Trump news - live: White powder found in Manhattan prosecutor’s office as Mary Trump sabotages Waco rally

Oliver O'Connell

Donald Trump continues to ratchet up violent rhetoric and lash out on social media at New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg who is leading the probe into hush money payments allegedly made to Stormy Daniels.

After posting an image in which he appeared to wield a baseball bat beside Mr Bragg’s head, he later called him a “degenerate psychopath” while proclaiming no crime had been committed and warned of “potential death and destruction” if he is charged.

In the wake of Mr Trump’s violent rhetoric, an envelope containing white powder was found at the Manhattan DA’s office.

Meanwhile, Mary Trump, the former president’s niece, called on Americans to flood her uncle’s campaign website with ticket requests for his Saturday rally and then not show up leaving seats empty.

Writing on Twitter, Ms Trump said the Waco location is a ploy to remind his cult of the infamous 1993 siege, where an anti-government cult battled the FBI. A Texas newspaper published an editorial arguing the same point.

Key Points

White powder discovered in Manhattan DA’s office after Trump’s violent Truth Social posts

20:03 , Alex Woodward

White powder was discovered inside an envelope at the New York County district attorney’s office shortly after noon on 24 March, hours after former president Donald Trump raged at Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg and suggested “death and destruction” would follow any potential criminal indictment.

A grand jury has been convened to review evidence and hear witness testimony involving the former president’s alleged hush money payment to an adult film star in the lead up to the presidential election in 2016.

Mr Trump has repeatedly asserted that no crimes have been committed while accusing prosecutors of leading a politically motivated investigation. In a late-night post on 23 March, he wrote that “it is known” that “potential death [and] destruction” following a “false” charge against him would be “catastrophic for our country.” He also labelled Mr Bragg a “degenerate psychopath who truely [sic] hates the USA.”

Read more:

White powder discovered in Manhattan DA’s office hours after violent Trump posts

The danger of those Trump deepfake images

19:20 , Oliver O'Connell

Alex Woodward writes that the deepfakes served as a high-profile example of the kinds of viral phenomena relying on false images built with artificial intelligence programmes that could be used to spread harmful disinformation to spark unrest and disrupt news cycles and elections.

The danger of those Trump ‘deepfake’ images

Trump’s history of courting violence collides with Waco campaign rally

18:40 , Oliver O'Connell

Josh Marcus writes:

Mr Trump, cornered by several investigations and predicting his own arrest in at least one of them, will hold his first 2024 presidential campaign rally in the city of Waco, Texas – in the middle of the 30th anniversary of the deadly 51-day siege that galvanised the far right and set the stage for the modern militia movement.

Read more...

‘Playing with fire’: Trump’s history of courting violence collides with Waco rally

Is the Trump hush money case comparable to Bill Clinton and John Edwards scandals?

18:20 , Oliver O'Connell

Podcaster Joe Rogan compared Donald Trump’s hush money case involving payments to Stormy Daniels to two previous scandals involving formerly centre-stage US politicians during his show this week.

Is there a comparison?

Joe Rogan compares Trump hush money to Bill Clinton and John Edwards scandals

Trump posts picture of himself wielding baseball bat next to Alvin Bragg’s head

18:02 , Oliver O'Connell

Donald Trump sparked anger by posting a picture of himself holding a baseball bat next to the head of the Manhattan District Attorney leading an investigation into him.

Mr Trump posted an article to his social media platform Truth Social which included a composite picture of himself next to Alvin Bragg, who has accused the one-term president of creating “a false expectation” of being arrested this week.

Graeme Massie has the story.

Trump posts picture of himself wielding baseball bat next to Alvin Bragg’s head

Jan 6 probe: Mark Meadows and other ex-Trump aides ordered to give evidence

17:45 , Oliver O'Connell

A federal judge in Washington has rejected former president Donald Trump’s attempt to keep his ex-chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and a large group of other former top White House and Trump administration officials from having to give evidence before the grand jury investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, DC.

Mark Meadows and other ex-Trump aides ordered to give evidence in Jan 6 probe

Latest: Grand jury to continue hearing Trump case next week

17:32 , Oliver O'Connell

A grand jury in New York City investigating Donald Trump’s alleged role in a scheme to pay hush money payments to an adult film star will likely continue considering the case on 27 March, when the panel is scheduled to meet next.

Alex Woodward has the details.

Grand jury not expected to consider Trump hush money payments today, reports say

Judge rejects claims of Trump executive privilege and order Meadows to testify in Jan 6 probe

17:05 , Oliver O'Connell

ABC News reports that Judge Beryl Howell has rejected former president Donald Trump’s claims of executive privilege and ordered Mark Meadows and other top aides from the administration to testify in the Justice Departments January 6 probe.

The network cites multiple sources familiar with last week’s sealed order.

Meadows and others were subpoenaed by Special counsel Jack Smith for testimony and documents relating to the investigation of the events leading up to the 2021 Capitol riot.

Trump’s former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, his former national security adviser Robert O’Brien, former top aide Stephen Miller, and former deputy chief of staff and social media director Dan Scavino, are also reported to be covered by the order, in addition to aides Nick Luna and John McEntee, along with former top DHS official Ken Cuccinelli.

More follows...

Missing Trump portrait found next to pile of yoga mats

17:00 , Oliver O'Connell

The missing portrait of Donald Trump — a present from El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, given to Mr Trump in his last year in office — has been located in the basement of one of his hotels.

Per The New York Times:

In the bowels of the Trump National Doral hotel in Miami, in a small space leading to electrical rooms, an enormous portrait of the 45th president of the United States rests on a piece of deteriorating purple-colored foam.

Stored next to a stack of old yoga mats, the former president’s portrait sits underneath a halogen light and the metal sheen of air ducts, propped between two doors with placards that read “ELECTRICAL ROOM No Storage.”

The tiny room is overwhelmed by the grandiose portrait, standing about eight feet tall and featuring a grinning Donald J. Trump.

While the portrait has apparently sat there ignored for months, back in Washington, it is at the center of a debate over the laws and ethics covering presidential gifts.

Here’s Josh Marcus with the background on this debate:

Trump didn’t report $300k of gifts to State Department, committee says

Hakeem Jeffries: Trump ‘has not learned his lesson’ after inciting Jan 6

16:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Mary Trump tries to sabotage uncle’s Waco rally

16:40 , Oliver O'Connell

Mary Trump, the clinical psychologist and author who is former president Donald Trump’s niece, has called on Americans to flood her uncle’s campaign website with ticket requests for his 25 March rally in Waco, Texas, so tickets will be allocated to people who won’t show up for the event.

Writing on Twitter, Ms Trump wrote that the Waco location is “a ploy to remind his cult of the infamous Waco siege of 1993, where an anti-government cult battled the FBI”.

Andrew Feinberg reports.

Mary Trump tries to sabotage Trump’s Waco rally by filling venue with no-shows

Ahead of Waco rally, Texas newspaper slams ‘bombastic, bullying’ Trump

16:20 , Oliver O'Connell

A Texas newspaper has lambasted former president Donald Trump’s decision to hold his first 2024 presidential campaign rally not far from the site of the deadly law enforcement siege in Waco, Texas, an event that galvanised far-right conspiracy theories as a symbol of violent government overreach.

Alex Woodward reports.

Texas newspaper slams ‘bombastic, bullying’ Trump for ‘stoking the fires of Waco’

Trump officials pushed to weaken toxic ‘forever’ chemical report, watchdog finds

16:00 , Oliver O'Connell

The watchdog for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found that Trump administration appointees to the agency intervened to weaken scientific findings on a toxic substance.

Louise Boyle has the story.

Watchdog finds Trump officials pushed to weaken toxic ‘forever’ chemical report

Mary Trump tries to derail her uncle’s Waco rally with no-shows

15:52 , Oliver O'Connell

Mary Trump, former president Donald Trump’s niece, has asked for help in derailing his rally in Waco, Texas, tomorrow.

