Donald Trump has tried to rewrite the story after he was booed by a crowd of football fans during an appearance at Clemson University for the Palmetto Bowl in South Carolina.
While there was a sizeable contingent of Trump fans in the crowd, several videos captured the overwhelming jeers aimed at the former president upon his arrival at the alma mater of his GOP primary rival Nikki Haley on Saturday.
Mr Trump sought to downplay the disappointing reception, taking to Truth Social on Sunday night to fire off a series of links to highly-positive articles about his appearance. “A Hero’s Welcome,” read one piece.
This comes amid a report that the former president’s move to pardon loan shark Jonathan Braun on his last day in office in 2021 “destroyed” a Department of Justice investigation.
Braun was convicted of running an illegal marijuana cartel and at the time of his pardon had served a quarter of his ten-year sentence.
The commutation of his sentence reportedly dealt a “substantial blow” to the Justice Department’s criminal investigation that was aimed at members of the predatory lending industry who harmed small businesses, The New York Times reported.
Key Points
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Trump struggles to get into holiday spirit with scathing Thanksgiving post
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Trump’s fraud trial court flooded with credible death threats and antisemitic abuse
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Trump lawyers dismiss death threats as ‘irrelevant’ to federal gag order
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Fani Willis makes courtroom debut in Trump election interference case
Trump’s attorneys in his New York fraud trial are targeting the accountants
14:55 , Oliver O’Connell
Judge Arthur Engoron already found Donald Trump and his co-defendants liable for fraud outlined in New York Attorney General’s blockbuster lawsuit.
In the eighth week of a trial stemming from her bombshell complaint, attorneys for the former president have narrowed their defence: blame the accountants.
READ MORE:
Ex-Trump Organization executive breaks down during fraud trial testimony
Trump tries to explain why he keeps mixing up Obama and Biden
14:38 , Oliver O’Connell
It’s Monday, the holiday weekend is officially over, and as millions of American shoppers take to the internet for Cyber Monday shopping deals, Donald Trump is back on Truth Social trying to explain away an apparent gaffe he keeps on making.
Here’s what the former president had to say this morning just after 8am:
Whenever I sarcastically insert the name Obama for Biden as an indication that others may actually be having a very big influence in running our Country, Ron DeSanctimonious and his failing campaign apparatus, together with the Democrat’s Radical Left “Disinformation Machine,” go wild saying that “Trump doesn’t know the name of our President, (CROOKED!) Joe Biden. He must be cognitively impaired.” No, I know both names very well, never mix them up, and know that they are destroying our Country. Also, and as reported, I just took a cognitive test as part of my Physical Exam, and ACED it. Also ACED (a perfect score!) one taken while in the White House. Biden should take one so we can determine why he wants Open Borders, No Energy Independence, A Woke Military, High Inflation, No Voter I.D., Men playing In Women’s Sports, Only Electric Cars & Trucks, A Weaponized DOJ/FBI, and so many other CRAZY things!!!
Here’s one of the latest incidents of him apparently confusing President Joe Biden with former President Barack Obama:
Trump serves up chaotic ‘word salad’ about ‘World War Two’ and running against Obama
More context via media analyst and author, Brian Stelter:
This “Obama is really running things” conspiracy theory presses many of the far right’s buttons simultaneously, which is why Trump keeps repeating it, a la birtherism https://t.co/fbFTJi6HRq
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) November 27, 2023
Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity Action group plans won’t back Trump in 2024, report says
14:00 , Graig Graziosi
ABC News reported that Charles Koch’s Americans for Prosperity Action donor organisation will reportedly not throw its substantial wealth behind Donald Trump in 2024.
The organisation is reportedly planning to back another Republican candidate in the upcoming Iowa caucus on 15 January, though it is not clear who will receive the group’s support.
Americans for Prosperity reportedly has research that suggests “as many as 75% of Republicans just might be open to a Trump alternative if they think that that person can win,” according to ABC News Political Director Rick Klein.
Trump could face more criminal charges over ‘fake electors’ scam, report says
13:00 , Graig Graziosi
Four swing-states are reportedly still investigating the slates of so-called “fake electors” which Donald Trump allegedly hoped to use to falsely certify that he had won the 2020 election.
The results of those investigations could bring more charges down onto the already embattled former president, according to The Hill, which contacted numerous state attorneys general offices to determine if investigations were ongoing.
The investigations are being carried out while Mr Trump faces four criminal cases, including one in Georgia focused on his alleged efforts to steal the 2020 election.
READ MORE:
Trump could face more criminal charges over ‘fake electors’ scam, report says
Heckler shouts ‘armchair murderer’ at Biden as he shops in Nantucket
12:00 , Graig Graziosi
As he spent Thanksgiving with his family, Joe Biden was heckled by a member of the public who called him an “armchair murderer”.
The president was pictured shopping with his granddaughter Maisy in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on Saturday, though did not respond when shouted questions at by bystanders.
According to the White House pool, Mr Biden visited several local shops on Nantucket, including a bookstore and Ralph Lauren outlet. He also appeared to stop for a milkshake at a local pharmacy.
READ MORE:
Heckler shouts ‘armchair murderer’ at Biden as he shops in Nantucket
Trump met by persistent booing at South Carolina college football game
10:00 , Graig Graziosi
Donald Trump attended a beloved college football bowl game over the weekend at the alma mater of one of his chief rivals, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley. Rather than showing up Ms Haley in her own home, he was greeted with a chorus of boos by the assembled football fans.
