
Trump returns to first impeachment roots by saying Ukraine aid should be linked to Biden probes
Donald Trump returned to the roots of his first impeachment when he suggested that aid to Ukraine should be conditioned on congressional investigations of President Joe Biden. The former president called for Republicans in Congress to hold back on more support for Ukraine until the White House cooperates with their probes into the business dealings of Mr Biden and his son Hunter Biden. The Saturday night tirade at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania echoed the conduct that led to Mr Trump’s first of his two impeachments when he used military aid to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to open an investigation into then-candidate Biden in 2019. “Congress should refuse to authorize a single additional shipment of our depleted weapons stockpiles … to Ukraine until the FBI, DOJ and IRS hand over every scrap of evidence they have on the Biden Crime Family’s corrupt business dealings,” Mr Trump said on Saturday. He argued that all Republicans who don’t join the efforts should be challenged in their primaries – Mr Trump endorsed challengers in the 2022 midterms of the Republicans who voted for his impeachment after the January 6, 2021 insurrection. Republicans are probing Hunter Biden’s business interests in China and Ukraine during the Obama administration when Mr Biden served as vice president. Hunter Biden served on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company. The White House has argued that the GOP hasn’t presented any proof of wrongdoing by the president. Republicans in Congress have shared their frustration regarding the administration’s response to their requests for records. The Oversight Committee has got hold of thousands of pages of financial documents and they’ve also looked at Treasury Department bank activity reports and an internal report by the FBI, according to The Washington Post. Far-right conservatives in the party have been putting pressure on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to turn the investigations into an impeachment inquiry. The speaker indicated last week that he was open to doing so. A spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Ammar Moussa, told The Post: “Just like when he was impeached, Trump is using aid to Ukraine to play politics, which only serves to benefit one person: Vladimir Putin. MAGA Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Kevin McCarthy are echoing Trump’s baseless attacks, floating a political impeachment, and wasting taxpayer dollars instead of working with President Biden on actually delivering lower costs, more jobs, and safer communities for the American people.” Mr Trump spoke to Mr Zelensky in 2019 in what the ex-president has referred to as a “perfect” phone call. At the time, Mr Zelensky was requesting US missiles as his country was trying to resist what later became the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February of last year. “I would like you to do us a favour though,” Mr Trump responded on the call, before going on to ask that Mr Zelensky help him find DNC emails that he suggested, without evidence, were located on a server in Ukraine. Mr Trump also asked that Mr Zelensky discuss investigating Hunter Biden with his lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Attorney General William Barr. The phone call prompted a complaint by a whistleblower which later led to the impeachment inquiry. He was impeached in the House for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. He was acquitted in the Senate, where one Republican, Mitt Romney of Utah, voted with the Democrats. Read More Trump indictment – live: Trump road tests election lies defence at rally, as his CNN ‘Hitler’ lawsuit fails Joe Biden, America's oldest sitting president, needs young voters to win again. Will his age matter? Who's in, who's out: A look at which candidates have qualified for the 1st GOP presidential debate The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary
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The chance of Trump winning another term is very real
Donald Trump is facing two indictments, with the potential for more.And yet he is not only in a historically strong position for a nonincumbent to win the Republican nomination, but he is in a better position to win the general election than at any point during the 2020 cycle and almost at any point during the 2016 cycle.
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Joe Biden, America's oldest sitting president, needs young voters to win again. Will his age matter?
Joe Biden is already the oldest sitting president in American history at age 80
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Who's in, who's out: A look at which candidates have qualified for the 1st GOP presidential debate
In a few weeks, Republicans will hold their first presidential debate of the 2024 campaign
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Kamala Harris takes center stage in Biden reelection campaign's rapid response to GOP
Gathered at the vice president's residence at the Naval Observatory last weekend, a group of aides and advisers to Kamala Harris marveled at what they had just pulled off.
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Constitutional referendum to remove presidential term limits divides Central African Republic
The Central African Republic went to the polls Sunday in a highly anticipated vote on a new constitution, which could remove presidential term limits
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Central Africa vote in referendum could extend Touadera's rule
BANGUI Central African Republic is voting on a constitutional referendum on Sunday which, if it passes, could remove
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Wagner-backed CAR leader asks voters to abolish term limits
The opposition is boycotting the poll and says Faustin-Archange Touadéra wants to be leader for life.
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CAR votes on new constitution as Touadera eyes third term
The Central African Republic began voting on Sunday in a referendum on a new constitution that would allow President Faustin-Archange Touadera to seek a third term in a...
