Donald Trump Jr fails to recall much in NY fraud trial testimony: Live
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Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial ramped up in New York on Wednesday as his son Donald Trump Jr began his testimony in the $250m case, though his answers were evasive their lack of clarity.
The former president’s eldest son is the first of four Trump family members to testify in the trial, the outcome of which could topple Mr Trump’s business empire in the state.
After Don Jr, Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump and the former president himself are all expected to take the stand and give testimony under oath about the Trump Organization’s business practices.
In a Truth Social post in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Mr Trump lashed out at Judge Arthur Engoron, telling him to “leave my children alone”.
Meanwhile, another potentially more significant Trump trial is underway in Colorado.
A lawsuit seeking to block Mr Trump from the 2024 presidential ballot based on the 14th Amendment and its ban on insurrectionists running for office is being heard this week.
Similar efforts are underway in other states with Mr Trump filing a lawsuit to keep his name on the ballot in Michigan.
Alex Woodward reports from on the ground at the courthouse in New York
Key Points
Donald Trump Jr arrives in court ahead of civil fraud trial testimony
Judge reinstates Trump gag order in Jan 6 case
Ivanka Trump must testify in father’s civil fraud trial, judge rules
Trump’s 2024 presidential bid under threat over ‘insurrection’ clause
Trump fan’s chilling voicemail threats against Georgia prosecutors revealed
Trump election lies fuel US politics – even after Georgia allies flip
Trump files lawsuit to keep his name on Michigan ballot in 2024
US Election 2024: Trump already accusing his GOP rivals of cheating
Wednesday 1 November 2023 21:30 , Oliver O'Connell
Although more than three months remain before the 2024 Iowa caucus kicks into gear, former President Donald Trump has already begun accusing his political rivals of cheating.
In a video posted on the Republican frontrunner’s Instagram page on Tuesday evening, Mr Trump said, “You know the other side does cheat, and we’re not gonna let that happen.”
He encouraged Iowa caucus-goers to “do whatever is necessary” on 15 January to “make America great again.”
“If you do, we will win. We will win big and that’s what you have to do,” the former president added.
Mr Trump is no stranger to bogus election fraud claims.
Kelly Rissman reports.
Trump is already accusing his 2024 rivals of cheating
NY Fraud Trial: Judge ends proceedings for the day
Wednesday 1 November 2023 20:38 , Gustaf Kilander
Alex Woodward reports from the courtroom:
Donald Jr is echoing statements he gave during a taped deposition in the case when he is asked about the statements of financial condition prepared at the responsibility of the trust.
As expected, he has put the blame on accountants and the already-convicted former Trump Organization executive who are also listed as co-defendants in this case.
After the judge pushed Colleen Faherty to ask more direct questions, she asked him if he was a trustee on 30 October 2017.
“I believe I would have been, yes,” he says.
And what about his involvement with statements of financial condition in that same time period, prepared at the responsibility of the trust?
“I did not, the accountants did, that’s what we paid them to do,” he says.
And with that, the judge is calling it a day.
Wednesday 1 November 2023 20:26 , Gustaf Kilander
Alex Woodward reports from the courtroom:
State counsel Colleen Faherty brings up an email and attached document Donald Trump Jr sent and received in 2013 before she lists several international deals with Trump businesses, including arrangements in Azerbaijan, Dubai, and Canada.
Trump attorney Christopher Kise objects, citing relevance, and arguing that the emails she is showing are 10 years old.
Ms Faherty is teeing up a suggestion that those deals weren’t included in statements of financial condition.
NY Fraud Trial: ‘Now you’re testifying, Colleen'
Wednesday 1 November 2023 20:24 , Gustaf Kilander
Trump counsel Chris Lise objected to questioning about a Trump company called TTT Consulting LLC, Law360 notes.
“It’s completely irrelevant to this case,” he says.
Faherty raises her voice as she argues against Kise’s objection.
“Now you’re testifying, Colleen,” Trump counsel Alina Habba says.— Stewart Bishop (@stewartbishop) November 1, 2023
NY Fraud Trial: Don Jr consulted Eric on several issues
Wednesday 1 November 2023 20:12 , Gustaf Kilander
Alex Woodward reports from the court:
So far, Donald Trump Jr has repeatedly said he doesn’t recall having any conversations with key Trump Organization figures about Trump family business, including why he appeared to have resigned for several months in 2021 while his father took over after leaving the White House.
Asked if his father is still a trustee, he said, once again, “I don’t recall.”
Was Eric Trump ever a trustee?
“I don’t believe he was.”
Did he ever consult with Eric Trump on decisions about the trust?
Here, Donald Jr said he consulted with his brother on a number of issues that he believed Eric was better equipped to handle.
Wednesday 1 November 2023 20:09 , Gustaf Kilander
Don Jr appears to not be too concerned about the actions surrounding the trust, Law360 notes.
“Are you aware if there’s been any revocation [since January 2021] of the appointment of Donald J. Trump as trustee?” Ms Faherty asks.
“I don’t know,” Mr Trump Jr says.
While Eric Trump was not a trustee, Don Jr. says his brother was...what sounds like more or less on equal footing. While Eric didn’t have authority to make decisions on behalf of the trust, Don Jr. says he had authority in the Trump Org. to take action.
— Stewart Bishop (@stewartbishop) November 1, 2023
“He’s my brother, I trust him implicitly,” Mr Trump Jr says of Eric.
NY Fraud Trial: Trump restored himself as trustee with five days left of presidency, document reveals
Wednesday 1 November 2023 19:54 , Gustaf Kilander
Donald Trump restored himself as a trustee of the trust containing his assets during his presidency five days before he left the White House.
Alex Woodward writes:
We’re shown a document effectively restoring Donald Trump’s appointment to the head of the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust on January 20, 2021.
Asked how he became aware of that, Donald Trump Jr said through “conversation with counsel”.
His attorneys interrupt.
Judge Engoron also steps in.
“I’m sure you’re aware of attorney-client?” he asks Trump Jr.
I am,” he replies.
“OK, keep that in mind,” he says.
Asked by the attorney general’s counsel Colleen Faherty if he is aware that on January 20, 2021, his father had restored himself as trustee of the trust, Donald Jr says “it would appear that way but I’m not that well versed”.
Wednesday 1 November 2023 19:46 , Gustaf Kilander
Alex Woodward reports from the courtroom:
The proceedings are now moving to the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust, but first, Judge Engoron asks the “trustee” Donald Trump Jr how it’s pronounced.
Mr Trump Jr jokes that he doesn’t know either. New York state lawyer Colleen Faherty asks him to clarify that he is a trustee of the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust.
“I don’t know, I only know ‘reh-coh-vuh-bull,’” he jokes.
NY Fraud Trial: Flippant Don Jr appears to not be taking proceedings too seriously
Wednesday 1 November 2023 19:34 , Gustaf Kilander
Don Jr appeared unhappy to be in court and didn’t seem to take things too seriously, Alex Woodward notes from the courtroom.
He’s speeding through his answers to questions he doesn’t like and is pretty flippant in some of his replies.
NY Fraud Trial: Don Jr agrees he had power of attorney for some of father’s affairs
Wednesday 1 November 2023 19:32 , Gustaf Kilander
Alex Woodward reports from court:
Donald Trump Jr agrees that he had power of attorney for some of his father’s affairs beginning on or about March 2017, shortly after he joined the White House.
Counsel with the New York attorney general shows documents indicating that such authority included “real estate transactions” as well as “banking transactions”.
The court then takes a break.
“As usual, we will take a 10-minute break, which will end in about 15 minutes,” Judge Engoron says.
Wednesday 1 November 2023 19:21 , Oliver O'Connell
Faherty asks: “Since January 2017, who has the ultimate authority over decisions made in the Trump Organization?”
The answer is that it was Don Jr, Eric and Weisselberg.
“We stopped reporting to my father on decisions in the business,” Don Jr. says.
Don Jr says he doesn’t know the exact date that Weisselberg stopped working with the business.
“Probably within the last two years,” he guesses.
He said he has “no knowledge of the specifics” of how he left or was asked to leave the company after he was indicted on criminal charges.
Wednesday 1 November 2023 19:16 , Oliver O'Connell
We’re getting an idea of the structure of the Trump Organization and the family hierarchy now from 2011 to 2017.
Donald Trump Jr testified that there “wasn’t a specific list” of things that convicted former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, who was more senior than him, would need to approve.
Eric Trump and Donald Jr each had their own “silos” of work and “we tried to stick to that,” Trump Jr said.
In the hierarchy, they were on “equal footing,” Colleen Faherty said. Trump Jr agreed.
And Ivanka?
“Same,” he said.
NY fraud trial: Don Jr questioned about accounting knowledge
Wednesday 1 November 2023 19:07 , Oliver O'Connell
Alex Woodward reports from the courtroom:
Donal Trump Jr repeatedly denied any knowledge of what constitutes “generally accepted accounting principles,” or GAAP, something he learned about in “Accounting 101, back in the late 90s” when he was at Wharton Business School.
When it comes to actually relying on them in business practises and in the drafting of statements of financial condition, that allegedly fraudulent documents at the centre of the case, he said: “That’s what I have CPAs.”
“I know nothing of GAAP in that capacity,” he said.
“Your answer would consistently be, I have no such knowledge?” Colleen Faherty with the attorney general’s office asked.
“That is correct,” he said.
Former GOP lawmaker says family disowned him for criticising Trump
Wednesday 1 November 2023 19:00 , Oliver O'Connell
Former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, a Republican and vocal critic of Donald Trump, said some family members disowned him for pushing back against the former president.
He said his angry relatives believed he was a part of the “devil’s army.”
“So, I had family that sent a certified letter disowning me,” Mr Kinzinger told CNN‘s Anderson Cooper. “They said I’ve lost the trust of great men like Sean Hannity, which is funny, but they believe that. They said I was a member of the devil’s army.”
