Trump news – live: New poll casts Trump as ‘criminal’ as senior ex-official calls documents case ‘dangerous’

The former president’s allies are turning on him, calling his conduct with classified documents at Mar-a-Lago illegal and dangerous.

“The legal theory by which he gets to take battle plans and sensitive national security information as his personal papers is absurd,” Trump administration attorney general Bill Barr told Face the Nation on Sunday. “It’s just as wacky as the legal doctrine they came up with for the vice-president to unilaterally decide who won the election.”

“People have described him as a hoarder when it comes to these type of documents. But, clearly, it was unauthorized, illegal and dangerous,” former Trump administration defense secretary Mark Esper added.

Voters may be growing sick of Mr Trump as well.

In a new poll, voters were most likely to describe Donald Trump in one word as a “criminal”; others were even less flattering, such as “disgusting”, “liar”, “evil” and “dangerous” (though “patriot” also made a top-10 appearance).

Key Points

• Americans want Trump to be pardoned in documents case, poll finds

• Trump campaign rakes in cash after arrest

• Donald Trump might try to pardon himself

• Classified documents filing hints at ‘ongoing investigations’ related to Trump

• Trump is a ‘criminal’ and DeSantis is a ‘fascist,’ poll finds

• Mike Pence says we should hold off on all the Trump pardon talk

10:40 , Rachel Sharp

Former Trump administration defence secretary Mark Esper also had harsh words for Donald Trump’s actions over the weekend, calling them “illegal and dangerous”.

“People have described him as a hoarder when it comes to these type of documents. But, clearly, it was unauthorized, illegal and dangerous,” Mr Esper said on CNN.

“If the allegations are true that it contained information about our nation’s security, about our vulnerabilities, about other items, it could be quite harmful to the nation. And, look, no one is above the law. And so I think this process needs to play out and people held to account, the president held to account,” he continued.

It was a firm look at the facts of the investigation from a man who, under the same ex-president now facing roughly three dozen federal charges, had access to some of the nation’s most classified materials and had oversight over America’s armed services as well as the CIA.

Mr Esper was one of a number of the former president’s top officials who did not make it through the end of the Trump presidency; in the secretary’s case, he was fired days after the 2020 election as an increasingly volatile then-President Trump ordered thousands of US troops out of an already rapidly-deteriorating Afghanistan — reportedly having wanted the effort to conclude even before the election.

Bill Barr slams Trump’s ‘absurd’ defence of classified papers

10:20 , Rachel Sharp

Donald Trump’s former attorney general Bill Barr has slammed the former president’s “absurd” defence of his handling of classified documents after leaving office.

“It’s just as wacky as the legal doctrine they came up with for, you know, having the vice president unilaterally determine who won the election,” he told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.

Mr Barr said that Mr Trump’s indictment on 37 federal criminal charges was “entirely of his own making” – but, despite this, he doesn’t “like the idea of a former president serving time in prison”.

“He had no right to those documents,” he said.

“The government tried for over a year, quietly and with respect, to get them back, which was essential that they do, and he jerked them around. And he had no legal basis for keeping them.”

Anger as Fox News guest says it’s time for someone to ‘pull a trigger’ over drag queens, Trump and ‘the left’

10:00 , Josh Marcus

A Fox News guest discussing last week’s “drag nuns” protest, the Trump prosecution and “the left” has suggested the time may be coming for someone in America to “pull the trigger” like at Concord, the battle which helped to spark the Revolutionary War.

Retired MLB pitcher and conservative commentator Curt Schilling made the on-air comments Friday while in conversation with host Jesse Watters. Schilling complained that leaders on the right “talk, talk, that’s all they’re doing” without backing up ideology with action.

“We’re up against a side and a force that doesn’t play by the rules – refuses to play by the rules,” Schilling said, adding of conservatives: “We get excited, and we get emotional; that’s it. They break the law; they do the things they need to do to ensure their agenda is driven forward – and we’re watching them gut our nation from the inside out, and I don’t know where the rubber’s gonna meet the road.”

Sheila Flynn has the details.

Anger as Fox guest says it’s time for someone to ‘pull a trigger’ over ‘the left’

Is Donald Trump going to prison?

09:00 , Josh Marcus

Donald Trump was arrested and arraigned on Tuesday 13 June for the second time in less than three months.

