Donald Trump has offered a garbled explanation as to why he ultimately declined to testify at his New York hush money trial, citing his “past” and telling a conservative radio host that he feared political bias against him, also coming close to breaking his gag order in the same interview by criticising Manhattan prosecutor Matthew Colangelo.
Later on Thursday, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee will host his latest 2024 campaign rally in Crotona Park in New York City’s South Bronx, the first time that he has rallied in his hometown for eight years.
Mr Trump trailed the event on his Truth Social platform by pledging to “Make New York Great Again!!!” and promising: “Far Lower Taxes, Safe, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Good Schools, and everything else that goes towards the American Dream!”
On Wednesday, a hearing in Mr Trump’s classified documents case in Florida devolved into a chaotic shouting match as two lawyers fought over claims of a threat allegedly made to a defense attorney.
The hearing had been scheduled on behalf of Walt Nauta, the former president’s co-defendant and valet, to share arguments that the office of Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith had vindictively and selectively charged him with offenses.
George Santos attending Trump’s Bronx rally
MAGA favorite, disgraced former congressman, drag queen, and all-round chaos agent George Santos is meeting and greeting fans awaiting Donald Trump’s appearance in the South Bronx this evening:
He apparently has no expectations because “we’re in the Bronx”. Not sure how to take that.
Oliver O’Connell23 May 2024 20:22
What happened to the MAGA Cruise?
After the website claimed that Wednesday’s MAGA cruise was sold out, we were hoping to see a lot of colorful social media posts of the Trump faithful living it up like “rockstars” on New York’s Hudson River.
It’s a shame as it was a beautiful evening for it.
Oliver O’Connell23 May 2024 20:15
…let’s hope they prepared for muddy conditions after this morning’s storm over New York City.
New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez quips: “God is good
.”
…let’s hope they prepared for muddy conditions after this morning’s storm over New York City.
New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez quips: “God is good .”
Oliver O’Connell23 May 2024 20:14
Op-Ed: So much for Nigel Farage, the British bulldog – he’d rather be Trump’s US poodle
In the vast pantheon of Nigel Farage’s achievements – which, in no particular order, includes the leadership of several fringe parties, and convincing the country to leave the EU against its best interests – perhaps the most remarkable is that, somehow, he is younger than Brad Pitt.
That craggy exterior, complete with saloon-bar tan, is what happens when a man who downs pints, smokes Rothmans and eats camel’s udders on reality TV devotes three decades to circling the drain of British politics.
But for the most consequential politician never to have been elected to Westminster, the bell has now tolled.
Oliver O’Connell23 May 2024 19:45
Trump fans await his Bronx rally
Fans of Donald Trump are gathering ahead of this evening’s Bronx rally, with the former president set to make and appearance at around 6pm.
Here’s what awaits Mr Trump:
There’ll also be music and dancing:
Oliver O’Connell23 May 2024 19:40
Rick Scott throws hat in ring to replace McConnell
Mr Scott, a former Florida governor who chairs the Senate Republicans’ campaign committee, announced his candidacy in a letter to fellow senators on Wednesday.
“This is not a time to make small adjustments, I believe we need a dramatic sea change to save our country and that’s why I’m running to be Republican leader,” Mr Scott wrote.
Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, DC:
Oliver O’Connell23 May 2024 18:45
Fake Biden robocall creator indicted on felony charges and slapped with $6m fine
The charges come after an investigation into reports of thousands of New Hampshire residents receiving a robocall message asking them to “save [their] vote for the November election” and stating “[y]our vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday.”
The voice in the recorded message appeared to have been artificially generated to sound like the voice of President Biden. The message additionally appeared to have been “spoofed” to falsely show that it had been sent by the treasurer of a political committee that had been supporting the New Hampshire Democratic Presidential Primary write-in efforts for the president.
Mr Kramer has been charged with 13 felony counts of voter suppression and 13 misdemeanor counts of impersonation of a candidate. The charges are spread across four counties based on the residence of thirteen New Hampshire residents who received the Biden Robocalls: Rockingham County (five counts of violating each statute); Belknap County (three counts); Grafton County (three counts); Merrimack County (two counts).
“New Hampshire remains committed to ensuring that our elections remain free from unlawful interference and our investigation into this matter remains ongoing … I am pleased to see that our federal partners are similarly committed to protecting consumers and voters from harmful robocalls and voter suppression,” said state attorney general John Formella. “I hope that our respective enforcement actions send a strong deterrent signal to anyone who might consider interfering with elections, whether through the use of artificial intelligence or otherwise.”
Further, the Federal Communications Commission today proposed a substantial fine for the apparently illegal robocalls made using deepfake, AI-generated voice cloning technology and caller ID spoofing to spread election misinformation.
Mr Kramer faces a $6m proposed fine for apparent spoofing violations.
“We will act swiftly and decisively to ensure that bad actors cannot use US telecommunications networks to facilitate the misuse of generative AI technology to interfere with elections, defraud consumers, or compromise sensitive data,” said Loyaan A Egal, Chief of the Enforcement Bureau and chair of the Privacy and Data Protection Task Force. “We thank our partners at the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office for their help with this investigation.”
Here’s our earlier reporting on the incident:
Oliver O’Connell23 May 2024 18:15
Coming up: Trump to stage rare NYC rally in deep blue South Bronx
The former president is set to hold a rally in New York, his first in the Empire State in eight years, and not in a MAGA stronghold like the rural north, western region or even the borough of Staten Island. Mr Trump is heading to the South Bronx — one of the most Democrat parts of the country.
Oliver O’Connell23 May 2024 17:45