US Politics

With 18 months to go before the next US presidential election, it’s already clear that – barring a physical collapse or two – Joe Biden will represent the Democrats and Donald Trump will carry the hopes of Republicans.This will be the first presidential election after one of the candidates, the president at the time, tried to foment a violent insurrection to overturn the last election. It will be the first election since 1912 in which a former president (in that case Theodore Roosevelt) challenges a sitting president (in that case William Howard Taft). It will be the first election in American history in which one candidate has already been impeached – twice, in fact. It will be the first election since 1800 in which one of the major candidates can reasonably be called a threat to or disloyal to the United States of America (Aaron Burr in 1800 was the first). And Burr had not yet revealed his propensity for treachery in 1800. It will be the first election in which one of the candidates has been indicted on state criminal charges (and possibly federal charges by the time of the election).In other words, it will be a weird election in every way. Yet, despite staring at a growing, violent, nativist, fascist-like movement that doggedly supports Trump, the mainstream American news media seems poised to treat both candidates as if they are viable, reasonable representatives of the traditions their political parties have grown to symbolize.It’s as if they have learned nothing.CNN, the leading 24-hour news network, will host Trump for a “town hall” forum in New Hampshire on Wednesday, as if he were a regular candidate leading the race for the nomination of a regular party. Of course, CNN will probably do the same for the three or four others who are likely to challenge him for the Republican nomination (so far, the former UN ambassador Nikki Haley and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson are the only viable non-crank candidates).A few more might jump in, but the more challenges Trump faces, the more likely he will lock up the nomination on the first primary day, rather than a month later.Putting a microphone and three cameras on Trump as if he were just another candidate and not an instigator of the violent disruption of American democracy and leader of a conspiracy to overthrow the results of a national election is the height of journalistic irresponsibility.The conservative columnist Alyssa Farah Griffin defended CNN by saying that the host, Kaitlan Collins, is “tough” and won’t let Trump “get away with lying without being called out”. That’s exactly the problem. CNN is in the business of performing toughness and balance, not primarily producing journalism that serves to enlighten citizens and enhance democracy. CNN seems to exist to create tweetable moments of anchor “toughness”, through which the celebrities who appear on air make events and interviews all about them. The CNN faces are tough enough to stand in the wind and rain of a hurricane, and tough enough to call out a politician – even a bully like Trump – for lying. But that’s easy and shallow. Ultimately, it hurts democracy.The issue is not whether Trump gets caught in a lie or “gets away” with something. Trump doesn’t care when that happens and neither do Republican supporters. We have 40 years of Trump shamelessness to demonstrate that – seven years of Trump as a political figure. He has been “called out” time and time again. It makes no difference to his support or to his habits. Exposing Trump as a liar changes no minds about anything.But he will receive the imprimatur of respectability for warranting this platform in the first place. CNN and all journalists must concede that they perform that work, despite wishing and pretending they did not. They have just been too lazy to question doing things the way they had always done things. Every major news organization has done the same. No one has wanted to admit it is a dangerous moment or new environment.So how should mainstream journalistic organizations like CNN cover Trump – or any candidate – through the election? All plans and policies should be based on the realization that democracy is under direct threat from many small factions in the United States, supported by at least one foreign power (Russia), and that they all support the return of Donald Trump to power. Trump himself is immune to shaming and exposure. So that 20th-century assumption about shining a light or exposing or embarrassing a wrongdoer is not appropriate now. The situation is more dire and the political climate in the United States is beyond such tepid, genteel moves.News organizations should do everything differently. No more “town halls” for any candidate, not just Trump. No more interviews in comfortable chairs and good lighting intended to demonstrate both access to power and a certain toughness in approach. No more unfiltered coverage of rallies and speeches as if they constitute “news” before they are ever broadcast or rendered in text.Coverage should be driven by clear editorial choices. Journalists should decide what the candidates will respond to. They should approach each story based on an issue at hand, in the country, in the world, rather than whatever the candidate chooses to say that day. Every report should be couched in deep context, with every quote encased in statements and reminders of the candidate’s record, the facts about the issue, and what the choice is for voters.Reports should be delivered as multimedia packages, accompanied by deep research just a click away from the video, audio or text that invites the citizen into the story. Organizations should begin planning such coverage now so that nothing they do gets hijacked by shenanigans or games by any candidate – with full knowledge that hijacking the normal practices of 20th-century political journalism was precisely Trump’s strategy from 2015 through today. Steve Bannon told us so. Editors and reporters chose not to take it seriously.If a potential story does not serve to inform voters about what is at stake, it should never make it to publication or broadcast. That’s a simple test: does this story enlighten and enable the electorate? Or does this story merely serve to enrage and entertain the electorate? The moment when news organizations began gathering deep and sophisticated data about audience engagement, they began competing for attention against games and pornography and sitcoms and YouTube clips. That’s a fact of the business and a fact of life. But pandering to that fact instead of resisting it is rendering journalism incapable of functioning because journalism can never win the entertainment game.News organizations must accept that they make news by virtue of their choices. They don’t cover things that already exist as “news”. They are political actors. They must choose democracy or risk being used for free by the forces that oppose democracy. The stakes are too high to continue doing business as usual. The stakes are high in a business sense, of course. But they are higher in the sense of our survival as a democratic republic in a world in which democracy is in danger. More

Good morning. When E Jean Carroll, a magazine writer, came forward to describe how she was sexually assaulted by Donald Trump in a Manhattan department store in 1996, Trump called her claim “a complete con job” and accused her of making it up to sell books. But yesterday, a New York jury – in a civil, rather than criminal, case – disagreed. They found that he was liable for sexual abuse and defamation – and ordered him to pay her $5 million in damages.The jury did not find that Trump had raped Carroll, as she alleged. But it said that he was shown by a preponderance of the evidence to have sexually abused her, and then told a malicious falsehood about her that did serious damage to her reputation. After years of credible allegations of sexual misconduct against Trump, yesterday’s verdict is the first time that a court has said that such a claim has been proven to be true.Step back from the circus that invariably surrounds Trump and his behaviour, and the fact that the leading Republican candidate for president has been found by a jury to have been liable for sexual abuse – defined as subjecting a victim to sexual contact by physical force – appears extraordinary. Today’s newsletter explains the complex legal process that led to this point, and what it might mean for Trump’s prospects of returning to the White House. Here are the headlines.Five big stories
Science | The first UK baby created with DNA from three people has been born after a groundbreaking IVF procedure that aims to prevent children from inheriting incurable diseases. The technique, known as mitochondrial donation treatment (MDT), uses tissue from the eggs of healthy female donors to create embryos free from harmful mutations carried by their mothers.