Describing it as “a ploy to remind his cult of the infamous Waco siege of 1993, where an anti-government cult battled the FBI”, she reminded her followers that scores of people died and “he wants the same violent chaos to rescue him from justice”.

She then directed people to book out the venue to try and ensure there are plenty of empty seats on Saturday night.

Trump shares deepfake photo of himself praying

15:40 , Oliver O'Connell

Shweta Sharma has the full story.

Trump shares deepfake photo of himself praying as AI images of arrest spread online

Report claims Melania still angry at Trump over Stormy Daniels hush money case

15:20 , Oliver O'Connell

Former first lady Melania Trump is reportedly keeping to herself and avoiding any talk of her husband’s legal woes as a New York prosecutor considers whether to indict former president Donald Trump over falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments he made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the waning days of his 2016 presidential campaign.

Read on:

Distant Melania still angry over Stormy Daniels hush money case, report claims

Another Trump lawyer gave evidence in Mar-a-Lago papers probe last year

15:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Another attorney for former president Donald Trump said he appeared before the Washington DC grand jury probing whether the twice-impeached ex-president broke US law by unlawfully retaining classified documents at his home or obstructed a Justice Department investigation into the documents matter.

Andrew Feinberg has the full story.

Another Trump lawyer gave evidence in classified documents probe last year

‘Good morning' from the former president

14:50 , Oliver O'Connell

Grand jury to continue hearing Trump case next week

14:40 , Oliver O'Connell

A grand jury in New York City investigating Donald Trump’s alleged role in a scheme to pay hush money payments to an adult film star will likely continue considering the case on 27 March, when the panel is scheduled to meet next.

The grand jury has met on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays to consider evidence involving the former president’s role involving a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels that prosecutors at the New York County district attorney’s office reportedly allege was an illegal campaign expenditure.

Alex Woodward reports.

Grand jury not expected to consider Trump hush money payments today, reports say

Trump’s chilling warning is latest in run of dark visions

14:20 , Oliver O'Connell

Alex Woodward reports on the former president’s predictions of a looming civil war should he be indicted or lose another election.

Trump’s chilling warning of what will happen after his indictment

Premium: Trump grand jury postpones decision on his arrest as deepfake images flood Twitter

14:00 , Oliver O'Connell

A grand jury investigating Donald Trump’s alleged role in a scheme to pay hush money to a porn star won’t consider the case until at least next week – further postponing a decision on his possible arrest.

Alastair Jamieson writes:

Trump grand jury postpones decision on his arrest as deepfake images flood Twitter

How far-right Trump supporters are responding to his calls for protest

13:40 , Oliver O'Connell

Former president Donald Trump’s demands that his supporters “protest, protest, protest” his potentially imminent indictment have prompted law enforcement officials to tighten security measures around New York City while monitoring potential threats.

Across far-right social media accounts and message boards reviewed by The Independent, the former president’s prediction of his own arrest was the evidence they needed to support long-running conspiracy theories that Democratic officials and President Joe Biden’s administration have weaponised the federal government against him.

But unlike the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, which was organised openly across social media platforms, discussion of protesting Mr Trump’s potential arrest has largely revolved around denouncing the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation and echoing the former president’s incendiary and dramatic rhetoric about the state of the US.

Read more from Alex Woodward:

Far-right supporters aren’t organizing Trump protests. Others think it’s a trap

Could Ron DeSantis stop Trump’s arrest?

13:23 , Oliver O'Connell

...and would he want to? 🤔

Could Florida governor Ron DeSantis stop Trump’s arrest?

The ‘fixer’: How Michael Cohen’s efforts to help Donald Trump could land his ex-boss in jail

13:00 , John Bowden

Former attorney Michael Cohen was once Donald Trump’s top operative: a “fixer” who handled matters both legal and otherwise for the celebrity businessman-turned-political candidate.

But as Alvin Bragg’s grand jury investigation continues in Manhattan, it’s clear that Cohen’s efforts to “fix” problems for his boss may have caused far more harm than good.

In the autumn of 2016, Cohen was still serving as an attorney and longtime colleague of the presidential hopeful he would later go on to call a racist, a con man and a fraud in sworn testimony to Congress. As part of that job, he connected with a woman named Stephanie Clifford — aka porn star Stormy Daniels — and started making a deal.

Read more:

How Michael Cohen’s efforts to help Donald Trump could land his ex-boss in prison

Evan Corcoran arrives for grand jury testimony

12:53 , Oliver O'Connell

Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran has arrived in court for his grand jury testimony.

Texas newspaper says Trump ‘stoking the fires of Waco’ ahead of Saturday’s rally

12:45 , Oliver O'Connell

The editorial board of The Houston Chronicle has accused former president Donald Trump of “stoking the fires of Waco” ahead of his planned rally in the Texas city this Saturday.

The former president arrives in Waco during the 30th anniversary of the disastrous Branch Davidian debacle, a two-month-long siege by the ATF, the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies culminating in a fire storm that killed 74 people, including 21 children. What happened at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco on April 19, 1993, was the deadliest day in FBI history. (Additionally, four ATF agents and six Branch Davidians lost their lives on the first day of the 51-day siege.)

The GOP-friendly city of Waco — Trump won McLennan County by more than 20 percentage points in 2020 – has every right, of course, to host a former president, the leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, but “Waco” the symbol ... means something else entirely. “Waco” has become an Alamo of sorts, a shrine for the Proud Boys, the Three Percenters, the Oath Keepers and other anti-government extremists and conspiracists.

The editorial continues:

Militia members and conspiracists know exactly what Trump’s Waco visit symbolizes. They have heard him castigate the FBI and the “deep state,” particularly after agents searched for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. How they’ll respond to his remarks, particularly if he shows up as the first former president in American history to face criminal charges, has law enforcement in Waco and beyond taking every precaution. What he says will likely set the tone for the presidential campaign to come. Every American should be concerned.

After offering alternative positive reasons to visit the Texas city, the op-ed concludes by saying:

Don’t bother with a bombastic, bullying candidate inclined to incitement and bent on “retribution.” His appearance is ample reason to stay home.

You can read the full editorial here.

‘Rantings of a person who is clearly unwell'

12:39 , Oliver O'Connell

Former Trump administration staffer Alyssa Farah Griffin, now a cohost of The View, has little time for the latest dark, apocalyptic rant from the former president, imploring the Republican Party to move on from him.

“These are the rantings of a person who is clearly unwell,” she tweeted. “How long are we going to pretend, GOP?”

Trump darkly warns of ‘potential death and destruction’ if charged in hush money probe

12:35 , Oliver O'Connell

Another day, and more violent rhetoric threatening death, destruction, and catastrophe in the US from the former president and leading contender to be the Republican Party presidential candidate in 2024...

Trump warns of ‘potential death and destruction’ if indicted in hush money probe

A Trump attorney has already testified about Mar-a-Lago papers, report says

12:20 , Oliver O'Connell

As Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran prepares to testify today in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents probe, piercing attorney-client privilege, it has emerged that another lawyer for the former president gave previously undisclosed testimony before the grand jury late last year.

ABC News reports that Timothy Parlatore gave testimony on 22 December 2022 regarding efforts by Trump's team to locate any classified documents that remained in the former president’s possession after the FBI's unprecedented August search of his Florida home.

The network cites sources familiar with the matter.

Mr Parlatore’s testimony was ordered after months of wrangling between Mr Trump's attorneys and officials in the Justice Department, who had grown increasingly concerned that the former president still continued to hold onto classified documents after more than 100 were discovered in the 8 August search, the sources said.

Only days before his testimony, Mr Parlatore revealed to the Justice Department and DC district court Judge Beryl Howell that a search of Mar-a-Lago conducted by Mr Trump's legal team on 15-16 December had turned up four additional documents with classification markings.

