Trump plans his fraud trial return during gag order appeal: Latest

A judge has denied Donald Trump’s attempt for a fast-tracked appeal of his gag order in his New York fraud trial, days after a ruling allowed the order to stay in place after court filings revealed the scope of abuse and harassment Judge Arthur Engoron’s staff has received.

Monday’s latest appeals court ruling means that the former president will likely still face a gag order when he makes his expected return to New York State Supreme Court this week, and when he gets another round on the witness stand next week.

His court battle follows warnings from Liz Cheney and voting rights advocates about his antidemocratic threats as he seeks the Republican nomination for president. At a campaign rally in Iowa on Saturday, the former president amplified bogus fraud claims to call on his supporters to “go into” cities to “watch” elections, while Ms Cheney has warned about the “existential crisis” he poses to American elections and the future of Congress.

On Monday, one of his GOP rivals Doug Burgum dropped out of the race, while only three remaining candidates not named Trump will take the debate stage later this week.

Key Points

• Judge denies Trump’s attempt for quick appeal on gag order

• Trump’s ‘co-opted’ GOP should lose House majority, says Cheney

• Trump isn’t immune from January 6 lawsuits, federal appeals court rules

• Faced with new gag order covering court staff, Trump attacks judge’s wife

• Trump’s violent rhetoric charts his campaign warpath

Trump rails against coverage of his rallies

12:43 , Megan Sheets

Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Monday night to accuse his rivals of using artificial intelligence in attack ads against him.

“The perverts and losers at the failed and once disbanded Lincoln Project, and others, are using A.I.(Artificial Intelligence) in their Fake television commercials in order to make me look as bad and pathetic as Crooked Joe Biden, not an easy thing to do,” he wrote.

“FoxNews shouldn’t run these ads, just as low ratings CNN & MSDNC will not, under any circumstances, run negative ads on Biden or the Democrats. They are, after all, in-kind campaign contributors to the Dems!”

There is no known evidence of AI being used in attack ads.

Poll shows Donald Trump dominating GOP field as rivals sputter

12:00 , Alex Woodward

Ahead of the fourth GOP debate in Alabama, Donald Trump is in his most comfortable polling position yet.

The ex-president remains atop the GOP field in a major way, having consolidated support from six in 10 Republican voters nationally according to a NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ poll released on Monday.

Poll shows Donald Trump dominating GOP field as rivals sputter

Who qualified for the fourth GOP debate?

11:00 , Alex Woodward

Trump is skipping another debate, leaving only three candidates left on the stage

Four candidates for the GOP’s nomination for president have qualified to appear at the next primary debate scheduled for Wednesday night.

Trump is among them, but he won’t be there, as usual. Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy will be the only three candidates on the stage.

Who qualified for the fourth GOP debate?

Election officials and voting rights groups sound the alarm over Trump’s latest threat to elections

10:00 , Alex Woodward

Trump’s call to his supporters to “guard” and “watch” ballot counting in cities with large Black populations has raised alarms among elections officials and voting rights advocates bracing for more threats to elections fuelled by his bogus narrative of widespread fraud.

“The most important part of what’s coming up is to guard the vote, and you should go into Detroit, and you should go into Philadelphia, and you should go into some of these places – Atlanta – and you should go into some of these places, and we gotta watch those votes when they come in,” he told supporters in Iowa on Saturday.

He then falsely claimed that ballots are “shoved around in wheelbarrows and dumped on the floor”.

The president of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund called his comments “lawless intimidation,” and a grim reminder of 2020.

Trump’s call to ‘go into’ cities and ‘watch’ elections sounds alarms

Eric Garcia: ‘Trump uses Obamacare as a distraction. Biden sees an opportunity’

09:00 , Alex Woodward

Democratic officials and Joe Biden are leaping on Donald Trump’s revived threats to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.

