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Donald Trump - President of the USA's legal troubles

Donald Trump to appeal against 'rigged' conviction - as he says prosecutors just wanted to know if he was 'a bad boy'

Donald Trump has said he will appeal against his criminal conviction for falsifying business records - insisting he paid a "legal expense" and there was "nothing illegal".

In a disjointed 40-minute news conference at Trump Tower in New York, Trump started by saying "if they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone" - before going on to criticise his trial and the "highly conflicted judge" who presided over it.

He later attacked Joe Biden, calling him "the dumbest president we've ever had", labelled the gag order imposed during the hush money trial "nasty", and tested its limits by taking aim at his former lawyer Michael Cohen.

"This [trial] is all done by Biden and his people," Trump claimed - saying President Joe Biden's administration worked "in conjunction with" the Department of Justice on his prosecution.

Trump also repeated his allegation that the trial was "rigged" and criticised a decision to refuse his defence's request for a venue change. "Witnesses on our side were literally crucified," he continued.

The former president said "we are going to fight", adding: "We're going to be appealing this on many different things."

His son Eric Trump and daughter-in-law Lara Trump were present for the speech but his wife Melania - who has been publicly silent since the verdicts - was not seen.


SKY News
 
Georgia appeals court stays Trump election interference case until at least October

A Georgia appeals court on Wednesday officially stayed until at least October the racketeering case alleging Donald Trump and others conspired to illegally overturn the results of the 2020 election — making it impossible for the case to go to trial before November's elections.

The case had been considered highly unlikely to go trial before Nov. 5 after the Georgia Court of Appeals earlier this year agreed to hear an appeal on whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her office should be allowed to remain on the case.

The ruling came the day after the judge presiding over the classified documents case against Trump again reworked the schedule in the case, further lessening the chances that case could go to trial before the election as well.

Trump was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records last week in a case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11. It appears to be the only one of the four criminal cases against him that will have gone to trial by the end of the year due to the Supreme Court's decision to take up Trump's appeal in the fourth case, the federal interference case brought against him by special counsel Jack Smith in Washington, D.C.

In Georgia, the appeals court said earlier this week it would not hear arguments on the appeal by Trump and some of his co-defendants, including his former chief of staff Mark Meadows and Rudy Giuliani, until October. In its Wednesday ruling, the court said the lower court proceedings "are hereby stayed pending the outcome of these appeals." That timetable would not leave enough time for the case to go to trial before November, given there are a number of legal issues the judge presiding over the case, Scott McAfee, still must sort through.


 
Donald Trump in breach of £300,000 legal costs ruling after losing UK dossier case against former MI6 spy

A week after his conviction in the Stormy Daniels hush money case, Sky News can reveal the former US president has failed to comply with a UK High Court order in a separate legal matter.

Donald Trump is in breach of a British High Court order to pay £300,000 in legal costs to the former spy who compiled a salacious dossier alleging Russian interference in the 2016 US election.

Sky News can reveal Trump has failed to comply with the costs order and thus far ignored a formal offer to settle with Christopher Steele, the former MI6 agent who compiled the infamous document.

Trump was ordered to pay costs in February after the High Court threw out his attempt to sue Mr Steele's company Orbis Business Intelligence.

The former president claimed the report, which included unsubstantiated allegations of bribery and that he used sex workers while on a trip to Moscow, contained inaccuracies and breached his rights under the Data Protection Act.

The judge, Mrs Justice Steyn, did not make any judgment on the allegations but ruled the claim was invalid because it was filed after the six-year limitation period. Trump was subsequently also denied leave to appeal.

On the judge's order, Trump did pay £10,000 to the court as security against costs ahead of the hearing, which was transferred to Mr Steele in February.

In March, Orbis made a formal offer to settle using the civil court Part 36 procedure, but Trump's lawyers have not responded.


SKY News
 
Trump has interview with New York probation officer

Donald Trump has had a probation interview as part of the sentencing process for his criminal conviction in the New York hush-money case.

The former US president did the interview virtually from his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, with a probation officer at the Manhattan court.

Trump was accompanied by his lawyer Todd Blanche, a source told CBS News, the BBC's news partner.

The probation officer will use the routine interview, which lasted less than 30 minutes, to compile a pre-sentencing report for Justice Juan Merchan.

Trump was convicted last month of 34 counts of falsifying business records and is due to be sentenced on 11 July.

A spokesperson with the New York City mayor's office said defendants are given the option of an in-person interview, or one via video link.

Further exceptions were probably made for Trump due to the high-profile nature of his case, an expert told the BBC.

It would be too disruptive for the former president to come to the probation office in New York City, said former New York Supreme Court Judge Diane Kiesel.

"The press would be all over the building and the Secret Service would have to be there, too," she said. "It makes more sense to do it this way."

Convicts in the New York Court system do not usually have their lawyers present for probation interviews, Ms Kiesel added.

However, Justice Merchan allowed Mr Blanche to appear alongside his client on Monday.

Pre-sentencing reports include information about nearly every aspect of a convict's life, including where and when they were born, their marriages, criminal history, financial means, health and overall living arrangements.

The probation officer probably asked Trump to talk about the crime he was convicted of, Ms Kiesel said.

She said most defendants will simply say they intend to appeal against the verdict - as Trump has said he will do - or decline to comment.

The reports are used by the judge to inform what punishment should be given.

The interview is often an opportunity for a convict to argue for leniency in the sentence.

The reports of the interview are confidential and will only be made available to the judge, the defendant and the lawyers in the case, Ms Kiesel said.

Jurors found Trump guilty of falsifying business records to conceal hush-money payments made to former porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election campaign.

Most legal commentators believe that Trump is unlikely to face any jail time, given his lack of criminal history and age.

Trump is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

BBC
 

New York judge partially lifts Trump gag order in hush-money case​

A judge partially lifted a gag order on Donald Trump in his hush-money case in New York, where he was found guilty of falsifying business records last month.

Trump is now allowed to make public comments about witnesses in the case and speak generally about jurors in his trial, Justice Juan Merchan wrote in a ruling on Tuesday.

The former president still is barred from speaking publicly about court staff, prosecutors and their families.

The identities of the jurors - kept secret due to the high-profile nature of the trial - also will remain protected, Justice Merchan said.

Trump has spoken out frequently against the gag order, which he claims is unconstitutional.

In a statement on Tuesday, his spokesperson called Justice Merchan's decision "another unlawful decision by a highly conflicted judge".

Justice Merchan first imposed a gag order on Trump in late March, but expanded it a week later after Trump attacked the judge’s daughter on social media.

Trump ultimately was fined thousands and threatened with jail time for violating the order during his trial.

His legal team asked that the full gag order be lifted after a New York jury found Trump guilty in May. He was convicted of falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money payment made to an adult-film star before the 2016 election.

Prosecutors did not object to lifting the part of the gag order that prevented Trump from commenting on witnesses.

The former president had made several social media posts attacking the prosecution’s star witness, his former lawyer, Michael Cohen.

Trump had argued that he was simply responding to attacks by Cohen, who had called him a host of names on social media.

As for the jurors, in his ruling, Justice Merchan said it would “be this Court's strong preference” to continue to bar Trump from speaking about the panel.

“[T]here is ample evidence to justify continued concern for the jurors,” he wrote.

But, he said, consistency in the courts required allowing Trump to make comments about jurors without revealing their identities.

During his trial, Trump was fined for comments he made criticizing the 12-member panel, claiming they were “95%” Democratic.

