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      Trump declines to answer questions in New York business investigation

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      Trump declines to answer questions in New York business investigationEx-president pleads the fifth two days after the FBI raided his Florida home, seeking classified documents Donald Trump declined to answer questions under oath on Wednesday in New York state’s civil investigation into his business dealings, pleading the fifth two days after the FBI raided his Florida home in a criminal case, seeking classified documents taken from the White House.The former US president’s decision to exercise his fifth amendment constitutional right against self-incrimination was delivered during a closed-door deposition in Manhattan, where the New York state attorney general, Letitia James, is examining the Trump family real estate empire.“I declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States constitution,” Trump said in a statement as he prepared to appear before James.Trump’s deposition, which took place in lower Manhattan, appears to have lasted several hours. The former president departed 28 Liberty Street at 3.20pm in a black Secret Service SUV and peered out of the rear window as his motorcade crawled out of an underground garage and drove past onlookers.After Trump’s deposition concluded, one of Trump’s lawyers, Ronald Fischetti, confirmed that over the course of four hours, including several breaks, the former president had answered just one question – to state his name – and offered a statement calling the inquiry “the greatest witch hunt in the history of country”.According to the New York Times, Trump accused the attorney general of having “openly campaigned on a policy of destroying me”.Beyond that, from 9.30am to around 3pm, Trump had repeated the words “same answer” to every question about “valuations and golf clubs and all that stuff”, Fischetti told the Times.The attorney added that Trump’s decision to take the fifth had been made shortly before the interview started. “He absolutely wanted to testify and it took some very strong persuasion by me and some others to convince him,” Fischetti added.The high-stakes legal meeting came as pressure from senior Republicans mounted on the US Department of Justice, in the entirely separate case, to reveal details of the federal search at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and private club in exclusive Palm Beach on Monday.The FBI search, the Guardian has reported, was authorized to seek presidential and classified records that the justice department believes the one-term former Republican president unlawfully retained after his time in the White House was up.However news of the search triggered outrage from Republican leaders, demanding that Joe Biden’s attorney general, Merrick Garland, swiftly explain the department’s actions. On Tuesday, Trump’s former vice-president, Mike Pence, expressed “deep concern”, adding on Twitter: “No former president of the United States has ever been subject to a raid of their personal residence in American history.”Senate minority leader and Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell called for a “thorough and immediate explanation”.“Attorney General Garland and the Department of Justice should already have provided answers to the American people and must do so immediately,” McConnell said in a statement.Meanwhile, the Palm Beach county state attorney, Dave Aronberg, a Democrat, rejected the characterization of the search as a “raid”, telling MSNBC​ that was “a gross exaggeration”.“This was a very orderly, smooth search of a home conducted by plain clothes FBI agents, escorted by Secret Service agents,​” Aronberg said.​FBI searched Trump’s home seeking classified presidential records – sourcesRead moreTrump’s lawyers have a copy of the warrant issued for the search and a list of what the FBI seized, Politico reported.Back in New York, before Trump’s deposition session on Wednesday, he slammed the legal encounter in a brash post on his Truth Social social media platform, his alternative after he was banned from Twitter.“In New York City tonight. Seeing racist NYS Attorney General tomorrow, for a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in US history!” Trump wrote, repeating an insult he has repeatedly thrown at James, who is Black and the first woman of color ever to hold statewide elected office in New York.“My great company, and myself, are being attacked from all sides,” Trump also posted, adding: “Banana Republic!”The case involves allegations that Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, misstated the value of assets including some of his golf courses and skyscrapers, misleading lenders and tax authorities.At the heart of the case are claims that Trump has for decades falsely inflated his fortune – a dance that involves publicity, maximizing access to bank loans and minimizing tax obligations. “I look better if I’m worth $10bn than if I’m worth $4bn,” he once said. In his book, The Art of the Deal, he chose to describe his business style as “truthful hyperbole”.In May, James’s office said that the investigation was nearing its conclusion and that investigators had amassed substantial evidence that could support legal action, such as a lawsuit, against Trump, his company or both. The attorney general’s office said Trump’s deposition was one of the few remaining pieces to be collected.Two of Trump’s adult children, Donald Jr and Ivanka, are believed to have testified in the investigation in recent days. Trump’s testimony was initially scheduled for last month but was delayed after the 14 July death of his ex-wife, Ivana Trump.Trump has denied the allegations, explaining that seeking the best valuations is a common practice in the real estate industry. While James has explored suing Trump or his company, the Manhattan district attorney’s office has been pursuing a parallel, criminal, investigation. However, it ran into problems after a new district attorney, Alvin Bragg, raised questions internally about the viability of the case, and its lead prosecutors resigned.Bragg has said the investigation is continuing.Commenting further on his refusal to answer questions on Wednesday, Trump’s statement continued: “I once asked, ‘If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?’ Now I know the answer to that question … When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded politically motivated witch hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors and the fake news media, you have no choice.”As vociferous as Trump has been in defending himself in written statements and on stage at political rallies, legal experts said answering questions in a deposition was risky because anything he said could be used against him in Bragg’s investigation.The fifth amendment protects people from being compelled to be a witness against themselves in a criminal case.When the state investigation wraps up, James could seek financial penalties against Trump or his company, or even a ban on their involvement in certain types of businesses – as happened in a previous legal clash with James when, in 2019, the-then president was fined $2m for misuse of charitable assets and barred from running a charity in the future.The Associated Press contributed reporting
      This article was amended on 10 August 2022. An earlier version stated that Donald Trump gave onlookers a thumbs-up after his deposition; it was before the deposition.
