Category Archives: Donald Trump

State department identifies Israeli citizens targeted by US sanctions as Netanyahu rejects them as ‘unnecessary’ – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For more on the US involvement in the Middle East crisis, you can read:

During the news conference, Austin said the US would have a “multi-tiered response” to the Jordan attacks that killed three US service personnel. He added that the US had the ability to respond a “number of times depending on what the situation is”.

Austin said the deadly attack was carried out by groups funded and trained by Iran, but said it remains unclear how much Tehran knew in advance.

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Donald Trump’s ‘sex and bribes’ data protection case rejected by UK court

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Ex-US president took action over allegations he took part in ‘perverted acts’ and bribed Russian officials

Donald Trump’s data protection claim for damages over allegations in the “Steele dossier” that he took part in “perverted” sex acts and gave bribes to Russian officials has been dismissed by a high court judge in London.

Mrs Justice Steyn agreed with Orbis Business Intelligence, the company founded by the former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who compiled the contentious material, that the case should not go to trial.

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New York to expand definition of rape after E Jean Carroll’s case against Trump

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Current definition was factor in Carroll’s sexual abuse case, which was highlighted by Governor Kathy Hochul at bill ceremony

New York will expand its legal definition of rape to include various forms of nonconsensual sexual contact, under a bill signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday.

The state’s current limited definition was a factor in writer E Jean Carroll’s sexual abuse and defamation case against Donald Trump. The jury in the federal civil trial rejected the writer’s claim last May that the former president had raped her in the 1990s, instead finding Trump responsible for a lesser degree of sexual abuse.

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Georgia’s Fulton county hacked, but DA says Trump election case is unaffected

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Many county systems are inoperative, but the district attorney’s office says the racketeering case against the ex-president is secure

Officials said court and other systems in Georgia’s most populous county were hacked over the weekend, interrupting routine operations, but the district attorney’s office said the racketeering case against former president Donald Trump was unaffected.

Fulton county, which includes most of Atlanta, was experiencing a “widespread system outage” from a “cybersecurity incident”, the chair of the county commission, Robb Pitts, said on Monday in a video posted on social media. Notably, he said, the outage is affecting the county’s phone, court and tax systems.

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E Jean Carroll aims to give defamation money ‘to something Trump hates’

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Former Elle columnist tells Good Morning America: ‘If it’ll cause him pain for me to give money to certain things, that’s my intent’

E Jean Carroll intends to spend the $83m awarded to her in her defamation trial against Donald Trump on something the former president “hates”, she revealed just days after the judgment.

On Friday, the jury in Carroll’s case decided that she should receive $18.3m in compensatory damages and $65m punitive retribution in the case pitting her against Trump. Of the $18.3m, Trump was told to pay Carroll $11m to fund a reputational repair campaign and $7.3m for the emotional harm caused by statements he made against her in 2019.

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The search for Trump’s running mate: ‘like auditions for The Apprentice’

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At issue is whether potential vice-presidents, from Elise Stefanik to Tim Scott, could assume control – and whether Trump cares

The last person who occupied the job of US vice-president ended up the target of a violent mob calling for him to be hanged. Even so, as Donald Trump closes in on the Republican nomination for 2024, there is no shortage of contenders eager to be his deputy.

It is safe to assume that Mike Pence, who was Trump’s running mate in 2016 and 2020, will not get the job this time. His refusal to comply with his boss’s demand to overturn the last election caused a permanent rift and made Pence a perceived traitor and target of the January 6 insurrectionists.

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Biden in South Carolina for one of his first presidential election campaign appearances of 2024

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In the state that is now first on the Democratic primaries calendar, the president offers fresh assurances he would be willing to close down the US-Mexico border

Four years ago, Democrats in South Carolina – and Black Democrats in particular – effectively cleared the field for President Joe Biden’s nomination, ending what might have otherwise been a rowdy primary campaign for the right to face Donald Trump.

