Ticketing company denies responsibility for refunds to Donald Trump Jr’s postponed Australian tour

Ticketbud says money was sent directly to organisers Turning Point Australia, but it says money is only received after events are completed

A ticketing company has denied claims by the organiser of Donald Trump Jr’s postponed Australian tour that it is responsible for processing refunds, arguing Turning Point Australia received the money.

The eldest son of the former US president and Republican frontrunner for the 2024 US presidential election was due to speak at events in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in July last year, but the event was initially postponed to September amid claims of visa difficulties.

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Donald Trump ordered to pay over $350m in New York financial fraud case

Trump also banned from running any New York corporation or entity for three years in devastating blow for ex-president

Donald Trump, his eldest sons and associates have been ordered to pay over $350m by a New York judge who found them guilty of intentionally committing financial fraud over the course of a decade.

“The frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience,” judge Arthur Engoron wrote in his decision. In a devastating blow for the former president who had built his reputation as a successful real estate developer, Engoron barred Trump and two other executives from serving as officers or directors of any corporation or entity in New York for three years. His sons, Eric and Donald Trump Jr, were banned for two years.

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Donald Trump Jr takes stand in Trump fraud trial again as defense team calls witnesses – live

Former US president’s son tells court about Trump Organization’s early achievements

Ever been to a gym in a hotel? Donald Trump Jr thinks you should thank his father, who was a pioneer in making things that are “commonplace today in luxury real estate”, like gyms.

“Maybe someone had put a gym in a building somewhere, but no one did it at the scale of my father,” Trump Jr said.

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Trump Jr hails ‘sexiness’ of father’s properties at New York fraud trial

Donald Trump’s son showers praise on former president as he returns to the stand at $250m real estate fraud trial

Donald Trump’s eldest son hailed the “sexiness” of his father’s properties after returning to the stand at the $250m fraud trial over the former president’s real estate empire.

Lawyers for the Trump Organization summoned Donald Trump Jr at the start of the seventh week of the New York civil trial.

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Trump claims New York fraud trial is ‘election interference’ – as it happened

This live blog is now closed. For our latest reporting on this trial, you can read:

Before heading to the court, Trump used Truth Social to attack the judge and attorney general in the case and claimed once again the case is politically motivated:

Got a really Biased, Nasty, Club controlled, but often overturned, Judge, a Racist, Evil, and Corrupt Attorney General, BUT A CASE THAT, ACCORDING TO ALMOST ALL LEGAL SCHOLARS, HAS ZERO MERIT,” he wrote. “A dark day for our Country. WITCH HUNT!

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Trump claims financial statements at heart of $250m fraud trial are ‘worthless’

Former president takes stand in New York Trump Organization trial as judge asks lawyer to ‘control your client’

Donald Trump took the stand in a Manhattan federal courthouse on Monday and angrily claimed the financial statements at the heart of his $250m civil fraud lawsuit were “worthless” and the trial was a political “witch-hunt”.

In a day of sometimes heated, sometimes meandering testimony, Trump maintained he had done nothing wrong and accused his prosecutors of playing politics. “We sit here all day – it’s election interference because you want to keep me in the courthouse!” said Trump.

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Ivanka Trump must testify in Trump Organization fraud trial, court rules

Court rejects claim she was too busy raising her children to fly to New York to testify in the $250m fraud trial

Ivanka Trump’s argument that she should be spared giving midweek testimony in her father Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York because she is a busy mother of school-aged children in Florida was given short shrift by an appeals court.

The former president’s daughter, a senior adviser during his single term of office, asked the panel to set aside a ruling by a district court judge compelling her to testify next Wednesday, 8 November.

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Eric Trump testifies ‘I don’t recall’ when asked about involvement in Trump Organization valuation – as it happened

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Prosecutor Colleen Faherty asked Donald Trump Jr whether it’s a fair statement that he was generally familiar with the overall finances of the Trump Organization between 2011 and the present.

“I would think so, yes,” Trump Jr replied, Law360’s Stewart Bishop reports.

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Trump Jr distances himself from documents at center of fraud trial: ‘I don’t recall’

Donald Trump’s eldest son testifies in New York civil trial, claiming repeatedly: ‘I don’t recall’

Donald Trump Jr took the stand in the ongoing fraud trial against his father and the family business on Wednesday and tried to distance himself from the financial statements at the center of the case.

Trump’s eldest son, 45, is the first family member to testify in the civil trial brought by the New York attorney general, Letitia James. His younger brother Eric is expected to testify on Thursday, with Trump and his daughter Ivanka expected in court next week.

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Donald Trump Jr tells court ‘I don’t recall’ in response to questions at Trump family fraud trial – as it happened

This live blog is now closed. You can see our latest full report below:

The state’s expert witness, Michiel McCarty, is still on the stand. Prosecutors pulled up a report McCarty compiled where he calculated banks lost out on $168m because the Trump Organization had inflated the value of four of their properties, including 40 Wall Street, Trump Doral in Miami and the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago.

Here’s an image of what was shown in the courtroom:

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‘Expect the unexpected’: Trump fraud trial becomes family affair

Donald Jr, Eric and Ivanka scheduled to give evidence with father this week in case against Trump Organization

Donald Trump’s fraud trial becomes a family affair this week as three of his children, and the former president himself, prepare to be called to the witness stand in New York.

