List of All Articles with Tag 'politics'

Kevin McCarthy launched an aggressive defence of Donald Trump after his indictment on 37 counts of mishandling top secret documents. “This is going to disrupt this nation because it goes to the core of equal justice for all which is not being seen today,” the Republican House Speaker told Fox News on Friday. “And we're not going to stand for it.” Mr McCarthy’s comments came after the Department of Justice unsealed a 49-page indictment which laid out in extraordinary detail Special Counsel Jack Smith’s 15-month investigation into Mr Trump’s “willful defiance” of efforts to retrieve the materials. The indictment painted a damning picture of Mr Trump’s reckless storage of top secret material he took to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House, and his efforts to obstruct investigators. The classified material included nuclear secrets, war plans, and vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies. Mr Trump told lawyers tasked with complying with a DOJ subpoena that he didn’t want “anyone going through my boxes”, according to the indictment. Mr McCarthy, who is struggling to hold on to the House leadership, called the indictment a “dark day for America”. “You've got a sitting president right now in the exact same situation. You have a former first lady, senator, secretary of state, that had the same situation that nothing was done to,” he told Fox News. Republicans also rushed to defend Mr Trump despite the seemingly overwhelming evidence presented in the 49-page indictment. “We have now reached a war phase. Eye for an eye,” Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs wrote on Twitter. Elise Stefanik, the number three House Republican, tweeted that she was committed to “holding government officials accountable for their endless illegal witch hunt against President Trump”. Missouri Senator Josh Hawley wrote: “If the people in power can jail their political opponents at will, we don’t have a republic.” And Marco Rubio, the Florida senator, said: “There is no limit to what these people will do to protect their power & destroy those who threaten it, even if it means ripping our country apart & shredding public faith in the institutions that hold our republic together.” However, the indictment comes not from political rivals or even from prosecutors but from a grand jury. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was investigated by the FBI in 2016 for her handling of classified material, who opted not to charge her after saying she had been “extremely careless”. President Joe Biden and Trump’s vice president Mike Pence were found to have retained classified materials, but complied with efforts by the National Archive to return them. Read More Trump news — latest: Trump ‘plotted to hide documents from FBI after showing military docs to visitors’ Jonathan Turley tells Fox News the Trump indictment is ‘extremely damning’ and a ‘hit below the waterline’ Trump praised attorney for deleting Hillary Clinton’s 30,000 emails, indictment shows Trump described Pentagon ‘plan of attack’ and shared classified military map with PAC member, indictment shows Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement

The National Archives is pushing back on claims made by former President Donald Trump, his lawyers and his allies over his retention of classified documents, for which he now faces a federal indictment.

In the weeks before Donald Trump was indicted over his alleged mishandling of classified defense documents and alleged attempt to cover it up, the former president kept arguing that it would be unfair to prosecute him given that President Joe Biden took "1,850 boxes" of documents to the University of Delaware.

Trump's critics in political fundraising circles fear that the 2024 contest is shaping up as a repeat of 2016 when he seized on GOP divisions to clear a path through 16 rivals on his way to the nomination and the White House.