At a Democratic Party dinner Saturday in Columbia, SC, celebrating South Carolina’s new status as the first Democratic primary state, Biden returned to thank them for it, one week before voters head to the polls.

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Angry Trump fumes after $83.3m damages ruling in E Jean Carroll case

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Former president calls verdict ‘absolutely ridiculous’ and accuses Biden of directing ‘witch-hunt’ against him and Republicans

The $83.3m verdict against Donald Trump in the defamation case brought by the writer E Jean Carroll over her allegation of sexual assault was celebrated by opponents of the former president, analysed by legal experts and excoriated by the presumptive 2024 Republican White House nominee and his loyal supporters.

Trump called the verdict “absolutely ridiculous” and claimed it was part of a Joe “Biden-directed witch hunt” against “me and the Republican party”.

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Mike Johnson warns Ukraine-border deal likely ‘dead on arrival’ in House – live

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House speaker warns that the deal being considered in the Senate may not be feasible while also vowing to impeach homeland security secretary Mayorkas

In her closing arguments, Donald Trump’s lead attorney Alina Habba said the former president was the real victim, because of the backlash caused by E Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit.

Carroll, she said, wasn’t “accepting any responsibility for the media and the press frenzy and the public profile that she wanted and still enjoys.”

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Mitt Romney: Trump’s call to stonewall Democrats on immigration ‘appalling’

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Utah senator accuses ex-president of exploiting issue for political gain by directing Republicans to block deal

Donald Trump’s directive to congressional Republicans to not agree to a deal with Democrats on immigration and border control is “appalling”, Mitt Romney said.

“I think the border is a very important issue for Donald Trump,” Romney, the Republican senator from Utah, told reporters on Capitol Hill on Thursday.

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Trump seeks to disqualify Fani Willis from prosecuting him in Georgia

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Motion comes after Fulton county district attorney made remarks decrying allegations of affair with one of her deputies

Donald Trump accused on Thursday the Fulton county district attorney of inflaming racial animus to distract from allegations relating to an an affair with one of her deputies, as he joined a motion seeking to disqualify her from prosecuting him for 2020 election interference in Georgia.

The filing, submitted to Fulton county superior judge Scott McAfee, adopted and added to an earlier motion to have the district attorney Fani Willis and her entire office thrown off bringing the case.

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US border policy deal within reach despite efforts by Trump to derail it, senators say

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Outlook had appeared grim following reports McConnell was walking away, but now lawmakers say text could be released in coming days

Congressional negotiators said a border deal was within reach on Thursday, despite efforts by Donald Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill to derail the talks.

With the fate of US aid for Ukraine hanging in the balance, the outlook for border compromise had appeared grim following reports on Wednesday night that the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, was walking away from a compromise that he suggested could “undermine” Trump’s chances in a November general election against Joe Biden. But by Thursday afternoon, senators involved in the discussions were insisting that the opposite was true: an agreement was in sight and legislative text could be released in the coming days.

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Trump takes stand and gives brief testimony in E Jean Carroll trial

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Former president says he never instructed anyone to hurt magazine columnist after judge warns him to keep his voice down

Donald Trump took the witness stand in E Jean Carroll’s second defamation trial against him, marking the first time he has provided court testimony relating to her sexual assault claim against him.

Trump’s testimony lasted less than five minutes as the judge in this case, Lewis Kaplan, significantly limited what the ex-president could say in court. In May last year, a jury awarded Carroll $5m after finding that Trump sexually abused and defamed her; Kaplan said jurors’ factual determination in the first proceeding would be accepted at this trial, meaning they are only weighing damages.

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Donald Trump and E Jean Carroll in court as defamation trial resumes – live

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Author and former US president in the courtroom as proceedings resume in New York court after Covid delay

Trump’s lead attorney, Alina Habba, began her cross of Robbie Myers by suggesting that she was biased.