Mr Kinzinger served in Congress between 2011 and 2023. He frequently criticised Mr Trump’s claims that the 2020 election had been stolen, and was among the voices calling for the former president to be removed from the White House following the Capitol riot in 2021. He also sat on the House select committee which investigated the events of 6 January, 2021.
Graig Graziosi reports.
Ex-Republican lawmaker says family disowned him for criticising Trump
Sidebar: Ivanka Trump to appeal subpoena compelling testimony
Wednesday 1 November 2023 18:59 , Oliver O'Connell
Ivanka Trump managed to succeed in having herself removed from the family’s New York civil fraud case as a defendant but is still being compelled to testify and is currently scheduled to round out the prosecution’s case in one week’s time.
However, her lawyer plans to appeal an order affirming a subpoena that compels her testimony.
You can read the latest filing here.
NY fraud trial: Donald Trump Jr takes the stand to testify
Wednesday 1 November 2023 18:53 , Oliver O'Connell
New York Attorney General counsel Colleen Faherty calls Donald Trump Jr to the stand.
Judge Arthur Engoron briefly allows photographers into the courtroom to capture pictures of Trump Jr sitting at the defence table.
Wednesday 1 November 2023 18:49 , Oliver O'Connell
Alex Woodward summises:
The gist of Suarez’s line of questioning was essentially going through McCarty’s analysis of Trump financial statements to undermine his previous testimony and his report commissioned by the attorney general. Suarez suggests his analysis is incomplete, such as failing to take collateral into consideration when reviewing loans.
To much surprise, Suarez suddenly concludes his cross-examination of Mr McCarty and there is no redirect from the government.
Stand by for Donald Trump Jr’s testimony.
Wednesday 1 November 2023 18:47 , Oliver O'Connell
Suarez asserts that a Deutsche Bank witness testified that the bank was not misled leading to an objection from the New York Attorney General’s team that he is misstating the testimony.
Nevertheless, Mr McCarty replies to this line of questioning by stating that the Deutsche Bank witness’s testimony wouldn’t have been material to his analysis.
“Was it material to your analysis...[that] Deutsche Bank was not misled because Deutsch Bank developed its own independent view?” Suarez asks.
“No,” he replies.
“Does your analysis here consider whether the borrower could find another source of financing?” Suarez asks.
“No, it does not,” Mr McCarty says.
“Does your analysis here consider whether the borrower could find another source of financing?” Suarez asks.
“No, it does not,” McCarty says.— Stewart Bishop (@stewartbishop) November 1, 2023
NY fraud trial: Court resumes
Wednesday 1 November 2023 18:36 , Oliver O'Connell
Alex Woodward reports from the courtroom:
Donald Trump Jr’s attorney Cliff Robert arrived with his client just as the lunch break started.
He’s sitting with Alina Habba at the defense table now.
Trump attorney Jesus Suarez is at the podium questioning expert witness Michiel McCarty, who is under the second hour of cross exam.
NB: Trump’s lead attorney Christopher Kise said they would go for two or three hours of cross-examination, which means… Don Jr could take the stand at approximately 3:30pm.
Citing 2020 lies and Jan 6 GOP rep Ken Buck says he won’t seek re-election
Wednesday 1 November 2023 18:20 , Oliver O'Connell
Rep Ken Buck (R-CO), an archconservative Republican who voted to remove Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House, announced he would not seek re-election.
Mr Buck spoke on to MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell and cited lies about the 2020 presidential election and January 6 as a reason he would not run for another term.
Mr Buck’s announcement comes the same day that House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Kay Granger announced she would not run for re-election.
Eric Garcia reports from Capitol Hill.
GOP lawmaker Ken Buck cites 2020 lies and Jan 6 as he says he won’t seek re-election
Daily Show audience jeers Nancy Mace for defence of Trump
Wednesday 1 November 2023 18:00 , Oliver O'Connell
Rep Nancy Mace faced the scorn of the Daily Show audience after host Charlamagne tha God asked if she believed the mounting evidence against former President Donald Trump following the four criminal indictments against him handed down this year.
“Which evidence?” she asked on Monday, prompting laughter and jeers from the studio audience. “Which indictment, which one?”
The host was asking about the Georgia election interference case in which multiple former Trump lawyers have pleaded guilty.
The South Carolina Republican said she hadn’t “seen the evidence yet”.
Gustaf Kilander reports.
Nancy Mace’s defence of Trump sparks jeers from Daily Show audience
Trump trolled by ‘Morning Joe’ with supercut of his latest gaffes
Wednesday 1 November 2023 17:38 , Oliver O'Connell
MSNBC’s Morning Joe broadcast a devastating supercut of former President Donald Trump’s latest campaign gaffes.
Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough, a former GOP Florida congressman, said: “He’s lost. That’s some of Donald Trump’s greatest hits on foreign policy.”
Mr Scarborough noted that the short video excluded a number of other gaffes by Mr Trump.
But the host added that President Joe Biden is also gaffe-prone.
“They’re both old men, and they’re both doing it,” he said.
‘Morning Joe’ trolls Trump with supercut of his latest gaffes
Don Jr arrives in court ahead of civil fraud trial testimony
Wednesday 1 November 2023 17:31 , Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump Jr has arrived at the New York Supreme Court in Lower Manhattan ahead of his expected testimony in the civil fraud trial in which he, his brother Eric, father Donald, and the Trump Organization (including senior executives) are defendants.
Meanwhile in DC and West Palm Beach...
Wednesday 1 November 2023 17:04 , Oliver O'Connell
Down in Washington, DC, in the federal election interference case, Judge Tanya Chutkan published a ruling allowing Special Counsel Jack Smith’s team to summarize classified information rather than give any of it to Donald Trump and his defence team.
However, in a separate filing in the federal classified documents case in Florida, Judge Aileen Cannon says she won’t block the former president and his defence team from seeing classified information, for now.
You can read the full ruling here.
Wednesday 1 November 2023 16:52 , Oliver O'Connell
Mr McCarty says he is paid $300,000 for his testimony and work on the case and an additional $40,000 to $50,000 that he has billed to the state.
Suarez asks about the loan agreements for the Trump properties in question and Mr McCarty confirms they were secured by collateral in the form of the actual property if owned or the Trump Organization’s interest in the property if not. The loans were also secured by Mr Trump’s personal guarantees.
Suarez has also promised to speed things up a bit and summarise his questions.
Trump lawyer Christopher Kise has had to step out as he represents Mr Trump in another case, but shortly after that announcement, the court breaks for lunch.
Cross-examination will continue at 2.15pm — it is still unclear if Donald Trump Jr will take the stand today.
Wednesday 1 November 2023 16:23 , Oliver O'Connell
Suarez begins his cross-examination of Mr McCarty by confirming that all of Mr Trump’s loans have been repaid in full and on time. Judge Engoron notes that no one is disputing that.
He then asks Mr McCarty about the materials he reviewed in preparation for this testimony and he says he looked at loan agreements, credit reviews, personal guarantees and other similar documents.
These were produced in discovery before the trial.
The court hears that Mr McCarty did not interview anyone from Deutsche Bank nor anyone from the accountancy firm Mazars.
Alex Woodward reports from the courtroom:
Jesus Suarez is leading the cross exam for Team Trump and he’s really testing Judge Engoron’s patience. Suarez’s line of questioning stacks multiple “did you nots” and other statements in an attempt to undermine his credibility and previous testimony.
“Please stop making one question into four or five,” the judge said. He’s fuming.
Christopher Kise stands up to defend the questions, arguing that the judge didn’t have the same response to the AG’s office.
“I stand by my criticism,” the judge said. “That’s why this takes three or four hours.”
NY fraud trial: Cross-examination of expert witness begins
Wednesday 1 November 2023 15:54 , Oliver O'Connell
After a short mid-morning break, the New York Attorney General’s team concludes their direct examination of expert Michiel McCarty.
The defence team estimates that their cross-examination could take up to three hours, meaning that Donald Trump Jr wouldn’t take the stand until approximately 3pm ET.
Judge Engoron was right — this is a busy day [and there are developments in two criminal cases against the former president we’ll get too soon].
Donald Trump’s lawyer Jesus Suarez will handle the cross-examination.
Here are Mr McCarty’s calculations of the bank’s lost interest by lending to Mr Trump at lower rates based on his fraudulent statements of financial condition, courtesy of Law360’s Frank Runyeon:
AG expert's analysis of "Lost Interest Calculations." It's only a selection of property, *not everything*
Banks lost $168M ... in Doral Miami, Old Post Office, TT Chicago, 40 Wall St. loans.
MATH = Loan terms Trump got minus what Trump would have gotten without false statements pic.twitter.com/7duaigblz7— Frank G. Runyeon (@frankrunyeon) November 1, 2023
Yesterday in Colorado: Trump could have defended Capitol on Jan 6, expert says in 2024 ballot case
Wednesday 1 November 2023 15:30 , Oliver O'Connell
Then-president Donald Trump could have mobilized the National Guard and other federal agencies to protect the US Capitol once violence broke out on 6 January 2021, a law professor testified on Tuesday as a case to bar the former president from the 2024 ballot moved into a new phase.
William Banks, a Syracuse University law professor and expert in national security law, said that once the attack on the Capitol began, Mr Trump had options he did not use.
“He should respond to his constitutional responsibilities to protect the security of the United States when there’s an assault on our democratic process,” Mr Banks said of Mr Trump.
Mr Banks was testifying as a witness for a group of Colorado voters who want to bar the former president from the ballot for allegedly violating his oath to uphold the Constitution in his attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss. They cite a rarely used clause in the 14th Amendment, adopted just after the Civil War, that prohibits those who “engaged in insurrection” against the Constitution from holding higher office.
Read more...
Trump could have defended Capitol on Jan 6, expert says in 2024 ballot case
Wednesday 1 November 2023 15:18 , Oliver O'Connell
Alex Woodward reports from the courtroom:
Trump and his team argue that the loans and transactions ultimately made everyone money, but those fraudulent statements of financial condition “cost the banks lots of money,” according to Mr McCarty’s report.