The former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee still is banned from speaking about prosecutors, court staff and their families, because even with a verdict rendered, their jobs are still not complete, Justice Merchan said.

“Until sentence is imposed, all individuals … must continue to perform their lawful duties free from threats, intimidation, harassment, and harm,” he wrote.

Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on 11 July. He is the first former president ever to be criminally convicted.

Source: BBC
 
Trump has some immunity from prosecution, Supreme Court rules

The US Supreme Court has said Donald Trump and other former presidents are partially immune from criminal prosecution, in a major legal victory for the Republican White House candidate.

The 6-3 ruling did not outright dismiss an indictment that charges Trump with plotting to overturn the 2020 election, but it did strip away key elements of the case against him.

The justices found that a president has immunity for "official acts", but is not immune for "unofficial acts", and referred the matter back to a trial judge.

The three liberal justices dissented strongly, expressing “fear for our democracy”.

“The President is now a king above the law,” wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

The decision makes it less likely that the Republican candidate will stand trial in the case before he challenges Democratic President Joe Biden in November's White House election.

It is the first time since the nation's founding that the Supreme Court has declared former presidents can be shielded from criminal charges.

Trump is the first president ever to be criminally prosecuted, as Chief Justice John Roberts noted while delivering Monday's opinion.


BBC
 
Trump asks for hush money conviction to be overturned

Donald Trump's lawyers have asked for the former president's conviction in his hush money criminal case to be overturned and his sentencing this month delayed, US media report.

A letter sent by Trump's lawyers to the New York judge presiding over the trial reportedly cites Monday's Supreme Court ruling that granted the former president immunity from prosecution for official actions he took while in office.

In May, Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records. He will be sentenced on 11 July.

He signed off the records during his White House tenure in 2017, which his lawyers say should be taken into account.

Last year lawyers similarly argued that the allegations in the case involved official acts within the colour of his presidential duties.

However, a federal judge wrote that Trump had failed to show that his conduct was "for or relating to any act performed by or for the President under [colour] of the official acts of a president".

Monday's ruling by the Supreme Court was hailed by Trump as a "big win" for democracy.

The justices found that a president had immunity for "official acts" but was not immune for "unofficial acts".

The verdict related to a separate case against Trump: he is suspected of trying to illegally overturn the 2020 presidential election result that gave victory to Joe Biden.

Reacting to the Supreme Court ruling, President Biden described it as a "dangerous precedent" that undermined the "rule of law" in America.

Trump's lawyers sent the letter to New York Judge Juan Merchan on Monday, US media report.

The lawyers argue that the Supreme Court’s latest decision confirmed the defence position in the New York case that some prosecution evidence should not have been allowed because this constituted official presidential acts.

The letter is yet to be made public, and Judge Merchan has not commented on the issue.

In May, a panel of 12 Manhattan jurors unanimously convicted Trump on all counts of falsifying business records.

During the trial, the court heard from a number of witnesses, including former adult film star Stormy Daniels, whose alleged sexual encounter with the former president was at the centre of the case.

The former president was accused of having concealed a payment to buy the silence of Ms Daniels in the final days of his 2016 election campaign.

Prosecutors had argued that, by approving a scheme to disguise the money as legal expenses, Trump broke election law.

Trump called the verdict in the New York case a "disgrace".

BBC
 
Trump Immunity Ruling Means Any Trial Before Election Unlikely

The US Supreme Court’s ruling Monday that Donald Trump has some immunity from criminal charges over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results dealt a near fatal blow to the push by prosecutors to go to trial before the November election.

The justices, voting 6-3 along ideological lines, ruled for the first time that former presidents are shielded from prosecution for some official acts taken while in office, saying that a federal appeals court was wrong to reject Trump’s immunity arguments out of hand.

“The president is not above the law,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court. “But Congress may not criminalise the president’s conduct in carrying out the responsibilities of the executive branch under the Constitution.”

The majority told US District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the case, to decide the full extent to which the allegations are off limits to prosecution.

The court stopped short of tossing out the indictment, as Trump had sought. But the ruling’s timing nonetheless makes it a tactical triumph for the former president, effectively shutting the narrow window for Special Counsel Jack Smith to put Trump in front of a jury in Washington before Election Day on November 5.

Trump is now likely to reach the November election with only one of the four criminal cases against him having gone to trial. He was convicted in New York state court May 30 for falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. The Washington trial has been on hold while Trump pressed his immunity case.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. Sotomayor said the decision is based on “misguided wisdom” and “reshapes the institution of the Presidency.”

‘A mockery’

“It makes a mockery of the principle, foundational to our Constitution and system of government, that no man is above the law,” Sotomayor wrote for the group. “With fear for our democracy, I dissent,” she said at the close of her 30-page opinion.

Trump hailed the ruling. “BIG WIN FOR OUR CONSTITUTION AND DEMOCRACY. PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!” he said on a post on his social media network Truth Social.

All three of the justices Trump appointed — Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — joined the majority, along with Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

The latter two justices both faced calls to recuse from the case, Thomas because of his wife’s support for the push to overturn the election results, Alito because flags flown at his homes allegedly suggested sympathy for those efforts.

“This disgraceful decision by the MAGA Supreme Court – which is comprised of three justices appointed by Mr. Trump himself – enables the former president to weaken our democracy by breaking the law,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York.

Critics have accused the Supreme Court of slow-walking the case to prevent a trial before the election. The court in December rejected Smith’s request to take up the case on an expedited basis. When the justices eventually did intervene, they scheduled a hearing on the last argument day of the term.

Pushing pence

Trump is accused of conspiring to defraud the US by promoting false claims of election fraud, pressuring the Justice Department to conduct sham investigations, pushing then-Vice President Mike Pence to undercut certification of Joe Biden’s victory and inciting a crowd to storm the Capitol.

Roberts said Trump was entitled to immunity for allegations related to efforts to press the Justice Department to intervene in the postelection contests. The majority said other pieces of the indictment might involve official acts that trigger immunity for Trump, telling Chutkan to dig into the record and make a new round of findings.

Those other allegations cover Trump’s communications with Pence, a range of state officials, other private individuals and the public.

With regard to Pence, the court pointed to his dual role under the Constitution as both vice president and Senate president, the capacity in which he oversaw the certification of Biden’s victory. Roberts said Chutkan should assess whether a prosecution based on Trump’s conversations with Pence “would pose any dangers of intrusion on the authority and functions of the executive branch.”

The court signaled that Chutkan will need to engage in a detailed analysis to determine which of Trump’s public comments, including his tweets and the speech he gave just before the Capitol riot, are fair game for prosecutors.

“Whether the Tweets, that speech, and Trump’s other communications on January 6 involve official conduct may depend on the content and context of each,” Roberts wrote.

In another blow to Smith, the court said he couldn’t use evidence of Trump’s official acts in making his case, even if the jury is told it can convict only based on his private conduct. Smith had urged the Supreme Court at least to let him use Trump’s official actions to show the outgoing president knew that his election-fraud claims were false.

Barrett parted with Roberts on that point, saying she would have let the trial judge make those evidentiary decisions on a case-by-case basis.

Roberts said presidents are completely immune for actions that fall within the exclusive powers the Constitution gives the chief executive. The court said other types of official acts are insulated unless Congress has explicitly said criminal law applies to the president.

The court said the immunity questions “must be addressed at the outset of a proceeding,” before the case goes to trial.

Chutkan previously said she would allow three months to prepare for a trial that could last two to three months. The schedule is important because of the broad expectation that, should Trump reclaim the White House in January, he would insist the Justice Department drop the prosecution.