The Independent’s Eric Garcia writes:

Trump is using Obamacare as a distraction. Biden sees an opportunity

ICYMI: Trump launches belated attack on Robert De Niro: ‘Total loser’

08:00 , Alex Woodward

Last week, Robert De Niro criticised Trump from the stage of the Gotham Awards, delivering a stinging rebuke from the stage with what he said was the unedited version of his remarks that were previously cut off from the event.

Trump “can’t hide his soul,” he said. “He attacks the weak, destroys the gifts of nature and shows his disrespect for example using Pocahontas as a slur.”

Days later, Trump fired back on his Truth Social: “Robert De Niro, whose acting talents have greatly diminished, with his reputation now shot, must even use a teleprompter for his foul and disgusting language, so disrespectful to our Country.”

Trump launches belated attack on Robert De Niro: ‘Total loser’

ICYMI: North Dakota governor Doug Burgum suspends his 2024 campaign

07:00 , Alex Woodward

North Dakota’s Governor Doug Burgum ended his campaign for the presidency on Monday ahead of the fourth Republican primary debate in Alabama.

Burgum, 67, poured millions of his own money into his presidential bid but after an initial meetup of the candidates in August failed to reach the polling requirements necessary for attendance at successive GOP primary debates. He sought to run on his record as governor, but had little name recogniton at the national level.

His departure from the race for the GOP’s 2024 nomination for president winnows a field that Donald Trump hopes to dominate.

North Dakota governor Doug Burgum suspends his 2024 campaign

ICYMI: Trump attorney charged in Georgia 2020 case begins cooperating in Nevada probe

05:00 , Alex Woodward

The state-level criminal investigation into the 2020 election “fake electors” plot in Nevada has secured the cooperation of a key witness: Kenneth Chesebro, the lawyer who orchestrated the scheme to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state.

He has agreed to meet with investigators in the state in a bid to avoid prosecution there.

Chesebro pleaded guilty to charges relating to the plot in Georgia and as part of that plea deal has agreed to cooperate with the prosecution in the sprawling racketeering case against former president Donald Trump and 14 other co-defendants.

Trump ‘fake electors’ attorney begins cooperating in Nevada probe

ICYMI: Judge shoots down Giuliani’s attempt to avoid a jury trial in defamation case

03:00 , Alex Woodward

Rudy Giuliani is heading back to court.

Giuliani will face a jury trial, as planned, to determine damages surrounding a defamation case from two election workers in Georgia who sued the former president’s attorney for the death threats and harassment they faced as a result of his false statements about them in the wake of 2020 elections.

A weekend ruling from the federal judge overseeing the case dismissed his request, calling some of his arguments “simply nonsense” and flat-out “incorrect”.

More background on the case from The Independent:

Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis could testify in election workers’ defamation trial

Did one of Trump’s co-defendants threaten a witness?

02:00 , Alex Woodward

Trevian Kutti, a former Kanye West publicist and co-defendant alongside Donald Trump in the sprawling election subversion case in Georgia, appears to have threatened a witness in the case, violating the terms of her bond that keeps her out of jail.

In comments on Instagram Live over the weekend, she appeared to threaten Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman, who along with her daughter Shaye Moss has faced a wave of abuse and harassment that is at the centre of the charges facing Ms Kutti.

“There’s a woman sitting somewhere who knows this whole thing is a lie,” she said. “There’s a woman sitting somewhere who knows that I’m going to f**** her whole life up when this is done.”

Her $75,000 bond agreement prohibits her from intimidating co-defendants and witnesses, obstructing justice or posting on social media about the facts of the case.

Legal experts predict Fani Willis might ask a judge to revoke her bond.

ICYMI: Liz Cheney wants Trump’s ‘co-opted’ GOP to lose its House majority

01:00 , Alex Woodward

Former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney offered a dire warning about Trump’s potential return to the White House on Sunday, going as far to say that the GOP must lost its House majority to block Trump’s “collaborator” Mike Johnson from holding onto his role as speaker.

Ms Cheney was asked what would happen if he is still speaker come January 2025.

“He can’t be,” she said. “You know, we’re facing a situation with respect to the 2024 election, where it’s an existential crisis and we have to ensure that we don’t have a situation where an election that might be thrown into the House of Representatives is overseen by a Republican majority.”

