Donald Trump delivers incoherent speech praising Capitol rioters
Donald Trump appeared on stage in Nashville, Tennessee, more than 90 minutes late on Thursday night to address the National Religious Broadcasters association, delivering a speech as wild as it was incoherent.
Tripping over words his Christian audience might have expected him to master like “evangelical”, the Republican presidential front-runner declared that he had made “Israel” the capital of Israel during his presidency (presumably confusing the decision to move its US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem), that he planned to close down the Department of Education and praised the Capitol rioters for their “tremendous spirit”.
He also claimed that “everybody” agreed with the US Supreme Court’s resolution to overturn Roe vs Wade ruling on access to abortion, amongst different falsehoods meant to endear him to conservative believers.
On Thursday, Mr Trump didn’t safe a delay in his $355m fraud trial and requested a federal court docket to drop felony prices towards him alleging that he unlawfully held onto confidential nationwide safety paperwork after his presidency had ended.
The candidate will tackle the Conservative Political Action Conference over the weekend earlier than jetting out for the South Carolina main, the place he faces off towards Nikki Haley.
What to count on in South Carolina this weekend
With the Nevada debacle within the rear view window — an embarrassing defeat to “none of these candidates” in a main through which Donald Trump declined to take part, it’s formally time for his sole remaining challenger for the GOP nomination to show that she’s nonetheless aggressive within the literal sense, slightly that simply on cable information.
South Carolina is the world. It’s under no circumstances an ace within the gap, however the state the place Ms Haley was governor for eight years is the place the place she theoretically needs to be strongest. It has an open main, which means that unbiased voters can take part. And she’ll be again throughout the state this week, hitting marketing campaign stops in Myrtle Beach, the Charleston suburbs, and a former metal city.
But don’t be shocked if that is the tip.
Oliver O’Connell23 February 2024 17:30
New sanctions piled on Russian as Ukraine warfare reaches second anniversary
The United States and the European Union are piling new sanctions on Russia on the eve of the second anniversary of its invasion of Ukraine and in retaliation for the demise of famous Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny final week in an Arctic penal colony.
The U.S. Treasury, State Department and Commerce Department plan Friday to impose roughly 600 new sanctions on Russia and its warfare machine within the largest single tranche of penalties since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. They come on the heels of a collection of recent arrests and indictments introduced by the Justice Department on Thursday that focus on Russian businessmen, together with the top of Russia’s second-largest financial institution, and their middlemen in 5 separate federal circumstances.
The European Union introduced Friday that it’s imposing sanctions on a number of international corporations over allegations that they’ve exported dual-use items to Russia that could possibly be utilized in its warfare towards Ukraine. The 27-nation bloc additionally stated that it was focusing on scores of Russian officers, together with “members of the judiciary, local politicians and people responsible for the illegal deportation and military re-education of Ukrainian children.”
Comment: Truss and Boris at the moment are backing Trump… and must be ashamed of themselves
She believes in free commerce, he believes within the Ukrainian trigger – and Donald Trump firmly believes in neither. Yet each former prime ministers now say he needs to be president. What is the matter with them?
John Rentoul23 February 2024 16:52
Judge schedules 1 March listening to for Fulton DA disqualification arguments
Judge Scott McAfee has scheduled a 1 March listening to for arguments within the disqualification case towards Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and lead prosecutor Nathan Wade over allegations that she profited from a romantic relationship.
Here’s what we discovered from testimony on the earlier listening to:
Oliver O’Connell23 February 2024 16:42
Biden’s alleged anti-asylum plan revives failed Trump-era coverage and violates worldwide legislation, critics warn
President Biden’s reported plan to limit the proper to say asylum on the US-Mexico border has alarmed members of Congress and civil and humanitarian rights teams who concern the administration could possibly be in breach of worldwide legislation.
The president is reportedly mulling govt motion to dam individuals who cross the southern border with out authorized permission from claiming asylum as soon as contained in the US, upending ensures that shield asylum rights for individuals on US soil.
Such a proposal, which might bypass Congress, would mirror an unlawful Trump-era measure {that a} federal decide had beforehand rejected as an illegal try to “rewrite” the nation’s immigration legal guidelines to “impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden.”
Oliver O’Connell23 February 2024 16:15
Kimmel mocks Trump’s VP shortlist: ‘Cloudy with a chance of Meatball Ron’
Jimmy Kimmel has mocked Donald Trump’s vice-president shortlist line-up, saying that “he had better bookings on The Celebrity Apprentice”.
Trump appeared at a Fox News city corridor in South Carolina on Tuesday and hinted at a number of names that have been reeled off by moderator Laura Ingraham.
The record featured former presidential candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Tim Scott, Florida congressman Byron Donalds and South Dakota governor Kristi Noem… and likewise, er, Ron DeSantis.
Amelia Neath has the story.
Joe Sommerlad23 February 2024 15:45
Meanwhile, in Trump’s federal case in Florida…
Donald Trump’s attorneys filed a late-night flurry of motions to dismiss federal prices accusing him of illegally withholding labeled paperwork at his Mar-a-Lago property.
Among the 4 arguments throughout greater than 70 pages on Thursday night time, Mr Trump’s authorized group claims that the fees needs to be dismissed on “presidential immunity” grounds, a defence he has used – and which judges have rejected – in a separate federal case surrounding his makes an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
He additionally has claimed that the US Department of Justice particular counsel prosecuting him is doing so illegally, that the case is marred by “unconstitutional vagueness,” and that the Presidential Records Act protects him from prosecution.
Mr Trump’s “immunity” declare has been repeatedly rejected by a federal decide and a panel of appeals court docket judges in Washington DC, with the query doubtlessly heading to the US Supreme Court.
Oliver O’Connell23 February 2024 15:08
Navalny issued a chilling warning about Trump in closing letters
Speaking of Navalny, it has emerged that the late dissident issued a chilling warning about what a second presidential time period for Donald Trump may imply in certainly one of his closing letters earlier than he died in an Arctic jail every week in the past.
According to The New York Times, which has collected collectively a few of his correspondence from jail, Navalny labored exhausting to remain in contact with world politics from his cell on the “Polar Wolf” penal colony, round 1,000 miles northeast of Moscow.
The staunch opponent of Vladmir Putin additionally learn voraciously from Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Chekhov and Solzhenitsyn to occupy his thoughts and forestall himself from sinking into despair amid the brutal circumstances through which he was held.
In one 3 December letter to Evgeny Feldman, a photographer who coated his tried run for president in 2018 and now lives in exile in Latvia, Navalny wrote that he feared that if something ought to occur to President Joe Biden – a definite risk, he felt, given the American’s superior age – “Trump will become president”, an end result he described as a “really scary” prospect.
Joe Sommerlad23 February 2024 14:45
Late, drained, at instances incoherent: Trump’s play for the spiritual vote
If you haven’t had an opportunity to see it but, check out a number of the highlights from final night time’s speech by Donald Trump to the National Religious Broadcasters affiliation.
It is wild, with some actually incoherent moments, and the previous president’s makes an attempt to look religious or pious are as grating and clear as ever.
Here’s Joe Sommerlad’s report:
Oliver O’Connell23 February 2024 14:24
Biden meets with household of late Russian dissident Alexei Navalny
Joe Biden has met with the household of Alexei Navalny following the recent demise of the 47-year-old political activist in a Russian jail.
The president met with Yulia Navalnaya and Dasha Navalnaya on Thursday throughout a visit to California and promised to honour the legacy of the late Russian dissident.
Joe Sommerlad23 February 2024 14:15