Mr Parlatore was not subpoenaed for his testimony, and when reached for comment by ABC News, he said: “I voluntarily and happily chose to go into the grand jury so that I could present my client's case to them in the context of our search efforts. During my testimony, it was clear that the government was not acting appropriately and made several improper attempts to pierce privilege and, in my opinion, made several significant misstatements to the jury which I believe constitutes prosecutorial misconduct.”

The New York grand jury in Trump’s hush money case has been delayed. Here’s why that might have happened

12:00 , Gustaf.Kilander

Donald Trump stirred a media frenzy with a false expectation of his imminent arrest and the charges against him while a grand jury in New York City continued to hear witnesses and evidence in a case involving the former president’s hush money payment to an adult film star.

The Manhattan grand jury has been meeting since January, but Mr Trump’s announcement on 18 March has put its actions under a microscope in anticipation of an indictment.

New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg called off the grand jury on 22 March, and the jury will not hear the highly scrutinised case on 23 March, pushing any potential indictments until next week at the earliest.

There are a number of reasons why a grand jury hearing for a specific case would be delayed, canceled or rescheduled, including scheduling conflicts, illness and other court matters, as well as other cases that the grand juries are considering.

That’s not uncommon. Grand juries can typically hear multiple cases at a time. Prosecutors in New York are reviewing hundreds of cases. So the grand jury in Mr Trump’s case is likely not the only one on its agenda.

Read more:

Why New York’s grand jury in Trump’s hush money case might have been delayed

E Jean Carroll: Judge allows anonymous jury for Trump rape lawsuit trial

11:40 , Oliver O'Connell

Jurors’ names will be kept secret at the upcoming civil trial in a writer’s rape lawsuit against former President Donald Trump, a judge ruled Thursday, citing “a very strong risk” they would otherwise face harassment and more.

Anonymous juries are unusual, particularly outside criminal cases. The Associated Press and the Daily News of New York objected to the plan to conceal the identities of jurors in the trial over columnist E Jean Carroll’s claim — denied by Trump — that the Republican raped her in the 1990s.

But US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said he was concerned that jurors would be subjected to unwanted attention from the media and “harassment or worse” from supporters of a president who has railed against the judicial process, or from people unhappy with any verdict that might ensue.

“On the basis of the unprecedented circumstances in which this trial will take place, including the extensive pretrial publicity and a very strong risk that jurors will fear harassment, unwanted invasions of their privacy and retaliation,” he wrote, “there is strong reason to believe that the jury needs the protection.”

Carroll’s lawyers declined to comment. Trump lawyer Alina Habba said she didn’t want jurors “to feel any outside pressure or influence” at the trial, set to start late next month.

“Anonymity will help ensure that their decision is based solely on the facts presented to them,” Habba said, insisting those facts would “irrefutably vindicate” Trump.

Besides having their names kept confidential, jurors will be transported to and from court and sequestered from the public while on breaks there.

AP

Manhattan borough president says city won’t be caught off guard

11:31 , Oliver O'Connell

Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine says the city “will not be caught off guard” by Donald Trump’s “clear call for violent insurrection”.

Coming up today: Trump lawyer in Mar-a-Lago papers inquiry must give evidence

11:20 , Oliver O'Connell

A three-judge panel of the District Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals has denied former President Trump’s request to block one of his attorneys from turning over documents to a grand jury looking into whether he broke the law by retaining classified documents at his Florida residence and whether he obstructed the investigation into his alleged retention of the documents.

Andrew Feinberg has the details.

Trump lawyer in Mar-a-Lago inquiry must give evidence in classified documents case

VIDEO: Who is potential Trump prosecutor Alvin Bragg?

11:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Threatening posts would be violation of bond if Trump had been arrested

10:39 , Oliver O'Connell

Reacting to the former president’s latest tirade on Truth Social, attorney Ron Filipkowski noted on Twitter: “If Trump had already been arrested, and was out on bond, the posts he is making now would be grounds for his bond to be revoked and incarcerated until his trial. Once he is arrested, any judge will make threatening posts against prosecutors, judge and jury a violation of release.”

He added: “In short, this isn’t going to stop and is only going to get worse until someone finally holds him accountable, if that ever happens.”

Trump lashes out at ‘degenerate psychopath’ Manhattan DA

10:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Continuing his screed of posts attacking Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg ahead of a grand jury vote as to whether he should be indicted over the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels, Donald Trump was back on Truth Social for a late-night tirade.

The former president, who earlier had posted an image in which he appeared to be wielding a baseball bat beside Mr Bragg’s head, called him “a degenerate psychopath that truely [sic] hates the USA!”

He wrote:

What kind of person can charge another person, in this case a former President of the United States, who got more votes than any sitting President in history, and leading candidate (by far!) for the Republican Party nomination, with a Crime, when it is known by all that NO Crime has been committed, & also known that potential death & destruction in such a false charge could be catastrophic for our Country? Why & who would do such a thing? Only a degenerate psychopath that truely hates the USA!

Has Trump been indicted? The former president’s moving indictment timeline

10:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Workers began erecting barricades around the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse this week, bracing for a potential, unprecedented moment: Donald Trump arriving to face charges in a hush money probe, making him the first president in US history to face criminal charges.

Mr Trump announced over the weekend that he expected to be arrested this week, and called on his supporters to protest what he called the “corrupt and highly political Manhattan district attorney’s office.”

“PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!” Mr Trump blared on social media.

However, Team Trump soon began to rein in the former president. The probe into hush money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign crawled on with additional witnesses through Monday and the grand jury didn’t meet on Tuesday.

A Trump spokesperson clarified the former president’s team has been given “no notification” of an impending arrest beside “illegal leaks”.

Read more:

Was Trump arrested today? The moving indictment timeline

Trump posts picture of himself wielding baseball bat next to Alvin Bragg’s head

09:43 , Oliver O'Connell

Donald Trump sparked anger by posting a picture of himself holding a baseball bat next to the head of the Manhattan District Attorney leading an investigation into him.

Mr Trump posted an article to his social media platform Truth Social which included a composite picture of himself next to Alvin Bragg, who has accused the one-term president of creating “a false expectation” of being arrested this week.

Graeme Massie has the story.

Trump posts picture of himself wielding baseball bat next to Alvin Bragg’s head

VIDEO: Trump supporters gather at the Trump tower in New York

09:00 , Gustaf Kilander

Donald Trump v Stormy Daniels: The story so far

08:00 , Hebe Campbell

Former president Donald Trump may be arrested this week after the Manhattan district attorney is expected to file criminal charges against him for a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016.

Mr Trump has long denied an affair with Ms Daniels, and his lawyer has accused her of extortion.

Here is a timeline of the story that may make history, by bringing charges upon a former president for the first time.

Resurfaced clip from Trump interview seems to undermine his Stormy Daniels defence

07:00 , Gustaf Kilander

An interview with then-President Donald Trump recorded in 2018 appears to undermine his defence in the Stormy Daniels hush money case.

“They weren’t taken out of campaign finance – that’s a big thing,” Mr Trump said at the time, regarding the money paid to the porn actor for her to remain silent about an affair she claims they had in 2006.

The $130,000 payment was made by then-Trump fixer Michael Cohen in the final days of the 2016 campaign. Cohen later spent time behind bars as a result of charges that stemmed from the payment.

“They didn’t come out of the campaign, they came from me,” Mr Trump said in 2018 during the interview at the White House.

Cohen was reimbursed for the funds, which were logged as a legal fee in the Trump business records.

Read more:

Resurfaced clip from Trump interview seems to undermine his Stormy Daniels defence

Sinema calls Democrats ‘old dudes eating jello’

06:00 , Abe Asher

Sen Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona does not have kind words for her Democratic colleagues as her political future hangs in the balance.

Jonathan Martin of Politico reported on Thursday that, since her defection from the Democratic Party at the start of the year, Ms Sinema has been courting Republican donors and regaling them with unflattering portrayals of her former party members.

