Trump rails against New York fraud ruling as he faces fines that could exceed half-a-billion dollars
WATERFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump railed against the judge who slapped him with a $355 million fine in his New York civil fraud trial and went after the long list of prosecutors with cases against him as he campaigned in Michigan Saturday night while facing penalties that, with interest, could exceed half-a-billion dollars.
Trump was making his pitch in a state that is expected to be critical in November as he pivots toward a likely general election rematch against President Joe Biden. While Biden narrowly beat Trump here in 2020, the president is facing deep skepticism in the state, especially from Arab-American voters angry over his support for Israel in the Israel-Hamas war as the Palestinian death toll has climbed.
Trump, meanwhile, has been working to appeal to the blue-collar and union voters who were critical to his victory in 2016. On Saturday, he again made his pitch to auto workers, railing against electric vehicle mandates that he argues will ultimately lead to lost jobs and touted tariffs he put in place.
“We have to let them know a freight train is coming in November," Trump told more than 2,000 supporters gathered in a freezing plane hangar in Waterford Township, in the suburbs of Detroit.
But Trump was again most focused on his grievances, opening with a 15-minute screed about the criminal and civil cases against him.
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Here's a look inside Donald Trump's $355 million civil fraud verdict as an appeals fight looms
NEW YORK (AP) — On the witness stand last year, Donald Trump proclaimed: “I have a lot of cash.”
After Friday’s eye-popping penalty in his New York civil fraud trial, he’s going to need it — and maybe more.
A judge ordered the former president to fork over $355 million of his fortune, plus interest, finding he lied for years about his wealth on financial statements he used to secure loans and make deals as he built the real estate empire that vaulted him to fame and the presidency.
“The frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience,” Judge Arthur Engoron wrote in a 92-page decision that spares Trump’s company from closure, but forces it into years of court supervision, among other sanctions.
The ruling, after a 2 1/2-month trial in New York Attorney General Letitia James' lawsuit cuts to the core of Trump’s image as a wealthy, shrewd real estate mogul turned political force.
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Kremlin foe Alexei Navalny's team confirms his death and says his mother is searching for his body
Alexei Navalny’s spokesperson confirmed Saturday that the Russian opposition leader had died at a remote Arctic penal colony, saying he was “murdered," but it was unclear where his body was as his family and friends searched for answers.
Navalny's death at age 47 has deprived the Russian opposition of its most well-known and inspiring politician less than a month before an election that will give President Vladimir Putin another six years in power.
Although neither the imprisoned anti-corruption crusader nor other Kremlin critics were in a position to challenge Putin for the presidency, the loss of Navalny was a crushing blow to Russians who had pinned their future hopes on Putin's seemingly indefatigable foe. It also prompted questions about what killed him. Russian officials told the politician's team Saturday that the cause of Navalny’s death had not yet been established and that the results of a new investigation would be released next week, said Navalny spokesperson Kira Yarmysh. Navalny’s mother was told that the body would not be released until those investigations were complete, she said. The decision has prompted speculation that the Russian authorities may be keen to hold on to the body in an attempt to cover up potential foul play. “They're driving us around in circles and covering their tracks,” Yarmysh said.
A note handed to Navalny’s mother stated that he died at 2:17 p.m. Friday, according to Yarmysh. Prison officials told his mother when she arrived at the penal colony Saturday that her son had perished from “sudden death syndrome,” Ivan Zhdanov, the director of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
A prison colony employee said the body was taken to the nearby city of Salekhard as part of a post-mortem investigation, Yarmysh said. When Navalny's mother and one of the late politician's lawyers visited the morgue in Salekhard, it was closed, Navalny's team wrote on its Telegram channel. But the lawyer called the morgue and was told the body was not there, his team said.
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Mediator says talks on Gaza not 'progressing as expected' after momentum in recent weeks
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Talks on a potential cease-fire deal in Gaza “have not been progressing as expected” in the past few days after good progress in recent weeks, key mediator Qatar said Saturday, as Israel's prime minister accused the Hamas militant group of not changing its ”delusional" demands.
Speaking during the Munich Security Conference, Qatar's prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdurrahman Al Thani, noted difficulties in the “humanitarian part” of the negotiations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under pressure to bring home remaining hostages taken in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, said he sent a delegation to cease-fire talks in Cairo earlier in the week at U.S. President Joe Biden’s request but doesn't see the point in sending them again.
Hamas wants a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and the release of Palestinians held by Israel.
Netanyahu also pushed back against international concern about a planned Israeli ground offensive in Rafah, a city on southern Gaza's border with Egypt. He said “total victory” against Hamas requires the offensive, once people living there evacuate to safe areas. Where they will go in largely devastated Gaza is not clear.
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Russia takes control of a city in eastern Ukraine after Ukrainian troops withdraw
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia said its forces took complete control Saturday of a city in eastern Ukraine that was the focus of intense combat for months, a development that Moscow could use to boost morale as the second anniversary of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches with the war largely at a stalemate.
The Russian Defense Ministry's announcement came the same day Ukraine’s military chief said he was withdrawing troops from the city of Avdiivka, where the outnumbered defenders had battled a Russian assault for four months.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told the Kremlin that Russian forces were working to clear final pockets of resistance at the Avdiivka Coke and Chemical Plant, officials said in a statement. Videos on social media Saturday appeared to show soldiers raising the Russian flag over one of the plant’s buildings.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a personal message of congratulating to his troops in the city, state news agency Tass reported. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described Avdiivka’s capture as an “important victory.”