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      Trump says he invoked fifth amendment in New York attorney general’s investigation: ‘I declined to answer’ – as it happened

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      In a lengthy statement, Donald Trump has announced he refused to answer questions during a deposition today as part of New York attorney general Letitia James’s investigation into his real estate dealings.The statement is full of attacks on James, but closes with the former president declaring he has lost faith in the justice system – at least under his Democratic rival, president Joe Biden:.css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}I once asked, “If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” Now I know the answer to that question. When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded, politically motivated Witch Hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors, and the Fake News Media, you have no choice. If there was any question in my mind, the raid of my home, Mar-a-Lago, on Monday by the FBI, just two days prior to this deposition, wiped out any uncertainty. I have absolutely no choice because the current Administration and many prosecutors in this Country have lost all moral and ethical bounds of decency.
      Accordingly, under the advice of my counsel and for all of the above reasons, I declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution.Trump to face sworn deposition in New York lawsuit as legal troubles mountRead moreBe they at Mar-a-Lago or the New York attorney general’s office, former president Donald Trump’s legal issues were a major story today, as was an alleged Iranian plot to kill John Bolton, one of Tehran’s biggest enemies in Washington.Here’s a recap of the day’s events:
      Donald Trump invoked the fifth amendment against self incrimination when he sat for a deposition at the office of state attorney general Letitia James this morning, in her civil case relating to the former president’s real estate business.
      National security adviser Jake Sullivan warned Iran against any attacks targeting Americans following allegations that it plotted to kill Bolton, a former national security adviser in the Trump administration and noted Iran hawk.
      Data showing inflation flatlining in July prompted Joe Biden to say the figures were a sign that the world’s largest economy was healthy and poised to see prices moderate in the months to come.
      House speaker Nancy Pelosi said her visit to Taiwan was meant as a show of solidarity and not to fundamentally change Washington’s relationship with the island.
      Politico reports some new developments in the FBI’s visit to Mar-a-Lago, specifically efforts to get access to the search warrant, which hasn’t been released.Both rightwing group Judicial Watch and the Times Union newspaper serving the Albany, New York areas have filed motions to unseal the warrant:JUST IN: Judicial Watch motion to unseal the (possible) sealed search warrant for Mar-a-Lago has hit the docket.https://t.co/JORzlrE7rl pic.twitter.com/DT3XF5fNPs— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 10, 2022
      BREAKING: Magistrate Judge Reinhart is asking for DOJ to respond to Judicial Watch’s unsealing request for (what I presume is) the Mar-a-Lago warrant by COB on Aug. 15. pic.twitter.com/Y4uJV3TGoz— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 10, 2022
      The Albany Times-Union has also made a motion to unseal the search warrant, and Magistrate Reinhart has said DOJ can file a consolidated response to all unsealing motions: https://t.co/vdCBCdPwpG— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 10, 2022
      And the Times-Union has made an identical motion to unseal a second sealed search-warrant case that was also docketed on Friday. It’s unclear which of the two is the Mar-a-Lago warrant.— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 10, 2022
      Meanwhile, FBI director Christopher Wray isn’t saying much about the matter, according to ABC:Speaking for the first time since the FBI searched Former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, FBI Director Christopher Wray told reporters in Omaha, NB he couldn’t get into the details. “Well, as I’m sure you can appreciate that’s not something I can talk about,” he said.— Luke Barr (@LukeLBarr) August 10, 2022
      Voters in four more states went to the polls last night to choose candidates in primary elections – and to also offer a glimpse into how Americans are thinking as the November midterms draw ever nearer.Multiple pollsters now see the Democrats’ prospects improving thanks to voters rallying around reproductive rights following the supreme court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, and Republicans opting for more extreme, Trump-friendly candidates to stand in the upcoming general election. Nate Cohn of The New York Times puts it this way:The GOP holds MN-1 in last night’s special election, but only by a modest 4 point margin (Trump+10 district; R+3 in last House race)The signs of a Democratic rebound post-Dobbs are starting to pile up https://t.co/9XJZGnxPqT— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) August 10, 2022
      There haven’t been many other special/non-primary election results since Dobbs, but MN-01 isn’t exactly alone. NE-01 was also a strong showing for Democrats. There’s also the KS abortion referendum, if you count it.We’ll get more data, including NY-19, over the next few weeks.— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) August 10, 2022
      Democrats have also trended upward on the generic congressional ballot, where they’ve reached parity with the GOPNo way to know if it lasts until November, but the focus on abortion/Jan 6 hasn’t ebbed–yet. At the same time, the news on inflation has improved for Ds— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) August 10, 2022
      Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight sees things like this:Here’s something I think about. Let’s say Democrats somehow do hold the House this year. It’s not likely, but it’s also not impossible (~20% chance per 538 model). In 20 years, will people have a hard time explaining why it happened?I think no, they won’t. https://t.co/IiuAg9cVWO— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) August 10, 2022
      The last time POTUS’s party gained seats in the House were 1998 and 2002. These are generally attributed to Lewinsky and 9/11, respectively.If Ds hold the House in 2022, people will attribute it to Roe being overturned and overall GOP radicalization including Jan. 6.— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) August 10, 2022