1970-01-01 08:00

Trump, amid legal perils, calls on GOP to rally around him as he threatens primary challenges
At a moment of growing legal peril, Donald Trump on Saturday ramped up his calls for his GOP rivals to drop out of the 2024 presidential race
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Trump rehearses defence over possible election lies charges at Pennsylvania rally
Former president Donald Trump floated his potential defence for the potential charges he faces for promoting lies about the election during a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania. The already-twice-impeached-twice-indicted former president now faces potential a potential third indictment for spreading lies about the 2020 presidential election. But speaking to the crowd in Pennsylvania, a state where he lost 43 lawsuits as he tried to dispute the 2020 presidential election results, Mr Trump pushed back on the potential accusations. “Why didn’t the corrupt Marxist prosecutors bring these radical and unjustified charges against me two and a half years ago,” Mr Trump asked the crowd. “They had two and a half years. Two and a half years. Nobody even knew they were looking at it. I don’t think they were.” Mr Trump said with no evidence that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s office waited as long as it did to indict him in the middle of his 2024 presidential campaign. “Because it’s election interference,” he said. “These are crooked people.” Mr Trump repeated his continued lies that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and questioned why the press did not call Pennsylvania for him in the 2016 or 2020 presidential election. “They just refused to call it because in my opinion, they were trying to cheat and they couldn't quite pull it off,” he told the crowd. So far, Mr Trump has been indicted by the district attorney for New York County’s office for charges related to hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and by Mr Smith’s office for his handling of documents related to national security. Mr Trump pled not guilty to all charges. Mr Trump also railed against Fani Willis, the district attorney for Fulton County, Georgia, who is investigating Mr Trump’s attempts overturn the election results in the state. “So they have a DA there that doesn't do anything about crime,” he said. “All she does is focus on ‘let’s get Trump.’ We got to get him.” The former president said he was being treated unfairly and said that Democrats made far more inflammatory statements than he did in the past. Read More Trump’s election fraud claims were always bogus. Will his history of lies finally catch up to him? Trump indictment – live: Trump’s ‘Hitler’ lawsuit against CNN thrown out ahead of rally in Pennsylvania Trump’s $475m ‘Hitler’ defamation lawsuit against CNN thrown out by federal judge ‘Poetic’: Trump takes stage in Iowa to song about going to prison Ex-Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon joins push for third-party presidential bid as Democrats try to stop it
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‘Poetic’: Trump takes stage in Iowa to song about going to prison
Donald Trump took the stage at the Iowa Republican Dinner to a song that started out with the lyrics, “One could end up going to prison, one just might be president”. The ironic moment came as the former president’s legal woes are mounting. Mr Trump has already been indicted twice. By the end of the summer, he may be the subject of as many as four criminal cases. The latest episode in his legal peril appeared to be taking shape on Thursday 27 July, when the ex-president’s legal team met with the prosecution team led by Special Counsel Jack Smith in a last-ditch attempt to convince Mr Smith and his team from seeking another indictment against Mr Trump for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. That same day, the special counsel’s team hit Mr Trump with superseding charges in federal court in Florida. Officials accused the former president and an employee at his Mar-a-Lago club of attempting to destroy security camera footage once Mr Trump learned he was under subpoena in the investigation over his handling of classified documents. Earlier this month, Mr Trump said prosecutors notified him that he was also a target of Mr Smith’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the January 6 attack on the Capitol. The former president is understood to be facing the possibility of charges under three federal criminal statutes: Conspiracy to defraud the United States, deprivation of rights under colour of law, and witness tampering. Natalie Allison of Politico tweeted a video of the moment on Friday night. “As Trump took the stage in Iowa, this ironic line played: ‘One could end up going to prison, one just might be president.’ He had to walk out to Brooks & Dunn (like all candidates tonight) instead of his usual Lee Greenwood,” she wrote. Twitter users were quick to join in the mockery of the former president. MSNBC host Katie Phang simply wrote that it was “poetic”. “Omg. That line hits right when he gets on stage,” State Attorney for Palm Beach County Dave Aronberg wrote. GOP strategist Mike Murphy wrote: “Ha! Trump is finally understanding [that Iowa Governor Kim] Reynolds didn’t get her job because she just fell off a turnip truck…. #SharpOperator BTW, earlier she was at a big Tim Scott event. And treated with due respect.” “This is gold! Proving once again that #Republicans are so clueless they don’t even listen to lyrics before greeting their standard bearer with a song. Excuse me while I ROTFLMAO,” Ann Werner said. Read More Trump indictment – live: GOP candidate booed off stage for criticising Trump as ex-president slams DeSantis Ex-Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon joins push for third-party presidential bid as Democrats try to stop it A new challenger has emerged to Trump – and his extreme anti-woke message is working Ex-Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon joins push for third-party presidential bid as Democrats try to stop it GOP candidate booed off stage for criticising Trump as he slams DeSantis - live Election disinformation campaigns targeted voters of color in 2020. Experts expect 2024 to be worse
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