Although the Supreme Court said in 1982 that former presidents can’t face civil lawsuits over official acts taken while in office, the justices had never before conferred criminal immunity. A federal appeals court had ruled 3-0 that Trump could be prosecuted.

The case is Trump v. United States, 23-939.

SOURCE: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...tially-backs-trump-on-immunity-delaying-trial
 
Trump asks for hush-money conviction to be overturned

Donald Trump called May's verdict in the New York case a "disgrace" Donald Trump's lawyers have asked for the former president's conviction in his hush-money criminal case to be overturned and his sentencing this month delayed, US media report.

A letter sent by Trump's lawyers to the New York judge presiding over the trial reportedly cites Monday's Supreme Court ruling that granted the former president immunity from prosecution for official actions he took while in office.
In May, Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records. He will be sentenced on 11 July.

What the Supreme Court immunity ruling means for Trump. His team points out that he signed off the records while president in 2017, but one lawyer suggested this was unlikely to be considered an official act.

Last year, Trump's lawyers similarly argued that the allegations in the case involved that were within the scope of his official presidential duties.

However, a federal judge wrote that Trump had failed to show that his conduct was "for or relating to any act performed by or for the President under [scope] of the official acts of a president".

Monday's ruling by the Supreme Court was hailed by Trump as a "big win" for democracy. The justices found that a president had immunity for "official acts" but was not immune for "unofficial acts".

The ruling related to a separate case against Trump: he is suspected of trying to illegally overturn the 2020 presidential election result that gave victory to Joe Biden.

Reacting to the Supreme Court ruling, President Biden described it as a "dangerous precedent" that undermined the "rule of law" in America.

Source : BBC
 

Trump sentencing in hush-money case delayed until September​

A New York judge has delayed Donald Trump’s sentencing until September as his lawyers seek to challenge his conviction after a Supreme Court ruling.

Trump was initially scheduled to be sentenced on 11 July.

His legal team asked for his conviction in a hush-money case to be overturned after the nation’s highest court ruled that former presidents had partial immunity for “official” acts during their presidency.

Justice Juan Merchan said on Tuesday that he would issue a decision on the motions by 6 September.
If sentencing is necessary, the judge wrote, it will take place on 18 September.

In May, a New York jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, making him the first former president ever convicted of a felony.

Prosecutors said Trump had reimbursed his fixer, Michael Cohen, for hush money paid to an adult film star, who claimed she had an affair with Trump. The money, paid on the eve of the 2016 election, was covered up by falsely labeling it as a legal expenses.

It is the first of Trump's four criminal cases to go to trial.

On Monday, the Supreme Court released a bombshell ruling that found Trump - and other former presidents - had immunity from prosecution for "official acts".

The challenge arose from a federal criminal case against Trump, who is accused of trying to overturn results of the 2020 election, but it could have ripple effects in several of his legal battles.
Seeking to leverage this legal victory, Trump's lawyers in the New York case quickly sought to overturn the May conviction.
They said the Supreme Court case is relevant here, because some of the events and evidence at the heart of the case took place while Trump was in the White House.

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office, which prosecuted Trump, responded that Trump's argument was "without merit" but asked for a deadline of 24 July to file a response.

Source: BBC
 
Restrictions on Trump's Facebook and Instagram lifted

Meta has lifted the final restrictions on Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the run up to US presidential elections in November.

The ex-US president and convicted felon’s accounts were suspended in 2021 after he praised supporters who stormed the US Capitol on 6 January.

Trump’s accounts, which combined have over 60 million followers, were re-instated in 2023 but subject to additional monitoring, which has now been removed, the social media giant said in a blog post.

Meta said it had a responsibility to allow political expression and that Americans should be able to hear from presidential nominees on an equal basis.

It added that US presidential candidates "remain subject to the same Community Standards as all Facebook and Instagram users, including those policies designed to prevent hate speech and incitement to violence."

Since returning to Meta’s platforms, Trump’s accounts have mostly posted campaign details and memes including attacks on his presidential race rival Joe Biden.

Prior to his 2021 ban, Trump’s Facebook posts were often some of the most popular in the US, according to data at the time from CrowdTangle.

Trump is the first former president to be convicted of a crime and was also banned from Twitter and YouTube.

Restrictions on these accounts were also lifted last year, but despite this Trump communicates now on Truth Social, a social media platform he owns, before reposting to other networks.

Trump returned to Twitter - now called X – after the company’s CEO Elon Musk held a poll that asked users to click "yes" or "no" on whether Trump's account should be reinstated. "Yes" won, apparently with 51.8% of the vote.

The big tech companies acted after the Capitol Hill riots which killed five people and injured more than 100 police officers. Trump was accused of inciting violence and repeatedly spreading disinformation.

BBC
 
Judge ruling a big win for Trump

The decision by US District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed by Trump in 2020, is seen as a huge victory for the former president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

In May, Cannon had postponed indefinitely Trump’s trial on charges that he illegally kept classified documents after leaving office in 2021.

The ruling at the time cast further doubt on whether the 78-year-old would face trial before the November election.

Source: Al Jazeera
 

NY appeals court rejects Trump’s latest appeal of gag order in hush money case​


A New York appeals court has rejected Donald Trump’s attempt to lift a gag order that continues to restrict his public statements in the wake of his New York criminal conviction.

As it stands, the gag order bars Trump from publicly discussing the prosecutors, court staff and their families.

In the decision filed Thursday, a panel of judges from the Appellate Division First Department said Judge Juan Merchan can keep the gag order in place through Trump’s sentencing.

Merchan had lifted parts of the gag order after Trump was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records, allowing him to discuss trial witnesses and the jury, but restrictions remain in place about what Trump can say about court and prosecution staff and their family members.

“Contrary to petitioner’s contentions, the People’s evidentiary submissions in opposition to his motion in Supreme Court demonstrate that threats received by District Attorney staff after the jury verdict continued to pose a significant and imminent threat,” the appeals court ruled.

Trump’s sentencing, which was originally scheduled for July, was delayed to mid-September while Merchan considers his motion to toss the conviction in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision.

 
Judge rejects Trump effort to dismiss 2020 election interference case

The judge overseeing Donald Trump's 2020 election interference case has dismissed an effort to have it thrown out.

US District Judge Tanya Chutkan said Trump's legal team had provided “no meaningful evidence” the former president had been prosecuted for "vindictive and political purposes".

Trump has been accused of spearheading a widespread effort to overthrow the results of the presidential election he lost to Joe Biden.

He has denied wrongdoing and has previously claimed the Biden administration is behind the prosecution.

The case returned to the federal court in Washington DC on Friday, following a major Supreme Court ruling that concluded he had partial immunity from prosecution.

In a motion to dismiss it, Trump's lawyers argued he had been singled out for prosecution while other people who questioned the election results had not been.

His lawyers also suggested Trump's political opponents had launched the prosecution to prevent him from winning re-election.

Both arguments were rejected, with Judge Chutkan writing in her ruling that Trump was not charged merely for challenging the results, but because he had made "knowingly making false statements in furtherance of criminal conspiracies and for obstruction of election certification proceedings".

She also criticised his lawyers for misinterpreting news stories they cited in their motion, adding that they were wrong to argue that these demonstrated the prosecution had a political motive.

Federal prosecutors allege Trump pressured officials to reverse the results, knowingly spread lies about election fraud and sought to exploit the Capitol riot on 6 January 2021 to delay the certification of Biden's victory and stay in power.