The scene played out during the Palmetto Bowl, a much-anticipated annual showdown between rivals Clemson University and the University of South Carolina.
Ms Haley is a graduate of Clemson University.
READ MORE:
Trump met by persistent booing at South Carolina college football game
08:00 , Graig Graziosi
Bob Woodward undermines Trump excuse for not giving back secret papers: ‘He’s not busy’
Famed journalist Bob Woodward rejected the idea that Donald Trump was “too busy” to return boxes of classified documents that had been stored at Mar-a-Lago, recalling long conversations he had with the former president at the time while he was researching a book.
Woodward, who has written four books focused on Mr Trump and serves as an associate editor of The Washington Post, sat down for an interview on MSNBC during which he recalled the former president frequently insisting he was “too busy” to talk for long, but ultimately would spend more time than Woodward had allotted chatting with him.
READ MORE:
Bob Woodward undermines Trump excuse for not returning secret papers: ‘He’s not busy’
ICYMI: Trump’s Truth Social sues 20 media outlets over financial loss reports
07:00 , Graig Graziosi
Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform has filed a lawsuit against 20 media organisations for making what it claims to be defamatory statements about the company’s financial losses.
In the lawsuit, filed in the 12th Judicial Court of Sarasota County, Florida, on Monday, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) accuses the “reckless and malicious” outlets of falsely reporting that the company had lost $73m since its launch.
Trump’s Truth Social sues 20 media outlets over financial loss reports
Trump lawyers dismiss death threats as ‘irrelevant’ to federal gag order
06:00 , Graig Graziosi
A wave of death threats and antisemitic and homophobic messages were sent to the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s fraud trial, as well as his chief clerk, according to a state court filing this week.
A filing to support New York Justice Arthur Engoron’s opposition to a freeze on a gag order in the case includes a statement from the court’s top security official, who has collected “hundreds of threats, disparaging and harassing comments and antisemitic messages” that followed the former president’s harassment.
Federal prosecutors – who are seeking a separate gag order – shared those threats with the federal appeals court judges who will decide whether Mr Trump should be gagged in his election interference case.
But on Friday, the former president’s attorneys dismissed those threats as “irrelevant”.
Read more from The Independent:
Trump lawyers dismiss death threats as ‘irrelevant’ to federal gag order
ICYMI: Rudy Giuliani sued for allegedly skipping out on $10k payment to accounting firm
04:59 , Graig Graziosi
Rudy Giuliani is facing yet another lawsuit.
A former associate is suing him for $10,000, adding to the mountain of debt the former New York City mayor and Trump attorney is facing.
BST & Co. CPAs, LLP, an accounting firm based in Latham, New York, claims he had the company conduct an appraisal of his business interests while he separated from his wife, Judith Nathan, without paying them.
Including interest, the firm now seeks to recover about $25,000.
Michelle Del Rey reports:
Giuliani sued for allegedly skipping out on $10k payment to accounting firm
Wife of Iowa GOP official found guilty on 52 counts of election fraud from 2020
04:00 , Graig Graziosi
The wife of a Republican politician in Iowa has been convicted of dozens of criminal charges related to a 2020 voter fraud scheme aimed at getting her husband into office.
Kim Phuong Taylor submitted absentee ballots on behalf of voters who had not given her permission to do so.
She was convicted of 52 counts in total, including 26 counts of providing false information in registering and voting, 23 counts of voter fraud, and three counts of fraudulently registering to vote. She could face up to five years in prison for each charge.
The Independent’s John Bowden has more:
Wife of Iowa GOP official found guilty on 52 counts of election fraud from 2020
03:00 , Graig Graziosi
Trump’s attorneys in his New York fraud trial are targeting the accountants
Judge Arthur Engoron already found Donald Trump and his co-defendants liable for fraud outlined in New York Attorney General’s blockbuster lawsuit.
In the eighth week of a trial stemming from her bombshell complaint, attorneys for the former president have narrowed their defence: blame the accountants.
READ MORE:
Ex-Trump Organization executive breaks down during fraud trial testimony
Appeals court judges aren’t convinced with Trump’s gag order opposition
02:00 , Graig Graziosi
A federal appeals court will determine whether to keep a gag order in place in Donald Trump’s federal election interference case.
In court this week, Trump’s attorney John Sauer repeatedly argued his client’s statements are “core political speech” protected under the First Amendment.
But Circuit Judge Patricia Millett cut him off at one point to ask whether those comments are merely protected political speech or “political speech aimed at derailing or corrupting the criminal justice process.”
Judges aren’t buying Trump’s gag order appeal
Eric Garcia: ‘The Maga release of the Jan 6 tapes is about vengeance’
01:00 , Graig Graziosi
Newly elected Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson released more than 44,000 hours of raw footage from the January 6 attack on the US Capitol this week.
It’s less about transparency and more about revenge against Democratic officials who investigated the riot and the former president’s role, The Independent’s Eric Garcia writes:
Republicans know that January 6 is a huge albatross around their necks and they hope to reshape the narrative about the riot so that they can move on. The problem is that the loudest voices are giving away the game and revealing this is not only an attempt to whitewash the events but rather to run interference and defend Mr Trump.