Pakistan | Internet services have been suspended across Pakistan after violence erupted when the former prime minister, Imran Khan, was arrested at a court appearance in Islamabad and dragged into an armoured vehicle by security forces in riot gear. Khan’s arrest came after he repeated allegations that Pakistan’s powerful military establishment had tried to assassinate him twice.
UK news | One of the UK’s most prominent business leaders, the Tesco chair John Allan, faces claims of inappropriate and unprofessional behaviour from four women, the Guardian can reveal. John Allan denies allegations of inappropriate touching and remarks in three cases but apologised for comments about a woman’s appearance at a CBI conference in 2019.
Protest | Conservative MPs have condemned the use of new laws to hold anti-monarchy protesters for up to 16 hours during the coronation after the Metropolitan police admitted “regrets” over some of the arrests. Meanwhile, Labour leader Keir Starmer declined to say whether he would tear up the public order bill under which six members of the protest group Republic were arrested.
Brazil | Brazilian politicians, celebrities and social activists have paid tribute to the vivacious, loving and combative former congressman and campaigner David Miranda, who has died in Rio de Janeiro aged 37. The death of Miranda, also a columnist for Guardian US, was announced by his husband, the American journalist and lawyer Glenn Greenwald.
In depth: ‘He lied and shattered my reputation. I’m here to try and get my life back’E Jean Carroll (above), a writer and advice columnist, first went public with her accusations against Donald Trump in 2019, in the aftermath of the revelations about Harvey Weinstein that sparked the #MeToo movement. In a book excerpt published in New York magazine, Carroll wrote that after a chance encounter at the Bergdorf Goodman department store, Trump forced her against a wall and pulled down her tights before pressing his fingers into her vagina and raping her.She had never come forward before, she said, having seen the treatment handed out to other victims and concluding that it “never sounded like much fun”. And, she said, “I run the risk of making him more popular by revealing what he did.”Because the statute of limitations had expired, there was no prospect of Trump facing criminal charges over her allegations. But last year, New York state passed the Adult Survivors Act, allowing victims a one-year window to file a sexual assault lawsuit over older cases. That is how the case wound up in a Manhattan courtroom for the last two weeks.The case against Trump – and what the jury saidAgain, the trial in New York was a civil rather than criminal case – which means that Trump faces only a financial sanction and has not been convicted of anything. Carroll’s lawsuit sought damages for battery – a technical term for her claims that he “forcibly raped and groped” her – as well as for defamation after he responded to her 2019 allegations by calling her a liar. A summary of the key evidence heard by the jury is here.Carroll told the jury: “I’m here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen. He lied and shattered my reputation. I’m here to try and get my life back.”The jury was asked to reach a decision on the basis of the “preponderance of evidence” standard that applies in civil cases – that is, that the claims were more likely to be true than false. (You can see how her lawyer defined that here.) The judge told them to put “beyond reasonable doubt” out of their minds.The jury of six men and three women found that Carroll had not proved rape by that standard. But they said that she had shown that Trump had sexually abused her, and that she was injured by his conduct.They also found that Trump defamed her by claiming that her allegations were a hoax. And they ordered him to pay her just over $2 million in damages over sexual abuse, and almost $3 million over the defamation.In a piece from inside the courtroom, Chris McGreal wrote that after the verdict, Carroll “stopped, on the edge of tears, to hug friends and supporters at the front of the public gallery. Then she walked into a small conference room with her legal team where, finally, they could let out cries of delight.”E Jean Carroll’s evidenceIn her testimony, Carroll gave a detailed account of the incident, and how it has affected her life. Ever since, she said, she has found it impossible even to smile at a man she was attracted to, adding: “It left me unable to ever have a romantic life again.”Carroll’s case was bolstered by evidence from two friends of hers confirming her account that she had immediately told them about the incident. Another significant plank of Carroll’s case was the evidence from two other women who say that they were sexually assaulted by Trump, Natasha Stoynoff and Jessica Leeds, who described incidents of forcible groping and kissing 36 years apart.The jury were also played the infamous Access Hollywood tape, made public during the 2016 election campaign, in which Trump said: “when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything … Grab ‘em by the pussy.” Carroll’s lawyer argued that the evidence revealed that Trump was a “predator” with a “playbook” for sexual assault.Trump’s evidenceDespite claiming that Carroll was the perpetrator of a malicious hoax against him, and saying on a visit to Scotland that he was “going to go back and I’m going to confront this woman”, Trump did not testify in the case. Nor did his lawyer, Joseph Tacopina (above), call any witnesses. Tacopina claimed that this was because “Donald Trump doesn’t have a story to tell here, other than to say it’s a lie.”While Trump didn’t appear in person, the jury did see footage from a deposition he gave in the case. (You can watch it here.) He denied Carroll’s accusations by saying that she was “not his type” – but also mistook her in a photograph for his ex-wife, Marla Maples. Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan – who Trump volunteered was also “not his type” – suggested that his confusion undermined his claim that he was not attracted to Carroll. On his remarks in the Access Hollywood tape that famous men can grab women’s genitals, Trump said that “historically, that’s true with stars … unfortunately or fortunately”, and said that he considers himself a star. Roberta Kaplan said he had effectively been “a witness against himself”.When cross-examining Carroll, Tacopina took an approach which Chris McGreal wrote had “​​raised more than a few eyebrows in the legal community and left some spectators in court aghast”, casting doubt on the plausibility of her evidence not to have screamed or have called the police. Carroll replied: “One of the reasons women don’t come forward is because they’re always asked: ‘Why didn’t you scream?’ Some women scream. Some women don’t. It keeps women silent.”The consequences for Trump’s political careerIn 2016, Trump famously boasted: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters.” Now a version of that question appears central to his prospects of another shot at the White House.In the aftermath of the verdict yesterday, Trump’s supporters variously focused on the fact that he had not been found liable for rape, ridiculed the standard of proof applied in the case (as is quite typical in civil suits), and made dark claims of political conspiracy. Trump himself claimed that he got “treated very badly by the Clinton-appointed judge”, called the case “a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time”, and said he has “no idea who this woman is”.Trump is now likely to appeal, though most legal analysts see few plausible grounds to do so. The first live forum in which he is likely to face questions over the case comes tonight, in a town hall event for CNN.Given Trump already has a variety of other legal cases hanging over him, and has faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct in the past, it seems unlikely that his avowed supporters will see much in the verdicts to persuade them to change their minds. Even his rivals for the nomination will likely perform verbal gymnastics to avoid directly criticising him over the outcome, lest they alienate the Republican base.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThere was “no chorus of Democrats and Republicans calling for Trump, 76, to drop out of the primary”, David Smith writes in his analysis. Trump is seven points ahead of Joe Biden in the most recent poll. But there is already plenty of electoral evidence that swing voters have been put off by the allegations that have long been attached to him – and the jury’s finding in this case is arguably the most concrete proof of bad character that he has ever had to face.What else we’ve been reading
Barbara Speed’s piece on our collective obsession with having the right kind of sleep is incisive. She points out that getting a good night’s sleep is usually not a result of personal will but rather because of physical conditions or economic inequality: “Our sleep reflects not the bedtime tea we drink or what type of light our phone screen emits, but what is demanded of us in our waking lives.” Nimo
After the leader of anti-monarchist group Republic Graham Smith was arrested at the coronation, he’s bullish in this interview with Daniel Boffey: “If they were trying to diminish our publicity in order to enhance theirs, it massively backfired, in a spectacular way.” Archie
Andrew Gumbel’s dispatch from Los Angeles makes for bewildering reading as he unpacks the blunders that led to the LAPD publicly releasing the names and photos of 9,000 cops, including undercover officers working on dangerous assignments. Nimo
Jon Henley has a very useful explainer on this weekend’s election in Turkey – where Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is facing a serious challenge to his decades-long tenure as president. And Ruth Michaelson and Deniz Barış Narlı report on the mood in Antalya: “Even if the price of onions reaches 1bn lira, our choice won’t change,” one voter says. “Always Erdoğan.” Archie
ICYMI: The Atlantic’s Caitlin Dickerson won a Pulitzer prize this week for her meticulously detailed 2022 investigation into how the US government’s family separation policy at the southern border materialised, tracing its inception all the way back to 9/11. Nimo
SportFootball | A stunning second-half goal from Kevin De Bruyne cancelled out Vinícius Júnior’s opener to leave the semi-final poised at 1-1 before the second leg in Manchester next week. Barney Ronay wrote that despite Erling Haaland’s impact, De Bruyne “is still City’s best, most forceful, most alluring creative player”.Rugby | The Rugby Football Union has banned Alex Murphy, a distinguished former council member, from Twickenham for making racist comments including using the N-word during a Six Nations match last year. The news comes just after an investigation by the Rugby Football Union that concluded that racism exists at every level of the game in England.Cricket | Jofra Archer has been ruled out of the remainder of the Indian Premier League season and is returning to England to improve his chances of participating in the Ashes. Ali Martin writes that “there are few more alluring fast bowlers” than Archer – but now “concerns over his involvement in the Ashes are inevitable”.The front pagesWednesday’s front pages are dominated by the news of advice columnist E Jean Carroll’s court victory over former US president Donald Trump. The Guardian leads with “Trump sexually abused writer in 1990s, New York jury finds,” and the Telegraph has an almost identical headline: “Trump sexually assaulted writer, US jury finds”. The Daily Mail has a slightly different angle with “Is this the end of Trump’s new bid to be president?” while the Daily Mirror baldly states “Trump the sex attacker”.The Times splashes on “Britain set to blacklist Russia’s Wagner group”. The top story in the Financial Times is “Blood-scandal compensation scheme expected to cost taxpayer up to £10bn”. The Metro looks back on Russia’s Victory parade, labelling it “Stark raving Vlad,” while the i says it has an exclusive with “Archbishop clashes with No 10 on migration”.Today in FocusDid distress calls go unanswered in the run-up to a fatal Channel disaster?In November 2021 a dinghy crossing from France to the UK overturned, and at least 27 people drowned. Questions are being asked over whether distress calls were effectively ignored in run-up to worst Channel disaster in 30 yearsCartoon of the day | Ella BaronThe UpsideA bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all badThe 90s are enjoying another resurgence and this time one of the most beloved toys of the era is getting a refresh: the Tamagotchi. The keychain-sized gaming devices instantly exploded in popularity 30 years ago, but disappeared from the playground just as quickly. Now they are back in the form of Peridot, from Pokémon Go creator Niantic.Players are invited to hatch and care for their own unique digital pet, just like a Tamagotchi, but this time it works via an augmented reality app, meaning that your new friend appears in your real-world surroundings – so you can take it for walks in the park or play with it in your home.Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every SundayBored at work?And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day – with plenty more on the Guardian’s Puzzles app for iOS and Android. Until tomorrow.
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A mystery of Donald Trump’s US presidency was the absence of a major sex scandal. The thrice-married billionaire who boasted on Access Hollywood that women let him “grab ’em by the pussy’” seemed to commit every abuse of power except the kind that nearly brought down Bill Clinton.Trump’s effort to regain the White House, however, must confront a different reality: he is now a legally defined as a sexual predator.On Tuesday a jury in New York found that the former president sexually abused magazine writer E Jean Carroll in the 1990s and then defamed her by branding her a liar, awarding about $5m in compensatory and punitive damages.It was a moment of reckoning for a man who was previously accused of sexual misconduct or assault by more than two dozen women but faced no legal consequences. It was also a dire verdict for the Republican frontrunner in the race for the White House in 2024.Yet perhaps the one thing more shocking was how unshockable America has become.There was no chorus of Democrats and Republicans calling for Trump, 76, to drop out of the primary, though Asa Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas and a Republican candidate, did tell Semafor: “The jury verdict should be treated with seriousness and is another example of the indefensible behavior of Donald Trump.”Nor was there any expectation in the media that Trump is finished. Like road deaths, and to a lesser extent gun deaths, his perpetual scandal machine has become normalised, his peculiar uncanny ability to weather controversies that would sink other politicians now taken for granted. On Monday the Axios website pointed out: “Trump’s weird weapon: Bad news.”So it is that, despite two impeachments and a criminal indictment, Trump led Joe Biden by seven points in a Washington Post-ABC News poll published on Sunday. Amazingly, 18% of respondents who think Trump should be arrested still preferred him to the current president.In that context, it seems unlikely that the civil verdict will have an impact on Trump’s core supporters, who view his legal woes as part of a concerted effort by opponents to undermine him. He wrote on his Truth Social platform: “This verdict is a disgrace – A continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time!”A typical response came from Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee on Fox News: “We’ve been watching this legal circus in Manhattan unfold. This is just the latest act in it. This has been going on for years. And he has been amazing in his ability to weather these sorts of attacks and the American public has been amazing in their support for him.”Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, added some deflection and distraction on the same network: “I do think the American people, though, are going to be focused on what’s happening on our southern border, what’s happening with inflation.”Will the Christian evangelicals who helped Trump win election in 2016 go at least a little wobbly? Probably not. The Access Hollywood tape and Stormy Daniels hush money case left them mostly unmoved. They are more likely to break with Trump over his unwillingness to be quite as extreme on abortion as some of his rivals.Still, Democrats are hoping that the laws of political physics must surely reassert themselves in the long run, whatever the lack of enthusiasm for Biden. Outside the rightwing media ecosystem, millions of viewers have now seen a video clip from Trump’s October 2022 deposition that showed him mistaking Carroll for one of his former wives in a black-and-white photo (previously Trump had said he could not have raped Carroll because she was not “his type”.)Cornell Belcher, a political analyst and pollster, tweeted: “Unfortunately this sexual assault verdict will not have a negative impact on Trump’s GOP primary race, however in the general election, the 2024 gender gap likely just became a much wider & deeper gulf for the GOP, particularly in the suburbs.”Trump has a town hall event in New Hampshire on Wednesday, live on CNN in prime time. He will likely try to use the platform to defame Carroll again and promote election lies. It will be another test for the media, and the nation, to respond with something other than numbness. More