He has been charged with four criminal counts, including conspiracy to defraud the US and conspiracy against the rights of citizens.

Judge Chutkan has scheduled a fresh hearing on 16 August to discuss next steps in the case.

BBC
 

Trump loses third bid for judge to step aside in hush money case​


A New York judge declined for a third time to step aside from the case in which Donald Trump was convicted of charges involving hush money paid to a porn star, dismissing the former U.S. president's claim of conflict of interest related to political consultancy work by the judge's daughter.

As he did in April and in August 2023, Justice Juan Merchan in a decision released on Wednesday denied a request by Trump's lawyers that he recuse himself from the first case involving criminal charges against a former U.S. president. Merchan is scheduled to sentence Trump on Sept. 18.

"Defendant has provided nothing new for this Court to consider. Counsel has merely repeated arguments that have already been denied by this and higher courts" and were "rife with inaccuracies and unsubstantiated claims," Merchan wrote in the ruling, dated Aug. 13.

A spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office declined to comment.

"The Highly Conflicted Judge should have long ago recused himself from this case," Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.

Trump was found guilty by a jury on May 30 on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records for having covered up former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen's $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to avert a sex scandal before the 2016 U.S. election.

Two months later, his lawyers made their third request that Merchan step aside, arguing that his daughter's work for a political consultancy that has counted Democratic campaigns among its clients - including the unsuccessful bid by Kamala Harris for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination - posed a conflict of interest.

Harris, now vice president, is the Democratic presidential candidate facing Republican nominee Trump in the Nov. 5 U.S. election.

Falsifying business records is a crime punishable by up to four years in prison, though sentences such as fines or probation have been more common for others convicted of that crime.

Prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office, which brought the charges, had called Trump's recusal request a "frivolous" attempt to relitigate an issue that was resolved twice before.

"No amount of overheated, hyperbolic rhetoric can cure the fatal defects in defendant's ongoing effort to impugn the fairness of these proceedings," prosecutors wrote in an Aug. 1 court filing.

The payment to Daniels was made in exchange for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she has said she had with Trump a decade earlier, which Trump denied. Trump went on to win the presidency by defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Merchan rejected a recusal request in April before jury selection in the trial and last year after an ethics panel found that his daughter's work did not pose reasonable questions about the judge's impartiality.

During the trial, Trump took to his social media platform to deride Merchan as a "highly conflicted" overseer of a "kangaroo court." Ahead of the trial, Trump wrote on social media that Merchan's daughter "makes money by working to 'Get Trump,'" comments that in part contributed to Merchan's decision to expand a gag order to bar the former president from commenting publicly about family members of court staff or prosecutors.

Trump's lawyers separately have asked the judge to throw out his conviction in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's July ruling giving former presidents broad immunity from prosecution for official acts taken in office. Merchan has said he will decide on Trump's arguments by Sept. 16.

 
Donald Trump asks judge to delay sentencing in hush money case until after November election

Donald Trump is asking the judge in his New York hush money criminal case to delay his sentencing until after the November presidential election.

In a letter made public Thursday, lawyers for the former president and current Republican nominee suggested that sentencing Trump as scheduled on Sept. 18 — about seven weeks before Election Day — would amount to election interference.

Trump’s lawyers wrote that a delay would also allow Trump time to weigh next steps after the trial judge, Juan M. Merchan, is expected to rule Sept. 16 on the defense’s request to overturn the verdict and dismiss the case because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s July presidential immunity ruling.

“There is no basis for continuing to rush,” Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote.

Blanche and Bove sent the letter to Merchan on Wednesday after the judge rejected the defense’s latest request that he step aside from the case.

In the letter, Blanche and Bove reiterated the defense argument that the judge has a conflict of interest because his daughter works as a Democratic political consultant, including for Kamala Harris when she sought the 2020 presidential nomination. Harris is now running against Trump.

By adjourning the sentencing until after that election, “the Court would reduce, even if not eliminate, issues regarding the integrity of any future proceedings,” the lawyers wrote.

Election Day is Nov. 5, but many states allow voters to cast ballots early, with some set to start the process just a few days before or after Trump’s scheduled Sept. 18 sentencing date.

Merchan, who has said he is confident in his ability to remain fair and impartial, did not immediately rule on the delay request.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which prosecuted Trump’s case, declined to comment.

Trump was convicted in May of falsifying his business’ records to conceal a 2016 deal to pay off porn actor Stormy Daniels to stay quiet about her alleged 2006 sexual encounter with him. Prosecutors cast the payout as part of a Trump-driven effort to keep voters from hearing salacious stories about him during his first campaign.

Trump says all the stories were false, the business records were not and the case was a political maneuver meant to damage his current campaign. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is a Democrat.

Trump’s defense argued that the payments were indeed for legal work and so were correctly categorized.

Falsifying business records is punishable by up to four years behind bars. Other potential sentences include probation, a fine or a conditional discharge which would require Trump to stay out of trouble to avoid additional punishment. Trump is the first ex-president convicted of a crime.

Trump has pledged to appeal, but that cannot happen until he is sentenced.

In a previous letter, Merchan set Sept. 18 for “the imposition of sentence or other proceedings as appropriate.”

Blanche and Bove argued in their letter seeking a delay that the quick turnaround from the scheduled immunity ruling on Sept. 16 to sentencing two days later is unfair to Trump.

To prepare for sentencing, the lawyers said, prosecutors will be submitting their punishment recommendation while Merchan is still weighing whether to dismiss the case on immunity grounds. If Merchan rules against Trump on the dismissal request, he will need “adequate time to assess and pursue state and federal appellate options,” they said.

The Supreme Court’s immunity decision reins in prosecutions of ex-presidents for official acts and restricts prosecutors in pointing to official acts as evidence that a president’s unofficial actions were illegal. Trump’s lawyers argue that in light of the ruling, jurors in the hush money case should not have heard such evidence as former White House staffers describing how the then-president reacted to news coverage of the Daniels deal.

AP NEWS
 
Special counsel appeals to resume Trump documents case

US Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith has appealed to a federal court to resurrect the case against former president Donald Trump for allegedly mishandling classified government documents found at his Florida home in 2021.

The case was dismissed in July by Judge Aileen Cannon in Florida, a Trump appointee, who ruled that the mere existence of special counsels violated the US Constitution.

In his request on Monday, Mr Smith wrote that the judge's view "deviated" from legal precedent and "took an inadequate account" of the history of legally-appointed special counsels.

Trump's legal team has until 26 September to submit a response to Mr Smith's arguments.

Trump had pleaded not guilty to several felony charges in the now-dismissed case, including wilful retention of national defence information.

The 37-count indictment accused Trump of keeping files at his Florida estate and lying to investigators. It also alleged he tried to obstruct the investigation into his handling of the documents.

He was charged alongside aide Walt Nauta and former employee Carlos de Oliveira, who had also pleaded not guilty.

Mr Smith's request on Monday defended the appointment of special counsels to a federal appeals court in Atlanta. The filing refers to "Congress's endorsement of that practice through appropriations and other legislation".

"The attorney general validly appointed the special counsel, who is also properly funded," Mr Smith's team said.

"In ruling otherwise, the district court deviated from binding Supreme Court precedent, misconstrued the statutes that authorized the special counsel's appointment, and took inadequate account of the longstanding history of Attorney General appointments of special counsels."

It noted the landmark 1974 case against former President Richard Nixon, arguing that it proves that the attorney general has "appointment authority" for special counsels.