Liz Cheney wants Trump’s ‘co-opted’ GOP to lose House majority

McCarthy limps towards possible exit from Congress after year of bruising speakership

00:00 , Alex Woodward

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was third in line to the presidency just a few months ago. Soon, he may not be in Washington at all.

The Independent’s John Bowden reports from DC:

Judge in Trump election conspiracy case rules he does not have presidential immunity

Full story: Trump will face gag order during fraud trial testimony after another courtroom loss

Monday 4 December 2023 23:33 , Alex Woodward

An appeals court judge has rejected Donald Trump’s request for a fast-tracked appeal of his gag order in his New York fraud trial, days before he is scheduled to return to the witness stand before his attorneys bring their case to a close.

On Monday, the former president’s legal team asked a state appeals court for a fast-tracked appeal process to challenge last week’s decision that keeps the gag order in place. A judge denied the request, and his lawyers will instead have to make their case before a full panel of judges next week.

The decision effectively guarantees that Mr Trump will remain under a gag order through the final days of his defence team’s presentations in a civil trial that could imperil the family’s vast real estate empire.

Trump loses latest attempt to block his fraud trial gag order

A university made a MAGA congressman its president. Is it a sign of things to come in higher ed?

Monday 4 December 2023 23:00 , Alex Woodward

In Ohio, Youngstown State University students, faculty, alumni, and community members were outraged to find out that Republican US Rep Bill Johnson — who has no background in education of any kind — was offered the contract to be the university’s new president with only two hours notice and without any public input.

Johnson, who joined spurious 2020 challenges to attempt to invalidate millions of votes in that year’s presidential election, has previously invoked right-wing grievances against “cancel culture” and “indoctrination” on college campuses. University donors are now looking for the exits.

The Independent’s Graig Graziosi reports:

An Ohio community is furious after college makes MAGA congressman president

Just in: Judge denies Trump’s attempt for quick appeal on gag order

Monday 4 December 2023 21:28 , Alex Woodward

An appeals court judge has rejected Donald Trump’s request for a swift appeal of his gag order in his New York fraud trial, meaning that the former president will have to make his case before a full panel of judges.

His attorneys will have a chance to argue before a full appeals court on Monday.

Last week, another appeals court allowed the gag order to stand, after court filings revealed the wave of abusive messages and credible death threats to Judge Arthur Engoron and his staff.

Trump then immediately attacked the judge’s wife.

Trump immediately attacks judge’s wife after gag order reinstated in fraud trial

Trump is expected to return to his fraud trial this week

Monday 4 December 2023 21:21 , Alex Woodward

Donald Trump hasn’t been inside New York State Supreme Court since his testimony last month in a fraud trial that could imperil his family’s real estate empire.

He is reportedly expected to return to Judge Arthur Engoron’s courtroom on Thursday.

Trump also will testify again, this time as the final witness for the defence, a week from today.

Eric Trump will testify for a second time this week on Wednesday.

‘No question’ Trump will try to stay in office as long as he can, Liz Cheney says

Monday 4 December 2023 20:45 , Alex Woodward

Former US Rep Liz Cheney has warned that there is “no question” Trump would leave office if he is elected next year.

NBC’s Savannah Guthrie on Today on Monday asked Ms Cheney whether Trump would “try to stay in power forever,” if elected.

“Absolutely. He’s already done it once,” she said.

Trump tries to blame DeSantis for Florida State Football playoffs snub

Monday 4 December 2023 20:30 , Alex Woodward

Perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly, given the history of Donald Trump and his bullying of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the former president wrote on Truth Social early Monday morning that Floridians should actually “blame” the state’s governor for Florida State’s exclusion from the upcoming playoff series set to begin on 1 January.

Trump tries to blame DeSantis for Florida State Football playoffs snub

Trump’s violent rhetoric charts his campaign warpath

Monday 4 December 2023 20:15 , Alex Woodward

Trump sees the criminal indictments and civil cases against him as part of a Democratic conspiracy that is “weaponising” the federal government to keep him away from the White House, and he appears ready to do the same to his political opponents if he’s elected.