At 3pm local time, Mr Trump surrendered to authorities at the Wilkie D Ferguson Jr United States Courthouse in Miami, Florida on 37 federal charges stemming from his alleged unlawful retention of national defence information, adding another criminal case to the legal pressure against the twice-impeached former president as he seeks to win his party’s nomination in next year’s Republican presidential primary.

The arraignment comes just days after a federal grand jury indicted the former president.

Mr Trump first revealed the indictment in a series of posts on his Truth Social platform on 8 June – just one day after The Independent reported that federal prosecutors had planned to ask a grand jury to return an indictment against him.

Read our full story for more.

Is Donald Trump going to prison?

Miami's Francis Suarez looks to become first sitting mayor to be president

07:59 , Josh Marcus

In a 2024 Republican presidential field full of long-shot candidates, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez may be — on paper anyway — the longest long shot of all.

No sitting mayor has ever been elected U.S. president, a job that historically has been won by governors, vice presidents, senators or Cabinet secretaries. Some former mayors have become commander in chief, but only after serving in higher-profile positions.

None of that has deterred Suarez, who announced his campaign this past week by talking up his experience leading the city of about 450,000 residents. Being a two-term mayor of Miami, he said, has helped him understand and confront issues facing most Americans, such as crime and homelessness. In the video for his kickoff, Suarez went for a run past his childhood home and his high school and spoke of his record of cutting taxes and expanding Miami’s technology economy.

Read the full story.

Miami's Francis Suarez looks to become first sitting mayor to be president

Attorney General Garland keeps poker face as firestorm erupts after Trump charges

07:00 , Josh Marcus

On his first day as attorney general, Merrick Garland pledged a return to what he called the “norms” of the Justice Department and said he would work to eliminate the perception of political interference. But in the two years since he took office, the former federal judge has found himself in the middle of a political firestorm of historic proportions.

The case against Donald Trump — the first former president to face federal criminal charges — brought a crush of protesters to the Miami courthouse last week, as well as a torrent of social media broadsides from Trump and an onslaught of criticism from Republicans.

The decision to charge Trump, who is running for president again, is perhaps the most consequential in the history of the Justice Department. The ultimate call on that came from Garland, whose demeanor leans to the mild.

Lindsay Whitehurst has more.

Attorney General Garland keeps poker face as firestorm erupts after Trump charges

Voters think Trump is a criminal, Biden is too old and DeSantis is a fascist, new poll finds

06:00 , Josh Marcus

A new poll out from JL Partners underscores major weaknesses for the three men most likely to be sworn in as president on 20 January 2025, with little good news to soften the blow.

With the GOP primary now in full swing, Americans are getting a good look at the alternatives the Republican Party will present to the re-election of President Joe Biden, who was already the oldest president ever to take office when he did so in 2021.

But the top contenders in the GOP, former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, each have debilitating labels to overcome if they have any shot of picking up ground with a general election audience, according to the survey. For Mr Trump, voters were most likely to describe him in one word as a “criminal”; others were even less flattering, such as “disgusting”, “liar”, “evil” and “dangerous” (though “patriot” also made a top-10 appearance).

John Bowden reports.

Voters think Trump is a criminal, Biden is too old and DeSantis is a fascist: poll

Why South Carolina matters in the presidential primary

05:00 , Josh Marcus

South Carolina Republicans have set Feb. 24 as the date of their 2024 presidential primary, a move that, if approved, the party says will give GOP White House hopefuls more time to campaign in the first-in-the-South state.

The state GOP executive committee voted unanimously to approve the measure on Saturday, party executive director Hope Walker told The Associated Press. The selection still needs approval from the Republican National Committee to be official, and Walker said that a formal submission will be sent ahead of an October deadline.

The move comes as both major parties make moves to solidify their voting calendars ahead of the 2024 nominating process.

More details here.

South Carolina GOP sets Feb. 24 date for first-in-the-South presidential primary

Voices: Trump is incredibly guilty: that doesn’t mean he’ll get the prison time he deserves

04:00 , Josh Marcus

Over on Independent Premium, Eric Lewis takes a deep dive into the Trump classified documents case.

Trump is guilty, but he may not get the prison time he deserves | Eric Lewis

Trump’s defence secretary says his hoarding of secrets was ‘unauthorised, illegal and dangerous’

03:00 , Josh Marcus

Donald Trump’s former defence chief threw cold water on the assertion from his former boss and his allies that the classified records and other documents seized from the ex-president’s home and resort in an FBI raid were his to take.