"Nixon conclusively defeats the defendants' challenge to the Special Counsel's appointment, as every other court to have considered the issue has found," the filing argued.

"Congress has bestowed on the Attorney General, like the heads of many Executive Departments, broad authority to structure the agency he leads to carry out the responsibilities imposed on him by law," Mr Smith's prosecutors wrote.

The case was one of four criminal trials Trump was facing. Regardless of how the classified documents case proceeds, it is extremely unlikely to go to trial ahead of the presidential election in November.

If Trump wins the election, experts predict that he will order the justice department to dismiss the cases against him.

A special counsel has the powers of a US attorney - meaning they can subpoena records and bring criminal charges. They are appointed by attorneys general to facilitate an independent, impartial investigation.

They can also prosecute anyone who interferes in their investigation through crimes including perjury, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, and intimidation of witnesses.

They are not supervised on a day-to-day basis by the justice department, which provides staff to special counsel's office.

Mr Trump is not the only notable figure being investigated by a special counsel.

President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, is also being prosecuted for gun and tax crimes by a special counsel appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Mr Garland appointed Mr Smith in 2022 to oversee two federal investigations into Mr Trump - the classified documents case and another case arguing that Trump attempted to interfere in the result of the 2020 election.

Both cases face uncertain outcomes after the Supreme Court ruled last month that presidents are legally immune from certain actions they take while in office.

BBC
 
Trump faces new 2020 election interference charges

US prosecutors have issued new charges against former President Donald Trump for his alleged attempts to interfere in the 2020 election after he lost to Joe Biden.

They are in response to a US Supreme Court ruling last month that said presidents enjoy broad immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts while in office.

The revised indictment lays out the same four criminal counts against Trump, but they now relate to his status as a political candidate rather than a sitting president.

Trump has denied the election interference allegations, though he has maintained his claim - without evidence - that there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.

The new indictment, brought by Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith, leaves in place the four crimes Trump is accused of committing: Conspiracy to defraud the US, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, attempting to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights.

Trump has previously pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The former president's personal lawyer - Todd Blanche - referred the BBC to the Trump campaign, which did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump said in a post on Truth Social that the new indictment was "an effort to resurrect a 'dead' Witch Hunt" and "distract the American People" from the election.

He called for it to be "dismissed IMMEDIATELY".

A source close to Trump's legal team told CBS News, the BBC's US partner, that the new indictment "was not a surprise".

"This is what the government is supposed to do based on what the Supreme Court did," the source said. "It doesn't change our position that we believe Smith's case is flawed and it should be dismissed."

The new charging document - which was slimmed down from 45 to 36 pages - re-works the language of the allegations and refines the ways it argues that the former president allegedly committed these crimes to comport with the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity.

For example, the new indictment drops the claim that Trump tried to pressure justice department officials to work to overturn his defeat. The high court ruled that Trump's direction to justice officials was not illegal.

The special counsel's office explained the reason for the new indictment in a statement on Tuesday.

“The superseding indictment, which was presented to a new grand jury that had not previously heard evidence in this case, reflects the Government’s efforts to respect and implement the Supreme Court’s holdings and remand instructions in Trump v. United States,” the office said.

The justice department declined to comment further.

The new charging document argues that Trump acted as a private citizen - and not as president - when he undertook the alleged scheme to sway the election.

“The Defendant had no official responsibilities related to the certification proceeding, but he did have a personal interest as a candidate in being named the winner of the election,” reads one new line in the indictment.

Another new line refers to a lawsuit filed by his campaign in Georgia. The old language said the suit was “filed in his name”, but the new indictment says it was “filed in his capacity as a candidate for president”.

The new indictment also appears to have removed the charges against Jeffrey Clark - a former justice department official who played a key role in the so-called fake electors scheme, according to prosecutors.

The fake electors scheme was an attempt to interfere in the Electoral College system that decides presidential elections. It centred on an attempt to persuade Republican-controlled state legislatures in seven states to select Republican electors or not name any electors in states that Mr Biden won.

The falsified certificates were then transferred to the US Senate in an effort to have their votes counted in the place of the real electors, and overturn Mr Biden's win.

Mr Clark was not named in either indictment, but has been identified in the media through public records.

The new indictment leaves in place several key allegations against Trump, including that he attempted to persuade Vice-President Mike Pence to obstruct Mr Biden’s election certification.

In last month’s Supreme Court ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that any conversations between Trump and Mr Pence would probably fall under the category of official acts.

“Trump is at least presumptively immune from prosecution,” he wrote, adding that it remains to be seen whether the government can rebut “that presumption of immunity”.

The new indictment shows that Mr Smith interpreted the US Supreme Court ruling to mean that his case could still move forward, said Daniel Charles Richman, a constitutional law expert at Columbia Law School.

But whether it would satisfy the Supreme Court's presidential immunity framework remains unclear, the law professor said, as "the Court was painfully vague as to what private conduct done by a president can be charged criminally".

The new indictment would not necessarily expedite the case, either, Mr Richman told the BBC. He doubted that it would be heard before the election.

The CBS News source close to Trump's legal team said that the former president's lawyers would ask for more time to prepare for the case. They said it would likely delay the start of the trial if the judge agrees.

This case came together after Mr Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022 to oversee two federal investigations into Trump: The election interference case and another case accusing the ex-president of taking classified documents back to his Florida home after leaving office.

On Monday, Mr Smith’s team appealed against a Florida judge's decision to dismiss the confidential documents case.

“The district court deviated from binding Supreme Court precedent, misconstrued the statutes that authorised the special counsel's appointment, and took inadequate account of the longstanding history of Attorney General appointments of special counsels," the special counsel’s team wrote in their appeal.

Both cases face uncertain futures after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision last month.

If Trump defeats Democrat Kamala Harris, he is widely expected to order the justice department to drop all the federal charges that he faces.

BBC
 
Donald Trump's sentencing in his Manhattan hush money criminal trial has been postponed until after the November election

Justice Juan Merchan of Friday delayed the sentencing to 26 November, citing "the unique time frame this matter currently finds itself in" among his reasons.

Lawyers for Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, have used several legal manoeuvres to delay the sentencing, which was scheduled for 18 September.

A New York jury convicted Trump in May on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, the first time a sitting or former president has been convicted of a crime.

Judge Merchan wrote that the case demands "a sentencing hearing that is entirely focused on the verdict of the jury"."Their verdict must be respected and addressed in a manner that is not diluted by the enormity of the upcoming presidential election," he said, setting sentencing to exactly three weeks after the 5 November election.

Trump could face a sentence of up to four years in prison, but Justice Merchan also has the discretion to impose a punishment of a fine, probation, or a short jail term.

Trump has maintained that he did nothing wrong and called the trial a "disgrace".The original sentencing date was July. Trump's lawyers delayed that by arguing a US Supreme Court ruling that granted presidents some immunity from criminal prosecution affected the Manhattan case.

Justice Merchan granted the delay so that the parties could prepare arguments on the effects of the Supreme Court ruling.
A decision on the implications will come on 12 November.

Justice Merchan dismissed some arguments made by Trump's lawyers to delay as "unsubstantiated grievances ... that do not merit this Court's attention".

But he wrote that sentencing hearings are routinely delayed in other cases for reasons like personal circumstances to scheduling conflicts.
"Given the unique facts and circumstances of this case, there is no reason why this Defendant should be treated differently than any other," Justice Merchan said.

He added that his decision to delay "should dispel any suggestion" that the court would have made a decision that would be seen in support of "any political party or any candidate for any office".