      Is Dobbs + Jan. 6 a “special circumstance” equal in magnitude to 9/11? That’s a very apples-to-oranges comparison but I’d tend to say no; people forget how profoundly 9/11 changed public opinion. But is it comparable to Lewinsky? Certainly. It’s bigger, I’d think.— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) August 10, 2022
      Dave Wasserman of The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter sums it up:This much is clear from Kansas and the #NE01/#MN01 House specials: there’s still time for things to snap back before November, but we’re no longer living in a political environment as pro-GOP as November 2021.— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) August 10, 2022
      To be sure, Democrats appear to be deep under water in the polls when it comes to control of the House, FiveThirtyEight says. Faring even worse is Joe Biden himself, whose approval rate has slid and slid and slid for months, with signs of stabilization coming only recently.The House of Representatives has taken the first steps to passing the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration’s marquee spending proposal that is intended to lower health care costs and fight climate change.The Senate approved the legislation over the weekend with Democratic votes alone after pulling an all-nighter Saturday. While the House isn’t expected to vote on the bill till Friday, the chamber’s rules committee convened today to move it towards consideration by the full chamber.With Democrats thought to be on the cusp of losing control of the House in the November midterm elections, the bill could be one of the last major pieces of legislation passed in Biden’s first term. It was also intended to be much more ambitious, but provisions to lower housing costs and provide more aid and social services to poor Americans were stripped out in the lengthy negotiations that preceded its passage in the Senate.The Washington Post reports that Democrats are now making something of a long-shot pitch to voters: re-elect us in September and we will try again to pass those programs that didn’t make it into the Inflation Reduction Act. As Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer put it to the paper: “If we win, we’re going to have to do a reconciliation bill that will take care of a lot of the things that we couldn’t do”.Monkeypox cases are increasing across the United States, and as Wilfred Chan reports, the campaign against the disease is caught up in rightwing campaigns against LGBTQ+ rights:The conservative campaign against LGBTQ+ rights has found a new fixation for its hatred: monkeypox. On TV, rightwing commentators openly mock monkeypox victims – the vast majority of whom are men who have sex with men – and blame them for getting the disease. On social media, rightwing users trade memes about how the “cure” to monkeypox is straight marriage while casting doubt on monkeypox vaccines’ efficacy.This aggressive stigmatization of monkeypox – reminiscent of the homophobic response to HIV/Aids in the 1980s – poses a serious challenge to public health advocates and community leaders trying to have honest conversations about the disease with the gay and bisexual men who are most at risk during the current outbreak. Should public messaging highlight the fact that monkeypox is primarily affecting men who have sex with men? And should public health bodies urge gay men to change their sexual practices?The simultaneous threats of homophobia and monkeypox require making a difficult choice about which to tackle first, says the writer and veteran Aids activist Mark S King, a 61-year-old gay man.Rightwing media embraces Aids-era homophobia in monkeypox coverageRead moreFederal prosecutors in Michigan today began laying out their case against two men accused of plotting to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, saying that conversations about their plan went beyond just idle talk, Reuters reports.Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr face kidnapping and weapons conspiracy charges for the second time after a federal judge in Grand Rapids, Michigan declared a mistrial last April.The men – alleged members of the Three Percenters, a self-styled militia group – are accused of plotting to abduct Whitmer from her vacation home and stage a “trial” for her for treason. Two other defendants were found not guilty in the men’s first trial.The mistrial was a setback for federal prosecutors in one of the highest-profile cases in years involving militias. The second trial will give them another opportunity.In his opening statement on Wednesday, a prosecutor said the men determined where the governor, performed reconnaissance on her summer cottage and gathered the equipment they needed, such as body armor and ammunition, to carry out their plan, according to a local TV station..css-knbk2a{height:1em;width:1.5em;margin-right:3px;vertical-align:baseline;fill:#C70000;}This wasn*t just talk. You will see these defendants and others took specific steps, planning and training,” Chris O’Connor, the assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of Michigan, told the jury, local Fox affiliate WXMI reported.Attorneys for Fox and Croft revived their arguments from the first trial saying that there was no conspiracy.Christopher Gibbons, who represents Fox, described the accused as “big talkers” whose comments should not be taken seriously, according to NBC-affiliate WOOD-TV.If convicted on the conspiracy charges, the men face the possibility of life in prison.The two men on trial are among 13 men who were arrested in October 2020 and charged with state or federal crimes in the alleged kidnapping conspiracy. Seven of them are facing charges in state court.It’s been a sparky morning in US political news, mainly relating to the man Joe Biden refers to as “that guy”. The president has now jetted off on vacation but we’ll bring you all the developments as they happen.Here’s where things stand.
      Donald Trump invoked the fifth amendment against self incrimination (with an eye to a parallel criminal case in New York) during a deposition at the office of state attorney general Letitia James this morning, in her civil case relating to the former president’s real estate business.
      National security adviser Jake Sullivan warned Iran against any attacks targeting Americans following allegations that it plotted to kill John Bolton, a noted foe of Tehran who served in the Trump administration.