If Trump included honest statements, the interest on his loans would likely have been much higher. The banks then “lost money” in those arrangements, according to Mr McCarty.
He estimates that banks lost more than $168m in lost interest in four Trump properties.
Trump attorney Christopher Kise has tried to object to the findings and testimony, finally stating that “they’re not ill-gotten gains if the banks don’t testify” that they would’ve otherwise denied the loans.
Judge Engoron overrules and we’re back to questioning.
“I’ve decided they’re ill-gotten,” Judge Engoron says after another objection. “He’s deciding the number.”
But “if there’s no record evidence … then none of this comes in at all,” Kise argues.
Overruled, again.
Wednesday 1 November 2023 15:16 , Oliver O'Connell
What does that mean in practice?
Mr McCarty explains that the loans for the properties Mr Orowitz discussed in his testimony —Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago, Trump National Doral Golf Club, and the former Trump International Hotel at the Old Post Office building in Washington, DC — were rated at an A level with a “risk premium of almost zero” by lenders.
He rates each one as BB or “non-investment grade”.
The total of lost interest spread across the aforementioned properties, plus the 40 Wall Street skyscraper in Manhattan, Mr McCarty calculates as $168,040,168.
Trump attorney Christopher Kise objects: “There is no evidence, from the real banks, operating in the real world.”
There has been no testimony from the banks that they would not have lent the money or would have lent it at a different rate, he argues.
Judge Engoron overrules the objection and says that is a point for cross-examination and closing arguments.
Wednesday 1 November 2023 14:59 , Oliver O'Connell
Mr McCarty has prepared an expert report on the case and divided it up by different categories to demonstrate how various parties have been defrauded by the statements of financial condition prepared by the Trump Organization that Judge Engoron has already found fraudulent.
The first way in which fraud occurred was through lost interest on loans issued to the company. Banks have better terms based on Mr Trump’s purported wealth.
While Team Trump argues that everyone made money and all the loans were repaid, given that the loans were made at lower interest rates based on a falsehood, the banks could have offered financing at higher interest rates and made more money — or chosen not to lend the money in the first place — had they known the true state of the finances and net worth of Mr Trump and his company.
Mr McCarty analysed what the difference would be had the money been lent at interest rates based on accurate statements on financial condition.
Wednesday 1 November 2023 14:52 , Oliver O'Connell
Alex Woodward reports from the courtroom:
Michiel McCarty, the chair of investment bank MM Dillon & Co, is an expert witness for the attorney general’s office who can speak to a big word looming over the case: “disgorgement.”
He is expected to provide evidence to support the attorney general’s argument that Donald Trump and his co-defendants must give up ill-gotten gains and illegally obtained profits from the years of alleged fraud outlined in Letitia James’ complaint.
Trump’s attorneys have tried, and failed, to block McCarty’s testimony. Trump attorney Christopher Kise has tried to object to statements in his testimony several times this morning.
McCarty says he’s been in the business for decades. He prepared a report that estimated the impact of Trump’s allegedly false statements of financial condition, the documents at the centre of the case.
Trump and his attorneys have argued that not only was there never any fraud in those documents, they’ve said that all parties made money from the deals that relied on them, and there was never any default.
Reminder: The judge’s partial summary judgment found that the defendants were liable for fraud and artificially inflated Trump’s net worth and assets.
Wednesday 1 November 2023 14:26 , Oliver O'Connell
There is no cross-examination of Mr Orowitz from Team Trump, so the New York Attorney General’s office calls Michiel McCartty to the stand to take a deep look into the numbers and calculate exactly what Donald Trump’s alleged fraud amounted to.
Mr McCarty is chairman and CEO of the investment bank MM Dillon & Co.
NY fraud trail: And we’re off...
Wednesday 1 November 2023 14:16 , Oliver O'Connell
The 21st day of Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York’s Supreme Court has kicked off in Lower Manhattan with the return of David Orowitz to the witness stand.
Mr Orowitz, a former vice president at the Trump Organization, has already been testifying about the financing terms of several of the company’s more prestigious developments (see below for yesterday’s coverage). Today he begins by looking at emails relating to his work with Ivanka Trump on the conversion of the Old Post Office Building in Washington, DC into a Trump hotel in the mid-2010s.
Judge Arthur Engoron began proceedings by noting that it was going to be a “busy day”, and while we expect Donald Trump Jr to take the stand at some point, the prosecution also has an important expert witness waiting to testify.
Michael McCarty is an expert on “disgorgement” — the money that the New York Attorney General wants to claw back from Mr Trump and his company. It was estimated at approximately $250m in September 2022 — could that number have changed over the course of this year?
Trump: ‘Leave my children alone’
Wednesday 1 November 2023 13:53 , Oliver O'Connell
Gustaf Kilander unpacks the latest barrage aimed at Judge Arthur Engoron by former president Donald Trump as his New York civil fraud trial gets intense...
Trump warns judge ‘leave my children alone’ as Don Jr to testify
NY fraud trial — Yesterday in court: Deutsche Bank’s Trump deals
Wednesday 1 November 2023 13:46 , Oliver O'Connell
Returning from lunch, the court heard from a new witness: David Orowitz, formerly a senior vice president of acquisitions and development at the Trump Organization.
He was questioned by Eric Haren of the New York Attorney General’s office and was asked about the purchase of Trump National Doral Golf Club, formerly Doral Resort & Spa, out of bankruptcy in 2012. The purchase price was $150m.
In a November 2011 email, Meridian Capital, a real estate services firm, told Mr Orowitz and Ivanka Trump that Citigroup was unlikely to extend a loan for the Doral purchase. Other possibilities were then explored.
These included financing the deal through Inbursa, the financial services firm owned by Carlos Slim; CSG Investments Inc, an affiliate of Beal Bank; and Deutsche Bank, which had worked with the Trump Organization before.
Mr Orowitz was asked about an internal email exchange about Deutsche Bank and how the institution was planning to securitise any loan to the Trump Organization and sell it off to other lenders.
He said he had concerns that the bank didn’t want their debt on the books.
Mr Orowitz was also asked about the refinancing of Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago. This was (again) done with funds from Deutsche Bank.
The Trump International Hotel Washington, DC in the historic Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Avenue was then discussed. Deutsche Bank made the redevelopment of that property possible with a $170m loan, personally guaranteed by Mr Trump, with covenants requiring that he maintain a net worth of at least $2.5bn (as we heard earlier in the trial).
The NYAG says that when that deal was made Mr Trump’s net worth was between $1.2bn-$1.4bn in the 2013-14 period.
Deutsche Bank was shown statements of financial condition that satisfied the terms of the loan and overstated Mr Trump’s net worth by billions of dollars, according to the suit filed by the AG.
There was an objection from Trump attorney Christopher Kise that the statements of financial condition used in the Washington, DC deal were from 2008-2011 but the case concerns those from 2011-2021.
Judge Engoron overruled the objection and the court adjourned for the day.
Proceedings begin again shortly.
NY fraud trial — Yesterday in court: Buffalo Bills blues
Wednesday 1 November 2023 13:39 , Oliver O'Connell
Tuesday’s first witness up on the stand in Donald Trump’s civil New York fraud trial is K Don Cornwell, formerly of the mergers and acquisitions group of Morgan Stanley where he focused on sports and gaming deals.
He now runs a private equity firm in the same field but in 2014 worked on the failed attempt by Mr Trump to buy the Buffalo Bills NFL team.
Morgan Stanley was the investment bank that assisted the estate of original owner Ralph Wilson in selling the team, following his death.
A letter from the Trump Organization to Mr Cornwell was shown to the court in which Mr Trump offers $1bn for the team.
He states that he has a net worth in excess of $8bn (his actual net worth at the time was $1.48bn according to the New York Attorney General).
Another letter was shown from Deutsche Bank, Mr Trump’s biggest creditor, stating that “based on our preliminary review” of his finances, Mr Trump has the financial wherewithal to buy the Bills.
A meeting between Morgan Stanley and Mr Trump took place in August 2014 in connection with the offer.
“In order to purchase an NFL team, you have to go through a very thorough financial review by the league office,” Mr Cornwell said.
Michael Cohen then wrote to Morgan Stanley saying that they felt it would be premature to release Mr Trump’s financial records. Mr Cornwell said the records were never released and they moved on to another offer.
In cross-examination, Mr Trump’s attorney Ivan Feris asked about the bidding process for the purchase of the Buffalo Bills and noted that his client’s name came up even before Morgan Stanley was connected with the deal.
Mr Cornwell said that Mr Trump had expressed interest in the team at the time, but he was not initially considered an option as the NFL wasn’t keen on team owners being connected to the gambling industry.
An email from the witness at the time shows him saying he didn’t think Mr Trump had much chance of being approved by the NFL.
“You put President Trump on the ultimate list of [potential] buyers?” Feris asked to which Mr Cornwell replied in the affirmative. Asked if they had to do that, the witness responded: No.
Justice Arthur Engoron asked Mr Cornwell to step out for a moment and then asked Mr Trump’s defence team where they were heading with their questioning.
“They took him in to gin up the price,” Trump attorney Christopher Kise said. “Thinking he wasn’t a serious contender.”
The defence appeared to be arguing that as Morgan Stanley was operating on behalf of the seller, it would be interested in showing a more competitive bidding field to encourage a higher sale price for the team.
The Buffalo Bills eventually sold for $1.4bn in an all-cash purchase by Pegula Sports & Entertainment which beat out the reported Trump bid and a bid led by Jon Bon Jovi backed by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.
Mr Trump’s bid was $1bn cash, which Mr Cornwell noted was below the other offers on the table. However, by August 2014 there was no authorisation form from Mr Trump for a background check, and in an email exchange from the time there had been no activity from the Trump team in a data room set up for potential buyers.