Source: BBC
 
Trump 'resorted to crimes' to overturn 2020 election, prosecutors say

Donald Trump "resorted to crimes" in an effort to overturn his 2020 election defeat, prosecutors allege in a new court filing that argues the former president is not immune from charges.

Special Counsel Jack Smith, the prosecutor appointed to lead the election interference case against Trump, submitted the filing, which was publicly released on Wednesday.

The filing challenges Trump's claim that he is protected by a landmark Supreme Court ruling this summer that grants broad immunity from prosecution for official acts conducted while in office.

Since there will be no trial before Trump, a Republican, vies with his Democratic rival Kamala Harris for the White House in next month's election, the 165-page court document may be the last chance for prosecutors to outline their case.

In Wednesday's filing, prosecutors allege Trump was not always acting in an official capacity and instead engaged in a "private criminal effort" to overturn the 2020 results.

The document is an effort by prosecutors to advance the criminal case against Trump following the Supreme Court ruling in July.

It prompted prosecutors to narrow the scope of their indictment. That is because the ruling did not apply immunity to unofficial acts, leading prosecutors to argue that while Trump may still have been in office some of his alleged efforts to overturn the election were related to his campaign and his life as a private citizen.

The court should "determine that the defendant must stand trial for his private crimes as he would any other citizen," Mr Smith wrote in the new filing.

The case has been frequently delayed since charges were filed by the Department of Justice more than a year ago accusing Trump, who denies wrongdoing, of seeking to illegally block the certification of President Joe Biden's victory.

The filing lays out several instances in which Trump's Vice-President, Mike Pence, expressed doubt about his boss's voter fraud claims and tried to persuade him to accept he lost the election.

In the court document, prosecutors say Trump was not upset when he learned his vice-president had been rushed to a secure location as rioters stormed the Capitol on 6 January 2021. "So what?" he allegedly said, when informed of the scenes.

Pence would later go public about his falling out with Trump in the wake of the storming of Congress, when some rioters shouted "Hang Mike Pence" because the vice-president refused to obstruct the certification of election results.

Trump's lawyers fought to keep the latest filing sealed, and campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called it "falsehood-ridden" and "unconstitutional".

In a post on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, Trump called it a "hit job" and said it "should not have been released right before the election".

He accused prosecutors of "egregious" misconduct.

The filing offers new evidence and presents the clearest view yet of how prosecutors would seek to present their case against Trump at trial.

It alleges that he always planned to declare victory no matter the result, and laid the groundwork for this long before election day. It also accuses him of knowingly spreading false claims about the vote that he himself deemed "crazy".

Mr Smith also provides several new details about the Trump campaign's alleged role in sowing chaos in battleground states, where a large number of mail-in ballots were being counted in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the Democratic stronghold of Detroit, Michigan, when a large batch of ballots seemed to be in favour of Biden, a Trump campaign operative allegedly told his colleague to "find a reason" that something was wrong with the ballots to give him "options to file litigation".

The filing also claims that Trump and his allies, including lawyer Rudy Giuliani, sought to "exploit the violence and chaos at the Capitol" on 6 January 2021 to delay the election certification. They allegedly did this by calling senators and leaving voicemails that asked them to object to the state electors.

Trump said on Wednesday that the case would end with his "complete victory". A trial date has not been set.

BBC
 

Trump 'resorted to crimes' to overturn 2020 election, prosecutors say​


Donald Trump "resorted to crimes" while trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat, and should not escape charges, prosecutors say.

A new court filing challenges Trump's claim that he should avoid a trial thanks to a recent landmark US Supreme Court ruling. This said American presidents should be immune from prosecution when acting in an "official" capacity.

Trump was president when the alleged offences were committed - but prosecutors say he was acting in a "private" capacity, not an official one.

In response, Trump has repeated false claims that the 2020 vote was "rigged" and suggested the timing of the filing's release was designed to hurt his 2024 campaign.

In an interview with NewsNation, he also criticised Special Counsel Jack Smith, the lead prosecutor in the election interference probe who submitted the filing.

US District Judge Tanya Chutkan released the document - filed by Mr Smith last week - with redactions on Wednesday.

This is one of four criminal cases Trump has faced since being voted out in 2020 - another of which led to a historic conviction in New York.

He is accused of seeking to illegally block the certification of President Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election, but denies wrongdoing.

The new 165-page document presents the clearest view yet of how Mr Smith's team would pursue their case, having tweaked the wording of their charges after the Supreme Court's intervention.

It gives details of Trump's alleged scheme, including his actions when his supporters rioted at the US Capitol building on 6 January 2021. It also outlines the efforts of Mike Pence, the vice-president at the time, to talk him down.

The issue remains prominent in US politics almost four years later, ahead of the 2024 election in November, which will be contested by Trump and Kamala Harris.

It came up in Tuesday's vice-presidential debate, during which JD Vance refused to answer whether Trump, his running mate for 2024, lost in 2020.

The court filing may represent Mr Smith's last chance to set out his case against Trump.

The case has been frequently delayed since charges were filed by the Department of Justice (DoJ) more than a year ago. Trump will not face trial before November's election - and he may seek to have the case dropped if he wins.

Trump's lawyers fought to keep the latest filing sealed. Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung has called it "falsehood-ridden" and "unconstitutional".

In the newly-released document, Mr Smith and his team try to navigate the summer Supreme Court ruling - which dented their case - by narrowing their scope.

The Supreme Court ruling did not apply immunity to unofficial acts. The prosecutors argue that although Trump was still in office when attempting to overturn the 2020 vote, his attempts related to his campaign and his life as a private citizen. They call it a "private criminal effort".

The court should therefore "determine that the defendant must stand trial for his private crimes as he would any other citizen," the filing says.

The filing lays out several instances in which Pence, expressed doubt about his boss's voter fraud claims and tried to persuade him to accept he lost the election.

In the court document, prosecutors say Trump was not upset when he learned his vice-president had been rushed to a secure location as rioters stormed the Capitol on 6 January 2021. "So what?" he allegedly said, when informed of the scenes.

Pence would later go public about his falling out with Trump in the wake of the storming of Congress, when some rioters shouted "hang Mike Pence" because the vice-president refused to obstruct the certification of election results.

The filing also alleges that Trump always planned to declare victory no matter the result, and laid the groundwork for this long before election day. It also accuses him of knowingly spreading false claims about the vote that he himself deemed "crazy".

Mr Smith also provides several new details about the Trump campaign's alleged role in sowing chaos in battleground states, where a large number of mail-in ballots were being counted in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the Democratic stronghold of Detroit, Michigan, when a large batch of ballots seemed to be in favour of Biden, a Trump campaign operative allegedly told his colleague to "find a reason" that something was wrong with the ballots to give him "options to file litigation".

The filing also claims that Trump and his allies, including lawyer Rudy Giuliani, sought to "exploit the violence and chaos at the Capitol" on 6 January 2021 to delay the election certification. They allegedly did this by calling senators and leaving voicemails that asked them to object to the state electors.

Trump said on Wednesday that the case would end with his "complete victory".

A trial date has not been set.

 
Trump calls judge 'evil' for releasing case files before election

Donald Trump has called a judge "the most evil person" as she released more than 1,800 pages of evidence in Special Counsel Jack Smith's election conspiracy case against him.

The Republican White House candidate said US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan's rejection of his request to delay releasing the new evidence until after next month's vote amounted to "election interference".