      The justice department announced charges against a Tehran-based member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards for attempting to hire someone in the United States to kill John Bolton, a national security adviser under Donald Trump.
      Data showing inflation flatlining in July prompted Joe Biden to say the figures were a sign that the world’s largest economy was healthy and poised to see prices moderate in the months to come.
      Here is the president and family heading to South Carolina for a break..⁦@POTUS⁩ and fam off to South Carolina for vacation pic.twitter.com/LFEEU9a4BD— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) August 10, 2022
      There’s also this.Did you ever have to take the 5th? Nope? Me neither. pic.twitter.com/LJNOoEA060— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) August 10, 2022
      Following her visit to Taiwan that has sent tensions with China soaring, Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi said at a press conference that the trip’s goal was not to change Washington’s relationship with Taipei, but rather express solidarity.“We will not allow China to isolate Taiwan”, Pelosi said. “They have kept Taiwan from participating in the World Health Organization, other things were Taiwan can make a very valued contribution. And they may keep them from going there, but they’re not keeping us from going to Taiwan.”She noted Taiwan’s status as a democracy in contrast with authoritarian China, which considers the island a breakaway province and has vowed to reunify with it, even by force. Beijing warned Pelosi against going and responded to her trip by announcing military drills around Taiwan – steps the Democratic lawmaker said China did not take when a delegation of senators visited the island earlier this year.“So in any event, we’re very proud of our delegation”, she said.National security adviser Jake Sullivan has warned Iran against any attacks targeting Americans following allegations that it plotted to kill John Bolton, a noted foe of Tehran who served in the Trump administration.“We have said this before and we will say it again: the Biden Administration will not waiver in protecting and defending all Americans against threats of violence and terrorism. Should Iran attack any of our citizens, to include those who continue to serve the United States or those who formerly served, Iran will face severe consequences. We will continue to bring to bear the full resources of the U.S. Government to protect Americans,” Sullivan said in a statement.Bolton, who was Trump’s national security adviser from 2018 to 2019, presided over Washington’s decision to leave the Iran nuclear deal, and has advocated for bombing the country. The assassination plot alleged by the justice department earlier today appeared to be in retaliation for the 2020 assassination of Qassem Suleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who was killed on Trump’s orders.US charges Iranian man over alleged plot to kill ex-Trump aide John BoltonRead moreFormer national security adviser John Bolton has released a statement thanking the justice department for exposing the assassination plot against him.I wish to thank the Justice Dept for initiating the criminal proceeding unsealed today; the FBI for its diligence in discovering and tracking the Iranian regime’s criminal threat to American citizens; and the Secret Service for providing protection against Tehran’s efforts. pic.twitter.com/QDjkX6gUWM— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) August 10, 2022
      He also takes a stab at the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which the United States pulled out of in 2018, during Bolton’s time in Donald Trump’s White House. The Biden administration along with its allies are in the midst of uncertain and lengthy negotiations with Tehran to revitalize the deal.EU team submit ‘final text’ at talks to salvage 2015 Iran nuclear dealRead moreDespite his apparently mounting legal troubles, Trump has continued to have success in getting his preferred candidates through primaries, as yesterday’s elections show:Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a member of the select progressive group in the House of Representative dubbed the Squad, eked out a closer-than-expected Democratic primary victory on Tuesday night against a centrist challenger who questioned the incumbent’s support for the “defund the police” movement.The evening went far smoother for another progressive, Becca Balint, who won the Democratic House primary in Vermont – positioning her to become the first woman representing the state in Congress.But Tim Michels, backed by Donald Trump, was projected to win the Republican nomination for governor of Wisconsin, a day after the FBI searched the former US president’s home in Florida reportedly seeking classified documents.Progressive Ilhan Omar wins closer-than-expected House primary in MinnesotaRead moreMore details are emerging about the FBI’s search on Monday of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, including that agents were looking for papers that the former president may have unlawfully taken from the White House. Hugo Lowell reports:Federal investigators searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on Monday bearing a warrant that broadly sought presidential and classified records that the justice department believed the former president unlawfully retained, according to two sources familiar with the matter.The criminal nature of the search warrant executed by FBI agents, as described by the sources, suggested the investigation surrounding Trump is firmly a criminal probe that comes with potentially far-reaching political and legal ramifications for the former president.And the extraordinary search, the sources said, came after the justice department grew concerned – as a result of discussions with Trump’s lawyers in recent weeks – that presidential and classified materials were being unlawfully and improperly kept at the Mar-a-Lago resort.The unprecedented raid of a former president’s home by FBI agents was the culmination of an extended battle between Trump and his open contempt for the Presidential Records Act of 1978 requiring the preservation of official documents, and officials charged with enforcing that law.FBI searched Trump’s home seeking classified presidential records – sourcesRead moreNo matter how he does it, a judge in Georgia yesterday ordered Donald Trump’s former lawyer Rudy Giuliani to appear in person before an Atlanta special grand jury looking into attempts to tamper with the state’s election results in 2020.According to The New York Times, Giuliani has claimed his health doesn’t allow him to fly to the state – an argument a judge wasn’t buying.