Trump says it’s up to states to prosecute women over abortions
Also in that Time interview, the Republican presidential contender continued to duck, weave and dodge on the question of abortion, reluctant to commit himself one way or another for fear of alienating precious votes.
Here’s Gustaf Kilander on what precisely he had to say.
Trump says he’d leave decision with states to prosecute women for having abortions
The former president has proudly claimed responsibility for overturning Roe v Wade
Joe Sommerlad1 May 2024 12:15
Trump does not dismiss the possibility of more political violence
In a major new interview with Time magazine published on Monday, Trump refused to dismiss the possibility of more political violence should he fail to win the upcoming presidential election in November.
The former president said that the response from his supporters “depends on the fairness of the election,” after having falsely claimed on multiple occasions that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him.
No evidence was ever presented to support those claims, which were rejected by judges across the country in the wake of Joe Biden’s victory.
Mike Bedigan reports.
Trump does not dismiss the possibility of more violence if he doesn’t win election
The former president – who faces a litany of civil and criminal charges – said the response from his supporters in November ‘depends on the fairness’ of the 2024 election
Joe Sommerlad1 May 2024 11:45
Trump returns to campaign trail on Wednesday for rallies in Wisconsin and Michigan
With the court in recess on Wednesdays, the former president is finally getting back out there today to do some actual campaigning.
Who’s betting he’ll conjure up some more gag order violations for Judge Merchan to consider on Thursday morning?
Trump returns to campaign facing a warning of jail time if he violates a trial gag order
Donald Trump will use a one-day break from his hush money trial to rally voters in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan
Joe Sommerlad1 May 2024 11:15
New York hush money trial: Key takeaways from fifth day of testimony
Here’s Oliver O’Connell and Alex Woodward’s round-up of the key events from another busy day of testimony yesterday, including a reminder of who “David Dennison” and “Peggy Peterson” are and why Michael Cohen resembles a cartoon dog.
Trump hush money trial: Key takeaways from fifth day of testimony
During day five of testimony, Donald Trump was hit with a $9,000 gag order fine and was granted his request to attend Barron’s graduation
Joe Sommerlad1 May 2024 10:45
New York hush money trial: Insiders believed Access Hollywood tape meant the end for Trump, court hears
While Trump’s campaign was spiralling after a leaked tape caught him bragging about sexually assaulting women, an attorney and tabloid editor brokering deals to keep damaging stories about him out of the press thought his chances of winning the 2016 presidential election were over, his hush money trial heard on Tuesday.
Keith Davidson – a former attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels who ultimately negotiated the $130,000 sale of her story to Mr Trump’s then-attorney Michael Cohen – testified that interest in his client’s story “reached a crescendo” after the 2005 Access Hollywood tape leaked just weeks before Election Day in 2016.
Here’s more from Alex Woodward, who is covering proceedings for us at Manhattan Criminal Court.
Insiders thought Access Hollywood tape would be the end for Trump, trial hears
Stormy Daniels’s lawyer Keith Davidson detailed the urgency to bury damaging allegations involving Trump after the tape’s release in the weeks before Election Day in 2016
Joe Sommerlad1 May 2024 10:15
New York hush money trial: Court shown texts negotiating deal for ‘blockbuster Trump story’ about Karen McDougal ‘affair’
The attorney who represented a former Playboy model who alleged a months-long affair with Donald Trump had offered a “blockbuster” story to a tabloid editor, kicking off negotiations that helped his 2016 campaign bury a potentially embarrassing story in the months before Election Day.
Jurors in the former president’s hush money trial on Tuesday saw a series of text messages between attorney Keith Davidson, who represented Karen McDougal at the time, and then-National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard, who brokered a deal with publisher David Pecker to buy the rights to Ms McDougal’s story for $150,000.
“I have a blockbuster trump [sic] story,” Davidson wrote to Howard on 7 June 2016, according to messages shown in court.
Alex Woodward has the story.
Hush money trial sees texts negotiating deal for ‘blockbuster Trump story’
Keith Davidson, an attorney for Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels, flagged stories involving Trump’s alleged affairs to tabloid editors, jurors hear
Joe Sommerlad1 May 2024 09:45
Truth Social: Trump continues to attack hush money case after being fined for gag order violations
He just will not learn his lesson, will he?