Federal prosecutors in New York have charged congressman George Santos, the embattled House Republican who has been under scrutiny for months by the justice department over questions surrounding his 2022 campaign and finance activities, according to people familiar with the matter.The exact nature of the indictment – earlier reported by CNN – is unclear because it remains under seal.Santos is expected to turn himself in to authorities at the federal court in Brooklyn as soon as Wednesday morning, one of the people said. There, he will likely make an initial appearance at an arraignment, where the specific charges against him are expected to be released.The news of the indictment appears to have come as a surprise to Santos, who was informed about the charges on Tuesday hours before they were widely reported, and neither a spokesperson in his congressional office nor his attorney responded to a request for comment.For months, the US attorney’s office for the eastern district of New York and the FBI have been pursuing several lines of inquiry over Santos’s federal campaign filings as part of a criminal investigation into whether he unlawfully used funds for non-election-related purposes.The irregularities in Santos’s filings, reported by news outlets, were apparent on their face: 1,200 payments of $199.99 – two cents below the threshold where receipts would be required – an unregistered fund that raised vast sums for Santos, and around $40,000 for air travel.When Santos and his campaign eventually amended the campaign finance disclosures, as they did 36 times, some donors complained in interviews that they misrepresented how much they gave, while some contributions later disappeared entirely from the record.The irregularities also included bizarre payments, such as $11,000 to a company called Cleaner 123 ostensibly for “apartment rental for staff” for a house on Long Island that neighbors told the New York Times in interviews that Santos had been living in himself.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionSantos has so far managed to evade any serious political repercussions for his extensive dishonesty to voters, probably due to the fact that Republicans hold a razor-thin majority in the House and Santos was a key vote for House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy to win the speakership.The most pressing issue until the indictment was confined to a House ethics investigation, by a congressional committee that rarely disciplines House members. After the charges were widely reported, McCarthy told reporters he would ask Santos, who last month announced his 2024 re-election campaign, to resign if found guilty. More

For a moment, E Jean Carroll appeared stricken.Not a single member of the jury looked at her as they filed back into court, verdict on her rape case against Donald Trump in hand.The foreperson handed the decision to the court clerk, who read the answer to the first question: “Did Ms Carroll prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that Mr Trump raped Ms Carroll?”The six men and three women on the jury answered: No.Carroll’s face fell. Had her three days on the witness stand describing in graphic detail how Trump “rummaged around in her vagina” after pinning her down in a department store changing room failed to convince the jurors after all?Had the 10 other witnesses, including the friends who testified that she told them about the attack when it occurred in 1996, been dismissed as conspiracists against Trump, as his defence claimed?The clerk moved on to the second question: had Trump sexually abused the advice columnist?The jurors unanimously said: Yes.Carroll’s face lit up. She was believed after all. One of her lawyers, Shaun Crowley, beamed next to her. Some of the jurors caught her eye.There were more questions to be answered but Carroll had already won.A group of New Yorkers sat through all the evidence and believed the 79-year-old advice columnist when she described how the former and possibly future president, now 76, lured her into danger with his charm and then, in an instant, became a “monster”.Trump called her a liar and a “nut job” and described her accusations as a hoax. But the jury decided that he was the liar, and much worse. It made the former president pay to the tune of $5m for the sexual assault and for defaming Carroll while denying it happened.The jury’s job done, Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, who subjected Carroll to nearly two days of at times gruelling cross-examination, walked over and shook her hand.Then the former Elle advice columnist turned and headed towards the back of the courtroom.She stopped, on the edge of tears, to hug friends and supporters at the front of the public gallery. Then she walked into a small conference room with her legal team where, finally, they could let out cries of delight.The judge, Lewis Kaplan, gave the jurors several options in reaching a verdict. He said that in order to establish that Trump raped her, Carroll must prove he engaged in sexual intercourse involving any penetration, however slight, of the penis into the vaginal opening. It must also have been the result of “forcible compulsion”.The jurors could not unanimously agree that Trump had indeed forced his penis into Carroll’s vagina, given that she described it as relatively fleeting. But, given that the verdict came back in less than three hours, it appears they had little trouble agreeing the second option on the form, of sexual abuse.The judge said that finding required that Carroll prove Trump subjected her to sexual contact without consent by use of force, and that it was for the purpose of sexual gratification.Tacopina repeatedly tried to shake Carroll’s account in which she described Trump pinning her against a wall with his shoulder, forcibly kissing her, ripping off her tights then pressing his fingers into her vagina. But the former president’s lawyer achieved little more than giving Carroll the opportunity to repeatedly recount the details of the attack.Neither did Tacopina’s attempts to challenge her veracity by questioning why she didn’t scream or call the police play well for his client.At the beginning of the trial, Carroll testified that Trump’s attack destroyed her romantic life. She told the jury she had not had sex in more than quarter of a century because she could barely look at a man she was interested in. And then the former president destroyed her reputation when he called her a liar, leading Elle magazine to fire her after 27 years.“I’m here because Donald Trump raped me and when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen,” she said. “He lied and shattered my reputation. I’m here to try and get my life back.”On Tuesday, the jury granted her wish. More

From 2h agoIn a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump reacted to a federal jury finding him liable for sexually abusing and defaming advice columnist E Jean Carroll, and ordering him to pay a total of $5m in damages:
I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS. THIS VERDICT IS A DISGRACE – A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!