The Maga release of the Jan 6 tapes is about vengeance
One of Trump’s co-defendants in his Georgia case won’t be going back to jail, for now
00:00 , Graig Graziosi
Harrison Floyd, the leader of Black Voices for Trump, has “engaged in a pattern of intimidation” against his co-defendants and witnesses since he was released on bond in the Trump election interferference case in Georgia in August, according to the Fulton County District Attorney’s office.
But following a three-hour hearing on Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee declined to send Mr Floyd back to jail and directed the parties to draft an order that reels in his public statements.
The hearing marked District Attorney Fani Willis’s courtroom debut in the case.
She delivered a fierce defence of her move to strip Mr Floyd’s bond.
“I’m threatened everyday anyway,” she told the judge. “I’m a public official, voters elected me, and I’ve put myself in that position. That does not give him the right to contact co-defendants or intimidate other witnesses. And quite frankly, it’s really in the defendant’s interest to shut his mouth about this case because it can and will be used against him.”
Read more in The Independent:
Fulton County DA Fani Willis makes Trump courtroom debut
ICYMI: Read some of the ‘serious and credible’ death threats against Trump’s fraud trial judge and his staff
Sunday 26 November 2023 23:00 , Graig Graziosi
“You should be executed,” one message reads.
“Trust me when I say this,” reads another. “I will come for you. I don’t care. Ain’t nobody gonna stop me either.”
Those are just a few of the messages collected by a top security official with the New York court system who reviewed hundreds of threatening, antisemitic and homophobic messages targeting the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s fraud trial, as well as members of his staff.
We have the court filing that details the threats they received:
Trump’s fraud trial court flooded with credible death threats and antisemitic abuse
Will the Supreme Court stop this Voting Rights Act wrecking ball?
Sunday 26 November 2023 22:00 , Graig Graziosi
A federal court ruling is teeing up another major Supreme Court case that could radically weaken the Voting Rights Act by blocking private citizens and civil rights groups from filing lawsuits to protect what has become America’s bedrock voting protections.
On Monday, a three-judge panel with the US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit agreed that citizens and groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP cannot legally challenge discriminatory state and local election laws.
Voters instead would have to rely only on the Justice Department to step in.
But if a highly politicised Justice Department under a Republican president hostile to voting rights declines, they’re out of luck.
Legal analysts and voting rights advocates say the ruling is so extreme that even the conservative-dominated Supreme Court is likely to stop it.
Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity Action group plans won’t back Trump in 2024, report says
Sunday 26 November 2023 21:00 , Graig Graziosi
ABC News reported that Charles Koch’s Americans for Prosperity Action donor organisation will reportedly not throw its substantial wealth behind Donald Trump in 2024.
The organisation is reportedly planning to back another Republican candidate in the upcoming Iowa caucus on 15 January, though it is not clear who will receive the group’s support.
Americans for Prosperity reportedly has research that suggests “as many as 75% of Republicans just might be open to a Trump alternative if they think that that person can win,” according to ABC News Political Director Rick Klein.
Trump could face more criminal charges over ‘fake electors’ scam, report says
Sunday 26 November 2023 19:29 , Graig Graziosi
Four swing-states are reportedly still investigating the slates of so-called “fake electors” which Donald Trump allegedly hoped to use to falsely certify that he had won the 2020 election.
The results of those investigations could bring more charges down onto the already embattled former president, according to The Hill, which contacted numerous state attorneys general offices to determine if investigations were ongoing.
The investigations are being carried out while Mr Trump faces four criminal cases, including one in Georgia focused on his alleged efforts to steal the 2020 election.
READ MORE:
Trump could face more criminal charges over ‘fake electors’ scam, report says
Heckler shouts ‘armchair murderer’ at Biden as he shops in Nantucket
Sunday 26 November 2023 18:37 , Graig Graziosi
As he spent Thanksgiving with his family, Joe Biden was heckled by a member of the public who called him an “armchair murderer”.
The president was pictured shopping with his granddaughter Maisy in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on Saturday, though did not respond when shouted questions at by bystanders.
According to the White House pool, Mr Biden visited several local shops on Nantucket, including a bookstore and Ralph Lauren outlet. He also appeared to stop for a milkshake at a local pharmacy.
READ MORE:
Heckler shouts ‘armchair murderer’ at Biden as he shops in Nantucket
Trump met by persistent booing at South Carolina college football game
Sunday 26 November 2023 17:45 , Graig Graziosi
Donald Trump attended a beloved college football bowl game over the weekend at the alma mater of one of his chief rivals, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley. Rather than showing up Ms Haley in her own home, he was greeted with a chorus of boos by the assembled football fans.
The scene played out during the Palmetto Bowl, a much-anticipated annual showdown between rivals Clemson University and the University of South Carolina.
Ms Haley is a graduate of Clemson University.
READ MORE:
Trump met by persistent booing at South Carolina college football game
Bob Woodward undermines Trump excuse for not giving back secret papers: ‘He’s not busy’
Sunday 26 November 2023 16:24 , Graig Graziosi
Famed journalist Bob Woodward rejected the idea that Donald Trump was “too busy” to return boxes of classified documents that had been stored at Mar-a-Lago, recalling long conversations he had with the former president at the time while he was researching a book.
Woodward, who has written four books focused on Mr Trump and serves as an associate editor of The Washington Post, sat down for an interview on MSNBC during which he recalled the former president frequently insisting he was “too busy” to talk for long, but ultimately would spend more time than Woodward had allotted chatting with him.