Those posts all popped up on Truth Social yesterday not long after Judge Juan Merchan, who will be considering four more potential gag order violations when court resumes on Thursday, had fined him $9,000 for nine offending social media posts and warned the defendant he could face jail time if he keeps reoffending.
Incredibly, Trump was not deterred by the judge’s fine and is already fundraising off it!
Per Politico, his campaign wrote in an email to supporters yesterday:
“A Democrat judge JUST HELD ME IN CONTEMPT OF COURT!
“I was fined $9,000 for 9 gag order violations. THEY WANT TO SILENCE ME! They think they can BLEED ME DRY and SHUT ME UP, but I’ll NEVER stop fighting for YOU.”
And, as if that weren’t enough, after court on Tuesday the defendant also took the opportunity to claim, yet again, that the E Jean Carroll defamation ruling against him was also bogus because he had never met her, potentially defaming her yet again.
Here’s Alex Woodward’s report on the justice’s threat.
Trump hit with $9,000 fine for violating hush money trial gag order
The former president was also ordered to delete Truth Social posts attacking witnesses – or face jail time
Joe Sommerlad1 May 2024 09:15
Trump attacks campus protesters and tells Fox: ‘We have to let Israel complete their war on terror’
The criminal defendant and part-time Republican presidential candidate called into Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News last night to denounce the pro-Palestinian protests on America’s college campuses, attacking the demonstrators at Columbia University for damaging the historic Hamilton Hall and praising the New York cops for breaking up their occupation of the building.
He backed the Israeli military response to the Hamas terror attack of 7 October, likening it to the US’s own “War on Terror” in response to 9/11 and insisted: “You have to clean out the cancer.”
Even more disturbingly, he also said this (as usual, entirely without evidence):
“I really think you have a lot of paid agitators, professional agitators in here too, and I see it all over.
“You know, when you see signs and they’re all identical. That means they’re being paid by a source.
“You know, these aren’t hand-painted signs where people would go to their basem*nt and paint something because they really believed that. These are all signs that are identical that made by the same printer.
“And you know, when you see that that means there’s somebody at the top that’s paying, or a group that’s paying, and they’re doing a great disservice to the world, but they’re doing a great disservice to our country.”
You can read Richard Hall’s report on the latest from Columbia below.
Dozens of protesters arrested as NYPD storm Columbia campus
Hundreds of police swarm the campus after protesters occupied a college hall, the latest escalation amid weeks of demonstrations that have spread nationwide
Joe Sommerlad1 May 2024 08:45
Trump insider says Noem destroyed her VP chances with dog execution story
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem‘s tale of killing her family dog because it annoyed her has, unsurprisingly, not ingratiated her to the general public. And it may have cost her a spot as Donald Trump‘s running mate.
In her upcoming book, No Going Back, the Republican governor details how she shot her 14-month-old German wirehaired pointer named Cricket because it was poorly behaved. She then disposed of the dog in a nearby gravel pit.
It is perhaps the only thing that has brought Americans together, as Graig Graziosi reports:
Trump insider says Noem destroyed her running mate chances with dog killing story
‘I’m a dog lover and I am honestly horrified by the Kristi Noem excerpt,’ Donald Trump’s former spokesperson, Alyssa Farah Griffin, said
Oliver O'Connell1 May 2024 07:30
Trump has been told he can attend his son’s graduation after all. So what do we know about Barron?
Joe Sommerlad reports:
Donald Trump will be able to attend the high school graduation of his youngest son Barron Trump after all, despite it clashing with his New York hush money trial.
On the very first day of his criminal trial on Monday 15 April, the Republican presidential candidate emerged from the courtroom to complain to reporters that Judge Juan Merchan would not allow him to be present for the milestone event in his son’s life.
His fury was echoed by members of the conservative media, with Fox News guest Piers Morgan urging the former president to risk jail time rather than miss such an important occasion.
But the judge actually hadn’t said anything of the sort, saying he would rule on whether or not Mr Trump could attend at a later date.
Read on...
Trump told he can attend son Barron’s graduation after all
Former president has been allowed the day off from his criminal trial in New York to attend Barron’s graduation in Florida
Oliver O'Connell1 May 2024 05:30