“John Madden drove all over the country in his big bus, from stadium to stadium. So one thing we need to explore is whether Mr. Giuliani could get here without jeopardizing his recovery and his health. On a train, on a bus or Uber, or whatever it would be,” Robert C.I. McBurney, a superior court judge in Fulton County, said.Giuliani has been tentatively ordered to appear on August 17.Giuliani ordered to go before grand jury in Trump election meddling caseRead more More

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      Democrat apologises for saying Biden won’t run in 2024 – then says it again

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      Democrat apologises for saying Biden won’t run in 2024 – then says it againCarolyn Maloney says sorry for broaching the issue in a debate but that she will support Biden if he does seek a second term A senior New York Democrat predicted on Thursday that Joe Biden will not run for re-election in 2024, even as she apologised for saying that previously and also said she would support him if he did stand again.On the chopping block? Ron Johnson denies threatening social securityRead moreSpeaking to CNN, the congresswoman Carolyn Maloney said sorry for broaching the issue in a debate – but then said again she thought Biden would not run.“Mr President, I apologise,” Maloney said, of her remark on Tuesday, when she said she did not “believe” Biden would seek a second term.She added: “I want you to run.”But then Maloney said: “I happen to think you won’t be running. But when you run, or if you run, I will be there 100%. You have deserved it. You are a great president, and thank you for everything you’ve done for my state, and all the states, and all the cities in America. Thank you, Mr President.”Maloney, 76, and Biden, 79, are senior figures in a Democratic party some members say should be led by younger figures. Maloney’s primary opponent in New York, the House judiciary chair, Jerry Nadler, is 75.Debating Maloney on Tuesday, Nadler said it was “too early to say” if Biden should run for re-election, and said “it doesn’t serve the purpose of the Democratic party” to debate the issue before the midterm elections in November.Among mooted successors to Biden, the vice-president, Kamala Harris, is 57; Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, is 54; and Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary, is 40.Biden was 78 when he was inaugurated in January 2021, the oldest president ever to take office. He will turn 82 shortly after the 2024 election. If he were to win that contest, he would be 86 by the end of his time in office.Republicans claim Biden is too old to perform his duties properly. Democrats reject such claims.Biden has repeatedly said he intends to run again. But polls consistently show majorities of Democrats and all voters saying he should not do so.As one voter who spoke to The Focus Group with Sarah Longwell, a Bulwark podcast, put it recently: “It’s not the 82 that’s the problem. It’s the 86.”As a 76-year-old let me say: Joe Biden is too old to run again | Robert ReichRead moreIn a recent Guardian column, Robert Reich, 76 and a former labor secretary in a Democratic administration, echoed such concerns.“It’s not death that’s the worrying thing about a second Biden term,” Reich wrote. “It’s the dwindling capacities that go with ageing.“… I think my generation – including Bill and Hillary Clinton, George W Bush, Donald Trump, Newt Gingrich, Clarence Thomas, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and Biden – have fucked it up royally. The world will probably be better without us.“Joe, please don’t run.”TopicsDemocratsJoe BidenUS elections 2024US politicsNew YorknewsReuse this content More

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      Sixth man linked to 1989 Central Park rape case is exonerated

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      Sixth man linked to 1989 Central Park rape case is exoneratedSteven Lopez, now 48, pleaded guilty to lesser charge in case of attacked jogger then seen as emblematic of New York lawlessness A forgotten co-defendant of the so-called “Central Park Five”, whose convictions in a notorious 1989 rape in New York City were thrown out more than a decade later, is set have his conviction on a related charge overturned.A hearing was scheduled for Monday afternoon in the case of Steven Lopez, who was arrested along with five other Black and Latino teenagers in the rape and assault on Trisha Meili but reached a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to the lesser charge of robbing a male jogger.The painful lessons of the Central Park Five and the jogger rape case | Jill FilipovicRead moreThe brutal assault on Meili, a 28-year-old white investment banker who was in a coma for 12 days after the attack, was considered emblematic of New York City’s lawlessness in an era when the city recorded 2,000 murders a year.Five teenagers were convicted in the attack on Meili and served six to 13 years in prison. Their convictions were overturned in 2002 after evidence linked a convicted serial rapist and murderer, Matias Reyes, to the attack.The Central Park Five, now known as the “Exonerated Five”, went on to win a $40m settlement from the city and inspire books, movies and television shows.Lopez, now 48, has not received a settlement, and his case has been nearly forgotten in the years since he pleaded guilty to robbery in 1991 to avoid the more serious rape charge.Lopez’s expected exoneration was first reported in the New York Times.“We talk about the Central Park Five, the Exonerated Five, but there were six people on that indictment,” the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, told the Times. “And the other five who were charged, their convictions were vacated. And it’s now time to have Mr Lopez’s charge vacated.”The Associated Press does not usually identify victims of sexual assault, but Meili went public in 2003 and published a book titled I Am the Central Park Jogger.TopicsNew YorkUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      Any Given Tuesday: Lis Smith on Cuomo, Spitzer and a political life