READ MORE:
Bob Woodward undermines Trump excuse for not returning secret papers: ‘He’s not busy’
The latest: Trump’s attorneys in his New York fraud trial are targeting the accountants
Sunday 26 November 2023 13:00 , Alex Woodward
Judge Arthur Engoron already found Donald Trump and his co-defendants liable for fraud outlined in New York Attorney General’s blockbuster lawsuit.
In the eighth week of a trial stemming from her bombshell complaint, attorneys for the former president have narrowed their defence: blame the accountants.
Ex-Trump Organization executive breaks down during fraud trial testimony
Read some of the ‘serious and credible’ death threats against Trump’s fraud trial judge and his staff
Sunday 26 November 2023 12:00 , Alex Woodward
“You should be executed,” one message reads.
“Trust me when I say this,” reads another. “I will come for you. I don’t care. Ain’t nobody gonna stop me either.”
Those are just a few of the messages collected by a top security official with the New York court system who reviewed hundreds of threatening, antisemitic and homophobic messages targeting the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s fraud trial, as well as members of his staff.
We have the court filing detailing the threats they received:
Trump’s fraud trial court flooded with credible death threats and antisemitic abuse
Trump lawyers dismiss death threats as ‘irrelevant’ to federal gag order
Sunday 26 November 2023 11:00 , Alex Woodward
This week, security official with the New York court system shared just a sample of the wave of death threats and antisemitic messages against the judge and clerk overseeing Trump’s fraud tril.
Federal prosecutors also shared those threats with the federal appeals court judges who will decide whether Trump should be gagged in his election interference case.
But on Friday, the former president’s attorneys dismissed those threats as “irrelevant”.
Trump lawyers dismiss death threats as ‘irrelevant’ to federal gag order
ICYMI: Trump plans to visit Javier Milei, according to Argentina’s new president-elect
Sunday 26 November 2023 10:00 , Alex Woodward
Trump reportedly told Argentina’s far-right president-elect Javier Milei that he plans to travel to meet him, Mr Milei’s office said on Thursday.
The office did not provide a date. Mr Milei is scheduled to be inaugurated on 10 December.
“The president-elect received a call last night from the former president of the United States, Donald Trump, who congratulated him and pointed out his triumph by a wide margin in last Sunday’s election had a great impact on a global scale,” according to a statement from Mr Milei’s office.
In a video on Tuesday, Trump said: “I am very proud of you. You will turn your country around and truly make Argentina great again.”
President Joe Biden, meanwhile, also has called Mr Milei following his election victory to discuss “the strong relationship between the United States and Argentina on economic issues, on regional and multilateral cooperation, and on shared priorities, including advocating for the protection of human rights, addressing food insecurity and investing in clean energy.”
Meet South America’s incoming new MAGA-like leader:
South America’s Trump wins election: Meet Argentina’s new MAGA-like leader
Will the Supreme Court stop this Voting Rights Act wrecking ball?
Sunday 26 November 2023 09:00 , Alex Woodward
A federal court ruling is teeing up another major Supreme Court case that could radically weaken the Voting Rights Act by blocking private citizens and civil rights groups from filing lawsuits to protect what has become America’s bedrock voting protections.
On Monday, a three-judge panel with the US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit agreed that citizens and groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP cannot legally challenge discriminatory state and local election laws.
Voters instead would have to rely only on the Justice Department to step in.
But if a highly politicised Justice Department under a Republican president hostile to voting rights declines, they’re out of luck.
Legal analysts and voting rights advocates say the ruling is so extreme that even the conservative-dominated Supreme Court is likely to stop it.
Trump-appointed judges dealt a ‘body blow’ to the Voting Rights Act
ICYMI: Ex-Univision boss slams network’s Trump interview as ‘propaganda’
Saturday 25 November 2023 21:00 , Alex Woodward
Univision’s former president has joined the growing criticism of the Hispanic network over an interview with Donald Trump that was panned by journalists for softball questions.
Reporters at the network, which has US offices and merged with a Mexican media giant in 2022, have found themselves at the middle of a discussion over their network’s ability to cover the 2024 presidential race fairly and accurately after a recent Trump interview.
He did not face any difficult questions about his criminal prosecutions or policy positions in the interview, and was also able to spout unfounded claims about his immigration policies without accurate pushback.
Ex-Univision boss slams network’s Trump interview as ‘propaganda’
ICYMI: Colorado Supreme Court will decide if Trump can stay on the state’s ballots
Saturday 25 November 2023 20:00 , Alex Woodward
Last week, a Colorado judge decided Trump can stay on the state’s ballots in 2024, following a lawsuit arguing that he is constitutionally barred from office because of his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
An appeal of that decision now heads to the state’s Supreme Court, but Colorado officials have urged that a final decision must be made by 5 January, 2024, when primary ballots must be finalised.
The plaintiffs, watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, argued in an appeal filing that “there would be no reason to allow presidents who lead an insurrection to serve again while preventing low-level government workers who act as foot soldiers from doing so.”
“And it would defy logic to prohibit insurrectionists from holding every federal or state office except for the highest and most powerful in the land,” the filing added.
ICYMI: Trump’s Truth Social sues 20 media outlets over financial loss reports
Saturday 25 November 2023 18:00 , Alex Woodward
Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform has filed a lawsuit against 20 media organisations for making what it claims to be defamatory statements about the company’s financial losses.