Trump’s appearances in court so far have been controversial, to say the least. The former president has railed against the prosecution, calling it a “witch-hunt”, and has been threatened with jail for attacking one of the court’s clerks on social media.

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Trump real estate empire under threat after fraud ruling; Senate leader urges House to pass funding bill – US politics live

Even a short shutdown would jeopardize the work of potentially thousands of air traffic controllers and other key employees, secretary Buttigieg says

US soldier Travis King, who fled to North Korea in July, is in American custody after being expelled by Pyongyang into China, according to US officials.

North Korea’s KCNA state news agency said King had been expelled after he confessed to illegally entering the country. It said the soldier harboured ill feelings over inhumane treatment and racial discrimination within the US army.

This is genuinely new – I don’t think it’s ever happened before, a president on a picket line. Candidates do it frequently and prominent senators, but not a president.

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Senator says she has been ‘excluded’ from writing pamphlet – as it happened

This blog is now closed.

Patricia Karvelas challenges Littleproud’s Covid reasoning behind the Murray-Darling Basin delays on ABC RN this morning.

“This isn’t a new problem … Your government was in power when a 2019 Productivity Commission report warned that there had been limited progress returning the water to the environment,” she says. “Why didn’t you change course?”

This is a very technical piece of legislation … The 450 is additional to the 2,750 gigalitres of water in the plan, the Productivity Commission looked at the 450 gigalitres, there’s only been 2 gigalitres recovered on the 450 …

Because the neutrality test on social and economic impact on rural communities have not been passed to get more water back out of it – that’s a test the Labor government put in place, that we adhere to that the states agreed to.

He [is] going down a path that’s divided the country and meant that the attention has been taken away from managing people’s cost-of-living crisis, and focused on trying to win a referendum in which he has overreached in conflating a voice with constitutional recognition.

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Donald Trump Jr’s Australian speaking tour delayed, promoter says

Turning Point Australia says appearances of former president’s son in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne postponed ‘due to unforeseen circumstances’

A speaking tour from the son of the former US president Donald Trump has been delayed, the tour promoter announced on Wednesday.

Donald Trump Jr was to speak at events in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, kicking off this Sunday. However Turning Point Australia announced on Wednesday that “due to unforeseen circumstances” the appearances would be postponed.

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Republicans crying wolf over Hunter Biden have hurt their own cause

The GOP is obsessed with the president’s son, but the party’s attacks make it difficult to discern legitimate concern from crazy conspiracies

“Sweetheart deal!” “Two-tiered justice!” “Mere traffic ticket!”

Republicans had their applause lines ready on Tuesday when Joe Biden’s son Hunter struck a plea deal over unpaid taxes, and gun possession while being a drug user, that is likely to keep him out of prison.

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CPAC: Nikki Haley calls out Republicans’ failure to win voters’ confidence – as it happened

2024 contender points out in speech the party has lost popular vote in seven of last eight presidential elections

Politico has the scoop on a policy proposal of sorts from Donald Trump, in his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

The former president, who of course made his name in real estate, wants to hold a contest to design and build “up to 10 new ‘Freedom Cities’, built from the ground up on federal land”.

… an investment in the development of vertical-takeoff-and-landing vehicles; the creation of ‘hives of industry’ sparked by cutting off imports from China; and a population surge sparked by ‘baby bonuses’ to encourage would-be-parents to get on with procreation.

It is all, his team says, part of a larger nationwide beautification campaign meant to inspire forward-looking visions of America’s future.

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Trump Organization to face criminal tax fraud charges in New York court on Monday

Former CFO is expected to testify about off-the-books compensation scheme to evade paying payroll taxes

The Trump Organization is set to face criminal tax fraud charges on Monday in New York in a trial that could start to tease out the many allegations against the company and by extension its patriarch, Donald J Trump.

It comes as the former US president faces a maze of legal troubles and mounting costs – by some estimates running at close to $4m a month to his leadership PAC – over his attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss, the removal of government documents from the White House when he left office and a defamation case relating to a rape allegation.

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New York attorney general lawsuit accuses Trump of ‘staggering’ fraud

Letitia James’s civil suit accuses ex-president of inflating his net worth by billions in order to ‘enrich himself and cheat the system’

The attorney general of New York state has filed a civil fraud lawsuit against Donald Trump and three of his children involved in the family real-estate business, for falsely inflating his net worth by billions in order to enrich himself and secure favorable loans.

Announcing the suit in New York on Wednesday, Letitia James also said referrals had been made to federal prosecutors and the Internal Revenue Service – a move sure to anger the former US president and increase consternation among his inner circle about the depth of his legal predicament.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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January 6 committee focuses on phone calls among Trump’s children and aides

Footage captured by documentary film-maker understood to show ex-president’s children privately discussing election strategies

The House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack is closely focused on phone calls and conversations among Donald Trump’s children and top aides captured by a documentary film-maker weeks before the 2020 election, say sources familiar with the matter.

The calls among Trump’s children and top aides took place at an invitation-only event at the Trump International hotel in Washington that took place the night of the first presidential debate on 29 September 2020, the sources said.

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