Nevertheless, Mr Cornwell admitted they wanted to keep the Trump name around.
Justice Engoron asked again where the testimony is headed, to which Mr Feris responded that they were showing that Morgan Stanley wanted to keep Mr Trump in the bidding process.
Mr Kise complained that the defence is being singled out for taking too long to get their arguments across (as he has before).
Getting back to why the bank might want to keep Mr Trump in the game according to the defence — to play off his alleged “brand premium” — Mr Feris asked Mr Cornwell: “You would agree that you’re familiar with President Trump’s world-renowned brand?”
“I don’t know, world-renowned? I don’t speak for the world,” he responded.
The court then broke for lunch.
Watch: Spooky times at Mar-a-Lago
Wednesday 1 November 2023 13:32 , Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump and Melania Trump took in the sights of the Mar-a-Lago Halloween party last night in Palm Beach.
Did anyone come dressed as a stack of boxes or a pile of classified documents?
Melania forced to make one of her contractually obligated, special occasion, brief public appearances with Trump tonight at the MAL Halloween party. She looks thrilled. pic.twitter.com/jZbFEIS2Wi
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) November 1, 2023
Read Trump’s full angry screed against Judge Engoron
Wednesday 1 November 2023 13:20 , Oliver O'Connell
We’ve heard most of this hashed out in some way before, but the former president gets more visceral and frustrated as his civil fraud trial progresses.
With his eldest son set to take the stand today and testify under oath, Donald Trump saw fit to post this to Truth Social at 7.43am today:
Judge Engoron is a political hack who ruled against me before the trial even started. He is doing the dirty work for the Democrat Party. I was not even given the option of a jury, This Rigged Case should have never been brought, but since it was, it should have been in the Commercial Division, but Engoron WOULD NOT LET GO OF IT. He fought us, sanctioned us for no reason, fined us big money, never gave us even a one day delay. This is his big chance, and he was not going to let it go. In the meantime, they “lost” their Star Witness, and my Financial Statements are GREAT! There was no fraud, so they are working with the corrupt A.G. whose campaign was “I will get Trump,” to develop something, anything. They even go back to 2014, past the Statute of Limitations, to look at a “low ball” offer I made for the Buffalo Bills. Someone else offered much more, so what? Now they come up with something called “disgorgement.” I never even heard of the term. WITCH HUNT!!! ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!
And no, he wasn’t done yet. Mr Trump continued at 8.24am:
We won against Engoron in the Appeals Court, knocking out a big part of the case, but he then refused to accept their decision. He just said “NO.” He is often overturned, one of the most, and couldn’t care less. I don’t believe we even one a single motion during this entire excursion into the wilderness of CRAZY. The State won 100% of their motions, including the fastest trial date for such a case in memory, “with no extensions for anything.” I’m being “railroaded” at a level never seen before. When Cohen admitted the whole case was a lie, he didn’t care. Think of it, we had a Perry Mason moment with their Star Witness and the judge acted like nothing had happened, and then started screaming at us. He then put a RIDICULOUS GAG ORDER ON ME, which we will appeal. He fines me at levels never seen before. The A.G.’s people are thrilled, but can’t believe it is happening. Engoron is crazy, totally unhinged, and dangerous - Our Judicial System has gone to HELL.
Stay tuned.
The scene in Lower Manhattan
Wednesday 1 November 2023 13:11 , Oliver O’Connell
Alex Woodward reports from the New York Supreme Court in Lower Manhattan:
More than a dozen witnesses have been called to the witness stand within the first month of a civil trial in Manhattan that could topple Donald Trump's business empire.
The former president’s children are next.
Donald Trump Jr is scheduled to testify on Wednesday inside the New York Supreme Court on Centre Street as the office of state Attorney General Letitia James prepares to rest its case with some of the biggest names yet on the stand.
Last week, the judge overseeing the case called the former president himself for the first time to testify about disparaging comments he made steps outside the courtroom in violation of the trial’s gag order.
Trump will return to the stand on 6 November. His daughter Ivanka Trump will take the stand two days later.
This week, the court will hear from his two oldest sons, Donald Jr and Eric Trump.
Following their testimony, the attorney general is expected to hand the case over to Trump’s team. Judge Arthur Engoron is allowing the trial to last through the weekend before Christmas.
Outside the courthouse on Wednesday morning, a long line of reporters and camera crews huddled under umbrellas to shield themselves from icy rain.
Trump Jr, meanwhile, has spent recent days raging against familiar right-wing grievances, Ron DeSantis and President Joe Biden’s administration on his social media pages and his podcast.
Moments before Wednesday’s hearing, the former president once again lashed out at Judge Engoron after he fined Trump a second time for violating the court’s gag order last week. Trump, who has relied on the courthouse and the press pen to spout off on the case and raise millions of dollars, has not returned to court since.
“Engoron is crazy, totally unhinged, and dangerous,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Our Judicial System has gone to HELL.”
Trump files lawsuit to keep his name on 2024 Michigan ballot
Wednesday 1 November 2023 13:05 , Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump filed suit against Michigan’s secretary of state on Monday as he hopes to thwart a growing left-leaning legal movement aimed at blocking him from appearing on the 2024 ballot.
The effort, which draws its legal grounds from the 14th Amendment’s ban on supporters of a rebellion or insurrection from taking part in elected office, is a historic effort which could seriously challenge Mr Trump’s ability to win the Electoral College were it to succeed in even a single state.
John Bowden reports.
Trump files lawsuit to keep his name on Michigan ballot in 2024
Report: Trump reviewing classified docs evidence at Miami SCIF
Wednesday 1 November 2023 12:50 , Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump will review evidence shared by Jack Smith as part of the classified documents case the special counsel brought against the former president today at a special facility in Miami, according to a report.
Sources familiar with the matter told ABC News that Mr Trump and his attorneys will visit a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) in Miami on Tuesday to conduct a review of the highly classified materials at the heart of the investigation into the former president.
This will reportedly include those seized by the FBI during the search of Mr Trump’s Palm Beach home, Mar-a-Lago, in August 2022.
Mr Trump is accused of mishandling national security papers and obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve them after he left office in 2021.
Melania Trump unites the nation in agreement (probably)...
Wednesday 1 November 2023 12:20 , Oliver O'Connell
She’s certainly not alone in thinking this.
Trump reveals cringe thing that Melania ‘hates’ at rally: ‘It’s not presidential’
Chilling voicemail threats against Georgia prosecutors revealed
Wednesday 1 November 2023 11:20 , Oliver O'Connell
An Alabama man has been charged with making threatening voicemails to Fulton County officials in Georgia relating to Donald Trump’s Georgia election subversion case.
Arthur Ray Hanson II was indicted by a federal grand jury in Atlanta on 25 October on felony charges of transmitting interstate threats to injure Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat, according to the US Attorney’s office in the Northern District of Georgia.
According to US Attorney Ryan Buchanan, Mr Hanson, a resident of Huntsville, Alabama, called the Fulton County government customer service line twice in August and left voicemails in which he threatened violence against the officials.
Donald Trump Jr expected to testify today at NY civil fraud trial
Wednesday 1 November 2023 10:50 , Rachel Sharp
Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial is ramping up in New York today as his son Don Jr is expected to take the stand in the $250m case.
The former president’s eldest son will be the first of four Trump family members to testify in the trial (which is not being livestreamed) – the outcome of which could topple Mr Trump’s business empire in the Big Apple.
After Don Jr, Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump and the former president himself are all expected to take the stand and give testimony under oath about the Trump Organization’s business practices.
In a Truth Social post in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Mr Trump lashed out at Judge Arthur Engoron, telling him to “leave my children alone”.
Watch: Christie says Trump ‘is going to be convicted; it’s over’
Wednesday 1 November 2023 10:20 , Oliver O'Connell
Donald won't like this because it's true:
Chris Christie: “Donald is going to be convicted; it’s over.”
Christie, a former prosecutor, explained why Donald should be terrified:
“Everyone watching needs to understand from somebody who did this work for seven years…you don't… pic.twitter.com/QzKlW4PyQV— Mary L Trump (@MaryLTrump) October 31, 2023
Explained: The ‘insurrection' clause of the 14th Amendment
Wednesday 1 November 2023 09:20 , Oliver O'Connell
As Donald Trump looks increasingly likely to be the 2024 Republican nominee for president, it continues to look more and more plausible that there could be a serious effort to keep him off the ballot entirely.
Following his presidency ending in a bloody battle on Capitol Hill, Mr Trump remains the de facto leader of the Republican Party, at least among its primary voting electorate.
Recent polls show the ex-president supported by as many as six in 10 of GOP primary voters nationally, while he also continues to hold commanding leads in early primary and caucus states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
But winning a primary election is one thing; winning a general election is another. And as Mr Trump consolidates his support within the GOP, some politicians and constitutional law experts alike are growing more vocal about the possibility of simply denying the Republican Party’s candidate from appearing on the ballot next November at all.
John Bowden explains what is happening in the latest legal threat to the former president.
How Trump’s 2024 presidential bid is under threat over ‘insurrection’ clause
In depth: Trump allies are finally admitting election lies were all made up. But the conspiracies still fuel US politics
Wednesday 1 November 2023 08:20 , Oliver O'Connell
They were some of the most prominent personalities at the heart of a campaign to toss out millions of Americans’ votes.
Sidney Powell promoted debunked conspiracy theories about voting machines flipping votes for Donald Trump. Kenneth Chesebro pushed a scheme to replace electors with Trump loyalists. Jenna Ellis joined a failed legal effort to overturn election results in states he lost.
In quick succession this month, all three pleaded guilty to crimes connected to a sprawling investigation in Georgia targeting the former president and 18 others who joined an alleged criminal enterprise to illegally reject the state’s presidential election results in 2020.
Their plea deals – among the first from the former president’s one-time inner circle of attorneys – could shape the trajectory of his upcoming criminal trial in the state. All three defendants have agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and testify.