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      Any Given Tuesday: Lis Smith on Cuomo, Spitzer and a political life The Democratic operative delivers a memoir and coming-of-age tale that lands punches – and sometimes pulls themWith Any Given Tuesday, Lis Smith delivers 300 pages of smack, snark and vulnerability. A veteran Democratic campaign hand, she shares up-close takes of those who appear in the news and dishes autobiographical vignettes. The book, her first, is a political memoir and coming-of-age tale. It is breezy and informative.Thank You For Your Servitude review – disappointing tale of Trump’s townRead moreFor two decades, Smith worked in the trenches. She witnessed plenty and bears the resulting scars. Most recently, she was a senior media adviser to Pete Buttigieg, now transportation secretary in the Biden administration, and counseled Andrew Cuomo, now a disgraced ex-governor of New York.According to Smith, Buttigieg made politics ennobling and fun. More important, he offered a road to redemption.“He saw me for who I actually was and, for the first time in my adult life, I did too,” Smith writes. According to exit polls in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, Buttigieg brought meaning to middle-aged white college graduates. These days, he is seen by Democrats as a possible alternative to Joe Biden in 2024.Smith dated Eliot Spitzer, another governor of New York who fell from grace.“We were like a lit match and dynamite,” she writes. Smith also gushes about Spitzer’s “deep set, cerulean blue eyes”, the “most gorgeous” such pair she had ever seen. A 24-year age gap provided additional fuel but Spitzer, once known as the Sheriff of Wall Street, spent less than 15 months in office. His administration ended abruptly in 2009, over his trysts with prostitutes.Smith can be blunt and brutal. She savages Cuomo and flattens Bill de Blasio, the former mayor of New York City, like a pancake.Smith recounts in detail Cuomo’s mishandling of Covid, the allegations of sexual harassment and his obfuscation. He “died as he lived”, she writes, damningly, “with zero regard for the people around him and the impact his actions would have on them”.As for De Blasio: “This guy can’t handle a 9/11.” He also came up short, we are told, in the personal hygiene department: a “gross unshowered guy”. De Blasio retracted an employment offer to Smith, after her relationship with Spitzer became tabloid fodder. He also coveted an endorsement from Spitzer that never materialized.“Both of us had tried to get in bed with Eliot but only one of us had been successful,” Smith brags.On Tuesday, De Blasio dropped out of a congressional primary after gaining a bare 3% support in a recent poll.Smith is very much a New Yorker. She grew up in a leafy Westchester suburb, north of the city. Her parents were loving and politically conscious. Her father led a major white-shoe law firm. He introduced his daughter to football and the star-crossed New York Jets.Smith went to Dartmouth. Not surprisingly, her politics are establishment liberal. She worked on campaigns for Jon Corzine, for New Jersey governor; Terry McAuliffe, for governor of Virginia; and Claire McCaskill, for senator in Missouri. In 2012 she earned a credit from Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.Smith has kind words for McAuliffe and McCaskill but portrays Corzine, a former Goldman Sachs chief executive, as aloof, never warming to the reality that elections are about retail politics and people. Despite this, Smith omits mention of the markets-moving failure of MF Global, a Corzine-run commodities brokerage that left a wake of ruin.“I simply do not know where the money is, or why the accounts have not been reconciled to date,” Corzine testified before a congressional committee. “I do not know which accounts are unreconciled or whether the unreconciled accounts were or were not subject to the segregation rules.”Corzine holds an MBA from the University of Chicago.Smith is candid about the corrosive effects of the Democrats’ lurch left.“If someone doesn’t support every policy on their progressive wish list … they’re branded an enemy or a Republican in disguise. If these ideological purists think a West Virginia Democrat is bad, wait till they get a load of the Republican alternative.”But Smith also falls victim to ideological myopia. Discussing the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 and its considerable political consequences, she appears to solely blame the Ferguson police for the death of the African American teen, who she says was “shot to death in broad daylight”. Like Hillary Clinton, Smith neglects to mention that police fired after Brown lunged for an officer’s gun. She also does not mention that Brown tussled with a convenience store owner before his confrontation with the law.Inadvertently, Smith highlights the volatility of the Democrats’ multicultural, upstairs-downstairs coalition. Worship at the twin altars of identity politics and political correctness exacts a steep price in votes and can negatively impact human life. See New York City’s current crime wave for proof.Newt and the Never Trumpers: Gingrich, Tim Miller and the fate of the Republican partyRead moreSmith reserves some of her sharpest digs for Roger Stone, convicted and then-pardoned confidante of Donald Trump, pen-pal of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. She calls him a “stone-cold sociopath”. But she skates over animus that existed between Stone and Spitzer, her ex. In 2007, Stone allegedly left a threatening telephone message for Spitzer’s father, a real estate magnate. Months later, Stone told the FBI Spitzer “used the service of high-priced call girls” while staying in Florida.In the end, Smith is an idealist.“I believe in the power of politics to improve people’s lives,” she writes. “I still believe there is hope for the future.”