Along with the invasion's upcoming anniversary on Feb. 24, Russia also is preparing for a March presidential election that is all but guaranteed to give Putin another six-year term. The Kremlin has cracked down heavily on dissent during the war, and the death Friday of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny has silenced the voice of Putin's most formidable foe.
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Fani Willis' testimony evokes long-standing frustrations for Black women leaders
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is used to prosecuting high-profile, challenging cases. But as she parried questions about her own personal conduct from the witness stand against the legal teams for defendants her office has accused of election interference, many Black women recognized a dispiriting scene.
“It absolutely feels familiar. There is no secret that the common sentiment among Black women in positions of power (is that they) must over-perform to be seen as equals to their counterparts," said Jessica T. Ornsby, a family litigation attorney in the Washington, D.C., area.
“Here, Ms. Willis is being scrutinized for things that are not directly related to her job performance, in ways we see other Black women regularly picked apart,” Ornsby said.
Willis testified during an extraordinary hearing that could result in her office being removed from the state’s election interference case against former President Donald Trump. She was questioned Thursday about her relationship with the attorney leading her office’s prosecution, Nathan Wade.
Willis and Wade have acknowledged they had a “ personal relationship ” but have denied any improper conduct.
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Army Reserve soldiers, close friends killed in drone attack, mourned at funerals in Georgia
WAYCROSS, Ga. (AP) — Two young citizen-soldiers who became close friends after enlisting in the Army Reserve were remembered at funerals in southeast Georgia on Saturday, nearly three weeks after they died in a drone attack while deployed to the Middle East.
A service for 24-year-old Sgt. Kennedy Sanders was held in the packed 1,200-seat auditorium of Ware County Middle School in Waycross.
Fellow soldiers recalled Sanders’ courage, her loving personality, and her willingness to volunteer for tasks few wanted to do, including learning to operate earth-moving equipment to help build roads and shelters, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
“Behind her smile was a fierce determination,” Col. Jeffrey Dulgarian said during the service, adding that she “tackled her responsibility with vigor and skill.”
Sanders’ former basketball coach, Mandy Lingenfelter, remembered Sanders as a point guard for Ware County High’s Lady Gators.
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State governments looking to protect health-related data as it's used in abortion battle
Some state governments and federal regulators were already moving to keep individuals' reproductive health information private when a U.S. senator’s report last week offered a new jolt, describing how cellphone location data was used to send millions of anti-abortion ads to people who visited Planned Parenthood offices.
Federal law bars medical providers from sharing health data without a patient’s consent but doesn’t prevent digital tech companies from tracking menstrual cycles or an individual’s location and selling it to data brokers. Legislation for federal bans have never gained momentum, largely because of opposition from the tech industry.
Whether that should change has become another political fault line in a nation where most Republican-controlled states have restricted abortion — including 14 with bans in place at every stage of pregnancy — and most Democratic ones have sought to protect access since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 overturned Roe v. Wade.
Abortion rights advocates fear that that if such data is not kept private, it could be used not only in targeted ads but also in law enforcement investigations or by abortion opponents looking to harm those who seek to end pregnancies.
“It isn't just sort of creepy,” said Washington state Rep. Vandana Slatter, the sponsor of a law her state adopted last year to rein in unauthorized use of health information. “It's actually harmful.”
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Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin is released on parole after serving 6 months in a hospital
BANGKOK (AP) — Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was released on parole early Sunday from a Bangkok hospital where he spent six months serving time for corruption-related offenses.
Thaksin was seen wearing a neck support, a sling on his right arm and a surgical mask inside one of the cars in a convoy leaving the Police General Hospital just before sunrise. He was accompanied by his two daughters and they arrived at his residence in western Bangkok less than an hour later.
A homemade banner with the words “Welcome home” and “We’ve been waiting for this day for so so long” was seen hanging at the front gate of his house. Thaksin and his daughters rode straight into the compound and did not give any reaction to a throng of reporters gathered on the street.
Thaksin was accused of corruption and abuse of power during his time in office from 2001 to 2006, when he was toppled in a coup, and he remains one of the most polarizing figures in Thai politics over the last two decades. Analysts believe his release represents a drift toward reconciliation with his enemies in Thailand’s conservative elite, who saw his popularity and brash populist politics as a threat to the monarchy, which is considered a bedrock of Thai society.
Thaksin is still believed to wield huge influence and will continue to “conduct the music behind the scenes” for the ruling Pheu Thai party — led by his daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra — but how much political power he can now exercise is unclear, said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor of political science at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University.
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What does it mean to claim the US is a Christian nation, and what does the Constitution say?
Many Americans believe the United States was founded as a Christian nation, and the idea is energizing some conservative and Republican activists. But the concept means different things to different people, and historians say that while the issue is complex, the founding documents prioritize religious freedom and do not create a Christian nation.
No.
“(N)o religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” (Article VI)
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” (First Amendment)
It does now. Early in the republic, some states officially sponsored particular churches, such as the Congregational Church in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Within a few decades, all had removed such support. The post-Civil War 14th Amendment guaranteed all U.S. citizens “equal protection of the laws” and said states couldn't impede on their “privileges or immunities” without due process. In the 20th century, the Supreme Court applied that to a number of First Amendment cases involving religion, saying states couldn't forbid public proselytizing, reimburse funding for religious education or sponsor prayer in public schools.
The Associated Press