As the ex-president’s loyalists continue to offer a wide scope of defences for their leader ranging from arguments that Mr Trump was allowed to designate the materials as personal records for his own safekeeping to the idea that the prosecution is merely a politicised weaponisation of the Justice Department, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper has offered his own assessment on the situation.

On Sunday, he joined CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper, and flatly stated that his ex-boss’s actions were “illegal and dangerous”.

Trump’s defence chief slams ex-president’s ‘illegal and dangerous’ documents trove

Congresswoman accidentally says Trump should be ‘shot’ over classified documents case

02:00 , Josh Marcus

Stacey Plaskett, a US representative for the US Virgin Islands, accidentally said Donald Trump should be shot for taking classified documents from the White House.

Watch the gaffe below, via MSNBC.

New Lincoln Project ad slams Trump for classified documents indictment

01:20 , Josh Marcus

In a blistering new attack ad, the anti-Trump Republican group the Lincoln Project hammers the former president for taking classified documents out of the White House, and criticises as well the Republican politicians and conservative media figures who won’t condemn such conduct.

“Trump did this to himself,” the ad says. “He took the documents. He shared them and tried to cover it up. Patriots know people who committ this crime belong in prison, not the White House.”

Watch the full clip below.

Trump is a ‘petty individual,’ former attorney general says

Monday 19 June 2023 00:50 , Josh Marcus

Bill Barr has been unloading on Donald Trump all day.

In a recent interview on Face the Nation, Mr Barr, who served as the Trump administration’s attorney general, called his former colleague “petty and selfish.”

“He’s a very petty individual who will always put his interests ahead of the country’s,” Mr Barr said.

Voting third party will put Trump ‘back in the presidency,’ former senator says

Monday 19 June 2023 00:20 , Josh Marcus

Former US senator for Alabama Doug Jones is warning voters not to go with third-party options like the No Labels group, which intends to run an outsider candidate, during the 2024 election.

“This is a vote for Donald Trump,” Mr Jones said in an interview with MSNBC. “This is an effort to get Donald Trump back in the presidency.”

Trump had ‘disturbing’ habits with documents

Sunday 18 June 2023 23:50 , Josh Marcus

Donald Trump was a bit of a hoarder, according to his former top deputies.

“I think he was kind of a collector of things that he thought were of interest to him for some reason or another: clippings, mementos, classified documents,” former national security adviser John Bolton told MSNBC on Sunday, calling the behaviour “disturbing.”

“We could see in the course of meetings with him — intelligence briefings, decision meetings — that sometimes he liked to retain things, and it became a practice just to make sure that we got them back in as many cases as we could,” he added.

Merrick Garland is ‘least partisan person I know,’ despite attacks on DoJ

Sunday 18 June 2023 23:20 , Josh Marcus

Supporters of Merrick Garland say the attorney general is the right person to handle a consequential decision like the indictment against Donald Trump for mishandling classified documents.

“I’m sure he is saddened by the spectacle of a former president being indicted for the kinds of crimes that we see Trump indicted for,” Robert Post, a professor at Yale Law School, told the Associated Press. “He’s the least partisan person that I know. He cares about the law first and foremost.”

Mike Pence says we should hold off on all the Trump pardon talk

Sunday 18 June 2023 22:49 , Josh Marcus

Former Trump administration vice-president Mike Pence says it’s “premature” to talk about whether Donald Trump should be pardoned for mishandling classified documents.

“I don’t know why some of my competitors in the Republican primary presume the [former] president will be found guilty,” Mr Pence told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday.

“We don’t know what his defense is,” he added. “We don’t know if this will even go to trial. It could be subject to a motion to dismiss.”

Other 2024 candidates like Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, and Vivek Ramaswamy have all suggested they would pardon the former president.

Anti-trans attacks on right continue to escalate

Sunday 18 June 2023 22:16 , Josh Marcus

Donald Trump and his fellow right-wingers continue to attack trans people.

A Fox News guest discussing last week’s “drag nuns” protest, the Trump prosecution and “the left” has suggested the time may be coming for someone in America to “pull the trigger” like at Concord, the battle which helped to spark the Revolutionary War.

Retired MLB pitcher and conservative commentator Curt Schilling made the on-air comments Friday while in conversation with host Jesse Watters. Schilling complained that leaders on the right “talk, talk, that’s all they’re doing” without backing up ideology with action.

“We’re up against a side and a force that doesn’t play by the rules – refuses to play by the rules,” Schilling said, adding of conservatives: “We get excited, and we get emotional; that’s it. They break the law; they do the things they need to do to ensure their agenda is driven forward – and we’re watching them gut our nation from the inside out, and I don’t know where the rubber’s gonna meet the road.”