New York Republican representative George Santos has been criminally charged by federal prosecutors, CNN is exclusively reporting. The disgraced lawmaker, who has admitted to a number of falsehoods and fabrications and been accused of many more, is expected to appear in federal court as early as Wednesday, CNN reported.The nature of the charges are not yet clear, but Santos had been under investigation over alleged false statements regarding campaign finance filings and other issues.In addition to the criminal charges, Santos has faced inquiries related to complaints alleging sexual harassment and campaign finance violations. He is currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee.His alarming behavior has ranged from political misconduct to more bizarre incidents, including stealing cash raised for a veteran’s dying dog, lying about being a producer on a Broadway musical about Spider-Man, and falsely claiming his mother survived the 9/11 terrorist attacks.Santos has admitted to smaller infractions including fabricating his resume but denies many of the other allegations, and has meanwhile announced a bid for reelection.Our video team has put together this explainer looking at how Donald Trump’s legal troubles might affect his bid for the presidency in 2024. Trump still faces criminal charges around his alleged role in the January 6 Capitol attack and whether he took steps to remove classified documents from a storage room at his Mar-a-Lago resort. This two cases could lead to jail time.Our reporter Hugo Lowell, says Trump doesn’t see his “legal difficulties as an impediment” to his bid because he believes he might be treated differently by the justice department if he is a presidential candidate.Former Fox News star Tucker Carlson will be reviving his show on Twitter, after being abruptly dismissed from the network last month.With a tweet simply captioned “We’re back”, Carlson shared a video discussing his next moves. The media pundit had become the most successful host on Fox News, garnering a dedicated following while spouting xenophobic and racist rhetoric on his show.In his return video, Carlson echoed many of the same points he has often asserted: that the so-called mainstream media is full of propaganda and lies.Carlson said he would be taking his show to Twitter, which he described as “the last remaining platform in the world” to allow free speech.“Twitter is not a partisan site, everybody’s allowed here, and we think that’s a good thing,” he said. “And yet, for the most part, the news that you see analyzed on Twitter comes from media organizations that are themselves thinly disguised propaganda outlets.”Carlson’s pivot to Twitter comes after the site has become more welcoming to mostly conservative accounts previously banned for spreading hate speech and disinformation under Elon Musk’s new direction. The billionaire took over the site in October 2022 and promptly allowed previously banished accounts to return, including that of former president Donald Trump.Carlson did not make any mention of Musk in his video. He promised a “new version of the show we’ve been doing for the last six and a half years” to his followers.Following his departure from Fox News, his former employers have replaced his popular show with an interim program called Fox News Tonight, which features rotating pundits from the network until a replacement can be found.California’s senior senator, Dianne Feinstein, is poised to return to the Senate after a three-month health absence during which she missed upwards of 90 floor votes.The Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, released a statement on Tuesday welcoming her return.“I’m glad that my friend Dianne is back in the Senate and ready to roll up her sleeves and get to work,” it said. “After talking with her multiple times over the past few weeks, it’s clear she is back where she wants to be and ready to deliver for California.”The 89-year-old lawmaker has been facing growing calls to resign amid concerns about her physical and cognitive health. Her inability to attend votes has also impeded the Democrats’ ability to confirm nominees from President Joe Biden, as Democrats hold just a slim majority in the Senate. Feinstein’s absence led to several stalemates and stalled votes, they argue – a characterization Feinstein has disputed.Hello readers, this is Kari Paul from the Guardian’s west coast bureau taking over for the next couple hours. Stay tuned for updates.Before the verdict was read, Law & Crime reports that federal judge Lewis Kaplan advised jurors on whether or not to make public their involvement in the case against Donald Trump:Expect to hear lots of reactions in the hours to come from Washington and elsewhere to this verdict, and the Guardian’s Kari Paul is now taking over the blog to keep you posted on the latest developments.A spokesman for the former president elaborated on his objections to the verdict reached against him by a federal jury in New York City.“Make no mistake, this entire bogus case is a political endeavor targeting President Trump because he is now an overwhelming frontrunner to be once again elected president of the United States,” the spokesman said in a statement, which added that the verdict was part of the “Democratic party’s never-ending witch-hunt”.“Sadly, for the enemies of American freedom and democracy, President Trump will never stop fighting for the American people, no matter what the radical Democrats dream up next,” the spokesman continued.“This case will be appealed, and we will ultimately win.”Reuters reports that Donald Trump plans to appeal the sexual abuse and defamation verdict against him.Meanwhile, here’s a clip of E Jean Carroll as she departed the courthouse:The hardworking reporters at Law & Crime caught E Jean Carroll as she was exiting the courthouse in New York City, where she sounded positive about the outcome of the lawsuit she brought against Donald Trump:In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump reacted to a federal jury finding him liable for sexually abusing and defaming advice columnist E Jean Carroll, and ordering him to pay a total of $5m in damages:
I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHO THIS WOMAN IS. THIS VERDICT IS A DISGRACE – A CONTINUATION OF THE GREATEST WITCH HUNT OF ALL TIME!