The leading candidate for the 2024 Republican nomination for president is giving his supporters permission to dehumanise and degrade his political opponents as he does, priming their acceptance of political violence against the “other” side, while absolving them of responsibility for it, according to urgent warnings from scholars and legal analysts.

Trump’s violent rhetoric charts his campaign warpath

Trump is skipping another debate, leaving only three candidates left on the stage

Monday 4 December 2023 19:45 , Alex Woodward

Four candidates for the GOP’s nomination for president have qualified to appear at the next primary debate scheduled for Wednesday night.

Trump is among them, but he won’t be there, as usual. Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy will be the only three candidates on the stage.

Who qualified for the fourth GOP debate?

Trump’s call to ‘go into’ cities and ‘watch’ elections sounds alarms from election officials and voting rights groups

Monday 4 December 2023 19:15 , Alex Woodward

Trump’s call to his supporters to “guard” and “watch” ballot counting in cities with large Black populations has raised alarms among elections officials and voting rights advocates bracing for more threats to elections fuelled by his bogus narrative of widespread fraud.

“The most important part of what’s coming up is to guard the vote, and you should go into Detroit, and you should go into Philadelphia, and you should go into some of these places – Atlanta – and you should go into some of these places, and we gotta watch those votes when they come in,” he told supporters in Iowa on Saturday.

He then falsely claimed that ballots are “shoved around in wheelbarrows and dumped on the floor”.

The president of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund called his comments “lawless intimidation,” and a grim reminder of 2020.

Trump’s call to ‘go into’ cities and ‘watch’ elections sounds alarms

Eric Garcia: ‘Trump uses Obamacare as a distraction. Biden sees an opportunity'

Monday 4 December 2023 18:45 , Alex Woodward

Democratic officials and Joe Biden are leaping on Donald Trump’s revived threats to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.

The Independent’s Eric Garcia writes:

Trump is using Obamacare as a distraction. Biden sees an opportunity

Just in: Trump’s attorneys will argue for gag order appeal in New York today

Monday 4 December 2023 18:18 , Alex Woodward

Donald Trump’s attorneys in his fraud trial in New York are asking another appeals court this afternoon to allow the state’s highest court to weigh in on the fate of a gag order in the case.

Oral arguments will begin this afternoon following a request for an expedited review of their appeal, after a state appellate court allowed Judge Arthur Engoron’s gag order to stand last week.

Stay tuned.

ICYMI: Trump attorney charged in Georgia 2020 case begins cooperating in Nevada probe

Monday 4 December 2023 17:39 , Alex Woodward

The state-level criminal investigation into the 2020 election “fake electors” plot in Nevada has secured the cooperation of a key witness: Kenneth Chesebro, the lawyer who orchestrated the scheme to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state.

He has agreed to meet with investigators in the state in a bid to avoid prosecution there.

Chesebro pleaded guilty to charges relating to the plot in Georgia and as part of that plea deal has agreed to cooperate with the prosecution in the sprawling racketeering case against former president Donald Trump and 14 other co-defendants.

Trump ‘fake electors’ attorney begins cooperating in Nevada probe

Just in: North Dakota governor Doug Burgum suspends 2024 campaign

Monday 4 December 2023 16:45 , Alex Woodward

North Dakota’s Governor Doug Burgum ended his campaign for the presidency on Monday ahead of the fourth Republican primary debate in Alabama.

Burgum, 67, poured millions of his own money into his presidential bid but after an initial meetup of the candidates in August failed to reach the polling requirements necessary for attendance at successive GOP primary debates. He sought to run on his record as governor, but had little name recogniton at the national level.

His departure from the race for the GOP’s 2024 nomination for president winnows a field that Donald Trump hopes to dominate.

North Dakota governor Doug Burgum suspends his 2024 campaign

Full story: Trump launches belated attack on Robert De Niro

Monday 4 December 2023 16:30 , Alex Woodward

Trump finally responded to criticism from Robert De Niro aired during an awards speech last week.