In the lawsuit, filed in the 12th Judicial Court of Sarasota County, Florida, on Monday, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) accuses the “reckless and malicious” outlets of falsely reporting that the company had lost $73m since its launch.
Trump’s Truth Social sues 20 media outlets over financial loss reports
Trump’s attorneys in his New York fraud trial are targeting the accountants
Saturday 25 November 2023 17:00 , Alex Woodward
Judge Arthur Engoron already found Donald Trump and his co-defendants liable for fraud outlined in New York Attorney General’s blockbuster lawsuit.
In the eighth week of a trial stemming from her bombshell complaint, attorneys for the former president have narrowed their defence: blame the accountants.
The latest:
Ex-Trump Organization executive breaks down during fraud trial testimony
Saturday 25 November 2023 16:00 , Alex Woodward
One of Trump’s co-defendants in his Georgia case won’t be going back to jail, for now
Harrison Floyd, the leader of Black Voices for Trump, has “engaged in a pattern of intimidation” against his co-defendants and witnesses since he was released on bond in the Trump election interferference case in Georgia in August, according to the Fulton County District Attorney’s office.
But following a three-hour hearing on Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee declined to send Mr Floyd back to jail and directed the parties to draft an order that reels in his public statements.
The hearing marked District Attorney Fani Willis’s courtroom debut in the case.
She delivered a fierce defence of her move to strip Mr Floyd’s bond.
“I’m threatened everyday anyway,” she told the judge. “I’m a public official, voters elected me, and I’ve put myself in that position. That does not give him the right to contact co-defendants or intimidate other witnesses. And quite frankly, it’s really in the defendant’s interest to shut his mouth about this case because it can and will be used against him.”
Read more in The Independent:
Fulton County DA Fani Willis makes Trump courtroom debut
Eric Garcia: ‘The Maga release of the Jan 6 tapes is about vengeance’
Saturday 25 November 2023 15:00 , Alex Woodward
Newly elected Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson released more than 44,000 hours of raw footage from the January 6 attack on the US Capitol this week.
It’s less about transparency and more about revenge against Democratic officials who investigated the riot and the former president’s role, The Independent’s Eric Garcia writes:
Republicans know that January 6 is a huge albatross around their necks and they hope to reshape the narrative about the riot so that they can move on. The problem is that the loudest voices are giving away the game and revealing this is not only an attempt to whitewash the events but rather to run interference and defend Mr Trump.
The Maga release of the Jan 6 tapes is about vengeance
Trump lawyers dismiss death threats as ‘irrelevant’ to federal gag order
Saturday 25 November 2023 14:00 , Alex Woodward
A wave of death threats and antisemitic and homophobic messages were sent to the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s fraud trial, as well as his chief clerk, according to a state court filing this week.
A filing to support New York Justice Arthur Engoron’s opposition to a freeze on a gag order in the case includes a statement from the court’s top security official, who has collected “hundreds of threats, disparaging and harassing comments and antisemitic messages” that followed the former president’s harassment.
Federal prosecutors – who are seeking a separate gag order – shared those threats with the federal appeals court judges who will decide whether Mr Trump should be gagged in his election interference case.
But on Friday, the former president’s attorneys dismissed those threats as “irrelevant”.
Read more from The Independent:
Trump lawyers dismiss death threats as ‘irrelevant’ to federal gag order
Read some of the ‘serious and credible’ death threats against Trump’s fraud trial judge and his staff
Saturday 25 November 2023 13:00 , Alex Woodward
“You should be executed,” one message reads.
“Trust me when I say this,” reads another. “I will come for you. I don’t care. Ain’t nobody gonna stop me either.”
Those are just a few of the messages collected by a top security official with the New York court system who reviewed hundreds of threatening, antisemitic and homophobic messages targeting the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s fraud trial, as well as members of his staff.
We have the court filing that details the threats they received:
Trump’s fraud trial court flooded with credible death threats and antisemitic abuse
Will the Supreme Court stop this Voting Rights Act wrecking ball?
Saturday 25 November 2023 12:00 , Alex Woodward
A federal court ruling is teeing up another major Supreme Court case that could radically weaken the Voting Rights Act by blocking private citizens and civil rights groups from filing lawsuits to protect what has become America’s bedrock voting protections.
On Monday, a three-judge panel with the US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit agreed that citizens and groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP cannot legally challenge discriminatory state and local election laws.
Voters instead would have to rely only on the Justice Department to step in.
But if a highly politicised Justice Department under a Republican president hostile to voting rights declines, they’re out of luck.
Legal analysts and voting rights advocates say the ruling is so extreme that even the conservative-dominated Supreme Court is likely to stop it.
Trump-appointed judges dealt a ‘body blow’ to the Voting Rights Act
ICYMI: Colorado Supreme Court will decide if Trump can stay on the state’s ballots
Saturday 25 November 2023 11:00 , Alex Woodward
Last week, a Colorado judge decided Trump can stay on the state’s ballots in 2024, following a lawsuit arguing that he is constitutionally barred from office because of his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
An appeal of that decision now heads to the state’s Supreme Court, but Colorado officials have urged that a final decision must be made by 5 January, 2024, when primary ballots must be finalised.
The plaintiffs, watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, argued in an appeal filing that “there would be no reason to allow presidents who lead an insurrection to serve again while preventing low-level government workers who act as foot soldiers from doing so.”
“And it would defy logic to prohibit insurrectionists from holding every federal or state office except for the highest and most powerful in the land,” the filing added.