Referencing the American founding fathers and “the young men that signed the Constitution,” Schilling continued: “They sacrificed everything to come out from under a tyrannical government and, then, eventually, at some point, there was a man at Concord who decided he was gonna pull the trigger.”

Anger as Fox News guest it's time for someone to 'pull a trigger' over drag queens

Such rhetoric wouldn’t be out of place on Donald Trump’s stump speech.

Trump threatens trans healthcare in NRA speech

Bill Barr says ‘consummate narcissist’ Trump has himself to blame for indictment, not DoJ

Sunday 18 June 2023 21:52 , Josh Marcus

Ex-attorney general Bill Barr, perhaps tiring of Donald Trump slandering his former home at the Justice Department, says the former president has no one to blame for his federal indictment but himself.

Mr Barr, who served in the Trump administration, told CBS news that Mr Trump’s case was “entirely of his own making,” calling his old boss a “consummate narcissist” and a “fundamentally flawed person.”

“He’s like a defiant 9-year-old kid who is always pushing the glass towards the edge of the table, defying his parents from stopping him from doing it,” Mr. Barr said, adding that “our country can’t be a therapy session for a troubled man like this.”

Donald Trump might try to pardon himself

Sunday 18 June 2023 21:27 , Josh Marcus

At least, that’s the risk, according to Trump’s 2024 rival Asa Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas.

“I could certainly see Donald Trump doing that. That’s exactly what he would intend if he got elected president. And if [his case] was not brought to trial before then, he’s likely to issue that as well,” Mr Hutchinson told ABC News’s This Week.

“From a legal standpoint, a constitutional standpoint, that is a question that the courts would have to resolve,” he added. “I’m doubtful of it. I don’t think that’s what the Constitution intends in giving the president the pardon power. But most importantly, it would be inappropriate, unseemly.”

Should Biden pardon Trump?

Sunday 18 June 2023 21:02 , Josh Marcus

At least one former Trump official thinks so.

Chip Muir argues in The Hill today that Joe Biden could spare the country a lot of division by pardoning Donald Trump for hoarding classified documents, citing Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon for Watergate.

“The gesture curtailed the acrimony over continued Watergate fallout and started the process of moving on,” Mr Muir writes. “Though Nixon felt he was innocent of criminal conduct and should not have to accept a pardon, the pardon ended his legal jeopardy and allowed him to acknowledge he should have handled the situation better. In either case, a humbling yet gracious lifeline allowed America to move forward.”

Mike Pence says he wants to ‘clean house’ at the DoJ, in oblique reference to Trump case

Sunday 18 June 2023 20:47 , Josh Marcus

Mike Pence may be challenging Donald Trump for the 2024 presidential election, but the former Trump administration VP also seems to be siding with his old boss when it comes to prosecutions.

Mr Pence sounded somewhat Trump-ian in recent comments, accusing the DoJ of being overly politicised, a comment that can only be understood in the wider context of the Justice Department’s prosecution of Donald Trump for hoarding classified documents.

“The American people – or I will tell you among Republicans, vast majority of Republicans – have lost confidence in the department of justice,” Mr Pence said this weeked, adding he would “clean house at the highest levels of the Department of Justice.”

Former Pence aid rips Trump pardons to ‘cocaine traffickers’ and ‘family members'

Sunday 18 June 2023 20:23 , Josh Marcus

Marc Short, a former aide to vice-president Mike Pence, is part of a growing chorus of former Trump administration officials condemning Donald Trump’s conduct.

“One of the most unseemly parts of the end of our administration was the pardons that Donald Trump gave to cocaine traffickers, to family members, to people guilty of violent crimes,” Mr Short told Fox News Sunday.

Here’s everyone Donald Trump pardoned.

Who has Trump pardoned? A full list

Are Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson friends again?

Sunday 18 June 2023 19:57 , Josh Marcus

It’s been a strange few months for Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson.

The right-wing president and the right-wing anchor were often mutually supportive throughout the Trump presidency, but things got a bit dicier during the Dominion Voting Systems defamation suit against Fox News, Mr Carlson’s former employer.

Tucker Carlson said he ‘passionately’ hated Trump, new Fox News lawsuit filings show

Internal communications shared as part of the suit quote Mr Carlson saying he “passionately” hated Mr Trump and looked forward to the day he no longer had to cover him.

