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Trump says 2024 election will be ‘single most important day in history of our country’
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Donald Trump has filed an $91.63m bond in response to the E Jean Carroll defamation ruling against him ahead of Monday’s deadline, also officially appealing the verdict and asking for a stay of the judgement.
His filing did not include any details about the source of the bond, however.
On Thursday night, the former president posted a running commentary on Truth Social about Joe Biden’s fiery State of the Union address, which was partially marred by technical glitches and saw him fail to lay a glove on the commander-in-chief.
President Biden delivered an energetic performance that included blistering attacks on Mr Trump, particularly concerning his stranglehold over the Republican Party having a negative impact in Congress and over his “outrageous, dangerous and unacceptable” rhetoric on Russia and Nato.
“This was an angry, polarizing, and hate-filled Speech,” Mr Trump sulked afterwards, without a flicker of irony given his own highly-divisive campaign rhetoric.
Republican senator Katie Britt, whom Mr Trump has called a “fearless America First warrior”, delivered the official GOP rebuttal once the president had concluded his remarks but did so in a hysterical, melodramatic style that quickly went viral and was resoundingly mocked.
Recommended Fact checking Trump’s ‘play by play’ of Biden’s State of the Union Trump attacks, the border, abortion and Gaza: Key moments from Biden’s State of the Union Biden wastes no time laying into Trump as he comes out swinging in fiery State of the Union address
Key Points Florida classified documents case: Trump allegedly held onto 70 boxes – while telling staffer to claim all were returned Trump’s grip on RNC tightens as Michael Whatley and Lara Trump become new leaders Breaking: Trump files $91.63m bond in E Jean Carroll case Trump adviser calls Biden ‘an unhinged madman who has an alternate view of reality’ Could anti-Trump Republicans block his way back to the White House?
Show latest update 4 hours ago It’s not what Biden said at the State of the Union that matters. It’s how he said it
As the nation’s political elite filed into the United States House of Representatives for this year’s State of the Union address, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene wasn’t expecting much from President Joe Biden. “I would love to take bets and hear from doctors on what kind of medical cocktail they’re giving him to be able to do this tonight,” Ms Greene, a Republican and staunch ally to former president Donald Trump, told The Independent as she entered the House.
Ms Greene had plenty of reason to make such a snide remark. Polling has consistently shown that most voters have serious doubts about whether Mr Biden, who turns 82 in November, could actually be up to the job of president.
(Those voters have the same concerns, however, about Mr Trump, according to the polls.)
Polling has also consistently shown the president trailing Ms Greene’s political benefactor, Mr Trump. A report from special counsel Robert Hur about Mr Biden’s handling of classified documents mentioned the president’s age and portrayed him as a senile man who could not remember the date of his eldest son Beau’s death.
But there were no signs of Grandpa Joe during his State of the Union on Thursday evening. Rather, Mr Biden chose to confront anxieties about his age head-on and showed a side of himself that many political observers –including in his own party – thought had faded in his advanced years.
“Let me close with this: I know I may not look like it, but I’ve been around a while,” Mr Biden told the nation. “And when you get to my age certain things become clearer than ever before. I know the American story. Again and again, I’ve seen the contest between competing forces in the battle for the soul of our nation.”
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Eric Garcia and Katie Hawkinson 9 March 2024 09:00
6 hours ago Trump attacks, the border, abortion and Gaza: Key moments from Biden’s State of the Union
President Joe Biden’s final State of the Union address in his first term in office renewed his promise of American “possibilities” with a fiery rebuke of anti-democratic threats from the man he refused to mention: his “Republican predecessor”.
Looming throughout the president’s remarks was Donald Trump, framed as the man often standing in the way of legislation blocked by a Republican-dominated chamber of Congress that Mr Biden often depicted as captivated by the party’s increasingly likely candidate for the November election.
The president offered his plans for an economy fuelled by a thriving middle class and a vision of an equitable society, ending with a demand for humanitarian aid and support for a six-week ceasefire in Gaza.
In the one-hour address, he also warned against threats to democracy at home and abroad, vowed to enshrine abortion rights into law, pleaded with lawmakers to protect the right to vote and labour rights, sparred with Republican hecklers, and forecast an era where “trickle-down economics are over”.
Here are the five main takeaways from the night.
Alex Woodward 9 March 2024 07:00
8 hours ago President Biden reacts to Marjorie Taylor Greene’s MAGA hat at State of the Union
Biden urges Republicans to guarantee access to IVF
Gustaf Kilander 9 March 2024 05:00
9 hours ago ‘Dramatic,’ ‘creepy’ and ‘insincere’: Republican Katie Britt’s SOTU rebuttal is the butt of the joke
Alabama Senator Katie Britt slammed President Joe Biden on border security, calling him a “dithering and diminished leader” in her response to the State of the Union.
But, it was her own emotional and indignant speech that was widely mocked as “dramatic,” “creepy,” and “insincere” online.
Ms Britt, who at 42 is the youngest Republican woman to serve in the US Senate, was chosen to deliver the opposition party’s rebuttal speech to the president’s address.
Ms Britt sat at her kitchen table as she eviscerated Mr Biden on a wide range of issues, including the conflicts in the Middle East, the economy, and the “American dream” becoming a “nightmare”.
But her main focus, as it is for many Republicans, was the US’s southern border with Mexico.
“President Biden inherited the most secure border of all time. But minutes after taking office, he suspended all deportations, halted construction of the border wall, and announced a plan to give amnesty to millions,” she argued in her rebuttal.
Mr Biden has lambasted Republicans for rejecting a border security deal with some tough measures to stem the flow of border crossings, after former president Donald Trump came out against it – not wanting to hand Mr Biden another bipartisan legislative accomplishment ahead of the election.