Trump attorneys continue to fight federal gag order
Saturday 25 November 2023 09:00 , Alex Woodward
Days after a federal appeals court panel grilled Trump’s legal team over their opposition to a gag order in his election interference case in Washington DC, his attorneys struck back in a letter to the court clerk to blast both the gag order and the case itself.
They dismissed death threats in his New York fraud case as irrelevant, while accusing special counsel Jack Smith of bringing “an inflammatory, lawless indictment” against Trump, making “false and misleading statements” about him, and leading “confidential information in order to harm” him.
“Both the indictment and the Gag Order represent an unconstitutional attempt to silence President Trump; they are clearly election interference,” they wrote.
The words echo the former president’s campaign-trail remarks and rhetoric on social media, where he posts conspiracy theories accusing prosecutors and judges of working with Democratic officials to keep him away from the White House.
Wife of Iowa GOP official found guilty on 52 counts of election fraud from 2020
Saturday 25 November 2023 08:00 , Alex Woodward
The wife of a Republican politician in Iowa has been convicted of dozens of criminal charges related to a 2020 voter fraud scheme aimed at getting her husband into office.
Kim Phuong Taylor submitted absentee ballots on behalf of voters who had not given her permission to do so.
She was convicted of 52 counts in total, including 26 counts of providing false information in registering and voting, 23 counts of voter fraud, and three counts of fraudulently registering to vote. She could face up to five years in prison for each charge.
The Independent’s John Bowden has more:
Wife of Iowa GOP official found guilty on 52 counts of election fraud from 2020
Trump lawyers dismiss death threats as ‘irrelevant’ to federal gag order
Saturday 25 November 2023 07:00 , Alex Woodward
A wave of death threats and antisemitic and homophobic messages were sent to the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s fraud trial, as well as his chief clerk, according to a state court filing this week.
A filing to support New York Justice Arthur Engoron’s opposition to a freeze on a gag order in the case includes a statement from the court’s top security official, who has collected “hundreds of threats, disparaging and harassing comments and antisemitic messages” that followed the former president’s harassment.
Federal prosecutors – who are seeking a separate gag order – shared those threats with the federal appeals court judges who will decide whether Mr Trump should be gagged in his election interference case.
But on Friday, the former president’s attorneys dismissed those threats as “irrelevant”.
Read more from The Independent:
Trump lawyers dismiss death threats as ‘irrelevant’ to federal gag order
Trump’s attorneys in his New York fraud trial are targeting the accountants
Saturday 25 November 2023 05:00 , Alex Woodward
Judge Arthur Engoron already found Donald Trump and his co-defendants liable for fraud outlined in New York Attorney General’s blockbuster lawsuit.
In the eighth week of a trial stemming from her bombshell complaint, attorneys for the former president have narrowed their defence: blame the accountants.
The latest:
Ex-Trump Organization executive breaks down during fraud trial testimony
One of Trump’s co-defendants in his Georgia case won’t be going back to jail, for now
Saturday 25 November 2023 04:00 , Alex Woodward
Harrison Floyd, the leader of Black Voices for Trump, has “engaged in a pattern of intimidation” against his co-defendants and witnesses since he was released on bond in the Trump election interferference case in Georgia in August, according to the Fulton County District Attorney’s office.
But following a three-hour hearing on Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee declined to send Mr Floyd back to jail and directed the parties to draft an order that reels in his public statements.
The hearing marked District Attorney Fani Willis’s courtroom debut in the case.
She delivered a fierce defence of her move to strip Mr Floyd’s bond.
“I’m threatened everyday anyway,” she told the judge. “I’m a public official, voters elected me, and I’ve put myself in that position. That does not give him the right to contact co-defendants or intimidate other witnesses. And quite frankly, it’s really in the defendant’s interest to shut his mouth about this case because it can and will be used against him.”
Read more in The Independent:
Fulton County DA Fani Willis makes Trump courtroom debut
Appeals court judges aren’t convinced with Trump’s gag order opposition
Saturday 25 November 2023 02:00 , Alex Woodward
A federal appeals court will determine whether to keep a gag order in place in Donald Trump’s federal election interference case.
In court this week, Trump’s attorney John Sauer repeatedly argued his client’s statements are “core political speech” protected under the First Amendment.
But Circuit Judge Patricia Millett cut him off at one point to ask whether those comments are merely protected political speech or “political speech aimed at derailing or corrupting the criminal justice process.”
Judges aren’t buying Trump’s gag order appeal
Read some of the ‘serious and credible’ death threats against Trump’s fraud trial judge and his staff
Saturday 25 November 2023 01:00 , Alex Woodward
“You should be executed,” one message reads.
“Trust me when I say this,” reads another. “I will come for you. I don’t care. Ain’t nobody gonna stop me either.”
Those are just a few of the messages collected by a top security official with the New York court system who reviewed hundreds of threatening, antisemitic and homophobic messages targeting the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s fraud trial, as well as members of his staff.
We have the court filing detailing the threats they received:
Trump’s fraud trial court flooded with credible death threats and antisemitic abuse
Trump-appointed judges landed a ‘body blow’ against the Voting Rights Act. Will the Supreme Court stop them?
Saturday 25 November 2023 00:00 , Alex Woodward
A federal court ruling is teeing up another major Supreme Court case that could radically weaken the Voting Rights Act by blocking private citizens and civil rights groups from filing lawsuits to protect what has become America’s bedrock voting protections.