The actor hit out at the former president during the Gotham Awards on 27 November, saying that Trump “can’t hide his soul”.

“He attacks the weak, destroys the gifts of nature and shows his disrespect, for example, using Pocahontas as a slur.”

Trump launches belated attack on Robert De Niro: ‘Total loser’

Did one of Trump’s co-defendants threaten a witness?

Monday 4 December 2023 16:15 , Alex Woodward

Trevian Kutti, a former Kanye West publicist and co-defendant alongside Donald Trump in the sprawling election subversion case in Georgia, appears to have threatened a witness in the case, violating the terms of her bond that keeps her out of jail.

In comments on Instagram Live over the weekend, she appeared to threaten Fulton County election worker Ruby Freeman, who along with her daughter Shaye Moss has faced a wave of abuse and harassment that is at the centre of the charges facing Ms Kutti.

“There’s a woman sitting somewhere who knows this whole thing is a lie,” she said. “There’s a woman sitting somewhere who knows that I’m going to f**** her whole life up when this is done.”

Her $75,000 bond agreement prohibits her from intimidating co-defendants and witnesses, obstructing justice or posting on social media about the facts of the case.

Legal experts predict Fani Willis might ask a judge to revoke her bond.

Just in: Trump to appeal New York gag order to state’s highest court

Monday 4 December 2023 15:45 , Alex Woodward

Donald Trump’s legal team is seeking an appeal of a New York appellate court decision that allowed a gag order in his fraud trial to remain in place.

His attorneys are seeking permission to appeal to the state’s highest court, claiming that the former president suffers “irreparable injury daily, as they are silenced on matters implicating the appearance of bias and impropriety on the bench during a trial of immense stakes,” despite a wave of death threats and abuse his comments have inspired against the court’s staff.

A state appeals court had temporarily paused the order from Judge Arthur Engoron, but last week, the panel agreed to let it stand, after court filings revealed the scale of harassment the court has received.

After the gag order was upheld, Trump attacked the judge’s wife.

Trump immediately attacks judge’s wife after gag order reinstated in fraud trial

Judge shoots down Giuliani’s attempt to avoid a jury trial in defamation case

Monday 4 December 2023 15:15 , Alex Woodward

Rudy Giuliani is heading back to court.

Giuliani will face a jury trial, as planned, to determine damages surrounding a defamation case from two election workers in Georgia who sued the former president’s attorney for the death threats and harassment they faced as a result of his false statements about them in the wake of 2020 elections.

A weekend ruling from the federal judge overseeing the case dismissed his request, calling some of his arguments “simply nonsense” and flat-out “incorrect”.

More background on the case from The Independent:

Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis could testify in election workers’ defamation trial

Monday 4 December 2023 14:45 , Alex Woodward

Good morning from New York.

Donald Trump’s fraud trial resumes in lower Manhattan this morning, the beginning of the end of the defence’s arguments in a trial entering its 10th week. Eric Trump is scheduled to testify on Wednesday. A week from today, the former president will be on the witness stand.

Meanwhile, on Friday night, Trump was dealt a second of two legal blows that day in his attempts to evade liability for events surrounding the January 6 attack. Earlier in the day, a judge allowed lawsuits blaming him for violence to move forward, and the judge overseeing his election subversion case rejected his claim of “presidential immunity” in a blistering ruling.

More on that late-night Friday decision here:

Judge in Trump election conspiracy case rules he does not have presidential immunity

Gaetz frets about House GOP’s precarious majority after Santos expulsion

Monday 4 December 2023 14:30 , Oliver O’Connell

Florida US Rep Matt Gaetz is worried.

The controversial right-wing lawmaker fears that following the expulsion of disgraced former congressman George Santos, the slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives is in peril

Matt Gaetz frets about precarious Republican majority after George Santos exit

Santos threatens ex-colleagues with ethics complaints after expulsion

Monday 4 December 2023 14:10 , Oliver O'Connell

Having said he would leave Congress “graciously” were he expelled, disgraced former congressman George Santos appears out for revenge against those lawmakers who supported his expulsion in Friday’s landslide vote.