Mr Carlson later walked back the comments, but for a while it seemed the two allies might at odds with each other.

Not so now, however.

In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Mr Trump was back to praising the anchor, who recently went on a lengthy monologue about why the former president is the best candidate for the White House in 2024.

“Thank you Tucker,” Mr Trump wrote in response. “We miss you!”

Did Donald Trump endanger US troops by hoarding classified documents?

Sunday 18 June 2023 19:32 , Josh Marcus

Donald Trump’s former defence chief threw cold water on the assertion from his former boss and his allies that the classified records and other documents seized from the ex-president’s home and resort in an FBI raid were his to take.

As the ex-president’s loyalists continue to offer a wide scope of defences for their leader ranging from arguments that Mr Trump was allowed to designate the materials as personal records for his own safekeeping to the idea that the prosecution is merely a politicised weaponisation of the Justice Department, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper has offered his own assessment on the situation.

On Sunday, he joined CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper, and flatly stated that his ex-boss’s actions were “illegal and dangerous”.

John Bowden reports.

Trump’s defence chief slams ex-president’s ‘illegal and dangerous’ documents trove

Paul Ryan thinks Trump will ‘cost’ Republican party Congress (again)

Sunday 18 June 2023 19:00 , Josh Marcus

Paul Ryan doesn’t think the future of the Republican party lies with Donald Trump.

The former House Speaker told the New York Post this weekend if the GOP goes with Trump, it will result in another four years of a Biden-Harris administration and Democrats in Congress.

“I think the electability argument is going to become more salient with this event,” he said.

“He’s going to cost us the Senate again, he’s going to cost us House seats, and we want to win.”

Ron DeSantis brings the fight to Trump in Nevada

Sunday 18 June 2023 18:40 , Josh Marcus

Ron DeSantis was in Nevada on Saturday, trying to peel support away from Donald Trump in a battleground state Joe Biden narrowly carried in 2020.

At a jamboree near the Sierra Nevada mountains, the Florida governor took some not-so-subtle shots at Donald Trump, talking about the disappointing success rate of the Republican party during the Trump years

“We’ve developed a culture of losing in this party,” Mr DeSantis said, adding, “You’re not going to get a mulligan on the 2024 election.”

However, Mr DeSantis did take Trump’s side at one point, seeming to reference the special counsel investigation of the forme president.

“We are going to end the weaponization of this government once and for all,” Mr DeSantis said.

Will GOP candidates stick with party’s loyalty pledge?

Sunday 18 June 2023 18:15 , Josh Marcus

The Republican party is preparing for a bruising 2024 primary with a huge field of candidates.

During these fights, the party asks its candidates to commit to a loyalty pledge and support whoever emerges as the winner.

However, it seems at least two major candidates, Donald Trump and Chris Christie, probably won’t stick to that script.

“I’m going to take the pledge just as seriously as Donald Trump took it in 2016,” the former New Jersey governor said on CNN today.

“As you’ll remember, Reince Priebus had to go up to Trump Tower to get him to sign it, to ask him to do so,” he added. “He did and then we went to a subsequent debate and we were all asked if we would reaffirm our support of whoever the nominee was going to be by raising our hand. There were 10 of us on the stage, nine of us raised our hands. The one who didn’t was Donald Trump.”

Trump illegally took nuclear document, experts say

Sunday 18 June 2023 17:50 , Josh Marcus

A nuclear document was among the classified materials Donald Trump took with him after he left the White House, according to prosecutors.

Even compared with the rest of the documents he took, making off with this file was especially problematic, according to experts, because nuclear documents can only be declassied by the Departments of Energy and Defense under the Atomic Energy Act.

“The claim that he could have declassified it is not relevant in the case of the nuclear weapons information because it was not classified by executive order but by law,” Steven Aftergood, a government secrecy expert with the Federation of Atomic Scientists, told Reuters.

Chris Christie calls Donald Trump ‘three-time loser'

Sunday 18 June 2023 17:25 , Josh Marcus

When it comes to presidential politics these days, the insults can be as revealing as any policy platform.

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, for his part, has taken recently to calling Donald Trump a ‘loser,’ pointing to the former president’s single-term in office and poor showing for the Republican Party while he was in the White House.

“I will do what I need to do to be up on that stage to try to save my party and save my country from going down the road of being led by three-time loser Donald Trump,” Mr Christie recently told CNN’s State of the Union.