“Old dudes are eating Jell-O, everyone is talking about how great they are,” Ms Sinema told a laughing group of Republican lobbyists in Washington earlier this year about why she had stopped attending Democratic caucus luncheons. “I don’t really need to be there for that. That’s an hour and a half twice a week that I can get back.”

According to Mr Martin’s reporting, Ms Sinema had yet more to say.

“The Northerners and the Westerners put cool whip on their Jell-O and the Southerners put cottage cheese,” she said.

Read more:

Sinema calls Democrats ‘old dudes eating jello’

Resurfaced video shows Giuliani blowing apart Trump’s new ‘evidence’ in Stormy Daniels case

05:00 , Gustaf Kilander

A resurfaced Fox News clip shows former New York City Mayor and Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani blowing apart the former president’s supposed new evidence in the Stormy Daniels hush money case.

Mr Giuliani complicated Donald Trump’s defence in May 2018 when he appeared on Fox News admitting that Mr Trump was aware of the payments to women who claimed that they had had affairs with him.

He said at the time that Mr Trump “did know the general arrangement” and that his attorney and fixer Michael Cohen was reimbursed for paying off Stormy Daniels with funds being “funnelled” through a law firm.

Mr Cohen is now one of his former boss’s staunchest critics.

Mr Trump rejected this notion at the time, saying that Mr Giuliani “started yesterday. He’ll get his facts straight”.

Read more:

Resurfaced video shows Giuliani blowing apart Trump’s new ‘evidence’ in Stormy case

Ron DeSantis breaks silence on allegations he observed torture at Guantanamo

04:00 , Richard Hall

Ron DeSantis has broken his silence on allegations that he observed the force-feeding of detainees at Guantanamo Bay during his time serving as a Navy lawyer there.

The Independent reported last week on claims by a former prisoner of the prison camp, Mansoor Adayfi, that Mr DeSantis observed his brutal force-feeding by guards during a hunger strike in 2006 – a practice the United Nations characterised as torture.

Mr DeSantis was stationed on the base between March 2006 and January 2007, according to his military records, and part of his role involved hearing complaints and concerns from prisoners over their conditions.

“I was a junior officer. I didn’t have authority to authorise anything,” Mr DeSantis told Piers Morgan, in an interview to be broadcast on Thursday.

“There may have been a commander that would have done feeding if someone was going to die, but that was not something that I would have even had authority to do.”

Read more:

Ron DeSantis breaks silence on allegations he observed torture at Guantanamo

Georgia governor signs law curbing transgender care for kids

03:00 , AP

Georgia will ban most gender-affirming surgeries and hormone replacement therapies for transgender people under 18 with a new bill signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday.

Lawmakers gave final approval to Senate Bill 140 on Tuesday, despite impassioned pleas from Democrats and LGBTQ advocates against what has become the most fiercely contested bill of Georgia’s 2023 legislative session.

It’s part of a nationwide effort by conservatives to restrict transgender athletes, gender-affirming care and drag shows. Governors in Mississippi, Utah and South Dakota have signed similar bills. Missouri’s Senate on Tuesday advanced a pair of bills to prohibit gender transitioning health care treatments for minors and restrict them from competing in sports.

“I appreciate the many hours of respectful debate and deliberation by members of the General Assembly that resulted in final passage of this bill,” Kemp said in a statement. “As Georgians, parents and elected leaders, it is our highest responsibility to safeguard the bright, promising future of our kids — and SB 140 takes an important step in fulfilling that mission.”

Read more:

Georgia governor signs law curbing transgender care for kids

Lauren Boebert suggests adding human foetuses to endangered species list

02:00 , Abe Asher

Rep Lauren Boebert of Colorado held up images of human foetuses at a hearing on the Endangered Species Act, asking Democratic colleagues whether they would “put babies on the endangered species list.”

Ms Boebert’s presentation came just after she was recognised to speak at the hearing by Rep Cliff Bentz of Oregon.

“Before my opening remarks, since we’re talking about the Endangered Species Act, I’m just wondering whether my colleagues on the other side would put babies on the endangered species list,” Ms Boebert said. “These babies were born in Washington DC, full term. I don’t know, maybe that’s a way we can save some children here in the United States.”

Ms Boebert held up multiple photographs of human foetuses as she suggested that humans were an endangered species in a county that is currently home to more than 330 million people. Washington DC alone has a population of more than 700,000 people. In comparison, there are fewer than 10,000 red pandas left in the world and fewer than 5,000 tigers.

Read more:

Lauren Boebert suggests adding human foetuses to endangered species list

Manhattan DA blasts House GOP for ‘unprecedented inquiry into a pending local prosecution’

01:00 , Gustaf Kilander

In a letter responding to the Republican chairs of the House Judiciary, Oversight, and Administration committees, the general counsel for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office says that “if charges are brought at the conclusion” of the investigation into former President Donald Trump, “it will be because the rule of law and faithful execution of the District Attorney’s duty require it”.

Manhattan District Attorney’s office general counsel Leslie Dubeck called the letter sent by the chairmen on 20 March “an unprecedent inquiry into a pending local prosecution”.

“The Letter only came after Donald Trump created a false expectation that he would be arrested the next day and his lawyers reportedly urged you to intervene. Neither fact is a legitimate basis for congressional inquiry,” she added.

The chairmen wrote in their letter that the DA’s investigation into Mr Trump was an “unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority,” demanding documents and an interview with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat.

Read more:

Manhattan DA blasts House GOP for ‘unprecedented inquiry into local prosecution’

Trump posts picture of him holding baseball bat next to Alvin Bragg’s head

00:41 , Graeme Massie

‘Deepfake’ images of Trump’s arrest preview potential for harm and mass disruption in elections and media

00:00 , Alex Woodward

In imaginary images created by an artificial intelligence programme with a researcher’s prompts, police officers chase and tackle Donald Trump. Others show the former president behind bars and wearing an orange jumpsuit in federal prison.

The images, generated by Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins using the powerful text-to-image Midjourney programme, exploded across social media while a New York grand jury considers evidence in a criminal investigation into the former president, who has predicted his imminent indictment and arrest.

They served as a high-profile example of the kinds of viral phenomena relying on false images built with artificial intelligence programmes that could be used to spread harmful disinformation to spark unrest and disrupt news cycles and elections.

Democratic US Senator Mark Warner told The Washington Post that lawmakers have issued similar warnings about the potential for synthetic media to “spread disinformation and more generally to sow confusion and discord.”

Mr Warner, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that the technology is now at a point where “these tools are widely available and incredibly capable.”

Read more:

‘Deepfake’ images of Trump’s arrest preview potential harm to elections and media

Ron DeSantis doesn’t recall eating pudding with three fingers on private flight

Thursday 23 March 2023 23:00 , Gustaf Kilander

In a bizarre episode for the Florida governor, as he prepares to announce his expected 2024 campaign for the White House, Ron DeSantis has chosen not to outright deny that he ate chocolate pudding with three fingers on a private flight in 2019.

The incident was reported by The Daily Beast, which noted that Mr DeSantis sometimes struggles to “read the room”.

“I don’t remember ever doing that,” the governor told Piers Morgan in an interview on Fox Nation.

“Maybe when I was a kid, but it’s interesting there’s a lot of people who when they go at you, sometimes they have really good ammunition like, ‘You’re a crook, you did this, you did that,’” he added. “For me, they’re talking about pudding, and I’m like, ‘Is that really the best you’ve got? OK, bring it on!’”

Read more:

Ron DeSantis doesn’t recall eating pudding with three fingers on private flight

Tucker Carlson attempts to walk back comments about hating Trump ‘passionately’

Thursday 23 March 2023 22:15 , Gustaf Kilander

Fox News host Tucker Carlson attempted to walk about his comments about hating former president Donald Trump during an interview with WABC’s Bo Snerdley.