While jurors did not find Donald Trump liable for the most damning allegation E Jean Carroll brought against him – rape – their verdict is nonetheless going to cost the former president, both financially and perhaps in terms of his reputation.The New York City jury found him liable for defamation and sexual abuse, and have ordered him to pay a total of $5m in damages: for the battery claim, $2m in compensation and $20,000 in punitive damages, and for defamation, $2.7m in compensation and $280,000 in punitive damages.Trump has not yet commented about the verdict on Truth Social, which he usually uses to make his opinions on matters known. But he’s set to tomorrow evening participate in a town hall organized by CNN in New Hampshire – and surely be asked about the verdicts then.A federal jury in New York City found that Donald Trump defamed advice columnist E Jean Carroll with an October 2022 social media post in which he called her allegations a “con job”, Reuters reports.The jury awarded Carroll a total of $3m in damages, $2.7m of which are compensatory and $280,000 of which are punitive. They also awarded $20,000 in punitive damages against Trump over a claim of battery made by Carroll.A federal jury in New York City has found that Donald Trump sexually abused advice columnist E Jean Carroll and awarded more than $2m in damages, Reuters reports. However, the jurors did not agree with Carroll’s allegation that the former president raped her, according to Reuters.Some color from the courtroom where the verdict in the Trump civil rape lawsuit will be read imminently, courtesy of Law & Crime: More

A New York jury found on Tuesday that Donald Trump sexually abused the advice columnist E Jean Carroll in a New York department store changing room 27 years ago.The verdict for the first time legally brands a former US president as a sexual predator. But as it is the result of a civil not criminal case, the only legal sanction Trump will face is financial.In explaining a finding of sexual abuse to the jury, the judge said it had two elements. That Trump subjected Carroll to sexual contact without consent by use of force, and that it was for the purpose of sexual gratification.The jury deliberated for less than three hours. It did not find Trump raped Carroll, but did find him liable for sexual abuse.It awarded about $5m in compensatory and punitive damages: about $2m on the sexual abuse count and close to $3m for defamation, for branding her a liar.Before the verdict in the highly charged case, the judge, Lewis A Kaplan, warned the courtroom: “No shouting. No jumping up and down. No race for the door.”After the verdict, as she was escorted to a car, Carroll said: “We’re very happy.”George Conway, a conservative lawyer and Trump critic who encouraged Carroll to sue, said on Twitter: “God bless E Jean Carroll and congratulations to Roberta Kaplan [Carroll’s attorney] and her team for a job well done.”Trump used his Truth Social platform to say: “I have absolutely no idea who this woman is. The verdict is a disgrace – a continuation of the greatest witch hunt of all time.”In his deposition, released to the public last week, Trump mistook a picture of Carroll in his company for a picture of his second wife, Marla Maples.On Tuesday, lawyers for Trump issued a statement deriding the case as “bogus” and saying they would appeal “and … ultimately win”.Politically, Trump has capitalised on his legal woes, leading by wide margins in polling regarding the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Nonetheless, he faces mounting legal danger.In New York last month, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 criminal charges of falsifying business records over a hush-money payment to the porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election.Trump looks likely to face criminal charges over attempts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, and is also the target of a federal investigation into his actions around the election, including his incitement of the US Capitol attack.A federal special counsel is also investigating the stashing of secret documents at his Florida estate. In New York, Trump faces a civil suit over his business and tax affairs.In the Carroll case, a jury of three women and six men was persuaded by Carroll’s testimony over three days, describing events in a New York department store changing room in 1996.Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, said he would use Carroll’s own words to disprove her allegation, showing the former Elle magazine columnist conspired with friends to falsely accuse the former president because they “hated” Trump and his politics.But in seven days of testimony, he failed to do either.Carroll testified that the attack left her unable to have a romantic relationship. She said Trump “shattered my reputation” by denying the attack when she went public in 2019, after which Elle sacked her in months. Trump repeatedly called Carroll a liar, including after her first day of testimony when he claimed a “made up SCAM”.Carroll told the trial she ran into Trump as she was leaving the Bergdorf Goodman department store one evening in spring 1996.“He said, ‘I need to buy a gift, come help me,’” she said. “I was delighted.”Carroll said she suggested a handbag or a hat but he wasn’t interested.“He said, ‘I know, lingerie,’” she said. “He led the way to the escalator.”Carroll described herself as “absolutely enchanted” and “delighted” to go to the lingerie department. She told the court Trump “snatched up” a bodysuit and told her to try it on.“I had no intention of putting it on. I said, ‘You put it on, it’s your colour’,” she said.Carroll said Trump suggested they both try it on, and motioned toward the dressing room. She said she thought it was all a joke. The mood changed rapidly.“He immediately shut the door and shoved me up against the wall. He shoved me so hard my head banged. I was extremely confused,” she said.Carroll said the situation “turned absolutely dark”.