Booker calls on fellow New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez to resign amid indictment
Tuesday 26 September 2023 16:57 , Eric Garcia
Sen Cory Booker (D-NJ) called on his fellow New Jersey Democratic Sen Bob Menendez to resign amid an indictment accusing Mr Menendez of bribery and corruption.
Mr Booker and Mr Menendez have worked together for a decade since Mr Booker won a special election in 2013 and the two are personally close.
“Sen Menendez is again facing a federal indictment, one that contains shocking allegations of corruption and specific, disturbing details of wrongdoing,” Mr Booker said in a statement. “I’ve found the allegations hard to reconcile with the person I know.”
Mr Booker’s words contrast from previous times. During Mr Menendez’s 2017 corruption trial, Mr Booker testified on Mr Menendez’s behalf.
He added that a jury of Mr Menendez’s peers will determine if he is guilty. But Mr Booker said Senators had a higher standard of conduct.
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Who qualified for the second Republican presidential debate – and who didn’t?
Tuesday 26 September 2023 16:30 , Faiza Saqib
Seven candidates are set to take the stage on Wednesday for the second Republican presidential debate.
Hosted by Fox Business Network and Univision, the debate will kick off at 9pm ET at Ronald Reagan’s presidential library in California.
Fox News Media’s Dana Perino and Stuart Varney and Univision’s Ilia Calderón will act as moderators.
In order to qualify, candidates needed to gain at least three per cent support in two national polls or three per cent in one national poll as well as two polls from four of the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.
The White House hopefuls also needed at least 50,000 unique donors, including at least 200 from 20 states or territories. They also had to sign the Republican National Comittee (RNC) pledge promising to support the party’s eventual nominee.
Trump thinks US veterans ‘don’t have cellphones’
Tuesday 26 September 2023 16:00 , Kelly Rissman
Donald Trump claimed that veterans “don’t have cellphones” while speaking at a campaign event in Summerville, South Carolina on Monday.
Mr Trump seemed to be trying to blast President Joe Biden’s handling of the surge of migrants at the US-Mexico border when his speech took an unexpected turn.
The 2024 GOP frontrunner started by discussing migrants, alleging, “Weirdest thing: they come in by the tens of thousands — sometimes by the day — and they all have cellphones. I’m saying, ‘Where do they get the cellphones?’”
“Everybody has a cellphone. They’re all talking on these beautiful cellphones. And they’re expensive ones, too, they’re nice ones,” he continued.
Mr Trump added: “Somebody who’s into that said, ‘Those are good phones,’ and then I say, ‘Who pays their bills?’”
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Biden is headed to Michigan to join the UAW picket line. He's all-in on showing his union bona fides
Tuesday 26 September 2023 15:30 , Seung Min Kim, Tom Krisher, Chris Megerian
President Joe Biden’s decision to stand alongside United Auto Workers picketers Tuesday on the 12th day of their strike against major carmakers underscores an allegiance to labor unions that appears to be unparalleled in presidential history.
Experts in presidential and U.S. labor history say they cannot recall an instance where a sitting president has joined an ongoing strike, even during the tenures of the more ardent pro-union presidents such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry Truman. Theodore Roosevelt invited labor leaders alongside mine operators to the White House amid a historic coal strike in 1902, a decision that was seen at the time as a rare embrace of unions as Roosevelt tried to resolve the dispute.
Lawmakers often appear at strikes to show solidarity with unions, and during his 2020 Democratic primary campaign, Biden and other presidential hopefuls joined a picket line of hundreds of casino workers in Las Vegas who were pushing for a contract with The Palms Casino Resort.
But sitting presidents, who have to balance the rights of workers with disruptions to the economy, supply chains and other facets of everyday life, have long wanted to stay out of the strike fray — until Biden.
“This is absolutely unprecedented. No president has ever walked a picket line before,” said Erik Loomis, a professor at the University of Rhode Island and an expert on U.S. labor history. Presidents historically “avoided direct participation in strikes. They saw themselves more as mediators. They did not see it as their place to directly intervene in a strike or in labor action.”
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Hunter Biden sues Rudy Giuliani over laptop left in Delaware repair shop
Tuesday 26 September 2023 15:19 , Rachel Sharp
Hunter Biden is suing Donald Trump’s former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani over the contents of the notorious laptop he reportedly left at a Delaware computer repair shop.
In a new lawsuit filed in US District Court in California on Tuesday morning, President Joe Biden’s son sued Mr Giuliani and his former attorney Robert Costello for alleged violations of computer fraud and data access over the laptop which infamously became fodder for right-wing attacks against both Hunter and his father.
The suit alleges that the data claimed to have been found on the laptop was tampered with both before and after it landed in the hands of Mr Giuliani and Mr Costello – leaving it unrecognisable to its apparent owner Hunter.
The two men then allegedly engaged in what has been described as a “total annihilation” of Hunter’s “digital privacy” and “data”.