      Any Given Tuesday: A Political Love Story is published in the US by Harper
      TopicsBooksPolitics booksDemocratsUS politicsAndrew CuomoEliot SpitzerPete ButtigiegreviewsReuse this content More

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      Ivana Trump funeral: Donald Trump and children attend ‘wonderful send-off’

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      Ivana Trump funeral: Donald Trump and children attend ‘wonderful send-off’Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric – Ivana’s three children with her ex-husband – gather for memorial at Catholic church in Manhattan Ivana Trump, the businesswoman who helped her husband build an empire that launched him to the presidency, was celebrated at a funeral mass in New York City on Wednesday.Ivana Trump: a life in picturesRead moreAt St Vincent Ferrer Roman Catholic Church on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Ivana’s three children with the former president Donald Trump – Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric – arrived with family members just before 1.40pm, before the gold casket was taken into the church.Donald Trump, Melania, and their son, Barron, entered the church through the side door.Tiffany Trump, the daughter of the former president and Marla Maples, for whom Donald Trump divorced Ivana, also attended the service. So did family friends including the Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, and Charles Kushner, a real estate developer and the father of Ivanka Trump’s husband. The fashion designer Dennis Basso, a longtime friend of Ivana Trump, was also among the mourners.“It was an elegant and wonderful send-off for Ivana Trump,” said publicist R Couri Hay, an attendee. “The church was blanketed in red flowers, red roses – Ivana’s favorite flowers. It was majestic, it was sober.“I would say that the church was drenched in tears,” Hay also said.The Trump family announced last week that Ivana, who was 73, died at her Manhattan home. Authorities said the death was an accident, blunt impact injuries to the torso the cause.Ivana and Donald Trump were married from 1977 to 1992. In the 1980s they were a power couple and she became well known in her own right, instantly recognizable with her blond hair in an updo and glamorous look.Ivana Trump took part in her husband’s businesses, managing one of his Atlantic City casinos and picking out some of the design elements in New York City’s Trump Tower.Their divorce was ugly but in recent years they were friendly. Ivana Trump was an enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, and said they spoke on a regular basis.On Wednesday, press congregated across the street from the church, in the Lenox Hill section of the Upper East Side. Several secret service agents were positioned in front of the building. Police set up metal barricades.Some passersby paused to take in the activity. Marilyn Greeley, who lives nearby, said she had not known Ivana, but she saw her in a movie theater years ago.“It’s sad,” Greeley said. “Obviously, you think about how she died.”A woman who identified herself as Elaine was walking south on Lexington Avenue.“I think it’s very sad,” she said. “She fell down the stairs.”Marie-Noelle Levin, who said she met Ivana several times, came to a corner across from the church to pay her respects.“It’s very hard for me to cry, but here I am crying,” Levin said, wiping a tear.Michael Powers, a neighborhood resident, said: “I think it’s really sad that she died the way she did. She was beloved by New York City.”At about 3.30pm, Ivana’s casket was carried out of the church. Her three children, grandchildren, Donald Trump, Melania, Barron, as well as other relatives, exited the church. They left shortly thereafter.TopicsDonald TrumpNew YorkDonald Trump JrUS politicsIvanka TrumpnewsReuse this content More

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      Ivana Trump died of blunt force injuries to her torso, medical examiner says

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      Ivana Trump died of blunt force injuries to her torso, medical examiner saysDonald Trump’s first wife died aged 73 at her Manhattan home and the fatal injuries are believed to be unintentional Ivana Trump, the first wife of Donald Trump and the mother of his three oldest children, died from blunt force injuries to her torso that she suffered after an accidental fall, New York City’s chief medical examiner said Friday.The former president announced that Ivana Trump died aged 73 a day earlier at her Manhattan home but didn’t include any details about the cause or manner of her death. On Friday, a spokesperson for the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner confirmed reports that Ivana Trump apparently fell inadvertently and was found at the bottom of her home’s stairs.Ivana Trump: a life in picturesRead moreUS health officials consider falls to be the leading cause of injury-related death for people who are 65 years of age or older. About 64 out of 100,000 elderly people die as a result of accidental falls, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Ivana Trump was born in Zlin – now the Czech Republic – in 1949. She was a skier, ski instructor and model before marrying Donald Trump in 1977, when he was a real estate tycoon.She partnered with Trump in managing casinos and hotels while helping him become a Manhattan and global socialite throughout the 1980s. She was also the mother to his children Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric.The pair divorced in 1992, with Donald Trump’s infidelity precipitating their split. He later married and divorced Marla Maples, with whom he had daughter Tiffany and is now with his third wife, Melania Knauss Trump, the mother of his son Barron and the first lady during his presidency from 2017 to 2021.Ivana Trump obituaryRead moreIvana Trump had said she supported her ex-husband’s run for the White House but said she wanted “this whole thing to be over with” after he lost to Joe Biden and desperately sought to overturn the result, including by telling his supporters to “fight like hell” shortly before hundreds of them mounted a deadly attack on the Capitol.She said she believed her children “enjoyed being around Donald and running the election and seeing what will happen” but she wanted them to one day “be able to live their normal lives”.On Thursday afternoon, emergency responders investigating a call from Ivana Trump’s home on Manhattan’s Upper East Side found her unconscious. They pronounced her dead at the scene and noted that there did “not appear to be any criminality”, police said in a statement.Trump, Donald Jr and Ivanka were supposed to be questioned Friday as part of a New York civil investigation into their business dealings.But the New York state attorney general’s office postponed the depositions as a result of Ivana Trump’s death. New dates for the depositions weren’t immediately set.A statement from a state AG spokesperson read: “We offer our condolences to the Trump family.”The Associated Press contributed to this reportTopicsDonald TrumpUS politicsNew YorkReuse this content More