“He leaned down and pulled down my tights,” she said. “I was pushing him back. It was quite clear I didn’t want anything else to happen.”Speaking quietly and slowly, she said Trump raped her.Carroll said she will always regret going into the dressing room with Trump. She shed tears as she explained that since the rape she found it impossible to even smile at a man she was attracted to, and that it marked the end of her sex life.Two of Carroll’s friends told the trial she confided in them immediately after the attack but swore them to secrecy.Tacopina challenged Carroll during nearly two days of cross-examination. The lawyer focused on her actions during and immediately after the attack, questioning why she didn’t scream or call the police, and why she waited more than 20 years to publicly accuse Trump.But the questioning backfired as Carroll gave confident and credible explanations, saying her inability to give a single cause for not screaming was not evidence she was lying.“One of the reasons women don’t come forward is because they’re always asked, ‘Why didn’t you scream?’ Some women scream. Some women don’t. It keeps women silent,” she said.Carroll said she was too “ashamed” to go to the police, even if that was the advice she gave in her Elle column.“I was born in 1943. I’m a member of the silent generation. Women like me were taught to keep our chins up and to not complain. I would never call the police about something I am ashamed of.”“I was never going to talk about what Donald Trump did,” she said.But she was motivated to speak as the #MeToo movement took off and women across the US related experiences of sexual assault and harassment.Carroll also sued Trump for defamation, having expected him to say they had a consensual encounter, not deny it altogether.“It hit me and it laid me low because I lost my reputation. Nobody looked at me the same. It was gone. Even people who knew me looked at me with pity in their eyes, and the people who had no opinion now thought I was a liar and hated me,” she said.Carroll said she considers Trump “evil” and a “terrible” president but denied bringing the lawsuit because of her political views.“I’m not settling a political score. I’m settling a personal score,” she said.Asked if she regretted accusing Trump, given the consequences, her voice broke.“I regretted this about 100 times but, in the end, being able to get my day in court finally is everything,” she said, through tears. More

The trial over whether or not Donald Trump raped the author E Jean Carroll gripped America as it saw the former US president accused of sex crimes in a court of law.In the end a jury ruled that Trump sexually abused the New York writer, but did not convict him of rape.Here were the key moments:Carroll testifiesOn the first day of the trial, E Jean Carroll gave her account of the attack that she said left her unable to have a romantic relationship.“I’m here because Donald Trump raped me, and when I wrote about it, he said it didn’t happen. He lied and shattered my reputation. I’m here to try and get my life back,” she told the jury.Carroll described running into Trump as she was leaving the Bergdorf Goodman luxury department store. She said he asked for help in buying a gift for a woman and eventually led the way to the lingerie department.Carroll described Trump as very talkative, and herself as “absolutely enchanted”.Carroll said Trump “snatched up” a grey-blue bodysuit in the lingerie department and demanded she try it on. “I had no intention of putting it on. I said, ‘You put it on, it’s your colour,’” she told the court.Carroll said Trump suggested they both try it on, and motioned toward the dressing room. She said she did not take it seriously.But, she said, the mood changed rapidly after they stepped into the dressing room.“He immediately shut the door and shoved me up against the wall. He shoved me so hard my head banged. I was extremely confused,” she said.Carroll told the jury the situation “turned absolutely dark”. She said Trump pulled down her tights and sexually attacked her.Judge rebukes TrumpThe judge, Lewis Kaplan, warned Trump he may have crossed the line into jury-tampering after the former president posted an attack on his social media site, Truth Social, calling Carroll’s accusations a “made-up SCAM” and a “witch-hunt”. Kaplan called Trump’s post “entirely inappropriate” and warned they could become “a potential source of liability” for him.Trump fell silent for a few days but launched a fresh attack on Carroll during a visit to Ireland on Thursday, calling the advice columnist “a disgrace” and saying the judge was “extremely hostile”.George Conway advised CarrollCarroll told the trial she sued Trump after she was encouraged to take legal action by George Conway, the husband of one of the then president’s top aides, Kellyanne Conway. George Conway was an outspoken critic of Trump to the embarrassment of his wife who was working in the White House.Carroll said that after she went public with her accusation against Trump in 2019, and the then president accused her of lying about it, she met Conway at a party. She said he encouraged her to “seriously think” about suing the president for defamation. She filed the lawsuit a few days later.Tacopina sought to paint the encounter as evidence of Carroll’s political motivation for the action against Trump.Corroborating witnessesTwo close friends of Carroll told the trial that she told them about the incident shortly after the attack.Lisa Birnbach told the jury that Carroll called “breathless, hyperventilating, emotional” and advised her to go to the police.Birnbach said that Carroll refused.Another friend, Carol Martin, gave the opposite advice when Carroll came to her house and told her about the assault.“I just volunteered that she shouldn’t do anything because it was Donald Trump and he had a lot of attorneys and he would just bury her,” she said.“I have questioned myself more than once over the years why I told her that. I’m not proud.”Psychologist testifiesDr Leslie Lebowitz, a clinical psychologist, told the trial that Carroll was “doubled over with stomach pain” as she recalled her attack.Lebowitz said Carroll exhibits aspects of post-traumatic stress disorder, including physical pain, without fitting the full clinical diagnosis as a result of the alleged assault in 1996.The psychologist concluded Carroll has been harmed in three main ways. These include suffering from “painful intrusive memories” for many years and a “diminishment” in how she thinks and feels about herself. But Lebowitz said that perhaps the most prominent effect was Carroll “manifests avoidance syndromes” that have stopped her having a romantic life.“Following her encounter with Mr Trump she began to shut down in the presence of eligible men,” said Lebowitz. “She’s avoiding anything that reminds her of the threat.” More