Trump claims he can declassify top secret documents just ‘by thinking about it’
Donald Trump’s attorneys have been ordered to say one way or the other whether they actually believe the FBI planted incriminating evidence in the documents seized from Mr Trump’s home — or whether the former president is merely bluffing to save face.
The ex-president meanwhile has claimed that as president he had the authority to declassify top secret documents just “by thinking about it”, as he blamed banks themselves for failing to check his company’s valuations.
He was speaking on Fox News after New York’s attorney general accused the Trump Organisation of inflating his net worth by billions of dollars and habitually misleading banks.
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NY probe found potential crimes. Why isn’t Trump in cuffs?
New York’s attorney general says her three-year investigation of former President Donald Trump uncovered potential crimes in the way he ran his real estate empire, including allegations of bank and insurance fraud. So why isn’t Trump being prosecuted?
The state’s law is complicated. Letitia James, the attorney general, is bound by restrictions on what criminal investigations she can actually launch herself without partnering with local prosecutors. And those investigations have yet to bear fruit against Mr Trump himself, though his CFO Allen Weisselberg last month plead guilty to felony charges.
Read more about the intricacies of the New York investigations in The Independent:
NY probe found potential crimes. Why isn’t Trump in cuffs?
New York’s attorney general isn’t arresting former President Donald Trump even though she says her three-year investigation uncovered potential crimes in the way he ran his real estate empire
John Bowden23 September 2022 05:15
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Trump flinging paper towels at Puerto Rico residents resurfaces as Biden pledges full support after hurricane
Videos of Donald Trump tossing paper towels into a crowd of Puerto Rico residents in October 2017 have resurfaced on social media, as president Joe Biden pledged full support for the island, which has once again been struck by a natural disaster.
Read the full story by Gustaf Kilander here:
Trump flinging paper towels in Puerto Rico resurfaces as Biden pledges support
‘We’re surging federal resources to Puerto Rico and we’ll do everything — everything we can to meet the urgent needs you have,’ Biden says
Maroosha Muzaffar23 September 2022 04:45
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Three key questions Ginni Thomas must answer in January 6 panel interview
Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is set to give unprecedented testimony to the Jan 6 panel regarding her role in the effort to overturn the 2020 election.
Her involvement in the pro-Trump scheme has cast a massive shadow on the work of the Supreme Court, which already faced historic concerns about its legitimacy from the American public.
There are several questions that Ms Thomas is in a unique position to answer, both regarding her own activities as well as those of White House staff in the weeks leading up to the attack as well as the day of January 6 itself.
Read more from John Bowden:
Three key questions Ginni Thomas must answer in January 6 panel interview
Members of the January 6 committee announced this week that Virginia ‘Ginni’ Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, had agreed to testify under oath.
John Bowden23 September 2022 04:15
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Trump’s legal woes mount without protection of presidency
Donald Trump’s growing storm of legal battles illustrates just how much protection he was being afforded as president — and how that all has come to an end.
Mr Trump’s own attorneys have illustrated that fact as they have refused to support their own client’s argument that any of the documents seized by FBI agents were declassified (so far).
Read more in The Independent about the evolving nature of Donald Trump’s post-presidential legal defences:
Trump’s legal woes mount without protection of presidency
Donald Trump’s latest legal troubles – sweeping fraud allegations by New York’s attorney general and a stark repudiation by federal judges he appointed – have laid bare the challenges piling up as the former president operates without the protections afforded by the White House
John Bowden23 September 2022 03:15
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How Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez inadvertently sparked the New York attorney general’s Trump lawsuit
As New York’s attorney general announces a massive civil lawsuit aimed at holding Donald Trump accountable for allegedly fraudulent business practices, the spotlight is returning to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her questioning of a former Trump ally that led to this week’s news.
In 2019, Mr Cohen testified against his former boss before the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee. At the time, Ms Ocasio-Cortez asked questions about whether Mr Trump ever provided inflated assets to an insurance company.
Letitia James acknowledged Ms Ocasio-Cortez’s role this week, declaring: “I will remind everyone that this investigation only started after Michael Cohen, the former lawyer, his former lawyer, testified before Congress and shed light on this misconduct.”