“Loser in 2018 by losing the House, loser in 2020 by losing the White House and the United States Senate, and the worst midterm performance we have seen in a long, long time, led by Donald Trump-selected candidates with Donald Trump as the main issue in many of those races. Loser, loser, loser,” he added.

The former governor and 2024 Trump rival rolled out the memorable attack line at a CNN town hall earlier this month.

Christie slams ex-president as poll shows slight bump in favorability

Trump is a ‘criminal’ and DeSantis is a ‘fascist,’ poll finds

Sunday 18 June 2023 17:03 , Josh Marcus

A new poll out from JL Partners underscores major weaknesses for the three men most likely to be sworn in as president on 20 January 2025, with little good news to soften the blow.

With the GOP primary now in full swing, Americans are getting a good look at the alternatives the Republican Party will present to the re-election of President Joe Biden, who was already the oldest president ever to take office when he did so in 2021.

But the top contenders in the GOP, former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, each have debilitating labels to overcome if they have any shot of picking up ground with a general election audience, according to the survey. For Mr Trump, voters were most likely to describe him in one word as a “criminal”; others were even less flattering, such as “disgusting”, “liar”, “evil” and “dangerous” (though “patriot” also made a top-10 appearance).

John Bowden reports.

Voters think Trump is a criminal, Biden is too old and DeSantis is a fascist: poll

Bill Barr says Trump’s legal reasoning in documents case is ‘wacky’ and ‘absurd'

Sunday 18 June 2023 16:57 , Josh Marcus

Former Trump administration attorney general Bill Barr says Donald Trump’s legal arguments in the classified documents investigation are way off base.“The legal theory by which he gets to take battle plans and sensitive national security information as his personal papers is absurd,” Mr Barr told Face the Nation. “It’s just as wacky as the legal doctrine they came up with for the vice-president to unilaterally decide who won the election.”

The former attorney general said federal law only allows presidents to take purely private documents with them once they leave office.

“Obviously these documents are not purely private. It’s obvious,” he added. “They’re not even now arguing it’s purely private. What they’re saying is the president just has sweeping discretion to say they are.”

Trump family separations at the US border inspired Isabel Allende’s newest novel

Sunday 18 June 2023 16:32 , Josh Marcus

The separation of migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border has always caused Isabel Allende pain: When she saw it during the Trump administration, her first impulse was to help reunify children and parents through her foundation. Then, the legendary Chilean author thought, she had to write a book.

“The Wind Knows My Name,” which grapples with immigration, violence, solidarity, and love, is the latest novel by the award-winning writer who — with more than 77 million books sold — is considered the world’s most widely read Spanish-language author. Released earlier this month, it is available at bookstores in the U.S., Spain, and Latin America.

For Allende, 80, the separation of children from their parents at the border evoked similarly wrenching historical moments, such as when children of enslaved or Indigenous families were wrest from their parents.

More details in our full story.

Family separations at the US border inspired Isabel Allende's newest novel

Trump's promise of payback for prosecution follows years of attacking democratic traditions

Sunday 18 June 2023 13:00 , Josh Marcus

As Donald Trump became the first former president to face federal charges, he and his supporters went through a familiar routine of mounting a victimhood defense in the face of unprecedented allegations of wrongdoing. But this time, the stakes are higher.

Trump upped the level of his claims and threats as he faces the potential of years in prison if convicted on 37 charges of obstruction, illegal retention of defense information and other violations. Hours after pleading not guilty, Trump claimed he is being targeted by the special prosecutor, who is nonpartisan, for political reasons and vowed to retaliate against President Joe Biden if he is elected president in 2024.

“There was an unwritten rule” to not prosecute former presidents and political rivals, Trump told supporters in a speech at his golf club in New Jersey. “I will appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president in the history of America, Joe Biden, and go after the Biden crime family.”

Trump's promise of payback for prosecution follows years of attacking democratic traditions

Is Donald Trump going to prison?

Sunday 18 June 2023 11:00 , Josh Marcus

Donald Trump was arrested and arraigned on Tuesday 13 June for the second time in less than three months.

At 3pm local time, Mr Trump surrendered to authorities at the Wilkie D Ferguson Jr United States Courthouse in Miami, Florida on 37 federal charges stemming from his alleged unlawful retention of national defence information, adding another criminal case to the legal pressure against the twice-impeached former president as he seeks to win his party’s nomination in next year’s Republican presidential primary.

The arraignment comes just days after a federal grand jury indicted the former president.

Mr Trump first revealed the indictment in a series of posts on his Truth Social platform on 8 June – just one day after The Independent reported that federal prosecutors had planned to ask a grand jury to return an indictment against him.