A female member of Donald Trump's family was involved in decisions over how to handle classified US government documents that he took from the White House, prosecutors have said. In a historic indictment unsealed on Friday, authorities alleged that an unnamed family member gave instructions to Mr Trump's aide Walt Nauta as he was preparing to squirrel away documents that the former president did not wish to give back. The accusation widens the circle of people who may have had unauthorised influence over sensitive information about US nuclear weapons, military plans, foreign relations, and more. Yet the identity of the family member remains a mystery, with the only clue being that Mr Nauta allegedly addressed her as "ma'am". ABC News reported that the woman was likely to be Mr Trump's wife Melania, citing inside sources. Melania Trump's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mr Trump is facing 37 criminal charges including willfully retaining national defence information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, concealing a document in a federal investigation, and false statements and representations. Prosecutors claim that Mr Trump schemed to keep hold of some documents in defiance of a legal order to give them back, while storing them insecurely at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida while tens of thousands of guests came and went. Mr Trump contends that he is "an innocent man" and that the charges are "a hoax" contrived by his political enemies. According to the indictment, Mr Trump's family member became involved on 30 May 2022, just day before a lawyer was due to search his storage room for classified documents demanded by the government. Before that happened, Mr Trump allegedly asked Mr Nauta to remove 64 boxes from their storage room and bring them to his private residence, meaning they would not be present for the lawyer to search. That day, the family member allegedly texted Mr Nauta: "Good afternoon, Walt. Happy Memorial Day! I saw you put boxes to POTUS' room. "Just FYI, and I will tell him as well: not sure how many he wants to take on Friday on the plane. We will NOT have room for them. Plane will be full with luggage. Thank you!" Mr Nauta replied with a smiley face emoji, saying: "Good afternoon ma'am. Thank you so much. I think he wanted to pick from them. I don't imagine him wanting to take the boxes. "He told me to put them in the room and that he was going to talk to you about them." The indictment says nothing more about who this family member might have been, how much she knew about the documents, and what her intentions were in texting Mr Nauta. The most prominent women in Mr Trump's immediate family are his wife Melania, his daughter from his first marriage Ivanka, 41, and his daughter from his second marriage Tiffany, 29. The indictment does not suggest that any of them had knowledge of any illegal behaviour. Read More Trump bragged a ‘secret’ document ‘totally wins my case’. A tape of his remarks could land him in prison Trump news — latest: Trump ‘plotted to hide documents from FBI after showing military docs to visitors’ Hiding documents from the FBI and foreign nuclear plans: Key allegations in Trump’s unsealed indictment

BOGOTA Colombia's attorney general's office has launched an investigation into reports of the illegal financing of President Gustavo

By Brad Brooks Federal prosecutors on Friday leveled charges of making false statements to financial institutions against a

Former President Donald Trump allegedly kept classified documents at various places in his Mar-a-Lago resort, including a public ballroom, bathroom and a bedroom.

The federal indictment against former president Donald Trump has now been unsealed - revealing a stunning laundry list of 37 counts. The 49-page, 37-count indictment was unsealed on Friday after Mr Trump released a series of social media posts revealing that he has been indicted by a grand jury under the supervision of Special Counsel Jack Smith. The indictment details the charges against Mr Trump and Walt Nauta, a former US Navy noncommissioned officer who left government service to work for Mr Trump after his term ended in January 2021. Those charges include willful retention of national defense secrets in violation of the Espionage Act, conspiracy to obstruct justice, corruptly concealing documents, conealing documents in a federal investigation, scheme to conceal, and making false statements. Mr Trump will surrender, face arrest, and be formally charged at an arraignment in US District Court in Miami next week. A potential sentence, if convicted, could include decades in prison. Read the indictment in full: Read More Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement

LONDON Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is stepping down as a member of parliament with immediate effect,

Former president Donald Trump showed highly-classified information to unauthorised persons on two separate occasions, according to a copy of the indictment against him that has been obtained by The Independent. The 49-page, 37-count indictment was unsealed on Friday after Mr Trump released a series of social media posts revealing that he has been indicted by a grand jury under supervision of Special Counsel Jack Smith. The indictment details the charges against Mr Trump and Walt Nauta, a former US Navy noncommissioned officer who left government service to work for Mr Trump after his term ended in January 2021. According to the indictment, the 37 charges against Mr Trump and Mr Nauta include willful retention of national defence information, conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document or record, concealing a document in a federal investigation, scheme to conceal, and false statements and representations. The first 31 counts of the indictment concern Mr Trump’s willful retention of national defence information at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach, Florida home. Read More What is an indictment? Here’s what Donald Trump is facing Trump indicted in classified documents case in a historic first for a former president Conspiracy, false statements and retaining national defence documents: The federal charges against Donald Trump Trump has been caught on tape. Congratulations, Donald – you played yourself

Defenders of former President Donald Trump have responded to news of his indictment by the US Department of Justice with deflection: Why is Trump being charged but not President Joe Biden's son Hunter?