On Monday, a three-judge panel with the US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit upheld a lower court ruling that determined that citizens and groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP cannot legally challenge discriminatory state and local election laws.
Voters facing discriminatory laws would have to rely only on the Justice Department to take up their case.
If a highly politicised Justice Department under a Republican president hostile to voting rights declines, they’re out of luck.
Legal analysts and voting rights advocates say the ruling is so extreme that even the conservative-dominated Supreme Court is likely to cut it down.
Trump-appointed judges dealt a ‘body blow’ to the Voting Rights Act
Eric Garcia: ‘The Maga release of the Jan 6 tapes is about vengeance’
Friday 24 November 2023 23:00 , Alex Woodward
Newly elected Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson released more than 44,000 hours of raw footage from the January 6 attack on the US Capitol this week.
It’s less about transparency and more about revenge against Democratic officials who investigated the riot and the former president’s role in the first place, The Independent’s Eric Garcia writes:
Republicans know that January 6 is a huge albatross around their necks and they hope to reshape the narrative about the riot so that they can move on. The problem is that the loudest voices are giving away the game and revealing this is not only an attempt to whitewash the events but rather to run interference and defend Mr Trump.
The Maga release of the Jan 6 tapes is about vengeance
The latest: Trump lawyers dismiss death threats as ‘irrelevant’ to federal gag order
Friday 24 November 2023 22:00 , Alex Woodward
A wave of death threats and antisemitic and homophobic messages were sent to the judge overseeing Donald Trump’s fraud trial, as well as his chief clerk, according to a state court filing this week.
A filing to support New York Justice Arthur Engoron’s opposition to a freeze on a gag order in the case includes a statement from the court’s top security official, who has collected “hundreds of threats, disparaging and harassing comments and antisemitic messages” that followed the former president’s harassment.
Federal prosecutors – who are seeking a separate gag order – shared those threats with the federal appeals court judges who will decide whether Mr Trump should be gagged in his election interference case.
But on Friday, the former president’s attorneys dismissed those threats as “irrelevant”.
Read more from The Independent:
Trump lawyers dismiss death threats as ‘irrelevant’ to federal gag order
Wife of Iowa GOP official found guilty on 52 counts of election fraud from 2020
Friday 24 November 2023 21:30 , Alex Woodward
The wife of a Republican politician in Iowa has been convicted of dozens of criminal charges related to a 2020 voter fraud scheme aimed at getting her husband into office.
Kim Phuong Taylor submitted absentee ballots on behalf of voters who had not given her permission to do so.
She was convicted of 52 counts in total, including 26 counts of providing false information in registering and voting, 23 counts of voter fraud, and three counts of fraudulently registering to vote. She could face up to five years in prison for each charge.
The Independent’s John Bowden has more:
Wife of Iowa GOP official found guilty on 52 counts of election fraud from 2020
The latest: Trump attorneys continue to fight federal gag order
Friday 24 November 2023 21:00 , Alex Woodward
Days after a federal appeals court panel grilled Trump’s legal team over their opposition to a gag order in his election interference case in Washington DC, his attorneys struck back in a letter to the court clerk to blast both the gag order and the case itself.
They dismissed death threats in his New York fraud case as irrelevant, while accusing special counsel Jack Smith of bringing “an inflammatory, lawless indictment” against Trump, making “false and misleading statements” about him, and leading “confidential information in order to harm” him.
“Both the indictment and the Gag Order represent an unconstitutional attempt to silence President Trump; they are clearly election interference,” they wrote.
The words echo the former president’s campaign-trail remarks and rhetoric on social media, where he posts conspiracy theories accusing prosecutors and judges of working with Democratic officials to keep him away from the White House.
Just in: Dean Phillips won’t seek re-election to Congress
Friday 24 November 2023 20:34 , Alex Woodward
Dean Phillips, who is pursuing a long-shot challenge against President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination in 2024, announced that he won’t be seeking his re-election to Congress.
He is currently a state representative for Minnesota.
Mr Phillips already was facing several interparty challenges for his seat in Congress after he began mulling plans to challenge Mr Biden.
Representing our nation’s most civically engaged community in Congress has been the most joyful experience of my life.
Now it’s time to pass the torch – with gratitude and optimism. https://t.co/j7UDPekcuI
— Rep. Dean Phillips 🇺🇸 (@RepDeanPhillips) November 24, 2023
ICYMI: Fani Willis made her courtroom debut in the election interference case
Friday 24 November 2023 19:15 , Alex Woodward
Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis made her debut arguing before a judge and questioning witnesses in a case surrounding Donald Trump’s sprawling election interference case this week.
She ressed a judge to revoke a bond order for one of Trump’s co-defendants who repeatedly posted about several people involved the case despite the terms of his release prohibiting him from communication with witnesses or co-defendants “directly or indirectly”.
The appearance from Ms Willis previewed the arguments, evidence and list of witnesses expected to testify in the upcoming trial, among several criminal cases surrounding the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination for president.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee declined to send Harrison Floyd back to jail and directed the parties to draft an order that reels in his public statements.
Fulton County DA Fani Willis makes Trump courtroom debut
Georgia Supreme Court rejects GOP attempts to remove state prosecutors – including Fani Willis
Friday 24 November 2023 18:35 , Alex Woodward
Georgia’s Supreme Court rejected a commission’s authority to remove state prosecutors, which Republican officials had hoped to use against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, whose sprawling racketeering case against Donald Trump and his co-defendants is steering towards a criminal trial in Atlanta.