Read more in The Independent:
How AOC inadvertently sparked the New York attorney general’s Trump lawsuit
‘This investigation only started after Michael Cohen … testified before Congress shed light on this misconduct,’ Letitia James says
John Bowden23 September 2022 02:15
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Pro-Trump host Alex Jones shouts ‘I’m done apologising’ at Sandy Hook parents crying in court
The second defamation trial of Alex Jones got off to a rocky start this week as the beleaguered Infowars host continues to face comeuppance for abetting years’ worth of right-wing harassment at the families of slain elementary schoolers.
The courtroom in Connecticut descended into chaos on Thursday as the far-right conspiracy theorist took the stand in his defamation case and refused to acknowledge any responsibility for causing a decade of harassment to the victims’ families.
“I’ve already said I’m sorry hundreds of times. And I’m done saying sorry,” he shouted across the courtroom.
Read more from Rachel Sharp:
Alex Jones shouts ‘I’m done apologising’ at Sandy Hook parents crying in court
Far-right conspiracy theorist – who has spent much of the trial mocking the proceedings on his Infowars show – moaned that ‘people think that I killed the kids’
John Bowden23 September 2022 01:15
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Trump fires off torrent of Truth Social posts about 2024 run: ‘History is calling Donald Trump’
Amid a torrent of criminal investigations and lawsuits blaming him for fraudulent business practices, Donald Trump is trying to gin up support for a 2024 run.
That’s how the ex-president spent his day on Thursday, as he turned to his Truth Social platform to get the word out among his closest fans.
In one pair of posts, Mr Trump linked to a text on the website American Thinker with the headline “Donald Trump Must Be The 2024 Republican Nominee” before linking to a CNN report stating that “Trump fields calls from Republican allies to speed up 2024 bid after FBI raid”.
Read more from Gustaf Kilander:
Trump fires off torrent of Truth Social posts about 2024 run: ‘History is calling’
Former president shares article with headline claiming ‘Trump is running’
John Bowden23 September 2022 00:15
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Mike Lindell under investigation over identity theft and damage to computer connected to voting machine
Mike Lindell’s efforts to aid Donald Trump and the campaign to overturn the 2020 election may have finally gotten him into trouble.
NBC News reported on Wednesday that the hybrid pillow vendor and political operative is under federal investigation for a number of serious crimes related to his efforts to prove that widespread voter fraud or other election-related shenanigans cost Donald Trump the election in 2020.
Read more from John Bowden:
Mike Lindell under investigation over damaging voting machine computer
MyPillow CEO is top chaser of election fraud conspiracies
John Bowden22 September 2022 23:45
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Trump lawyers ordered to say whether they believe FBI planted evidence
The Brooklyn federal judge in charge of reviewing the 11,000 documents which the FBI seized from former president Donald Trump’s home during an 8 August search has ordered the ex-president’s legal team to declare one way or the other whether they believe agents planted evidence to incriminate the former president.
The baseless accusations have floated for weeks, shared by the president himself and his closest allies. They’ve sparked conspiracies among his fans of a FBI-led political campaign to destroy Mr Trump, and led to an increase in violent threats targeting the agency.
In an order released on Thursday, the special master called for by Mr Trump’s team gave those attorneys until 30 September to say whether any of the items on the 11-page inventory provided by the department are described incorrectly.
Read more in The Independent:
Trump lawyers ordered to say whether they believe FBI planted evidence
Former president frequently claims the FBI planted evidence during the 8 August search of his Florida home
John Bowden22 September 2022 23:15
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Trump to host fundraiser for right-wing GOP candidate
Donald Trump will host a fundraiser next month for Dan Cox, the Republican nominee for governor in Maryland, at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Mr Cox has bought in to the former president’s falsehoods about the 2020 election and was not endorsed for the nomination (or, so far, for the office at all) by Maryland’s incumbent retiring GOP governor, Larry Hogan. His victory in the GOP primary was one instance in which Democrats successfully boosted, through tactical campaign spending, an election denier against a more moderate opponent in a Republican-on-Republican matchup.
Read more at The Hill from Julia Manchester.
John Bowden22 September 2022 22:45