“For the past many months and even years, Defendants have dedicated an extraordinary amount of time and energy toward looking for, hacking into, tampering with, manipulating, copying, disseminating, and generally obsessing over data that they were given that was taken or stolen from Plaintiff’s devices or storage platforms, including what Defendants claim to have obtained from Plaintiff’s alleged “laptop” computer,” the suit alleges.
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Supreme Court rejects Alabama’s Republican-drawn congressional map that discriminates against Black voters
Tuesday 26 September 2023 15:09 , Alex Woodward
The US Supreme Court has shot down an attempt from Alabama’s Republican leadership to revive the state’s map of congressional districts previously rejected by the nation’s high court for discriminating against Black voters.
With the order on 26 September, a court-appointed official will be able to move forward with drawing the boundaries for congressional districts ahead of 2024 elections, marking a major victory for voting rights advocates.
The order follows a federal court decision that struck down the state’s second attempt to redraw its congressional districts after a landmark ruling from the Supreme Court effectively ordered Alabama’s Republican-controlled state legislature to go back to the drawing board.
A three-judge panel in US District Court earlier this month said it was “deeply troubled” that the state approved a map that it “readily admits” does not meet its obligations to federal law.
“We are not aware of any other case in which a state legislature – faced with a federal court order declaring that its electoral plan unlawfully dilutes minority votes and requiring a plan that provides an additional opportunity district – responded with a plan that the state concedes does not provide that district,” the judges wrote in an order on 5 September.
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VIDEO: Trump bizarrely claims windmills are driving whales ‘crazy’ in South Carolina speech
Tuesday 26 September 2023 15:00 , Oliver Browning
Donald Trump said that windmills are “driving whales a little batty” and causing marine mammals to die “in numbers never seen before” as he went on a bizarre tirade in South Carolina.
The former president also attacked Joe Biden’s regulations on speed boats as he spoke at a rally in the town of Summerville on Monday 25 September.
Vowing to overturn the regulations on “day one” of a return to the White House, he criticised the speed limits put in place “to stop whale strikes”.
Mr Trump then turned the focus on “windmills” and said they are “causing whales to die in numbers never seen before”.
How white supremacist fight clubs are building covert far-right militias
Tuesday 26 September 2023 14:30 , Alex Woodward
White supremacist groups using the guise of fitness and martial arts to attract and grow their numbers are effectively creating a new militia network, with dozens of chapters forming in the US, Canada and across Europe within just three years, according to a newly published report from extremism researchers.
At least 46 so-called “active clubs” – which publicly promote “brotherhood” and training in combat sports and fitness while covertly advancing fascist and neo-Nazi agendas and preparing for large-scale violence – have sprouted in 34 states between 2020 and 2023, according to the report from the Counter Extremism Project.
That relatively rapid growth is alarming researchers who have closely tracked the explosion in far-right extremism and white supremacist movements in recent years, parallel to a surge in threats of political violence and violences towards marginalised groups.
“I’ve never seen a network in right-wing extremism grow so fast. Usually it takes years to build a transnational network,” report author and CEP adviser Alexander Ritzmann told VICE News, which first reported the research. “It’s concerning.”
While the groups outwardly promote group fitness events like boxing, jiu jitsu and other martial arts, the narratives surrounding their creation typically rely on white grievances and victimhood and empowerment through white supremacy, according to the report.
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GOP lawmaker joins Trump in suggesting Gen Mark Milley should be executed as a ‘traitor’
Tuesday 26 September 2023 14:00 , Eric Garcia
A Republican congressman who has previously posted a doctored animation of himself killing Democratic lawmakers joined former president Donald Trump in suggesting that Gen Mark Milley, the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, should be executed.
Rep Paul Gosar (R-AZ), a right-wing member of Congress, sent out his newsletter where he said that Gen Milley, whom he called a “homosexual-promoting-BLM-activist,” delayed sending the US National Guard to the Capitol during the January 6 riot.
“Of course, we now know that the deviant Milley was coordinating with Nancy Pelosi to hurt President Trump, and treasonously working behind Trump’s back,” Mr Gosar wrote.
“In a better society, quislings like the strange sodomy-promoting General Milley would be hung,” Mr Gosar said in his newsletter. “ He had one boss: President Trump, and instead he was secretly meeting with Pelosi and coordinating with her to hurt Trump. That is, when he wasn’t also secretly coordinating and sharing intelligence with the Chinese military. How this traitor remains in office is a question we need answered.”
Mr Gosar’s words echo those of Mr Trump, who raged over the weekend about the chairman and called for his execution.
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VOICES: Union Joe versus Donald the mogul in Michigan
Tuesday 26 September 2023 13:00 , Eric Garcia
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden will travel to Michigan to support striking auto workers. Likely not coincidentally, the visit will also come the day before former president Donald Trump will hold a rally in Detroit as the two try and tout their working-class bona fides.
In the past, both men have tried to show their support for working-class voters. When Barack Obama picked Mr Biden, a native of Scranton, Pennsylvania, pundits noted that he would have an appeal with “lunch pail” voters with whom Mr Obama struggled in his cage match against Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primary.