Here’s what you need to know about the case.

Is Donald Trump going to prison?

Fox News producer behind chyron calling Biden a ‘wannabe dictator’ parts ways with network

Sunday 18 June 2023 09:30 , Josh Marcus

The Fox News producer behind controversial chyron calling President Joe Biden the Trump-like insult “wannabe dictator” has parted ways with the right-wing network two days after the scandal.

Sources told The Daily Beast on Thursday that Alexander McCaskill, the former managing editor on “Tucker Carlson Tonight”, is no longer employed by the Rupert Murdoch empire.

Mr McCaskill’s name previously repeatedly cropped up in a lawsuit brought by former “Tucker Carlson Tonight” producer Abby Grossberg claiming a misogynistic and toxic culture on the show. Ms Grossberg claims that Mr McCaskill “gaslighted” her and discriminated against her because she is Jewish.

Rachel Sharp reports.

Fox News parts ways with producer behind Biden ‘wannabe dictator’ chyron

Five takeaways from Trump’s post-arrest speech in Bedminster

Sunday 18 June 2023 07:59 , Josh Marcus

Donald Trump was in typical form on Tuesday evening as he appeared before a throng of supporters in Bedminster, New Jersey, to denounce his latest criminal indictment.

The ex-president delivered a roughly 30-minute address to a crowd of fans who descended upon the golf club to hear him swipe at political rivals and anyone else whose own actions he thought could be used to paint his own as harmless.

It was a rambling speech broken up by an impromptu singing of “Happy Birthday” from Mr Trump’s harmonically-challenged fans, whose rendition of the tune dissolved into a slurred mess by the conclusion.

So what can we learn from the former president’s remarks?

John Bowden reports.

What we learned from Trump’s post-arrest speech

Trump lawyer who dropped out of classified papers case has now withdrawn from CNN lawsuit

Sunday 18 June 2023 07:00 , Josh Marcus

The attorney who recently withdrew from former president Donald Trump’s case regarding his alleged mishandling of classified documents has now also withdrawn from Mr Trump’s lawsuit against CNN.

James Trusty sent a motion to withdraw as an attorney to the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Friday, asking to pull out of the case.

“Mr Trusty’s withdrawal is based on irreconcilable differences between Counsel and Plaintiff and Counsel can no longer effectively and properly represent plaintiff,” the motion read. The motion said that Mr Trusty’s withdrawal did not adversely affect Mr Trump as oral arguments on CNN’s motion to dismiss had not been scheduled, discovery had not yet begun and no deadlines are pending.

Eric Garcia reports.

Trump lawyer who dropped out of classified papers case withdraws from CNN lawsuit

Special counsel Jack Smith stared at Trump throughout historic court appearance, report says

Sunday 18 June 2023 06:00 , Josh Marcus

Special Counsel Jack Smith reportedly stared down former President Donald Trump throughout the entirety of Mr Trump’s arraignment in Miami on Tuesday.

Hugo Lowell of The Guardian and other journalists reported that Mr Smith sat in the front row during Mr Trump’s arraignment on federal charges related to his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House in 2021 and “stared towards the former president for essentially the entire appearance.”

Mr Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to oversee the Department of Justice’s investigation into Mr Trump’s handling of classified documents and his attempts to overturn the reuslt of the 2020 presidential election.

Abe Asher reports.

Special counsel Jack Smith stared at Trump throughout court appearance, report says

Ex-Trump lawyer turned witness against him loses bid for release from probation

Sunday 18 June 2023 05:00 , Josh Marcus

Former President Donald Trump‘s onetime personal lawyer and the key witness against him in his New York state criminal prosecution lost his bid Friday for early release from probation following a three-year prison sentence after federal prosecutors said he’s lying again.

U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman in Manhattan cited Michael Cohen‘s recent comments in a book and television appearance as reasons to conclude that early release from court supervision would not ensure rehabilitation and deterrence from future crimes.

The credibility of Cohen — who served as Trump’s personal lawyer from his early 2017 inauguration until his 2018 arrest — will be scrutinized if a jury ever hears the state criminal case filed against Trump over payments Cohen says he made on Trump’s behalf to silence two women who claimed they had affairs with Trump before the Republican became president.

Ex-Trump lawyer turned witness against him loses bid for release from probation

Trump doesn’t need to win for the US to keep drifting to the right

Sunday 18 June 2023 04:00 , Josh Marcus

Lawmakers in state capitols this year have been flexing their superpowers.