Legal analysts have debated whether filings in the case breach a justice department internal rule that prosecutors avoid any investigative step that might affect an election within 60 days of voting.

But in her ruling, Judge Chutkan argued that if she had kept the files under wraps, that could itself have been construed as election interference.

"If the court withheld information that the public otherwise had a right to access solely because of the potential political consequences of releasing it, that withholding could itself constitute - or appear to be - election interference," she wrote.

Last year, a Texas woman was charged with making death threats against Judge Chutkan, citing the Trump case.

The heavily redacted 1,889 pages of documents released on Friday mostly rehash information already available publicly, including parts of former Vice-President Mike Pence's biography and his formal announcement that he would not overturn the 2020 election results.

The new evidence is a part of a motion filed by Mr Smith last month.

Appearing Friday during a podcast with right-wing media personality Dan Bongino, Trump lambasted Judge Chutkan and called the special counsel "a sick puppy".

The indictment centres on the 6 January 2021 US Capitol riot and accuses Trump of illegally conspiring to overturn his election defeat three months earlier to Joe Biden.

During the interview, Trump also likened the detention of those charged with storming the Capitol to the US internment of Japanese Americans in World War Two.

"Why are they still being held? Nobody's ever been treated like this," he said. "Maybe the Japanese during Second World War, frankly."

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump cannot be prosecuted for official acts carried out as president.

As a result, Mr Smith was forced to change the historic case brought against Trump and argue that he committed crimes while still in office, but as a private citizen.

He filed a new motion in September laying out the new case against the former president, which included allegations that Trump promoted false claims of election fraud despite believing them to be "crazy".

The motion also included new details on how Trump's relationship with Pence deteriorated, with the former vice-president telling Trump to stop repeating false election fraud theories and move on.

The documents released on Friday include transcripts of interviews with the 6 January House committee that investigated the US Capitol riot, parts of Pence’s autobiography and fundraising emails sent to voters.

It is unclear if the 6 January case will ever go to trial. Trump is expected to end the prosecution if he returns to the White House.

He is facing several other criminal cases. He already has been convicted on 34 felony counts in New York in relation to a hush-money payment.

BBC
 
US special counsel to wind down criminal cases against Donald Trump

Special counsel prosecutors will shut down their criminal cases against Donald Trump before he takes office, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter, after his stunning victory against Kamala Harris meant they would not proceed to trial.

The move reflects the reality that the cases will not be completed before inauguration day. Once the former president returns to the White House, the special counsel’s office would be prohibited from pursuing further criminal actions under justice department policy.

The justice department has long known that if Trump won, the criminal cases – over Trump’s retention of classified documents and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election – would be finished because Trump’s attorney general would likely drop the charges.

But it is also understood to be a preemptive measure to ensure that Trump will not be able to order the dismissal of the special counsel, Jack Smith, as he had vowed to do if he takes office and Smith remained in his role.

That possibility had been relished by Trump’s close aides and advisers, who privately imagined Trump ordering Smith’s removal and his team having to vacate their office space in Washington.

The justice department is still examining how to wind down the cases, which are in different stages and are complicated. In particular, the department does not want the classified documents case, which was dismissed and currently under appeal, to go unchallenged.

Failure to pursue an appeal over the dismissal of the classified documents case on grounds that the special counsel himself was illegally appointed could set a problematic precedent and hamper the department’s ability to use special counsels in the future.

Trump launched his presidential campaign in 2022 under the cloud of an impending special counsel investigation. That investigation examined Trump’s retention of national security materials at his Mar-a-Lago club after he lost the 2020 presidential election.

He repeatedly told supporters at rallies and in public statements that he was running for his literal freedom, urging voters to return him to the presidency in part because the charges would only disappear if he was re-elected.

For months, Trump’s overarching legal strategy was to delay the criminal cases until after Tuesday’s election. His hope was that if he won, he could appoint a loyalist attorney general who would simply drop the prosecutions.

He was unsuccessful in delaying his New York criminal case tied to his efforts to influence the outcome of the 2016 election through an unlawful hush-money scheme, which resulted in his conviction on 34 felony counts. But his conviction barely moved the political needle.

The special counsel’s move to preemptively shut down the two federal cases comes as the former Trump attorney general William Barr in a statement urged federal and state prosecutors to end their cases against Trump.

“The American people have rendered their verdict on President Trump and decisively chosen him to lead the country for the next four years. They chose him to lead us with the full knowledge of the claims against him by prosecutors around the country,” Barr wrote.

“The attorney general and all the state prosecutors should do the right thing and help the country move forward by dismissing the cases.”

THE GUARDIAN
 

Judge postpones Donald Trump hush money sentencing and grants permission for lawyers to seek dismissal​


A judge has postponed sentencing in Donald Trump's hush money trial and granted permission for his lawyers to seek dismissal of the case.

It comes after the Manhattan's district attorney said he wouldn't oppose a motion to delay the sentencing.

In May, a New York jury found the now president-elect guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to commit election fraud.

It was the first time a US president had been convicted of or charged with a criminal offence.

Trump tried to cover up "hush money" payments to buy the silence of a porn star in the days before the 2016 election.

When Stormy Daniels' claims of a sexual liaison threatened to upend his presidential campaign, Trump directed his lawyer to pay $130,000 (£102,000) to keep her quiet.

The payment buried the story and Trump later won the presidency.

New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan today delayed the sentencing, which had been due to take place on Tuesday.

The district attorney had asked the him to postpone all proceedings until after Trump finishes his four-year presidency, which starts on 20 January.

Trump's lawyers say the case must be dismissed because it will create "unconstitutional impediments" to his ability to govern.

The judge set a 2 December deadline for Trump's lawyers to file their motion, while prosecutors have until 9 December to respond.

He did not set a new date for sentencing or indicate when he would rule on any motion to throw out the case.

 
Trump nominates Bessent to lead US Treasury in flurry of announcements

Donald Trump has nominated Scott Bessent to lead the US Treasury Department, a post with wide oversight of tax policy, public debt, international finance and sanctions.

The selection ends what has proven to be one of the more protracted decisions for the president-elect as he assembles his team for a second term.

Bessent, a Wall Street financier who once worked for George Soros, was an early backer of Trump's 2024 bid and brings a relatively conventional resume to the role.

The 62-year-old's nomination on Friday evening kicked-off a series of cabinet announcements and White House appointments that leaves Trump's top team almost complete ahead of his return to the presidency in January.

"Scott is widely respected as one of the World’s foremost International Investors and Geopolitical and Economic Strategists," Trump said in his announcement on Truth Social.

"[He] has long been a strong advocate of the America First Agenda," he said, adding that Bessent would "support my Policies that will drive US Competitiveness, and stop unfair Trade imbalances."

On the campaign trail, Bessent told voters that Trump would usher in a "new golden age with de-regulation, low-cost energy, [and] low taxes".

A Friday flurry

Trump also nominated Republican Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer for US Labor Secretary on Friday, saying she would help to "grow wages and improve working conditions [and] bring back our manufacturing jobs".

The representative from Oregon, 56, won strong trade union support but narrowly lost her bid for re-election earlier this month, meaning her nomination will not affect the Republican majority in the House come January.

He then made another cabinet nomination moments later, announcing Scott Turner as his pick to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The NFL veteran and motivational speaker previously served in the Texas House of Representatives.

Trump also announced a series of senior health picks, giving his backing to Fox News contributor Dr Janette Nesheiwat as Surgeon General and former Florida Congressman Dr Dave Weldon as Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

He selected Russell Vought as director of the US Office of Management and Budget, which helps decide policy priorities and how they should be funded.