Those former Trump-allied attorneys also admitted that the dubious and conspiracy theory-fuelled legal arguments at the heart of their efforts were wrong.
That campaign may have fallen apart, but the lies behind it are still alive.
Alex Woodward reports.
Trump election lies still fuel US politics – even after Georgia allies flip
‘You’re setting a BAD precedent for yourself, Joe'
Wednesday 1 November 2023 06:50 , Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump appeared to suggest that President Joe Biden may face retribution for the investigations into him launched by the Department of Justice.
“Why didn’t Crooked Joe Biden tell his Injustice Department to file the lawsuits and Indictments against me 3 years ago, instead of right in the middle of my campaign for President?” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly before 1am on Monday.
“You’re setting a BAD precedent for yourself, Joe. The same can happen to you,” Mr Trump warned. “These Third World Biden Indictments, which should never have been filed, would have been tried and over with years ago. My SleazeBag Opponent shouldn’t be able to do this during my campaign, OR BEFORE THE ELECTION!”
Mr Trump’s ominous post came just hours after he made similar statements attacking Mr Biden during a campaign event in Iowa on Sunday.
Report: Trump to view classified documents case evidence at secure facility
Wednesday 1 November 2023 05:20 , Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump will review evidence shared by Jack Smith as part of the classified documents case the special counsel brought against the former president today at a special facility in Miami on Tuesday, according to a report.
Sources familiar with the matter told ABC News that Mr Trump and his attorneys will visit a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) in Miami on Tuesday to conduct a review of the highly classified materials at the heart of the investigation into the former president.
This will reportedly include those seized by the FBI during the search of Mr Trump’s Palm Beach home, Mar-a-Lago, in August 2022.
Trump to view classified documents evidence at secure facility today, report says
Ty Cobb predicts Trump will be jailed over gag order breach
Wednesday 1 November 2023 03:20 , Oliver O'Connell
A lawyer who formerly represented Donald Trump has made a stunning prediction: his former client may well be jailed over violations of his gag orders.
Ty Cobb, a former White House attorney who defended Mr Trump during the Mueller investigation, told CNN that he believes Mr Trump will continue violating his gag orders in two ongoing trials unless either judge decides to jail him in response — a possibility he sees as likely.
Now a privately-practising attorney, Mr Cobb was a White House counsel from 2017-2018. He defended Mr Trump during the investigation into connections between his 2016 campaign and Russian operatives, a case whose merits he later defended despite Mr Trump deriding it as a “witch hunt”.
Referencing two recent gag order violations which resulted in civil penalties in Mr Trump’s New York civil fraud trial, Mr Cobb theorised on Monday that the judge in Mr Trump’s ongoing January 6 case in Washington DC would impose a more serious penalty.
John Bowden reports.
Ex-Trump White House lawyer predicts judge will jail him over gag order breach
Here he is... the most unpopular senator
Wednesday 1 November 2023 02:20 , Oliver O'Connell
West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin has been named as one of the most unpopular senators in the US.
Mr Manchin is part of a dying breed of politicians on either side of the aisle who are able to win statewide in states where the presidential nominee of the opposite party usually wins by a large margin. In 2020, former President Donald Trump received nearly 69 per cent of the vote in the state.
Mr Manchin, a former governor, has declined to say if he’ll run for senate re-election next year as the state’s popular current governor, Republican Jim Justice, is gearing up to take him on. Mr Manchin has also not ruled out an independent bid for president.
Chilling voicemail threats against Georgia prosecutors revealed
Wednesday 1 November 2023 01:20 , Oliver O'Connell
An Alabama man has been charged with making threatening voicemails to Fulton County officials in Georgia relating to Donald Trump’s Georgia election subversion case.
Arthur Ray Hanson II was indicted by a federal grand jury in Atlanta on 25 October on felony charges of transmitting interstate threats to injure Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat, according to the US Attorney’s office in the Northern District of Georgia.
According to US Attorney Ryan Buchanan, Mr Hanson, a resident of Huntsville, Alabama, called the Fulton County government customer service line twice in August and left voicemails in which he threatened violence against the officials.
Read more...
Trump fan’s chilling voicemail threats at Georgia prosecutors revealed
Melania Trump unites the nation in agreement...
Wednesday 1 November 2023 00:20 , Oliver O'Connell
She’s certainly not alone in thinking this.
Trump reveals cringe thing that Melania ‘hates’ at rally: ‘It’s not presidential’
How 14th amendment threatens Trump’s 2024 White House bid
Tuesday 31 October 2023 23:20 , Oliver O'Connell
As Donald Trump looks increasingly likely to be the 2024 Republican nominee for president, it continues to look more and more plausible that there could be a serious effort to keep him off the ballot entirely.
Following his presidency ending in a bloody battle on Capitol Hill, Mr Trump remains the de facto leader of the Republican Party, at least among its primary voting electorate.
Recent polls show the ex-president supported by as many as six in 10 of GOP primary voters nationally, while he also continues to hold commanding leads in early primary and caucus states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
But winning a primary election is one thing; winning a general election is another. And as Mr Trump consolidates his support within the GOP, some politicians and constitutional law experts alike are growing more vocal about the possibility of simply denying the Republican Party’s candidate from appearing on the ballot next November at all.
John Bowden explains what is happening.
Trump files lawsuit to keep his name on 2024 Michigan ballot
Tuesday 31 October 2023 22:50 , Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump filed suit against Michigan’s secretary of state on Monday as he hopes to thwart a growing left-leaning legal movement aimed at blocking him from appearing on the 2024 ballot.
The effort, which draws its legal grounds from the 14th Amendment’s ban on supporters of a rebellion or insurrection from taking part in elected office, is a historic effort which could seriously challenge Mr Trump’s ability to win the Electoral College were it to succeed in even a single state.
John Bowden has the latest.
Trump files lawsuit to keep his name on Michigan ballot in 2024
In depth: Trump allies are finally admitting election lies were all made up. But the conspiracies still fuel US politics
Tuesday 31 October 2023 22:20 , Oliver O'Connell
They were some of the most prominent personalities at the heart of a campaign to toss out millions of Americans’ votes.
Sidney Powell promoted debunked conspiracy theories about voting machines flipping votes for Donald Trump. Kenneth Chesebro pushed a scheme to replace electors with Trump loyalists. Jenna Ellis joined a failed legal effort to overturn election results in states he lost.
In quick succession this month, all three pleaded guilty to crimes connected to a sprawling investigation in Georgia targeting the former president and 18 others who joined an alleged criminal enterprise to illegally reject the state’s presidential election results in 2020.
Their plea deals – among the first from the former president’s one-time inner circle of attorneys – could shape the trajectory of his upcoming criminal trial in the state. All three defendants have agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and testify.
Those former Trump-allied attorneys also admitted that the dubious and conspiracy theory-fuelled legal arguments at the heart of their efforts were wrong.
That campaign may have fallen apart, but the lies behind it are still alive.
Alex Woodward reports.
Trump election lies still fuel US politics – even after Georgia allies flip
Watch: Christie says Trump ‘is going to be convicted; it’s over’
Tuesday 31 October 2023 21:20 , Oliver O'Connell
Donald won't like this because it's true:
Chris Christie: “Donald is going to be convicted; it’s over.”
Christie, a former prosecutor, explained why Donald should be terrified:
“Everyone watching needs to understand from somebody who did this work for seven years…you don't… pic.twitter.com/QzKlW4PyQV— Mary L Trump (@MaryLTrump) October 31, 2023
House speaker’s wife removes website comparing being gay to bestiality
Tuesday 31 October 2023 21:00 , Oliver O'Connell
The wife of newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson removed a website for her company the day after a report revealed that documents posted on the site compared homosexuality to bestiality and incest.
Kelly Johnson removed the site for Onward Christian Counseling Services after HuffPost reported on the documents on Friday. The site linked to an operating agreement from 2017, which stated that according to the company’s bylaws, the firm, which offers pastoral counselling, is based on the notion that sex is offensive to God unless it’s between a man and a woman who are married to each other.
Gustaf Kilander reports from Washington, DC:
Speaker’s wife removes website that compared being gay with bestiality
New York fraud trial: Back to Deutsche Bank’s deals with the Trump Organization
Tuesday 31 October 2023 20:40 , Oliver O'Connell
David Orowitz, formerly senior vice president of acquisitions and development at the Trump Organization is asked about the refinancing of Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago. This was (again) done with funds from Deutsche Bank.
The Trump International Hotel Washington, DC in the historic Old Post Office building on Pennsylvania Avenue is then discussed. Deutsche Bank made the redevelopment of that property possible with a $170m loan, personally guaranteed by Mr Trump, with covenants requiring that he maintain a net worth of at least $2.5bn (as we heard earlier in the trial).
The NYAG says that when that deal was made Mr Trump’s net worth was between $1.2bn-$1.4bn in the 2013-14 period.
Deutsche Bank was shown statements of financial condition that satisfied the terms of the loan and overstated his net worth by billions of dollars, according to the suit filed by the AG.
There is an objection from Trump attorney Christopher Kise that the statements of financial condition used in the Washington, DC deal were from 2008-2011 but the case concerns those from 2011-2021.
Judge Engoron overrules the objection and court adjourns for the day.
Proceedings begin again at 10am ET.
Trump files lawsuit against Michigan secretary of state arguing he must be on 2024 ballot
Tuesday 31 October 2023 20:30 , Oliver O'Connell
Lawyers for former President Donald Trump have asked a court in Michigan to ensure the Republican’s name will appear on the state’s ballots next year as ongoing lawsuits attempt to block him.
The suit, which was dated Monday and listed Trump as the plaintiff, says the Michigan Court of Claims should issue a judgment stating that Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has “no authority to refuse to place President Trump’s name on the ballot and enter an injunction stopping her from doing so.” Benson, a Democrat, is the defendant in the case.
