Category Archives: Donald Trump

Calls to ‘finish’ Hamas and ‘you’re just scum’: key Republican debate takeaways

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Candidates showed unequivocal support for Israel on a night when Nikki Haley shot back at Vivek Ramaswamy’s criticism

The third Republican debate was held in Miami on Wednesday, with frontrunner Donald Trump once again foregoing the debate for his own rally nearby.

The pool has dwindled since the last debate, and Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Tim Scott and Chris Christie seemed to be more serious and focused this time around as they answered questions on the Israel-Hamas war, immigration, abortion and the federal budget. Even so, the debate had moments where it devolved into a shouting match, with petty barbs and personal attacks.

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Ivanka tells court she does not recall details of Trump Organization loans correspondence – live

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Former US president’s eldest daughter echoes her brothers’s testimony, saying she does not recall much about loan correspondence

Given that James’s case involves Trump’s alleged overvaluation of assets, the state is trying to undermine any claim that property valuations also included potential value – effectively, the position there wasn’t anything wrong with seemingly oversized sums because of what the real estate could amount to.

Donald Trump claimed on Monday in court, for example, that the valuation of his golf resort in Aberdeen, Scotland, was legitimate, because he could build hundreds of houses there “anytime I want”. He also said: “There’s nothing wrong with sitting on a property and waiting if you’re willing to play their game.”

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Anything but the fraud: ex-Trump aide focuses on ‘travesty’ courtroom sketch

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Former press chief Kayleigh McEnany, now a Fox News host, upset by sketch of ex-president, found liable in New York case

Amid Donald Trump’s rambling court appearance in his fraud trial on Monday, there was one thing that really piqued Fox News: the former president’s appearance in a courtroom sketch.

“A travesty,” was the verdict of Kayleigh McEnany, who served as Trump’s press secretary during the dying embers of his one-term presidency before she became a Fox News host.

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

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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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Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis potent challengers to Biden in swing states, poll shows – as it happened

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This live blog is now closed. For our reporting on politics polling, read our latest article:

Gaza’s health ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory says more than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed there since 7 October.

We have a separate live blog covering the conflict, and you can follow it here:

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

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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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Blumenthal: Democrats have ‘work cut out’ as Biden trails Trump in five swing states

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New poll shows Biden ahead in Wisconsin, but Trump leading in Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan

Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said on Sunday that the party has “its work cut out for us” in response to new polling that shows President Joe Biden trailing Donald Trump in five of six swing states.

The survey by the New York Times and Siena College of voters in six battleground states, was released with 365 days to go until the 2024 presidential election.

Reuters contributed to this report

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With the US election a year away, most Americans don’t want Biden or Trump

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Polls continue to show both presidential frontrunners ‘as tied as tied can be’, with third-party candidates tying for a distant third

Americans are one year away from a presidential election that’s shaping up to be a historically unpopular rematch between the oldest ever sitting president, Joe Biden, a Democrat, and his Republican predecessor, the twice-impeached, serially indicted Donald Trump.

With less than 10 weeks to go before Iowa’s caucuses launch the 2024 Republican nominating contest, much can still change. As it stands, the country appears to be hurtling toward an election few Americans want – but that might be one of the most consequential in modern US history.

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Trump angry over trials but happy with attack and delay strategy, insiders say

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Well-worn legal playbook in recent weeks has brought former president victories in court that have buoyed and emboldened him

Donald Trump has appeared at times angrily under siege as he stews over his predicament in the New York civil fraud case, according to people close to the former president, particularly furious in recent weeks with the witness testimony that could result in the end of the Trump Organization empire.

The rulings from the presiding New York state supreme court justice Arthur Engoron, who found that Trump and co-defendants were liable for fraud and ordered all of Trump’s adult children to testify at the ongoing trial, for instance, have taken a toll.

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Blow to Ron DeSantis as more key Florida backers switch to Trump

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Bad news for Florida governor’s campaign, with favorability falling throughout 2023 and a GOP debate scheduled for Wednesday

Five Republican legislators in Florida have switched their endorsements from rightwing governor Ron DeSantis to former US president Donald Trump before a key party nomination debate in Miami next week.

The move is another boost to Trump – who remains dominant in the 2024 Republican race – and a blow to DeSantis, whose once highly anticipated bid for the White House has recently floundered badly. All recent polling has shown Trump with a strong lead over his rivals and DeSantis being edged out of second place by the former US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley.

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Judge in New York fraud trial extends gag order to Trump’s legal team

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Arthur Engoron forbids Trump’s lawyers from discussing ‘confidential communications’ between the judge and his staff

The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s $250m fraud trial moved to gag Trump’s lawyers from talking about “confidential communications” between the judge and his staff on Friday.

Judge Arthur Engoron has already fined Trump $15,000 for attacking his clerk on social media and threatened to jail the former president if the attacks continue.

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

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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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Trump sons deny knowing of financial statements at heart of $250m fraud trial

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Donald Jr says he ‘relied upon accountants’ for financial statements while Eric says he ‘never had anything to do’ with them

Trump’s eldest sons claimed on Thursday that they had no knowledge of the financial statements at the heart of the family’s $250m fraud trial.

Eric and his older brother Donald Trump Jr claimed in court that they had relied on accountants and others to make sure their financial records were correct.

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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’

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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

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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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Judge signals she could delay key dates in Trump’s classified documents trial

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US district judge Aileen Cannon expressed concern current timetable would clash with Trump’s 2020 election subversion trial

The federal judge presiding in Donald Trump’s criminal case related to his retention of national security documents at Mar-a-Lago appeared inclined to delay the scheduling of the trial, expressing concern that the timetable would clash with Trump’s 2020 election subversion trial in Washington.

The US district judge Aileen Cannon did not specify what changes she would make to the pre-trial timetable at a hearing on Thursday, but signaled she would make adjustments to certain deadlines – which could have the net effect of pushing back the start of the trial.

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

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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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Mike Pence’s exit from White House bid is winnowing of crowded field, rivals say

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Departure could help Republican candidates but DeSantis and Haley, as well as Ramaswamy and Christie, still hugely trail Trump

Mike Pence’s surprise withdrawal from the Republican presidential nomination race on Saturday is part of natural winnowing of the crowded field, rivals of the former vice-president said Sunday – and one that could help their quest of candidates to wrestle the nomination from overwhelming frontrunner Donald Trump.

“In the end, the race is narrowing, which everyone said it would,” said former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, one of Trump’s fiercest Republican critics and one of four who have qualified for a third TV debate next month in Miami that may not have included Pence, who, he told CNN’s State of the Union, had run “a tough race, a good race”.

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