Mr Carlson’s private text messages blasting Mr Trump were revealed as part of the defamation lawsuit against Fox News brought by Dominion Voting Systems.

“I spent four years defending his policies and I’m going to defend them again tonight. And actually, and I’m pretty straightforward – I love Trump. Like, as a person, I think Trump is funny and insightful. And I said this to Trump when he called me, you know, all wounded about those texts. That was a moment in time where I was absolutely infuriated,” he said, according to a transcript put out by Media Matters.

“And I think this is in the text, and those were all grabbed completely illegitimately, in my opinion, in this court case, which I guess I’m not allowed to talk about, but I’m enraged that my private texts were pulled,” he added.

“But those particular texts were pulled at exactly the moment [when] I was texting with one of my producers because some idiot on the Trump campaign had sent us the name of these dead voters who had voted. And we went and I repeated them on air, and it turns out some of them were alive,” he said.

“I felt humiliated. Yeah. Like what? And I thought then and I think now that that election was not on the level, it was not a free and fair election. I thought that then. I think it now,” he claimed. “... I wanted evidence. I mean, there’s no way the guy got 81... he got more votes than Barack Obama. Really?”

“Whatever you think of Obama, I never liked Obama, but he’s a really talented, very talented politician. And Joe Biden is senile and hid in his basement. Tell me how he got 81 million votes,” he added.

“So, I’ve always thought that was not on the level. And so I said to the Trump people, you know, ‘You’re saying the election was rigged. Send me some examples of it and I’ll put it on the air,’” Mr Carlson said.

VIDEO: Indictment vote on former President Trump delayed

Thursday 23 March 2023 21:30 , Gustaf Kilander

Trump interview seeming to undermine his Stormy Daniels defence re-emerges

Thursday 23 March 2023 20:45 , Gustaf Kilander

An interview with then-President Donald Trump recorded in 2018 appears to undermine his defence in the Stormy Daniels hush money case.

“They weren’t taken out of campaign finance – that’s a big thing,” Mr Trump said at the time of the money paid to the porn actor for her to remain silent about an affair she claims they had in 2006.

The $130,000 payment was made by then-Trump fixer Michael Cohen in the final days of the 2016 campaign. Cohen later spent time behind bars as a result of the payment.

“They didn’t come out of the campaign, they came from me,” Mr Trump said in 2018 during the interview at the White House.

Cohen was reimbursed for the funds, which was logged as a legal fee in the Trump business records.

The Manhattan District Attorney is now investigating if Mr Trump falsified business records.

Lawyer Ron Filipkowski shared the clip on Twitter.

“Seems like Trump’s story has changed since 2018 when he was asked about the payments in the Stormy case,” he said.

“At the time of this interview, he was only worried about federal campaign finance violations. He thought he was in the clear with state law. So back then he emphasized he reimbursed with his money, not campaign money. Problem is that doesn’t work now,” he added.

The watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington wrote: “Well, here’s Donald Trump saying he used his personal money for the Stormy Daniels payment, which kept it off his campaign finance reports. He may regret this interview now.”

Resurfaced video shows Giuliani blowing apart Trump’s new ‘evidence’ in Stormy Daniels case

Thursday 23 March 2023 20:15 , Gustaf Kilander

A resurfaced Fox News clip shows former New York City Mayor and Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani blowing apart the former president’s supposed new evidence in the Stormy Daniels hush money case.

Mr Giuliani complicated Donald Trump’s defence in May 2018 when he appeared on Fox News admitting that Mr Trump was aware of the payments to women who claimed that they had had affairs with him.

He said at the time that Mr Trump “did know the general arrangement” and that his attorney and fixer Michael Cohen was reimbursed for paying off Stormy Daniels with funds being “funnelled” through a law firm.

Mr Cohen is now one of his former boss’s staunchest critics.

Mr Trump rejected this notion at the time, saying that Mr Giuliani “started yesterday. He’ll get his facts straight”.

Lawyer Ron Filipkowski shared the clip of Mr Giuliani from 2018 on Thursday.

Read more:

Resurfaced video shows Giuliani blowing apart Trump’s new ‘evidence’ in Stormy case

The New York grand jury in Trump’s hush money case has been delayed. Here’s why that might have happened

Thursday 23 March 2023 19:45 , Alex Woodward

Donald Trump stirred a media frenzy with a false expectation of his imminent arrest and the charges against him while a grand jury in New York City continued to hear witnesses and evidence in a case involving the former president’s hush money payment to an adult film star.

The Manhattan grand jury has been meeting since January, but Mr Trump’s announcement on 18 March has put its actions under a microscope in anticipation of an indictment.

New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg called off the grand jury on 22 March, and the jury will not hear the highly scrutinised case on 23 March, pushing any potential indictments until next week at the earliest.

There are a number of reasons why a grand jury hearing for a specific case would be delayed, canceled or rescheduled, including scheduling conflicts, illness and other court matters, as well as other cases that the grand juries are considering.

That’s not uncommon. Grand juries can typically hear multiple cases at a time. Prosecutors in New York are reviewing hundreds of cases. So the grand jury in Mr Trump’s case is likely not the only one on its agenda.

Read more:

Why New York’s grand jury in Trump’s hush money case might have been delayed

Manhattan DA blasts House GOP for ‘unprecedent inquiry into a pending local prosecution’

Thursday 23 March 2023 19:15 , Gustaf Kilander

In a letter responding to the Republican chairs of the House Judiciary, Oversight, and Administration committees, the general counsel for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office says that “if charges are brought at the conclusion” of the investigation into former President Donald Trump, “it will be because the rule of law and faithful execution of the District Attorney’s duty require it”.

Manhattan District Attorney’s office general counsel Leslie Dubeck called the letter sent by the chairmen on 20 March “an unprecedent inquiry into a pending local prosecution”.

“The Letter only came after Donald Trump created a false expectation that he would be arrested the next day and his lawyers reportedly urged you to intervene. Neither fact is a legitimate basis for congressional inquiry,” she added.

The chairmen wrote in their letter that the DA’s investigation into Mr Trump was an “unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority,” demanding documents and an interview with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat.

The grand jury case concerns hush money payments made to women who have made allegations that they have had affairs with Mr Trump.

Read more:

Manhattan DA blasts House GOP for ‘unprecedent inquiry into local prosecution’

Who is Alvin Bragg? The Manhattan district attorney who could criminally prosecute Donald Trump

Thursday 23 March 2023 18:45 , Alex Woodward

Former president Donald Trump fired out three furious all-caps posts on his Truth Social page on 18 March, invoking images of burning cities and World War III while stoking unrest with a call for his supporters to “protest, protest, protest” what he predicted would be his arrest in New York.

Alvin Bragg – the Manhattan district attorney whose office is overseeing a criminal investigation into the former president’s business practices following long-running allegations of fraud – issued a memo to his staff in response, stressing that he does “not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York.”

His internal message did not mention the former president by name or his incendiary rhetoric, but he referred to “public comments surrounding an ongoing investigation by this office.”

Mr Bragg has been tight-lipped about the case and his office’s work, ensuring in his recent memo that, “as with all of our investigations, we will continue to apply the law evenly and fairly, and speak publicly only when appropriate.”

Read more:

Who is Alvin Bragg? The district attorney who could criminally prosecute Donald Trump

Could Ron DeSantis stop Trump’s arrest?

Thursday 23 March 2023 18:15 , Eric Garcia

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis finds himself in a bind: as of right now, he is by far the person with the best possible chance of beating former president Donald Trump for the Republican nomination for president.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, he earned plaudits when he rapidly reopened the state after a brief stint of closures. He has ardently opposed mask and vaccine mandates. His opposition to LGBTQ+ rights and how some education curricula teach about the history of slavery and Black America have further endeared him to conservatives. After barely winning his first race for governor in 2018, he cruised to re-election in 2022 by almost 20 points.