Trump is seeking the GOP nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in November 2024. Biden defeated Trump in the 2020 election, in both the popular vote and Electoral College.
In Michigan and other states, opponents of Trump have filed lawsuits, arguing the former president should be disqualified from having his name on primary and general election ballots under the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution.
New book claims Tucker Carlson fired after he got ‘too big for his boots'
Tuesday 31 October 2023 20:30 , Oliver O'Connell
Tucker Carlson was fired from Fox News after Rupert Murdoch felt he had gotten “too big for his boots”, and had alienated “large swathes” of the company, a new book has claimed.
Despite claiming to have enjoyed a close relationship with the media mogul and his son Lachlan Murdoch, Carlson was forced out over a litany of concerns, according to Brian Stelter, author of Network of Lies.
Carlson, a right-wing conspiracy theorist, was dismissed in April despite his status as the most-watched cable TV personality.
In an excerpt from the book, published in Vanity Fair, Stelter says that the “abrupt” firing with little explanation allowed conspiracy theories to “fester”.
Mike Bedigan reports from Los Angeles.
Tucker Carlson fired after he got ‘too big for his boots,’ new book claims
New York fraud trial: Coming up...
Tuesday 31 October 2023 19:54 , Oliver O'Connell
After McCarty, then it's Don Jr., followed by his brother Eric, and sometime soon, the elder Trump himself.
— Stewart Bishop (@stewartbishop) October 31, 2023
NY fraud trial: Former Trump SVP acquisitions testifies about Doral Gold Club
Tuesday 31 October 2023 19:40 , Oliver O'Connell
Returning from lunch, the court hears from a new witness: David Orowitz, formerly a senior vice president of acquisitions and development at the Trump Organization.
He is questioned by Eric Haren of the New York Attorney General’s office and is asked about the purchase of Trump National Doral Golf Club, formerly Doral Resort & Spa, out of bankruptcy in 2012. The purchase price was $150m.
In a November 2011 email, Meridian Capital, a real estate services firm, tells Mr Orowitz and Ivanka Trump that Citigroup was unlikely to extend a loan for the Doral purchase. Other possibilities were then explored.
These included financing the deal through Inbursa, the financial services firm owned by Carlos Slim; CSG Investments Inc, an affiliate of Beal Bank; and Deutsche Bank, which had worked with the Trump Organization before.
Mr Orowitz is asked about an internal email exchange about Deutsche Bank and how the institution was planning to securitise any loan to the Trump Organization and sell it off to other lenders.
He says he had concerns that the bank didn’t want their debt on the books.
Former White House attorney thinks Trump will be jailed over gag order violations
Tuesday 31 October 2023 19:30 , Oliver O'Connell
A lawyer who formerly represented Donald Trump has made a stunning prediction: his former client may well be jailed over violations of his gag orders.
Ty Cobb, a former White House attorney who defended Mr Trump during the Mueller investigation, told CNN that he believes Mr Trump will continue violating his gag orders in two ongoing trials unless either judge decides to jail him in response — a possibility he sees as likely.
Now a privately-practising attorney, Mr Cobb was a White House counsel from 2017-2018. He defended Mr Trump during the investigation into connections between his 2016 campaign and Russian operatives, a case whose merits he later defended despite Mr Trump deriding it as a “witch hunt”.
John Bowden reports from Washington, DC.
Ex-Trump White House lawyer predicts judge will jail him over gag order breach
Trump to review classified documents case evidence at Miami SCIF today, report says
Tuesday 31 October 2023 19:22 , Oliver O'Connell
Trump to view classified documents evidence at secure facility today, report says
Voices: Why Mike Johnson is bound to lose his first fight with Democrats
Tuesday 31 October 2023 19:00 , Oliver O'Connell
Read the latest from Eric Garcia, reporting for The Independent from Capitol Hill.
Why Mike Johnson is bound to lose his first fight with Democrats
Watch: Trump attacks New York Post
Tuesday 31 October 2023 18:51 , Oliver O'Connell
Since the New York Post went “bad” on TRUMP, there numbers have fallen, tremendously…
Donald Trump Truth Social Post 01:55 PM EST 10/31/23 pic.twitter.com/dHF2ncha3Y— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) October 31, 2023
Fulton County judge orders unsealing of Chesebro and Powell case dockets
Tuesday 31 October 2023 18:34 , Oliver O'Connell
Judge Scott McAfee, presiding over the Fulton County, Georgia, election subversion case, has ordered the unsealing of the criminal case dockets for former Trump lawyers (later co-defendants) Kenneth Chesebro and Sidney Powell.
During their plea hearings, Judge McAfee ordered that their cases be sealed. He has now reversed that decision after weighing the strong public interest in a publicly available docket.
This should mean the apology letters the pair were instructed to write to the citizens of Georgia as part of their plea deals will also become public.
Judge McAfee orders unsealing of criminal case dockets for Ken Chesebro & Sidney Powell.
During Powell & Chesebro's plea hearings, McAfee ordered that their cases be sealed. He now reverses that decision after weighing the strong public interest in a publicly available docket. pic.twitter.com/1kHtYAf0b0— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) October 31, 2023
Laura Ingraham backtracks after incorrectly mocking Biden
Tuesday 31 October 2023 18:30 , Oliver O'Connell
Fox News host Laura Ingraham was forced to backtrack after she mocked President Joe Biden for calling the James Webb Space Telescope by its name – instead appearing to reveal that she did not know of its existence.
Mr Biden made remarks at the White House on Monday, mentioning the telescope as he spoke about his executive order outlining measures to be taken by the US government to guide the development of artificial intelligence.
Rachel Sharp reports on the embarrassing moment:
Fox News host makes embarrassing admission after cackling at Biden
Watching: Rep Mace jeered by ‘Daily Show’ crowd over Trump indictment comments
Tuesday 31 October 2023 18:07 , Oliver O'Connell
GOP Rep. Nancy Mace is very concerned about corruption, but not when it comes to Trump who’s facing 91 felony charges.
Mace: “Corruption is a real problem in this country.”
Charlamagne: Do you believe the evidence against Donald Trump?
Charlamagne: “Pick one. Pick one of the… pic.twitter.com/AAxPx4gvS6— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) October 31, 2023
It’s official: Manchin named most unpopular senator
Tuesday 31 October 2023 18:00 , Oliver O'Connell
West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin has been named as one of the most unpopular senators in the US.
Mr Manchin is part of a dying breed of politicians on either side of the aisle who are able to win statewide in states where the presidential nominee of the opposite party usually wins by a large margin. In 2020, former President Donald Trump received nearly 69 per cent of the vote in the state.
Mr Manchin, a former governor, has declined to say if he’ll run for senate re-election next year as the state’s popular current governor, Republican Jim Justice, is gearing up to take him on. Mr Manchin has also not ruled out an independent bid for president.
Gustaf Kilander has the story.
The most unpopular senator has officially been crowned
Chilling voicemail threats against Georgia prosecutors revealed
Tuesday 31 October 2023 17:30 , Oliver O'Connell
An Alabama man has been charged with making threatening voicemails to Fulton County officials in Georgia relating to Donald Trump’s Georgia election subversion case.
Arthur Ray Hanson II was indicted by a federal grand jury in Atlanta on 25 October on felony charges of transmitting interstate threats to injure Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat, according to the US Attorney’s office in the Northern District of Georgia.
According to US Attorney Ryan Buchanan, Mr Hanson, a resident of Huntsville, Alabama, called the Fulton County government customer service line twice in August and left voicemails in which he threatened violence against the officials.
Read more...
Trump fan’s chilling voicemail threats at Georgia prosecutors revealed
Tuesday 31 October 2023 17:02 , Oliver O'Connell
Justice Engoron asks again where the testimony is headed, to which Mr Feris responds that they are showing that Morgan Stanley wanted to keep Mr Trump in the bidding process.
Mr Kise complains that the defence is being singled out for taking too long to get their arguments across (as he has before).
Getting back to why the bank might want to keep Mr Trump in the game according to the defence — to play off his alleged “brand premium” — Mr Feris asks Mr Cornwell: “You would agree that you’re familiar with President Trump’s world-renowned brand?”
“I don’t know, world-renowned? I don't speak for the world,” he responds.
The court breaks for lunch.
Tuesday 31 October 2023 16:50 , Oliver O'Connell
In cross-examination, Trump’s attorney Ivan Feris asks about the bidding process for the purchase of the Buffalo Bills and notes that his client’s name came up even before Morgan Stanley was connected with the deal.
Mr Cornwell says that Mr Trump had expressed interest in the team at the time, but he was not initially considered an option as the NFL wasn’t keen on team owners being connected to the gambling industry.
An email from the witness at the time shows him saying he didn’t think Mr Trump had much chance of being approved by the NFL.
“You put President Trump on the ultimate list of [potential] buyers?” Feris asks.
“Yes,” Mr Cornwell says.
“You didn’t have to do that,” Feris says.
“No,” Mr Cornwell replies.
Justice Arthur Engoron asks Mr Cornwell to step out for a moment and then asks Mr Trump’s defence team where they are heading with their questioning.
“They took him in to gin up the price,” Trump attorney Christopher Kise says. “Thinking he wasn’t a serious contender.”
The defence appears to be arguing that as Morgan Stanley was operating on behalf of the seller, it would be interested in showing a more competitive bidding field to encourage a higher sale price for the team.
The Buffalo Bills eventually sold for $1.4bn in an all-cash purchase by Pegula Sports & Entertainment which beat out the reported Trump bid and a bid led by Jon Bon Jovi backed by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.
Mr Trump’s bid was $1bn cash, which Mr Cornwell notes was below the other offers on the table. However, by August 2014 there was no authorisation form from Mr Trump for a background check, and in an email exchange from the time there had been no activity from the Trump team in a data room set up for potential buyers.
Nevertheless, Mr Cornwell admits they wanted to keep the Trump name around.