After his exit from the Capitol on Friday afternoon there was silence from the ex-Republican congressman.

That is, until 11.35pm when he took to his personal account on X and wrote of his intention to file ethics complaints against four of his former colleagues. The Independent has contacted their offices for comment and received responses from two.

Read on...

George Santos threatens ex-colleagues with ethics complaints after expulsion

McCarthy limps towards possible exit from Congress

Monday 4 December 2023 13:50 , Oliver O'Connell

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was third in line to the presidency just a few months ago. Soon, he may not be in Washington at all.

The California congressman endured a grinding nine months as leader of a fractured and bitter Republican caucus, one that may have been destined to cast him aside from the very beginning. Following a last-minute deal with Democrats to avert a government shutdown in October, he was unceremoniously ousted by one of his most polarising foes: Matt Gaetz of Florida, leading a cadre of Republican malcontents with their own varying complaints about Mr McCarthy’s leadership.

John Bowden looks at what might happen next.

McCarthy limps towards possible exit from Congress after year of bruising speakership

ICYMI: Trump can’t be on trial in Georgia if he’s president, attorneys argue

Monday 4 December 2023 13:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Donald Trump shouldn’t be on trial in Georgia during his 2024 presidential campaign, and, if he wins that election, he shouldn’t be on trial until he leaves the White House, his attorneys told the judge overseeing a criminal case surrounding his efforts to overturn the results of the last election he lost.

The former president and leading candidate for the Republican nomination next year is criminally accused of joining a conspiracy to unlawfully subvert the state’s election results.

Prosecutors in Fulton County have proposed an August 2024 trial date, which his attorneys have called “election interference.”

Alex Woodward reports.

Trump can’t be on trial in Georgia if he’s president, attorneys argue

WATCH: Jimmy Kimmel mocks claim that Trump stopped eating after January 6

Monday 4 December 2023 13:15 , Rachel Sharp

Lindsey Graham warns Liz Cheney ‘world will be truly on fire’ if Trump not re-elected

Monday 4 December 2023 13:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Donald Trump’s most ardent supplicants, had a warning for former rep Liz Cheney in an appearance on CNN this morning.

On State of the Union host Dana Bash turned to the topic of Ms Cheney’s new book Oath and Honor in which she dishes the dirt on fellow Republicans who reverted to backing Trump after the January 6 Capitol riot.

Bash asked the South Carolina senator about Ms Cheney saying that the US is “sleepwalking into a dictatorship” if Trump returns to the White House in 2024.

First Senator Graham bashed President Joe Biden:

Yeah. I think a continuation of the Biden presidency would be a disaster for peace and prosperity at home and abroad. Our border is broken. The only person really going to fix a broken border is Donald Trump.

When he was president, none of this stuff was going on in Ukraine. Hamas and all of these other terrorist groups were afraid of Trump. I think Liz’s hatred of Trump is real. I understand why people don’t like what he does and says at times, but in terms of actions and results, he was far better president [than] Biden.

Then he warned the former lawmaker:

If we have four more years of this, Liz Cheney, we won’t recognise America and the world will be truly on fire.

Trump denies he wasn’t eating after Jan 6 – he was eating ‘too much’

Monday 4 December 2023 12:40 , Rachel Sharp

Donald Trump is pushing back on claims that he stopped eating in the aftermath of the January 6 Capitol riot – instead saying he was actually eating “too much”.

Last week, an extract from former Republican lawmaker Liz Cheney’s new book was released, revealing details of the GOP party’s response to the violent insurrection.

In the memoir Oath and Honor, set to be released this Tuesday, Ms Cheney writes about the moment that she learned then-GOP leader Kevin McCarthy had gone to visit Mr Trump at Mar-a-Lago in the aftermath of the Capitol riot.