Meanwhile, the former president has also intimated that he could be indicted by the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg any day now for his payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep their affair a secret. That would normally mean that Mr DeSantis would be the heir to the former president’s base in the race to challenge President Joe Biden.

Read more:

Could Ron DeSantis stop Trump’s arrest?

Trump’s chilling warning of what will happen after his indictment

Thursday 23 March 2023 17:45 , Alex Woodward

Former president Donald Trump has roundly rejected any investigations involving him, his campaign or business empire as a hoax, a fraud or a politically motivated hit job against him or his agenda.

In January, his company was fined $1.6m after two of its entities were convicted of 17 felonies, marking the first time that the former president and his empire – bolstered by a “culture of fraud and deception,” according to prosecutors – faced criminal consequences after he spent decades trying to avoid them.

Now at the centre of separate investigations from the US Department of Justice and from prosecutors in his hometown of New York and in Georgia, a state he lost to Joe Biden but where he pressed election officials to overturn the results, the leading 2024 Republican candidate for president has suggested that his supporters could respond to his election loss or potentially imminent indictments with violence.

Read more:

Trump’s chilling warning of what will happen after his indictment

Trump falsely claims 2018 letter that didn’t prevent charges against Michael Cohen is ‘exculpatory’

Thursday 23 March 2023 17:15 , Andrew Feinberg

Former President Donald Trump is now claiming a 2018 letter from Michael Cohen’s attorney that failed to prevent him from being charged over illegal campaign contributions to Mr Trump’s 2016 campaign has exonerated him from charges over the same illegal contributions now being considered by the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

In a post on his Truth Social website, Mr Trump published a February 2018 letter from Cohen’s then-attorney to the Federal Election Commission in which the lawyer said Cohen’s use of a $130,000 Home Equity Line of Credit to pay adult film star Stormy Daniels not to talk about a 2006 affair she had with Mr Trump was a “private transaction” made with Cohen’s “own money”.

“Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed Mr. Cohen for the payment directly or indirectly,” said the attorney, Stephen Ryan, who represented Cohen at the time, in the letter to the FEC.

Read more:

Trump falsely claims letter from Cohen lawyer is ‘exculpatory’ in hush money case

Resurfaced video shows Giuliani blowing apart Trump's new 'evidence' in Stormy Daniels case

Thursday 23 March 2023 16:47 , John Bowden and Gustaf Kilander

In May 2018, Rudy Giuliani screwed things up.

Joining the president’s legal team, the former New York City mayor would go on to have a years-long legal relationship with Mr Trump that resulted in the ageing politician causing far more harm than good.

Years before his bumbling in Ukraine would be seen as a cause for the Democrats’ first impeachment proceedings against Mr Trump, Mr Giuliani would throw a hand grenade into the legal defences of both his boss and former colleague, Michael Cohen, by admitting that Mr Trump himself knew of the payments to women claiming to have had affairs with him.

Speaking on Fox News, in a shocking interview with a bemused Sean Hannity, Mr Giuliani specified that not only the president “did know the general arrangement”, but he also added that the president had reimbursed Cohen with money he characterised as “funnelled” through a law firm. Mr Trump denies this, telling reporters, “He started yesterday. He’ll get his facts straight.”

Lawyer Ron Filipkowski shared the clip of Mr Giuliani from 2018 on Thursday.

“I’d like to call, as a surprise witness for the prosecution, 2018 Rudy Giuliani, who BURIES Trump’s defense,” Mr Filipkowski tweeted.

“They funnelled it through a law firm, then the president repaid it,” Mr Giuliani said at the time. “When I heard Cohen’s retainer while he was doing no work, I said, ‘that’s how (Trump’s) repaying it.’”

How Donald Trump is fundraising over his own ‘arrest’ prediction

Thursday 23 March 2023 16:45 , Alex Woodward

Former president Donald Trump fuelled a media firestorm with his all-caps prediction of his own arrest, a claim apparently based on reports of a looming indictment from a criminal investigation in New York. His own team followed up to clarify that he did not receive any indications from prosecutors that he had yet been charged or would be imminently arrested.

But his claim fanned the flames of unrest with incendiary rhetoric and demands that his supporters “protest, protest, protest” a then-unannounced decision, with Mr Trump’s allies rushing to his defence and mounting an offensive on his behalf.

He also has used his announcement and his narrative of political persecution to raise money for his 2024 presidential campaign, relying on similar tactics that his fundraising arms have used after the federal law enforcement search of his Mar-a-Lago property last year and his spurious attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Read more:

How Donald Trump is fundraising over his own ‘arrest’ prediction

The ‘fixer’: How Michael Cohen’s efforts to help Donald Trump could land his ex-boss in jail

Thursday 23 March 2023 16:15 , John Bowden

Former attorney Michael Cohen was once Donald Trump’s top operative: a “fixer” who handled matters both legal and otherwise for the celebrity businessman-turned-political candidate.

But as Alvin Bragg’s grand jury investigation concludes in Manhattan this week, it’s clear that Cohen’s efforts to “fix” problems for his boss may have caused far more harm than good.

In the autumn of 2016, Cohen was still serving as an attorney and longtime colleague of the presidential hopeful he would later go on to call a racist, a con man and a fraud in sworn testimony to Congress. As part of that job, he connected with a woman named Stephanie Clifford — aka porn star Stormy Daniels — and started making a deal.

The terms of that deal were simple: Daniels would cease her efforts to shop a story of her alleged affair with Trump to journalists around the country, thereby removing a last-minute landmine for the Trump campaign already battered with the damning audio of his Access Hollywood comments about sexually harassing women, reported just weeks earlier. She’d stop talking about it to anyone, in fact, and would sign a nondisclosure agreement opening her up to arbitration if she did otherwise. In exchange? A one-time payment of $130,000.

Read more:

How Michael Cohen’s efforts to help Donald Trump could land his ex-boss in prison

Has Trump been arrested? The former president’s moving indictment timeline

Thursday 23 March 2023 15:45 , Josh Marcus

Workers began erecting barricades around the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse this week, bracing for a potential, unprecedented moment: Donald Trump arriving to face charges in a hush money probe, making him the first president in US history to face criminal charges.

Mr Trump announced over the weekend that he expected to be arrested this week, and called on his supporters to protest what he called the “corrupt and highly political Manhattan district attorney’s office.”

“PROTEST, TAKE OUR NATION BACK!” Mr Trump blared on social media.

However, Team Trump soon began to rein in the former president. The probe into hush money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign crawled on with additional witnesses through Monday and the grand jury didn’t meet on Tuesday.

A Trump spokesperson clarified the former president’s team has been given “no notification” of an impending arrest beside “illegal leaks”.

Read more:

Has Trump been arrested? The moving indictment timeline

Ron DeSantis admits he can’t spell ‘sanctimonious’ insult Trump gave him

Thursday 23 March 2023 15:15 , Eric Garcia

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said the he cannot spell “sanctimonious” as former president Donald Trump has taken to calling his potential opponent “Ron DeSanctimonious.”

Mr DeSantis is largely expected to announce his challenge to the former president for the 2024 Republican nomination. That has led Mr Trump to lash out against the Florida Governor, whom he had previously endorsed in 2018.

In turn, Mr Trump has given Mr DeSantis the moniker of “Ron DeSanctimonious.” But in an interview with Piers Morgan, Mr DeSantis brushed off the epithet.

“I don’t know how to spell the sanctimonious one,” he said. “I don’t really know what it means, but I kinda like it, it’s long, it’s got a lot of vowels.”

Read more:

Ron DeSantis admits he can’t spell ‘sanctimonious’ insult Trump gave him

Manhattan DA says GOP ‘letter treads into territory very clearly reserved to the states'

Thursday 23 March 2023 14:54 , Gustaf Kilander

The general counsel for the Manhattan DA, Leslie Dubeck, writes in her letter to three Republican House committee chairmen that “your letter treads into territory very clearly reserved to the states. It suggests that Congress’s investigation is being ‘conducted solely for the personal aggrandizement of the investigators or to ‘punish’ those investigated,’ and is, therefore, ‘indefensible’.”