NY fraud trial: M&A banker testifies about Buffalo Bills deal
Tuesday 31 October 2023 16:40 , Oliver O'Connell
The next witness up on the stand in Donald Trump’s civil New York fraud trial is K Don Cornwell, formerly of the mergers and acquisitions group of Morgan Stanley where he focused on sports and gaming deals.
He now runs a private equity firm in the same field but in 2014 worked on the failed attempt by Mr Trump to buy the Buffalo Bills NFL team.
Morgan Stanley was the investment bank that assisted the estate of original owner Ralph Wilson in selling the team, following his death.
A letter from the Trump Organization to Mr Cornwell is shown to the court in which Mr Trump offers $1bn for the team.
He states that he has a net worth in excess of $8bn (his actual net worth at the time as $1.48bn according to the New York Attorney General).
Another letter is shown from Deutsche Bank, Mr Trump’s biggest creditor, stating that “based on our preliminary review” of his finances, Mr Trump has the financial wherewithal to buy the Bills.
A meeting between Morgan Stanley and Mr Trump took place in August 2014 in connection with the offer.
“In order to purchase an NFL team, you have to go through a very thorough financial review by the league office,” Mr Cornwell says.
Michael Cohen then wrote to Morgan Stanley saying that they felt it would be premature to release Mr Trump’s financial records. Mr Cornwell says the records were never released and they moved on to another offer.
Alabama man charged with threatening Georgia prosecutors
Tuesday 31 October 2023 16:20 , Oliver O'Connell
An Alabama man has been charged with making threatening voicemails to Fulton County officials in Georgia relating to Donald Trump’s Georgia election subversion case.
Arthur Ray Hanson II was indicted by a federal grand jury in Atlanta on 25 October on felony charges of transmitting interstate threats to injure Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat, according to the US Attorney’s office in the Northern District of Georgia.
According to US Attorney Ryan Buchanan, Hanson, a resident of Huntsville, Alabama, called the Fulton County government customer service line twice in August and left voicemails in which he threatened violence against the officials.
In part of his message for Ms Willis, Hanson said: “When you charge Trump on that fourth indictment, anytime you’re alone, be looking over your shoulder,” the Justice Department said in a press release.
He made other statements that included: “Watch it when you’re going to the car at night. When you’re going into your house, watch everywhere that you’re going.”
“I would be very afraid if I were you because you can’t be around people all the time that are going to protect you,” he also said. “There’s gonna be moments when you’re gonna be vulnerable.”
“What you put out there, [expletive], comes back at you ten times harder, and don’t ever forget it.”
In his message for Mr Labat, Hanson said: “If you think you gonna take a mugshot of my President Donald Trump, and it’s gonna be OK, you gonna find out that after you take that mugshot, some bad [expletive] probably gonna happen to you.”
“Sending interstate threats to physically harm prosecutors and law enforcement officers is a vile act intended to interfere with the administration of justice and intimidate individuals who accept a solemn duty to protect and safeguard the rights of citizens,” said Mr Buchanan.
“When someone threatens to harm public servants for doing their jobs to enforce our criminal laws, it potentially weakens the very foundation of our society. Our office will labour tirelessly with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners to help ensure that law enforcement officials are free to serve our communities without the threat of physical attack.”
The case is being investigated by the FBI.
“Threats against public servants are not only illegal, but also a threat against our democratic process,” said Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta.
“The FBI’s mission is to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution. We take this responsibility very seriously and seek to punish those who engage in this type of criminal behaviour, and to send the message that such conduct will not be tolerated.”
Courtroom scrum as Capitol rioter resists arrest
Tuesday 31 October 2023 16:08 , Oliver O'Connell
On Monday there were scenes in a Washington, DC courtroom as several federal law enforcement officers tackled a man convicted of crimes connected to January 6 after he tried to flee a Washington DC courtroom on 30 October.
Moments earlier, US District Judge Paul Friedman revoked Vitali GossJankowski’s pre-sentencing release from prison after prosecutors revealed he had sent intimidating messages to law enforcement. The judge ordered US Marshals to take him into immediate custody.
GossJankowski – a former Gallaudet University football player who stands at roughly 6’3” – then tried to escape the federal courthouse, pushing his way through several officers, throwing them to the ground, and dragging them behind him as he reached the door, according to CBS News and WUSA9.
He crashed into a nearby podium and tables, sending a computer to the floor, while officers rushed to the scene and eventually wrapped arms around him.
Alex Woodward has the story...
Jan 6 rioter fights off federal agents as he resists arrest in courtroom
Jan 6 rioter who hit police officer with wooden plank, sentenced to jail
Tuesday 31 October 2023 15:50 , Oliver O'Connell
As a Colorado court hears testimony about Donald Trump’s role in allegedly instigating the violence at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, a man from that state who hit a police officer with a wooden plank during the storming of the US Capitol on January 6 2021, has been sentenced to three years in prison.
Jacob Travis Clark, 34, who claimed to be one of the first insurrectionists to enter the building, was previously found guilty on one felony charge – of obstruction of an official proceeding – and five misdemeanours following a trial earlier this year.
On Monday he was sentenced to 33 months in prison and 12 months of supervised release, according to the US Department of Justice (DOJ).
According to a statement put out by the DOJ, Clark had “anticipated violence” well before the events on January 6, and had driven across the country from his home in Colorado Springs to “be a part of history”.
Text messages sent by Clark to his father on January 5 2021 and obtained by the DOJ stated: “I’m here for the riots when they say he isn’t the winner lol." Clark then joined the “mob” that forced its way onto Capitol grounds, later texting his friends “We are gonna storm the [sic] capital."
Mike Bedigan has the story.
Jan 6 rioter accused of assaulting officer with wooden plank jailed
Voices: How Democrats could be playing into Donald Trump’s hands
Tuesday 31 October 2023 15:30 , Oliver O'Connell
Andrew Feinberg writes:
Last week, President Joe Biden got another primary challenger.
He already had a few in the form of author and new-age woo-woo guru Marianne Williamson and Democratic scion (now an Independent) lawyer turned anti-vaccine crackpot and Tucker Carlson stan Robert F Kennedy Jr.
But this one has had a legitimate political career and is a card-carrying Democrat who has flown with Mr Biden aboard Air Force One.
This latest challenger is The Honourable Rep Dean Phillips, Member of Congress. Since 2019, Mr Phillips has represented Minnesota’s third congressional district, which encompasses suburban and exurban communities outside Minneapolis.
Continued...
How Democrats could be playing into Donald Trump’s hands
NY fraud trial: Brief cross-examination of underwriter
Tuesday 31 October 2023 15:24 , Oliver O'Connell
That’s it for Mouradian.
— Stewart Bishop (@stewartbishop) October 31, 2023
NY fraud trial: Pre-taped testimony from Zurich underwriter continues
Tuesday 31 October 2023 15:14 , Oliver O'Connell
Monday’s proceedings in court concluded during the screening of pre-taped testimony from Claudia Mouradian, an underwriter in Zurich North America’s commercial insurance division.
Here’s what we reported on what was seen of her testimony yesterday:
The most significant part of her testimony is when she is shown a transcript of former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg’s deposition and is pointed to a passage in which he is asked whether, at any point in 2018, he informed a Zurich underwriter that the valuations contained in the statement of financial condition were in fact performed by an appraiser.
Weisselberg says he does not recall saying that.
Ms Mouradian says: “It’s not consistent with what he told me at the meeting.”
She adds that it would have been “material” to her consideration and that they expect “our customers to be truthful to us when we’re underwriting them”.
Tuesday 31 October 2023 15:04 , AP
On Monday, the Colorado testimony began with details about the Jan. 6 assault that was intended to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s election win.
Lawyers representing six Republican and unaffiliated Colorado voters argued that Trump’s violent rhetoric preceding the attack makes him culpable, and barred from the presidency again under that clause prohibiting anyone who swore an oath to the constitution and then “engaged in insurrection” against it from holding office.
“We are here because Trump claims, after all that, that he has the right to be president again,” attorney Eric Olson said. “But our Constitution, the shared charter of our nation, says he cannot do so.”
Trump’s legal team and presidential campaign assailed the lawsuit as little more than an attempt by Democrats to derail his attempt to reclaim his old job. Trump is so far dominating the Republican presidential primary, and the lawsuits to block him were organized by two separate liberal groups.
Seeking to underscore that point, Trump’s campaign said before the hearing that it had filed a motion for District Court Judge Sarah B. Wallace to recuse herself because she had made a $100 donation in October 2022 to the Colorado Turnout Project, a group whose website says it was formed to “prevent violent insurrections” such as the Jan. 6 attack. Wallace declined to do so.
She was appointed to the bench in August of that year by Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat. Wallace said she didn’t recall the donation until the motion was filed and has no preconceptions about the legal issues in the case.
“I will not allow this legal proceeding to turn into a circus,” she said.
Read more here:
How Trump’s 2024 presidential bid is under threat over ‘insurrection’ clause
Tuesday 31 October 2023 14:57 , AP
The plaintiff’s lawyers contend the provision is straightforward and that Trump is clearly disqualified from the presidency, just as if he were under the Constitution’s minimum age for the office of 35.
Trump’s lawyers argue that there remains a host of questions — did the authors even mean for the provision to apply to the presidency, which is not mentioned in the amendment although “presidential and vice presidential electors” are, along with senators and members of the House of Representatives? Did it target those who simply exercised free speech to support unpopular causes or only those who took up arms?
Scott Gessler, Trump’s lead Colorado attorney and a former Republican secretary of state there, dismissed the lawsuit as “anti-democratic” and noted that one other presidential candidate — socialist labor organizer Eugene Debs — even ran for the office from prison without people trying to use Section Three to disqualify him.
“If they don’t like President Trump, they need to get involved in an election,” Gessler said after the first day. “But what they’re trying to do is short-circuit an election.”
(Continued...)