Vought, who played a role in Project 2025 - a "wish list" for a second Trump presidency by the conservative Heritage Foundation - held the same position during Trump's first term.

The president-elect also announced White House roles for Alex Wong and Sebastian Gorka who also served during Trump's first term.

How will Bessent lead US Treasury?

If his nomination to lead the Treasury department is confirmed by the Senate, Bessent would almost immediately be plunged into the fight in Washington over extending the tax cuts from Trump's first term.

Trump has also called for controversial changes to trade policy, proposing sweeping tariffs on all goods coming into the country.

Such ideas have been met with alarm in traditional economic and corporate circles.

In an interview with Fox News shortly before the election, Bessent said ensuring the tax cuts do not expire as planned at the end of next year would be his top priority, if he ended up in the administration.

"If it doesn’t happen, this will be the largest tax increase in US history," he warned.

For other posts, Trump has been willing to back candidates with minimal experience in favour of loyalty and apparent conviction in his pledges.

But he has appeared more hesitant to buck convention at the Treasury Department, which serves as a key liaison between the White House and Wall Street and has critical functions that include collecting taxes, supervising banks, wielding sanctions and handling US government debt.

In his announcement, Trump said Bessent would “help curb the unsustainable path of Federal Debt”. That issue has long been a priority for traditional Republicans, but financial markets see an increase in debt as a risk in a second Trump term.

Bessent, a native of South Carolina, made his name in the 1990s betting against the British pound and Japanese yen while working for Soros, a major Democratic donor.

In 2015, he started his own fund, Key Square Capital Management, which is known for making investments based on big-picture economic policy.

He and his husband, a former New York City prosecutor, married in 2011 and have two children. He is known for philanthropy in South Carolina, where his family has deep roots.

Bessent has defended tariffs - a capstone of Trump's protectionist agenda - arguing that opposition to them is rooted in political ideology and not "considered economic thought".

But he has also characterised Trump’s support for such border taxes as a negotiating tool, suggesting the president-elect isn’t necessarily committed to aggressively raising duties.

That stance makes him more moderate than others whose names were floated for the treasury role.

However, Bessent has been a strong proponent of Trump’s embrace of the crypto industry. Such support would make him the first treasury secretary to openly champion cryptocurrency, sending a clear signal that Trump is serious about establishing the US as the "crypto capital of the planet".

BBC
 
Trump gets $15m in ABC News defamation case

ABC News has agreed to pay $15m (£12m) to US President-elect Donald Trump to settle a defamation lawsuit after its star anchor falsely said he had been found "liable for rape".

George Stephanopoulos made the statements repeatedly during an interview on 10 March this year while challenging a congresswoman about her support for Trump.

A jury in a civil case last year determined Trump was liable for "sexual abuse", which has a specific definition under New York law.

As part of Saturday's settlement, first reported by Fox News Digital, ABC will also publish a statement expressing its "regret" for the statements by Stephanopoulos.

According to the settlement, ABC News will pay $15m as a charitable contribution to a "Presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for Plaintiff, as Presidents of the United States of America have established in the past".

The network also agreed to pay $1m towards Trump's legal fees.

Under the settlement, the network will post an editor's note to the bottom of its 10 March 2024 online news article about the story.

It will say: "ABC News and George Stephanopoulos regret statements regarding President Donald J Trump made during an interview by George Stephanopoulos with Rep. Nancy Mace on ABC's This Week on March 10, 2024."

An ABC News spokesperson said in a statement the company was "pleased that the parties have reached an agreement to dismiss the lawsuit on the terms in the court filing".

In 2023, a New York civil court found Trump sexually abused E Jean Carroll in a dressing room at a department store in 1996. He was also found guilty of defaming the magazine columnist.

Judge Lewis Kaplan said the jury's conclusion was that Ms Carroll had failed to prove that Trump raped her "within the narrow, technical meaning of a particular section of the New York Penal Law".

Judge Kaplan noted that the definition of rape was "far narrower" than how rape is defined in common modern parlance, in some dictionaries and in criminal statutes elsewhere.

In a separate case, also presided over by the same judge, a jury ordered Trump to pay $83.3m to Ms Carroll for additional defamatory statements.

During the 10 March broadcast, Stephanopoulos asked South Carolina Republican congresswoman Nancy Mace how she could endorse Trump.

The anchor falsely said "judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape".

Stephanopoulos repeated the claim 10 times throughout the broadcast.

Ahead of the ruling, a federal magistrate judge had ordered Trump and Stephanopoulos to give sworn evidence at depositions next week.

Trump has also sued CBS, the BBC's US broadcast partner, for "deceptive conduct" over an interview with Kamala Harris.

In 2023, a judge threw out his defamation lawsuit against CNN, in which he alleged the network had likened him to Adolf Hitler.

He has also had lawsuits filed against the New York Times and the Washington Post dismissed.

BBC
 

Trump asks US Supreme Court to halt criminal sentencing​


Donald Trump has asked the US Supreme Court to halt his sentencing in the criminal hush money case, which is set for Friday.

The eleventh-hour filing comes after two lower courts rejected Trump's efforts to block the proceedings.

The president-elect's lawyers have now asked the nation's top court to consider whether he is entitled to an automatic stay of his sentencing while he appeals against his conviction.

Allowing the sentencing to proceed would cause "grave injustice and harm to the institution of the presidency", his lawyers wrote.

They argue that the case should not proceed as scheduled until questions around presidential immunity are resolved.

Trump's lawyers asked the judges to consider "whether a sitting president's complete immunity from criminal prosecution during his term in office extends to the president-elect of the United States".

Last year, the Supreme Court issued a sweeping decision granting US presidents immunity from criminal prosecution over official acts conducted while in office.

Trump's lawyers have argued to a Manhattan judge and higher courts that the immunity protections should apply in his New York criminal case as well. They have also argued that the case should be put on hold due to his imminent return to the White House.

On Wednesday, shortly after the filing, the Supreme Court gave Manhattan prosecutors until Thursday morning to respond to Trump's request.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a brief statement: "We will respond in court papers."

A jury unanimously found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in May after a dramatic six-week trial.

The conviction stemmed from Trump's attempt to disguise a reimbursement for a $130,000 hush-money payment made to an adult film star, who said she had a past sexual encounter with Trump.

Manhattan prosecutors argued that the scheme was tantamount to election interference, because the payment occurred just days before the 2016 election and kept a potentially damaging story from voters.

Trump denies the encounter and any wrongdoing.

He was originally set to be sentenced in July, but Justice Merchan granted a delay as the presidential election played out. Subsequent sentencing dates in September and November were also moved.

Trump's lawyers have also unsuccessfully sought to have the conviction thrown out entirely.

Justice Juan Merchan indicated in a recent ruling that he will not consider a jail term for Trump, but rather lower-level punishments.

 

Trump sentenced to unconditional discharge in hush-money case​


A judge has sentenced US President-elect Donald Trump to an "unconditional discharge," bringing to an end the first criminal trial of a former US president.

The sentence means the incoming president has been spared any penalty, including jail time or a fine.

A jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records last May, but his sentencing was postponed several times.

Justice Juan Merchan, who ultimately ordered Trump to appear on Friday, said: "This court has determined that the only lawful sentence that permits entry of judgement or conviction without encroaching on the highest office in the land is an unconditional discharge."

Trump appeared virtually from Florida and gave a brief speech, saying he was "totally innocent."

 
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