Ms Lubeck added that “the District Attorney is obliged by the federal and state constitutions to protect the independence of state law enforcement functions from federal interference”.

“The DA’s Office therefore requests an opportunity to meet and confer with committee staff to better understand what information the DA’s Office can provide that relates to a legitimate legislative interest and can be shared consistent with the District Attorney’s constitutional obligations,” she said.

Stormy Daniels says her phone records are ‘gonna hurt’ Trump in hush money probe

Thursday 23 March 2023 14:45 , Gustaf Kilander

Stormy Daniels has said that her phone records are “gonna hurt” former President Donald Trump in the hush money probe into the 2016 payment to the porn actor conducted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

Ms Daniels said she provided her lawyer with the records on Wednesday. She’s in the middle of the possible indictment of Mr Trump, which would be the first occurrence of a US president being charged with a crime.

It is alleged that former Trump fixer Michael Cohen paid off Ms Daniels to remain silent during the 2016 campaign for the White House regarding an affair she claims took place a decade previously. Mr Trump has denied the allegation.

Mr Cohen spent time in prison and in home confinement on a campaign finance violation in relation to the payment. It’s been reported that Mr Trump may be in legal jeopardy on the basis of falsifying business records as the reimbursement to Mr Cohen was logged as a legal expense.

A Twitter user asked Ms Daniels on Wednesday: “Are you still laughing @StormyDaniels You seem to have stopped tweeting obsessively about Trump but I’m sure you’re having the last laugh.”

Read more:

Stormy Daniels says her phone records are ‘gonna hurt’ Trump in hush money probe

Manhattan DA calls GOP letter ‘an unprecedent inquiry into a pending local prosecution'

Thursday 23 March 2023 14:39 , Gustaf Kilander

In a letter responding to the Republican chairs of the House Judiciary, Oversight, and House Administration committees, the general counsel for the Manhattan DA, Leslie Dubeck, says that “if charges are brought at the conclusion,” of the DA’s investigation, “it will be because the rule of law and faithful execution of the District Attorney’s duty require it”.

“Your letter dated March 20, 2023 (the ‘Letter’), in contrast, is an unprecedent inquiry into a pending local prosecution. The Letter only came after Donald Trump created a false expectation that he would be arrested the next day and his lawyers reportedly urged you to intervene. Neither fact is a legitimate basis for congressional inquiry,” she added.

Scarborough slams Trump indictment claim as ‘fundraising grift'

Thursday 23 March 2023 14:15 , Gustaf Kilander

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough has slammed Mr Trump for his claims regarding when he would face an indictment as a fundraising grift.

Mr Trump claimed on Truth Social over the weekend that he would be indicted on Tuesday. Since then, he’s managed to get $1.5m for his campaign.

“What do you make of this grifting thing, where Donald Trump, he knew he wasn’t going to be charged Tuesday, but he went ahead and did it as a fundraising grift,” Mr Scarborough said on MSNBC on Thursday. “He’s raised, well, $1.5m lying about his pending [indictment]. So why does he want to be handcuffed? He wants to be handcuffed because that means more money.”

“I keep talking about the Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker approach to American politics, I keep forgetting that this guy has built about five PTL Lands, and yet I’m still surprised by the level of Tammy Faye Bakker in Donald Trump,” he added.

Tamara Faye Bakker was an evangelist who founded The PTL Club televangelist programme with her husband, Jim Bakker, in 1974. Mr Bakker was later convicted of fraud and sent to prison.

Grand jury not expected to consider Trump hush money payments Thursday, reports say

Thursday 23 March 2023 14:13 , Alex Woodward

A grand jury in New York City investigating Donald Trump’s alleged role in a scheme to pay hush money payments to an adult film star will reportedly not be considering the case when it meets on Thursday.

The grand jury has met on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays to consider evidence involving the former president’s role involving a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels that prosecutors at the New York County district attorney’s office reportedly allege was an illegal campaign expenditure.

The grand jury was told not to appear on Wednesday and it is unlikely that the group will meet at all this week, with Thursday’s delays confirmed by CNN and NBC News.

Developments in the case follow the former president’s prediction of his own arrest on 18 March, demanding that his followers protest what he believed was an imminent indictment while accusing prosecutors of launching a politically motivated investigation.

Read more:

Grand jury not expected to consider Trump hush money payments today, reports say

Grand jury will not hear hush money case on Thursday

Thursday 23 March 2023 14:00 , Gustaf Kilander

The grand jury looking into Mr Trump’s alleged hush money payments won’t be hearing that case when they meet today, according to CNN.

National Correspondent Kristen Holmes tweeted just before 10am on Thursday that “the Manhattan grand jury investigating Trump’s alleged role in a scheme to pay hush money to an adult film star WILL NOT hear that case when it convenes today, two sources familiar with the matter tell @KaraScannell pushing the Manhattan’s district attorney’s probe into next week”.

Far-right support for Trump looks disorganised on social media. Others think it’s a trap

Thursday 23 March 2023 13:45 , Alex Woodward

Former president Donald Trump’s demands that his supporters “protest, protest, protest” his potentially imminent indictment have prompted law enforcement officials to tighten security measures around New York City while monitoring potential threats.

Across far-right social media accounts and message boards reviewed by The Independent, the former president’s prediction of his own arrest was the evidence they needed to support long-running conspiracy theories that Democratic officials and President Joe Biden’s administration have weaponised the federal government against him.

But unlike the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, which was organised openly across social media platforms, discussion of protesting Mr Trump’s potential arrest has largely revolved around denouncing the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation and echoing the former president’s incendiary and dramatic rhetoric about the state of the US.

Read more:

Far-right supporters aren’t organizing Trump protests. Others think it’s a trap

Tucker Carlson begs Biden to stop Trump indictment

Thursday 23 March 2023 13:15 , Rachel Sharp

Fox News‘ Tucker Carlson has called on the Biden administration to stop the potential indictment of Donald Trump, warning that “America will never be the same” if it does not.

Last week, Mr Trump led much of the country to believe the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office would indict him within the week. He initially predicted the arrest would occur on Tuesday, though the day came and went without any such outcome. The grand jury’s meeting on Wednesday was called off, likely delaying any indictment.

Both Carlson and Mr Trump have framed the case against the former president — which alleges he paid hush-money to adult film star Stormy Daniels — as a political witch hunt, and stoke conspiracy theories by referring to prosecutor Alvin Bragg as “[George] Soros-funded.”

Read the full story:

Tucker Carlson begs Biden to stop Trump indictment

Trump lawyer must give evidence in classified documents case

Thursday 23 March 2023 12:45 , Oliver O’Connell

A three-judge panel of the District Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals has denied former President Trump’s request to block one of his attorneys from turning over documents to a grand jury looking into whether he broke the law by retaining classified documents at his Florida residence and whether he obstructed the investigation into his alleged retention of the documents.

Andrew Feinberg has the details.

Trump lawyer must give evidence in classified documents case, appeals court rules

Stormy Daniels says her phone records will ‘hurt’ Trump

Thursday 23 March 2023 12:15 , Rachel Sharp

Stormy Daniels has said that her phone records are “gonna hurt” Donald Trump as the investigation into the 2016 hush money payments draws to a close.

In response to a Twitter user who asked if she was “still laughing” after Mr Trump shared a 2018 letter sent by Michael Cohen, the adult film star revealed that she had handed over phone records to her attorney.

“I’m sure I will. I’ve been handing over phone records to my attorney today (they’re gonna hurt!) and planning spring break activities with my kid. It was a wonderful day,” she tweeted on Wednesday.

Is today the day?