“You didn’t vote for Donald Trump in 2016, right?” Habba asked. “Or in 2020? You don’t plan on voting for him in 2024, do you?”

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Border deal ‘really close’, says Kyrsten Sinema amid Democrats’ anger over reports of Trump meddling – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For the latest on the US border talks, you can read:

Shifting to federal court in Washington DC, the judge Amit Mehta is on the verge of sentencing the former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro for ignoring a subpoena from the January 6 committee, Politico reports.

He was convicted of contempt of Congress charges last September:

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Can Donald Trump’s courtroom antics be contained?

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Judges have tried gag orders and fines, but so far the former president has shown little interest in restraining himself

Donald Trump’s defamation trial against E Jean Carroll resumes in New York today after a juror’s illness delayed proceedings. But the biggest question isn’t whether Trump will be found liable (he already was) or even how much he’ll have to pay her (it could be a lot). It’s how he’ll behave – and what, if anything, the judge can do to rein him in.

The last time Trump was in court, he grumbled so loudly from his seat that the judge, Lewis Kaplan, warned him he could be kicked out of court. “Mr Trump has the right to be present here. That right can be forfeited, and it can be forfeited if he is disruptive,” he said. “Mr Trump, I hope I don’t have to consider excluding you from the trial.”

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Ex-Trump adviser Peter Navarro to be sentenced for contempt of Congress

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Navarro, trade adviser during Trump presidency, convicted over refusal to comply with subpoena from January 6 committee

The former Trump adviser Peter Navarro faces sentencing on Thursday on two counts of contempt of Congress, arising from his refusal to comply with a subpoena from the House committee that investigated the January 6 attack on Congress.

The mandatory minimum sentence is two months in prison, one for each count. Prosecutors in the case, which saw Navarro convicted in federal court in Washington DC in September, asked for 12 months prison time and a $200,000 fine.

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Tim Scott’s behaviour around Trump is ‘humiliating’, says the Rev Al Sharpton

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‘It was humiliating to watch,’ civil rights leader tells MSNBC after senator appeared with ex-president in New Hampshire

The South Carolina Republican senator Tim Scott’s behaviour around Donald Trump is “humiliating”, the civil rights leader Rev Al Sharpton said.

“It was humiliating to watch what Tim Scott did as a sitting senator,” Sharpton told MSNBC, for which he hosts a show, after Scott appeared with Trump in New Hampshire, where the former president won the Republican presidential primary on Tuesday.

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Nikki Haley vows to fight on after Trump’s victory in New Hampshire – US politics live

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Donald Trump double digit win makes November rematch with Joe Biden more likely, but Haley says ‘this race is far from over’

Eric Bradner at CNN writes that it is difficult to see where a Nikki Haley victory is coming from, despite them promising big spending. He said:

What is not clear is where Haley could actually notch a victory against Trump. She isn’t participating in the Nevada caucuses on 8 February (she will instead be on the state’s primary ballot, which won’t lead to her winning any delegates), and polls in her home state of South Carolina – where the 24 February primary will be the next major showdown – show Trump with a huge lead.

Haley is likely to face immense pressure to depart the race in coming days. She’ll face questions about whether she’ll follow a path similar to Florida Gov Ron DeSantis, who vowed to continue on after his second-place finish in last week’s Iowa caucuses – and then he dropped out days later.

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Trump-Biden rematch increasingly inevitable after New Hampshire primary

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Ex-president in strong position to seize Republican nomination after sweeping first two contests of 2024 primary season

A sweep of the first two nominating contests on the 2024 primary season left Donald Trump in a strong position to seize the Republican party nomination, and made a rematch with Joe Biden even more inevitable.

Trump’s Republican rival, Nikki Haley, vowed to fight on despite her second place finish in New Hampshire, a state where she had hoped for an upset, and her third place finish in the Iowa caucuses. But she faces long odds. There is no precedent for a candidate winning the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary and losing their party’s nomination.

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