When she confronted Mr McCarthy over the meeting, Ms Cheney – a staunch and vocal Mr Trump critic – he is said to have told her he had gone to visit him because the former president’s inner circle was growing concerned about his health.

This apparent concern was founded on the fact that Mr Trump wasn’t eating, the book claims.

Read the full story:

Trump denies he wasn’t eating after Jan 6 – he was eating ‘too much’

Trump calls Biden ‘destroyer’ of democracy despite own efforts to overturn 2020 election

Monday 4 December 2023 12:15 , AP

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday attempted to turn the tables on his likely rival in November, President Joe Biden, arguing that the man whose election victory Trump tried to overturn is “the destroyer of American democracy.”

Trump’s allegations about Biden, a Democrat, echo the ones that Biden has been making for years against his predecessor. As Trump has dominated the Republican presidential primary and talked about targeting his rivals and the news media if he wins the White House again, Biden has stepped up his own warnings, contending Trump is “ determined to destroy American democracy.”

On Saturday, Trump made his most explicit argument to date on why voters should instead see his rival as the bigger democratic threat.

Trump calls Biden destroyer of democracy despite own 2020 election subversion cases

A university made a MAGA congressman its president. Is it a sign of things to come in higher ed?

Monday 4 December 2023 11:45 , Rachel Sharp

In the heart of downtown Youngstown, Ohio, inside a conference room where the Youngstown State University board of trustees hold their meetings, a chorus of angry boos rang out when it was decided the college’s next president would be an election-denying MAGA congressman.

With little forewarning, YSU’s trustees selected Congressman Bill Johnson — one of five Ohio Republican congressmen to back a bogus Texas lawsuit seeking to invalidate millions of legitimate votes in the 2020 election — as the university’s new president.

Three of the board members — all appointed to their positions by Republican Governor Mike DeWine — contributed to Mr Johnson’s congressional runs, according to the Youngstown Vindicator. Mr Johnson announced he would not seek re-election at the end of his term.

The only dissenting vote, YSU Trustee Molly Seals, said “I do not think the congressman is right for this job” in a statement.

Students, faculty, alumni, and community members were outraged to find out that Mr Johnson — who has no background in education of any kind — was offered the contract with only two hours notice and without any public input, according to local broadcaster WKBN.

The Independent’s Graig Graziosi reports:

An Ohio community is furious after college makes MAGA congressman president

What happens at the GOP convention if Trump is convicted? Don’t ask the RNC...

Monday 4 December 2023 11:15 , AP

The Republican National Committee’s rules for next year’s nominating contest and convention were released this week without addressing a question the GOP could well face next summer: can the party’s delegates vote for a different candidate if the presumptive nominee is convicted of a felony?

Former President Donald Trump is under four criminal indictments that will proceed through the GOP primary season, an overlap of legal and political calendars with no precedent in American politics. Fifteen states and American Samoa hold their GOP primaries on 5 March, known as Super Tuesday, which is also the day after his first trial is scheduled to begin in Washington on charges that he unlawfully sought to overturn the 2020 election.

Trump is dominating the Republican field and may secure much of the support he needs by Super Tuesday, by which time almost half of the delegates who select the nominee at the GOP convention will have been awarded. Even if he were to be convicted in Washington or another trial, top party leaders and many voters have indicated they would stand by Trump anyway. And Trump and his allies are pushing to dismiss and delay the trials and have worked with state parties to craft rules favourable to him.

The RNC rules don’t include any provisions specific to the unprecedented scenario unfolding.

Read the full article...

Trump launches belated attack on De Niro over awards speech

Monday 4 December 2023 10:54 , Rachel Sharp

Donald Trump has launched a belated attack on Robert De Niro after the star jabbed the former president in an awards ceremony speech last week.

The Hollywood actor was left fuming when he took to the stage at the the Gotham Awards in New York City on 27 November and noticed his speech had been censored to remove anti-Trump remarks.

Almost one week on, Mr Trump appears to have learnt about the incident – lashing out at De Niro on Truth Social.