Thursday 23 March 2023 11:45 , Rachel Sharp

Donald Trump could be indicted by a Manhattan grand jury as soon as Thursday, potentially charged with falsifying business records connected to hush money payments during his 2016 campaign to women who accused him of sexual encounters.

A vote on whether to indict the former president is expected within days; the grand jurors cancelled a Wednesday meeting but were told to be on standby for Thursday.

Read on:

Donald Trump could be indicted as early as Thursday over hush money payments

Trump claims 2018 letter exonerates him from hush money indictment

Thursday 23 March 2023 11:15 , Rachel Sharp

Donald Trump is claiming that a 2018 letter exonerates him from any criminal activity over the 2016 hush money payments to Stormy Daniels.

The former president posted a letter on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday night in which Michael Cohen told the Federal Election Commission that neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was involved in the payment to Stormy Daniels.

In the letter, Cohen wrote that he “used his own personal funds to facilitate a payment of $130,000 to Ms. Stephanie Clifford” (Ms Daniels).

“Neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Ms. Clifford, and neither reimbursed Mr. Cohen for the payment directly or indirectly,” it read.

Posting the letter on Truth Social, Mr Trump wrote: “This is totally exculpatory, and must end the Manhattan District Attorney’s Witch Hunt, immediately.”

After sending the letter, Cohen later admitted that he had lied to investigators and was convicted over the payments.

He is now the star witness in the Manhattan case.

If Trump is indicted, what does it mean and what would the charges be?

Thursday 23 March 2023 10:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform to predict that he would soon be arrested over hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the run-up to the 2016 election.

Mr Trump would become the first US president in history to face criminal charges if he is indicted by prosecutors in New York following a yearslong investigation.

The former president made the arrest prediction in a furious all-caps post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday morning.

In it, he called on his supporters to protest any arrest and to “take our nation back.”

While a spokesperson for Mr Trump says they have not been officially notified by prosecutors of any impending charges, it has been reported that meetings have taken place between city, state and federal law enforcement in New York City about his any indictment should be handled.

Graeme Massie reports.

What does indicted mean and what charges could Trump face?

ICYMI: Grand jury’s Wednesday meeting unexpectedly canceled

Thursday 23 March 2023 10:15 , Oliver O'Connell

A grand jury convened for a New York investigation into Donald Trump’s so-called hush money payment to an adult film star during his 2016 presidential campaign may not be meeting at all this week, after the former president predicted his looming indictment and arrest in connection with the case.

Alex Woodward broke the news for The Independent.

Trump indictment delayed as grand jury’s Wednesday meeting unexpectedly canceled

How Michael Cohen’s efforts to help Trump could land his ex-boss in jail

Thursday 23 March 2023 09:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Former attorney Michael Cohen was once Donald Trump’s top operative: a “fixer” who handled matters both legal and otherwise for the celebrity businessman-turned-political candidate.

But as Alvin Bragg’s grand jury investigation concludes in Manhattan this week, it’s clear that Cohen’s efforts to “fix” problems for his boss may have caused far more harm than good.

John Bowden reports.

The ‘fixer’: Michael Cohen’s plan to aid Donald Trump could land his ex-boss in jail

How did a porn star become one of the most powerful people in politics?

Thursday 23 March 2023 08:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Io Dodds explains how Stormy Daniels landed in the middle of a political firestorm.

How porn star Stormy Daniels became one of the most powerful people in politics

Grand jury to reconvene today

Thursday 23 March 2023 08:39 , Rachel Sharp

The Manhattan grand jury investigating Donald Trump’s role in hush money payments to Stormy Daniels days before the 2016 presidential election is expected to reconvene today – meaning the former president could be criminally indicted at the earliest by the close of the day.

Two sources told NBC News that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg plans to convene the grand jury again on Thursday – after the session was suddenly called off Wednesday.

The DA’s office is believed to have told at least one witness they may need to return to provide more testimony in the probe.

Prosecutors are also still trying to decide whether to bring Mr Trump’s former lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen back to testify to counter testimony given by Mr Trump’s ally Robert Costello on Monday, reported CNN.

Thursday 23 March 2023 08:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Ron DeSantis brushes off Donald Trump insults during interview with Piers Morgan

Inside the Stormy Daniels hush money payment

Thursday 23 March 2023 07:15 , Oliver O'Connell

John Bowden takes a look at the saga that may lead to criminal charges against Donald Trump.

Inside the Stormy Daniels hush money payment that could lead to first Trump charges

Could Ron DeSantis stop Trump’s arrest?

Thursday 23 March 2023 06:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Could Ron DeSantis stop Trump’s arrest?

Can Trump still be elected president if he’s arrested and indicted?

Thursday 23 March 2023 05:15 , Oliver O'Connell

John Bowden looks at the big question everyone is asking.

Can Donald Trump still be elected president if he’s arrested and indicted?

Voices: As a Trump indictment looms, Fox News mounts a full-throated defence of the former president

Thursday 23 March 2023 04:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Richard Hall writes:

Donald Trump may soon have a chance to defend himself in a court of law against the allegations that he used campaign funds to pay hush money to a porn star. In the meantime, the most-watched cable news network in the country appears to have taken up the case pro-bono.

As other news channels trained their cameras on the Manhattan court where Mr Trump was expected to be arraigned, Fox News spent much of the past few days attacking the prosecutor who brought the case against him and playing down the allegations.

As a Trump indictment looms, Fox News mounts a full-throated defence

Trump lashes out at ‘hellhole’ Manhattan after supporters fail to turn up to protest

Thursday 23 March 2023 03:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Donald Trump has lashed out at the “hellhole” of Manhattan after his supporters failed to turn up to protest his impending indictment in his native city.

Rachel Sharp has the story.

Trump lashes out at ‘hellhole’ Manhattan after protesters fail to show in city

Trump reportedly raised $1.5m since he announced his ‘arrest’ on Saturday

Thursday 23 March 2023 03:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Donald Trump’s robust fundraising campaign has reportedly collected more than $1.5m since he announced his impending “arrest” on 18 March.

Alex Woodward reports.

Donald Trump reportedly raised $1.5m since he announced his ‘arrest’

Trump relishes idea of a perp walk

Thursday 23 March 2023 02:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Former president Donald Trump is reportedly relishing the idea of a perp walk as he prepares for a potential indictment.

The former president has reportedly told friends and associates at Mar-a-Lago that he welcomes the idea of doing a perp walk in front of supporters and photographers if Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg does indeed indict him, according to The New York Times.

Eric Garcia reports.

Trump relishes idea of a perp walk as ex-president prepares for indictment

Stormy Daniels says she will ‘dance down the street’ when ‘tiny’ Trump is indicted

Thursday 23 March 2023 01:30 , Oliver O'Connell

The adult film star at the centre of Donald Trump’s looming criminal indictment has said she will “dance down the street” when “tiny” Donald Trump is indicted over hush money payments to silence her about an alleged affair.

Stormy Daniels took to Twitter on Tuesday to share a series of posts mocking the former president over his potentially looming – and historic – criminal indictment in Manhattan.

Joe Sommerlad reports.

Stormy Daniels says she will ‘dance down the street’ when ‘tiny’ Trump is indicted

GOP presidential hopefuls holding off on campaigns

Thursday 23 March 2023 00:45 , Oliver O'Connell

They are meeting with campaign donors and giving frequent interviews on cable news. They’re delivering speeches in early voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire and hobnobbing with local Republican groups. Some are even quietly discussing campaign jobs with political operatives.

But don’t call them presidential candidates — at least, not yet.

From Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to former Vice President Mike Pence and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, there appears to be little rush to join the field of official presidential candidates. The reluctance reflects the unsettled nature of U.S. politics as Republicans game out whether Donald Trump will maintain his grip on the party, particularly if a criminal indictment is leveled against the former president in New York as early as this week.

Presidential waiting game: GOP hopefuls hold off campaigns

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