A ruling from the court on Wednesday surrounding the Prosecuting Attorneys Qualifications Commission – which was established by Republican Governor Brian Kemp earlier this year – argued it does not have the constitutional authority to do so.
Mr Kemp said the committee was created to remove local prosecutors who did not fulfill their “constitutional and statutory duties” or were “driven by out-of-touch politics.”
Republican lawmakers in the state intended to wield that authority against Ms Willis and other Democratic elected prosecutors.
But the state’s highest court has “grave doubts that we have the constitutional power to take any action on the draft standards and rules,” according to the ruling.
DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston, among several Georgia prosecutors who sued to overturn the commission, said they are “pleased the justices have taken action to stop this unconstitutional attack on the state’s prosecutors.”
“While we celebrate this as a victory, we remain steadfast in our commitment to fight any future attempts to undermine the will of Georgia voters and the independence of the prosecutors who they choose to represent them,” she added.
Elise Stefanik takes credit for gag order ruling she had nothing to do with
Friday 24 November 2023 17:45 , Alex Woodward
Elise Stefanik is among congressional Republicans defending the former president in the court of public opinion as he faces a potentially crushing judgment in his civil fraud trial.
She filed an ethics complaint against the judge overseeing the trial, and then took credit for an appeals court ruling that temporarily paused a gag order in the case.
Ms Stefanik, the third-ranking House Republican, now appears to be using the gag order in her election messaging.
From her personal campaign account, she claimed that she “fought to lift President Trump’s gag order and won.” Her statements did not appear to have anything to do with the order.
“But the fight doesn’t end here. We must work to re-elect Trump on November 5, 2024,” she added. “Together, we can protect ALL Americans’ First Amendment and due process rights.”
I fought to lift President Trump’s gag order and won.
But the fight doesn’t end here. We must work to re-elect Trump on November 5, 2024.
Together, we can protect ALL Americans’ First Amendment and due process rights.
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) November 24, 2023
Rudy Giuliani sued for allegedly skipping out on $10k payment to accounting firm
Friday 24 November 2023 17:20 , Alex Woodward
Rudy Giuliani is facing yet another lawsuit.
A former associate is suing him for $10,000, adding to the mountain of debt the former New York City mayor and Trump attorney is facing.
BST & Co. CPAs, LLP, an accounting firm based in Latham, New York, claims he had the company conduct an appraisal of his business interests while he separated from his wife, Judith Nathan, without paying them.
Including interest, the firm now seeks to recover about $25,000.
Michelle Del Rey reports:
Giuliani sued for allegedly skipping out on $10k payment to accounting firm
Michael Cohen: Trump is watching himself lose in court ‘every single day’
Friday 24 November 2023 16:45 , Alex Woodward
Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen, who testified against him in the civil fraud trial in New York, said his former boss is “seeing himself lose every single day” he is in court.
“That case is going to financially put Trump on his a**, not to mention it is going to unwind the Trump corporation, at least here in the state,” he said on his podcast on Thursday.
“It becomes what’s known as the death spiral where you’re no longer able to operate,” he added.
Judge Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing the case, already found Trump liable for fraud, in a pretrial judgment that effectively dissolved his ability to do business in the state. That part of the order has been temporarily frozen on appeal.
Trump has called the judgment “the corporate death penalty” against him, as he continues to base his campaign a conspiracy theory that the multiple criminal and civil cases against him are intended to keep him away from the White House.
In his two-day testimony in the fraud trial, Cohen claimed he was “tasked by Mr Trump to increase the total assets based upon a number that he arbitrarily elected” for his statement of financial condition, the documents at the centre of the case.
Cohen and convicted former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg were instructed to “reverse engineer the various different asset classes – increase those assets – in order to achieve the number that Mr Trump had tasked us with,” Cohen said.
Asked by counsel for the attorney general’s office what that number was, Cohen replied: “Whatever number Mr Trump told us to.”
Under questioning from Trump’s attorneys, Cohen agreed that his former boss never explicitly asked him to “inflate” the figures at the centre of the case.
“Donald Trump speaks like a mob boss,” Cohen testified. “He tells you what he wants without specifically telling you … That’s what I was referring to.”
Trump plans to visit Javier Milei, according to Argentina’s new president-elect
Friday 24 November 2023 16:10 , Alex Woodward
Trump reportedly told Argentina’s far-right president-elect Javier Milei that he plans to travel to meet him, Mr Milei’s office said on Thursday.
The office did not provide a date. Mr Milei is scheduled to be inaugurated on 10 December.
“The president-elect received a call last night from the former president of the United States, Donald Trump, who congratulated him and pointed out his triumph by a wide margin in last Sunday’s election had a great impact on a global scale,” according to a statement from Mr Milei’s office.
In a video on Tuesday, Trump said: “I am very proud of you. You will turn your country around and truly make Argentina great again.”
President Joe Biden, meanwhile, also has called Mr Milei following his election victory to discuss “the strong relationship between the United States and Argentina on economic issues, on regional and multilateral cooperation, and on shared priorities, including advocating for the protection of human rights, addressing food insecurity and investing in clean energy.”
Meet South America’s incoming new MAGA-like leader:
South America’s Trump wins election: Meet Argentina’s new MAGA-like leader