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      Why a ‘spider crab’ is crawling to the top of a US ‘I voted’ sticker contest | The fight to vote

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      Why a ‘spider crab’ is crawling to the top of a US ‘I voted’ sticker contestVoters in Ulster county, New York, may receive a sticker of Hudson Rowan’s design this November – and many say it’s ‘a fitting image’ of the political scene Get the latest updates on voting rights in the Guardian’s Fight to vote newsletterHello, and Happy Thursday,One morning a few months ago, Ashley Dittus, a Democratic election commissioner in Ulster county, New York, came into work and saw that someone had sent in the first submission in a countywide contest for an “I voted” sticker. She opened the email and was shocked. “It was a moment I’ll never forget,” Dittus told me on Wednesday.The design was a skull-like head with bloodshot eyes and multicolored teeth sitting atop turquoise spider legs. To the creature’s right, the words “I voted” were scribbled in graffiti-like font. It was 4/20 so she wondered whether someone was playing a trick.But the design was real. It was the creation of Hudson Rowan, a 14-year-old from Marbletown, which is about 100 miles north of New York City. Dittus circulated the design around the small office, evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, and everyone laughed.The staff chose it as one of six finalists in the contest and put it on the board’s website for the public to vote on. Now, it appears extremely likely that Ulster county voters will get the sticker when they go to the polls this November. As of Wednesday morning, it had received nearly 174,000 votes out of nearly 186,000 cast. That’s more votes than there are registered voters in the county (voting is open to all members of the public). Last year, in the county’s first design contest, 2,200 people voted.I’ve become mildly obsessed with the design, which is such a clear break from the usual charming, but restrained, designs of the stickers Americans get when they cast their vote. Hudson told me yesterday that when his mom told him about the contest, he wasn’t really into the idea because the typical “I voted” designs aren’t really his style of drawing. But he decided to bring his own style to the contest and doodled out the creature in about 10 minutes on his iPad. There wasn’t anything in particular that inspired the creature, but he noted it was reminiscent of a robot spider he used to paint when he was younger.“I didn’t want to do what everyone would expect. I just decided to import my own style of drawing and see what would happen,” he said.“I think the colors and the craziness just represents the world how it is right now. And how everyone feels when they’re like voting and how the world is. And everyone’s kind of emotions through the colors,” he said. “I feel like my creation kind of changes it up … adds a new flair and hope to the world.”He said the last few days have been “amazing” as the design has gone viral and people have reached out with support.“I’m glad that I can and I hope I will inspire many people to vote. So many people have told me that they’re going to go vote just so they can get my sticker, which I think is crazy and amazing,” he said.I sent the sticker design to my colleague Jonathan Jones, who reviews art for the Guardian, and asked him why he thought it had resonated with so many people. He said the design was “hilarious” and “perhaps a fitting image of the desperate political scene”.“This grimacing skull-like head on kinda spider legs has the nihilism of Rick and Morty and speaks to a generation whose recent political education includes a riotous coup attempt and a supreme court revoking an essential human right,” he said. “Yet it turns that monster around, making it a comedy badge of using the vote to fight back.”There’s also something about the unpolished drawing that may resonate with average people, said Jeremy Fish, an artist who grew up in upstate New York. “This humanoid spider crab is an ugly drawing, and sometimes that is what it takes to get the average dude to engage in the ugliness of modern politics,” he said. “Cheers and good job, Hudson.”Raquel Breternitz, the design director for Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential campaign, said she had also become obsessed with the image. It is “very obviously not what you’d expect from a ‘political design’”, she said. It’s not polished, and lacks the typical red, white and blue, and iconography typically used in politics, she noted.“What I believe is speaking to people about this image is that it hits at more nuanced, mixed feelings re: voting, than what we’ve come to expect,” she wrote in an email. “It gives the sense of us, continuing to go and cast our silly little votes, for our silly little democracy, while things feel desperate; like they’re falling to pieces around us, and the representatives we voted for seemingly lack the political will to respond in kind.”“The fascinating piece of this to me is that the design legitimately is motivational and is expected to boost turnout. It’s inspiring people to vote,” she added. “At this point, what a lot of people want to hear isn’t the bland, positive assertion that voting is some great duty that will fix what ails us, but the honest admission that it’s small, desperately small in the face of things, and yet still – essential.”Siddhartha Mitter, an art critic in New York, was concise in his review. “Looks about right,” he said.Dittus, the election commissioner, said her office has been flooded with calls from all over the country asking how to get one of the stickers and requests for T-shirts and other apparel with the design. She said she has passed the branding requests to Hudson, who said he’s considering it.She said she hopes that the sticker will increase voter turnout, especially for voters aged 25 and under, traditionally a group with low turnout. “If it inspires people to go vote just to get a funny sticker and take a second to think about and look at what’s on the ballot, then I think we’ve done a good job of raising awareness for voting,” she said.“Whatever this humanoid is, he certainly looks very happy in the picture. He’s smiling, his rainbow teeth are on full display. He looks happy that he voted.”Also worth watching …
      Grid published a deep dive into the Conservative Partnership Institute, a conservative non-profit, that has been leading a push to recruit election workers, among other efforts.
      The Wisconsin supreme court ruled on Friday that ballot drop-boxes were illegal. Writing in dissent, three justices said the majority’s rhetoric was “downright dangerous to our democracy”.
      Election officials are worried about insider threats to voting systems
      TopicsUS voting rightsFight to voteUS politicsNew YorkfeaturesReuse this content More