After their election, the Obama administration took action to bail out the auto industry after the 2008 financial crisis brought the industry that powers Detroit and much of the rest of the state to its knees. During much of the 2012 campaign, Mr Biden in his role as the attack dog, often repeated the line “Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive,” to contrast his boss with Republican nominee Mitt Romney, a native of Michigan and son of a beloved governor, who called for Detroit to go bankrupt.
But during that same time, Michigan shifted rightward, electing a Republican governor who turned the state long associated with unions into a right-to-work state. Similarly, in 2016, Mr Trump largely campaigned on jobs being shipped overseas and criticised the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which Mr Biden supported as a Senator and passed during the Clinton administration.
That message partly propelled Mr Trump when he shocked everyone and became the first Republican presidential candidate to win Michigan since George H W Bush in 1988, alongside heavily working-class states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
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Trump rants against automatic voter registration in Pennsylvania as ‘disaster for Republicans’
Tuesday 26 September 2023 12:00 , Gustaf Kilander
Donald Trump slammed automatic voter registration as a “disaster for the election of Republicans” following an announcement by Pennsylvania Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro.
The office of the governor said in a press release on 19 September that Pennsylvanians “who are obtaining new or renewed driver licenses and ID cards and are eligible to vote will be automatically taken through the voter registration application process unless they opt out of doing so”.
“Pennsylvania is at it again! The Radical Left Governor, Josh Shapiro, has just announced a switch to Automatic Voter Registration, a disaster for the Election of Republicans, including your favorite President, ME!” Mr Trump wrote just after midnight on Sunday.
“This is a totally Unconstitutional Act, and must be met harshly by Republican Leadership in Washington and Pennsylvania. Likewise, the RNC, and Ronna McDaniel, must spend their time working on this, instead of meaningless Debates where I am up by more than 50 points,” he added before launching into his mocking nicknames for his GOP primary rivals.
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A poll showing Trump 10 points ahead of Biden is being ridiculed. Here’s why
Tuesday 26 September 2023 11:00 , John Bowden
A new survey from The Washington Post and ABC News depicts a dire scenario for Democrats — Donald Trump up over Joe Biden by a solid 10-point margin.
But both Democrats and polling experts in the media are decrying the survey as an outlier. So what does that mean, and should the Biden campaign still be worried?
An outlier is any survey result that varies significantly from the statistical mean to the extent that it can sometimes skew the average.
The answer to the second question is a little less clear-cut than some of Mr Biden’s cheerleaders would admit. Yes, the Post/ABC poll is an outlier, by almost any definition of the word: Most national polling shows the race between the two politicians in a dead heat, with neither having a clear advantage once the margin of error is factored in.
A 10-point advantage for the former president is not currently reflected in any other polls from respected polling outfits, and the RealClearPolitics average of polls currently gives Mr Trump a 1.6-point advantage even with this newest survey included.
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Cassidy Hutchinson denies Matt Gaetz’s claim they dated: ‘I have much higher standards in men’
Tuesday 26 September 2023 10:40 , Rachel Sharp
Cassidy Hutchinson has hit back at Matt Gaetz’s claims that the pair used to date by saying that she has “much higher standards in men”.
Speaking to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Monday night, the former White House aide offered a scathing takedown of the MAGARepublican.
“I never dated Matt Gaetz,” she said.
“I have much higher standards in men, and Matt, frankly, is a very unserious politician.
“We see that today with the ruckus that he is causing on Capitol Hill with the spending negotiations. And I don’t really have much else to say to somebody that is more concerned about a sound bite than actually passing legislation.”
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Cassidy Hutchinson has brutal response to Matt Gaetz claim they dated
Did Trump buy a gun?
Tuesday 26 September 2023 10:24 , Rachel Sharp
Donald Trump, who is facing two separate federal indictments and dozens of criminal charges in four states, posed with a handgun with his face engraved on the grip during a tour of a gun store in South Carolina.
A social media post from a spokesperson for the former president said he bought the weapon, then clarified that he only wanted to, then deleted the post with a video of the exchange, in which Mr Trump can be heard telling the seller “I want to buy one” as he points to a bronze-coloured Glock pistol.
The clip was preserved by a social media account for the National Rifle Association, with a post stating that the leading candidate for the 2024 Republican nomination for president “falls in love with a Trump edition gun”.
Mr Trump posed with the gun alongside South Carolina’s Republican Attorney General Alan Wilson before a campaign rally.
Federal statutes prohibit firearm sales to any person who is under felony indictment, and lying on a transaction form to determine eligibility could also include additional criminal charges.
Mr Trump, who faces 91 criminal charges, and who famously told supporters in 2016 that he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” without losing voters, has vowed to protect and expand Second Amendment protections if elected, joining Republican candidates for the GOP’s nomination who have rejected the role of high-powered weapons and proliferation of firearms in the gun violence crisis.
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