In North Carolina, a new supermajority of Republicans enacted abortion restrictions. In Vermont, a new supermajority of Democrats imposed a climate-sensitive home heating law. And in Montana, a GOP supermajority booted a transgender lawmaker from the House floor.

In each case, the views of their political opponents ultimately were irrelevant.

By at least one measure, political power is at its highest mark in decades. That’s because Republicans or Democrats hold majorities so large in 28 states that they could override gubernatorial vetoes without any help from the minority party.

“Supermajorities give one party a lot of power to do what they want to do,” said Steven Rogers, a political scientist at Saint Louis University who focuses on elections and state legislatures.

More details here.

Supermajorities in state capitols push controversial policies to the edge

Participants at Trump's Jan. 6 rally push false election claims in Virginia legislative campaigns

Sunday 18 June 2023 03:00 , Josh Marcus

Most Republican candidates running for the Virginia legislature this year are centering their pitches to voters on issues such as education, the cost of living and gun rights.

But for a small segment of contenders, former President Donald Trump‘s false claims of a rigged 2020 election have remained an important campaign selling point heading into Tuesday’s primary.

“There’s still an underlying distrust of the election process by Republicans,” said state Sen. Amanda Chase, who is in a three-way primary for a GOP-leaning seat in suburban Richmond.

Participants at Trump's Jan. 6 rally push false election claims in Virginia legislative campaigns

Biden sharpens labour message as he prepares for campaign against Trump

Sunday 18 June 2023 02:00 , Josh Marcus

Joe Biden got his 2024 presidential re-election campaign underway in Philadelphia on Saturday by continuing to pitch voters on his pro-labour bonafides.

The Democrat told an audience of union members at the Philadelphia Convention Center he would keep trying to boost the working and middle class with “Bidenomics,” which he framed as opposed to the ideas of Republicans, who recently unveiled a series of tax proposals that would funnel benefits overwhelmingly to the wealthiest Americans.

“They are coming for your jobs. They are coming for your future. They are coming for the future we are building fo your kids and grandkids,” Mr Biden told the crowd. “And when they come as they did this past week with the trickle down economics plan, cut taxes for the rich, who do you think they are carrying the water for?...Who do you think is going to start carrying the burden? You are. Working people in this country.”

More details in our full story.

Biden warns unions Republicans ‘coming for your jobs’ in 2024 speech in Philadelphia

Can a Gen Z leader take North Carolina back from Trump?

Sunday 18 June 2023 01:00 , Josh Marcus

The last time that a Democratic presidential candidate won North Carolina, Anderson Clayton could not vote.

But now, the 25-year-old chairwoman of the North Carolina Democratic Party has a task that would overwhelm operatives twice her age: flip North Carolina blue for the first time in 16 years.

“Like, I know that we either win in 2024, and we do amazing things and we go forward as a state and as a nation, or we regress backwards,” she told The Independent in an interview. “It really is now or never for North Carolina, in my opinion.”

Eric Garcia has the full story.

The 25-year-old party chairwoman who wants to turn North Carolina blue

Why are so many politicians talking about the royals?

Sunday 18 June 2023 00:04 , Josh Marcus

Donald Trump and Joe Biden made strange royal references this weekend.

In a rant on his Truth Social page on Saturday, Mr Trump referred to himself as “The King” in an extended, somewhat inscrutable metaphor about the relationship between him and Fox News.

“Well, it’s happened, just as I predicted,” Mr Trump wrote. “The Golden Goose that was so beautiful is being slaughtered by Fools. MAGA has left Fox for more promising “prairies.” Long live the King. The only solution for Fox News is to bring back Trump Allies and MAGA—Backing No Personality Ron DeSanctimonious has been a disaster….”

See what else the leading 2024 candidates are saying about the monarchs in our full story.

Trump says ‘Long live the King’ in rant day after Biden said ‘God save the Queen’

Classified documents filing hints at ‘ongoing investigations’ related to Trump

Saturday 17 June 2023 23:00 , Josh Marcus

Even with two indictments targeting him, Donald Trump may be facing still more legal scrutiny.

In a Friday filing related to the classified document case against the former president, federal prosecutors mentioned discovery information related to “ongoing investigations” that could “identify uncharged individuals” somehow connect with Mr Trump

Officials did not specific what those investigations might be.

Regardless, Mr Trump is still in a heap of legal trouble.

All the investigations Trump still faces following his second arrest