Colorado disqualification case: Day two gets underway
Tuesday 31 October 2023 14:53 , AP
The videos playing in a Colorado courtroom were both chilling and, by now, familiar — a violent mob, with some wearing tactical gear, smashing through the U.S. Capitol, attacking police officers and chanting “Hang Mike Pence!”
Now, lawyers on day two of the weeklong hearing are arguing whether the infamous events of Jan. 6, 2021 constituted an insurrection under a rarely used clause of the U.S. Constitution that they are trying to use to disqualify former President Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot. The hearing in Colorado is one of two this week — with the second before the Minnesota Supreme Court on Thursday — that could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court, which has never before ruled on the Civil War-era provision in the 14th Amendment.
Tuesday’s witnesses are expected to include an expert in right-wing violence and an expert on Section Three of the 14th Amendment, which has only been used a handful of times since it was adopted in 1868. The testimony will get to the heart of the thorny legal issues the case raises — what constitutes an “insurrection” and how can the extreme political penalty of being barred from office be applied?
(Continued...)
Trump defence objects to NYAG expert witness
Tuesday 31 October 2023 14:48 , Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump’s defence team began court proceedings in New York on Tuesday morning by objecting to an expert witness lined up by the attorney general’s office in the former president’s civil fraud trial. Christopher Kise, representing Mr Trump, raised the objection.
The attorney general’s expert is expected to testify about the terms of the loans the Trump Organization was able to secure based on what the prosecution maintains were fraudulent statements of financial condition.
Court papers from the NY AG state: “[His] testimony is being offered to establish the difference between the interest rates defendants obtained by using the [financial statements] versus the interest rate for a loan they could have obtained without utilizing a guarantee and the [statements].”
Justice Arthur Engoron notes that there has been testimony about the lenders’ reliance on the financial statements in business deals. He said in response: “I think to a certain extent the defence are whistling past the graveyard here.”
Trump complains about NY AG presence in court
Tuesday 31 October 2023 14:23 , Oliver O'Connell
Trump escalates his efforts to incite harassment and worse against Letitia James pic.twitter.com/bzRm6iJYG4
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 31, 2023
Anti-Trump group marks Halloween while gathering outside New York court
Tuesday 31 October 2023 13:58 , Oliver O'Connell
A few folks outside the courthouse this morning with some holiday-themed critiques of the former president. pic.twitter.com/4JeE6vLNIY
— Stewart Bishop (@stewartbishop) October 31, 2023
Melania finds something to unite the nation...
Tuesday 31 October 2023 13:58 , Oliver O'Connell
Trump reveals cringe thing that Melania ‘hates’ at rally: ‘It’s not presidential’
How is Trump’s bid to return to the White House under threat over ‘insurrection’ clause?
Tuesday 31 October 2023 13:45 , Oliver O'Connell
As Donald Trump looks increasingly likely to be the 2024 Republican nominee for president, it continues to look more and more plausible that there could be a serious effort to keep him off the ballot entirely.
Following his presidency ending in a bloody battle on Capitol Hill, Mr Trump remains the de facto leader of the Republican Party, at least among its primary voting electorate.
Recent polls show the ex-president supported by as many as six in 10 of GOP primary voters nationally, while he also continues to hold commanding leads in early primary and caucus states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
But winning a primary election is one thing; winning a general election is another. And as Mr Trump consolidates his support within the GOP, some politicians and constitutional law experts alike are growing more vocal about the possibility of simply denying the Republican Party’s candidate from appearing on the ballot next November at all.
John Bowden explains...
How Trump’s 2024 presidential bid is under threat over ‘insurrection’ clause
Trump’s recent campaign trail flubs
Tuesday 31 October 2023 13:30 , Oliver O'Connell
Axios reports that the DeSantis campaign has been keeping a tally of Donald Trump’s recent “senior moments” on the campaign trail.
It’s worth noting that while much criticism is levelled at President Joe Biden over his age, the former president is only three years younger than him...
Axios on Trump’s senior momentshttps://t.co/gSyxoloRzW pic.twitter.com/bvyOAYArF4
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) October 31, 2023
Here’s a compilation video from the DeSantis War Room of the former president’s slip-ups:
Wondering why we started a ‘Trump Accident Tracker’?
Watch this. pic.twitter.com/9xURpBLizw— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) October 24, 2023
And here’s Mr Trump’s latest mistake:
Trump appears to forget where he is at Iowa rally
In depth: Trump allies are finally admitting election lies were all made up. But the conspiracies still fuel US politics
Tuesday 31 October 2023 13:15 , Oliver O'Connell
Alex Woodward writes:
They were some of the most prominent personalities at the heart of a campaign to toss out millions of Americans’ votes.
Sidney Powell promoted debunked conspiracy theories about voting machines flipping votes for Donald Trump. Kenneth Chesebro pushed a scheme to replace electors with Trump loyalists. Jenna Ellis joined a failed legal effort to overturn election results in states he lost.
In quick succession this month, all three pleaded guilty to crimes connected to a sprawling investigation in Georgia targeting the former president and 18 others who joined an alleged criminal enterprise to illegally reject the state’s presidential election results in 2020.
Their plea deals – among the first from the former president’s one-time inner circle of attorneys – could shape the trajectory of his upcoming criminal trial in the state. All three defendants have agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and testify.
Those former Trump-allied attorneys also admitted that the dubious and conspiracy theory-fuelled legal arguments at the heart of their efforts were wrong.
That campaign may have fallen apart, but the lies behind it are still alive.
Continued...
Trump election lies still fuel US politics – even after Georgia allies flip
Watch: Haley attacks Trump on foreign policy
Tuesday 31 October 2023 13:00 , Oliver O'Connell
Former UN Ambassador and South Carolina governor Nikki Haley landed several blows against former president Donald Trump when speaking at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual summit over the weekend.
Referencing recent statements by her former boss, Ms Haley said: “As president, I will not compliment Hezbollah. Nor will I criticize Israel’s prime minister in the middle of a tragedy in war. We have no time for personal vendettas. I will also not compliment Chinese communist President Xi. Nor will I call North Korea’s Kim Jong Un my friend. These are not good or smart people.”
Watch:
Nikki Haley: "As president, I will not complement Hezbollah. Nor will I criticize Israel's prime minister in the middle of a tragedy and war...I will also not compliment...President Xi...Nor will I call...Kim Jong-un, my friend. These are not good or smart people." pic.twitter.com/PKGNDQGHzL
— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) October 28, 2023
Update on Trump family testimony
Tuesday 31 October 2023 12:40 , Oliver O'Connell
Ivanka Trump’s testimony in the civil fraud trial of her father, brothers, and the family company, has been delayed.
The Messenger reports that the former president’s daughter is now scheduled to take the witness stand on Wednesday, 8 November, with her testimony potentially spilling over into the next day.
She had been scheduled to testify on Friday, 3 November after the testimony of her brothers Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump.
Former President Donald Trump is still currently scheduled to testify on Monday, 6 November.
New York Attorney General Letitia James’s office had previously told The New York Times that they intend to rest their case after the former president’s testimony.
The defence will then begin their case.
Courtroom scrum: Jan 6 rioter fights off federal agents as he resists arrest
Tuesday 31 October 2023 12:20 , Oliver O'Connell
Several federal law enforcement officers tackled a man convicted of crimes connected to January 6 after he tried to flee a Washington DC courtroom on 30 October.
Moments earlier, US District Judge Paul Friedman revoked Vitali GossJankowski’s pre-sentencing release from prison after prosecutors revealed he had sent intimidating messages to law enforcement. The judge ordered US Marshals to take him into immediate custody.
GossJankowski – a former Gallaudet University football player who stands at roughly 6’3” – then tried to escape the federal courthouse, pushing his way through several officers, throwing them to the ground, and dragging them behind him as he reached the door, according to CBS News and WUSA9.
He crashed into a nearby podium and tables, sending a computer to the floor, while officers rushed to the scene and eventually wrapped arms around him.
Alex Woodward reports on the dramatic events in court.
Jan 6 rioter fights off federal agents as he resists arrest in courtroom
How many more of Trump’s Georgia election subversion co-defendants are looking at plea deals?
Tuesday 31 October 2023 11:20 , Oliver O'Connell
Another six Trump co-defendants in the Georgia election subversion case have reportedly discussed plea deals with Fulton County prosecutors following the guilty pleas of former Trump lawyers Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis.
The aim of the office of District Attorney Fani Willis is seemingly to try to get as many co-defendants as possible to flip on former President Donald Trump.
Robert Cheeley, a pro-Trump lawyer, was offered a plea deal, but his lawyer told CNN he chose to decline it.
Attorney Richard Rice told the network, “To say that we are currently in discussions with the DA’s office would be an inaccurate representation of what is going on. They made us an offer some time ago and we declined it”.
Misty Hampton, a former elections supervisor in Coffee County, Georgia, and Mike Roman, a former Trump campaign official, have also spoken to prosecutors about possible plea deals, according to CNN.
Another three unnamed defendants have also taken part in plea deal discussions, the network reported.
There are no signs that Mr Trump’s legal team and the prosecutors’ office are set to discuss a plea deal, as it would mean that the ex-president would have to plead guilty to all charges, CNN noted.
Mr Trump has entered a not-guilty plea in the case and still falsely claims that he won the 2020 election.
Gustaf Kilander has more details.
Trump says Pence should endorse him after former VP drops out of 2024 race
Tuesday 31 October 2023 10:20 , Oliver O'Connell
Donald Trump gloated at the news that his former vice president Mike Pence was dropping out of the 2024 race.
Speaking before the same conference at which Mr Pence had made his announcement earlier on Saturday, Mr Trump demanded that the former vice president bend the knee.
Mr Trump has long complained that Mr Pence is disloyal after he refused to interfere in the Senate’s certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. Mr Pence has remained adamant that he performed his constitutional duty in the face of anger from Mr Trump and his voters throughout the 2024 primary, and that choice is likely to have been a key factor in his campaign’s failure to gain real traction in the crowded primary battle.
John Bowden reports.