“Robert De Niro, whose acting talents have greatly diminished, with his reputation now shot, must even use a teleprompter for his foul and disgusting language, so disrespectful to our Country,” he fumed.

“He has become unwatchable both in movies, and with the FOOLS that destroyed the Academy Awards, bringing them from one of the top shows in the Country to a Low Rated afterthought. De Niro should focus on his life, which is a mess, rather than the lives of others. He has become a total loser, as the World watches, waits, and laughs!”

Watch: Bizarre moment Trump claims even his opponents say he had ‘one of the great presidencies'

Monday 4 December 2023 10:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Cheney wants Trump’s ‘co-opted’ GOP to lose House majority

Monday 4 December 2023 09:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Liz Cheney, the former Republican congresswoman and one of Donald Trump’s greatest foes, has given a dire warning about the possibility of the former president returning to the White House.

Speaking on CBS Sunday Morning she even went as far as saying she would like the GOP to lose its House majority to prevent “collaborator” Mike Johnson from holding onto his role as speaker.

Ms Cheney spoke with John Dickerson of CBS News about the looming danger to democracy posed by Mr Trump as explored in her new book Oath and Honor.

After saying that Mr Johnson was “absolutely” a collaborator in the attempt to overturn the 2020 election, Ms Cheney was asked what would happen if he is still speaker come January 2025.

Continued...

Liz Cheney wants Trump’s ‘co-opted’ GOP to lose House majority

Watch: DeSantis dodges Trump Nazi rhetoric question, asks why Trump is running at all

Monday 4 December 2023 08:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Kenneth Chesebro begins cooperating in Nevada fake elector probe

Monday 4 December 2023 06:15 , Oliver O'Connell

The state-level criminal investigation into the 2020 election “fake electors” plot in Nevada has secured the cooperation of a key witness — Kenneth Chesebro, the lawyer who orchestrated the scheme to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state.

Both CNN and The Washington Post report that Mr Chesebro has agreed to meet with investigators in the state in a bid to avoid prosecution there.

He pleaded guilty to charges relating to the plot in Georgia and as part of that plea deal has agreed to cooperate with the prosecution in the sprawling racketeering case against former president Donald Trump and 14 other co-defendants.

Mr Chesebro also agreed to cooperate with any relevant cases in the future both inside and outside the state.

Continue reading the full article

Trump does not have presidential immunity, judge rules

Monday 4 December 2023 04:15 , Oliver O'Connell

The judge presiding over Donald Trump’s federal election conspiracy case in Washington DC has rejected a motion to dismiss the case based on his argument that he enjoys presidential immunity.

Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the case, said that the former president’s time in officer did not bestow on him “the divine right of kings” to evade criminal accountability.

It comes as a long-awaited federal appeals court ruling also determined that Mr Trump can be held civilly liable for inciting the riots at the US Capitol on 6 January, 2021 in the wake of his 2020 loss.

Lawyers for Mr Trump had also tried to use his presidential “immunity” as a shield from the litigation.

In her ruling on Friday, Judge Chutkan said: “[The] defendant’s four-year service as Commander in Chief did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade the criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens.”

The decision tees up a legal fight over the scope of presidential power that could ultimately reach the US Supreme Court.

Mike Bedigan reports.

Judge in Trump election conspiracy case rules he does not have presidential immunity

Speaker Johnson wrote intro for book filled with conspiracies and homophobia

Monday 4 December 2023 03:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson wrote the introduction to a 2022 book that included baseless debunked conspiracy theories as well as homophobic slurs.

In addition to writing the foreword, the Louisiana lawmaker actively promoted the book by Scott McKay, a politics blogger, CNN reported.

Indeed, the speaker pushed the book on social media and dedicated an episode of his podcast to it.

The Revivalist Manifesto includes conspiracies often championed by the far-right, including the infamous discredited “Pizzagate” hoax concerning a high-ranking paedophile ring in Washington DC, and the unfounded conspiracy that the Democratic National Committee’s emails were not hacked in 2016 but leaked.

House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote foreword for conspiracy-laden book