“We know that President Biden didn’t just create this border crisis. He invited it with 94 executive actions in his first 100 days … President Biden’s border crisis is a disgrace. It’s despicable. And it’s almost entirely preventable,” Ms Britt said.
Her speech was mocked online, with journalist Aaron Rupar calling it “overly dramatic” while another X user said: “This is so creepy and insincere. Worst acting I’ve ever seen.”
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Gustaf Kilander, Mike Bedigan 9 March 2024 04:00
10 hours ago President Joe Biden caught on hot mic discussing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
President Joe Biden caught on hot mic discussing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Gustaf Kilander 9 March 2024 03:00
11 hours ago Trump allegedly held onto 70 boxes of classified documents – while telling staffer to claim all were returned
Donald Trump allegedly held onto 70 boxes of classified documents while telling one of his staffers to claim that they were all returned.
In a Thursday filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida in West Palm Beach, the Department of Justice opposed Trump staffer Walt Nauta’s motion to “suppress evidence”.
The prosecutors noted that Mr Nauta “had been a valet in the White House during Trump’s administration” and that he “previously held a high-level security clearance and received training in handling classified documents”.
“During his presidency, Trump used dozens of boxes to accumulate and store records in an informal filing system,” they added. “At the end of his presidency in January 2021, around 85 to 95 of these boxes were removed from the White House and transported to Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s residence in Palm Beach, Florida, where they were later placed in a storage room.”
Mr Nauta was part of the team that moved the boxes, prosecutors say.
In 2021, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) had discussions with Mr Trump regarding the documents.
“Trump wanted to review his boxes before providing them to NARA, and employees (including Nauta) brought two to four at a time to his personal residence in Mar-a-Lago for him to review,” the Department of Justice said in the filing. “After the employees (including Nauta) brought about 15 to 17 boxes, Trump instructed them to stop, and on January 17, 2022, employees handed over 15 boxes to NARA.”
“Trump indicated to his staff that the 15 boxes were the only boxes that would be going to NARA and that there were no more, and he instructed an employee to tell one of his lawyers there were no more boxes at Mara-Lago,” they added. “But about 70 to 80 boxes remained in the storage room.”
The judge in charge of the case, US District Judge Aileen Cannon, has set a hearing for next week for legal arguments while a trial date is yet to be set.
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Gustaf Kilander 9 March 2024 02:00
12 hours ago Seth Meyers muses on Republicans’ plan for Biden’s SOTU
Ahead of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday, Seth Meyers took the time to poke fun at Republicans who cannot stand that the fact that Mr Biden will be making the speech – despite it being his constitutional duty to do so.
Meyers rolled various Fox News and Fox Business clips expressing their dismay over Mr Biden’s upcoming State of the Union address, including a soundbite from Republican representative Scott Perry suggesting that he should not be invited.
“He comes at the invitation of Congress; the Republicans are in charge of the House. There is no reason we need to invite him to get more propaganda,” he said on Mornings with Maria.
“I love how Biden is always trying to make bipartisanship happen, and Republicans respond by going, ‘I think we should be allowed to brick up all his doors so he can’t leave the house,’” Meyers joked.
“The State of the Union is a sacred constitutional duty, and you’re talking about it the way Susie on Curb [Your Enthusiam] talks about hosting a dinner party,” he continued.
“You know what Lar? If you don’t like the food, then get the f*** out of here. There’s no reason to invite you, you four-eyed f***,” mimicking the TV show character speaking to Larry David.
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Amelia Neath 9 March 2024 01:00
13 hours ago Can George Santos run for Congress again after being expelled for serial lies and indictments?
Serial liar and former congressman George Santos never ceases to amaze.
The New Yorker was expelled from the House in December following a series of scandals including a damning Ethics Committee report accusing him of committing “uncharged and unlawful conduct,” 23 criminal counts at the federal level, and a plethora of lies about his past.
His latest stunt then came on Thursday night when he turned up to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address and announced he would be running for Congress once again.
Even this announcement came with a characteristic series of surprises.
The former lawmaker-turned-Cameo star claimed that he left office “arbitrarily,” adding to his parade of lies that got him into trouble in the first place given an expulsion from Congress is far from arbitrary.
Mr Santos also announced that he would be switching districts. He previously represented New York’s third congressional district for less than one term after flipping his district red. In a February special election, his seat flipped back to blue when the district elected Democrat Tom Suozzi to replace him.
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Kelly Rissman 9 March 2024 00:00
14 hours ago Trump and Biden’s foreign leader choices this week reveal how they would govern
It’s basically an aphorism at this point that American voters almost never make a decision about their choice for president based on foreign policy. The only exception comes when Americans are in harm’s way, as Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George W Bush and Barack Obama can all attest.
At the same time, presidential candidates’ foreign policy reveals plenty about how what they value at home. Harry Truman’s desegregation of the US military reflected Democrats’ larger shift away from being the party of Southern racists to becoming the party of civil rights. Reagan’s ardent opposition to communism abroad reflected his desire to slash government spending at home.
That makes President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump’s choices of foreign heads of state to meet this week particularly interesting. They reflect much about what values they want to promote at home.
During his State of the Union Address to Congress on Thursday, Biden invited Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, in order to celebrate the Scandinavian nation’s acceptance into NATO. Biden’s decision to welcome the head of state for a country that has historically remained neutral in numerous world conflicts reflected his efforts to actively promote democracy at home and abroad.
Indeed, during his address, Biden tied the efforts to defend democracy abroad with his efforts to defeat the authoritarian creep of Trumpism at home. He pointedly mentioned how Trump had killed legislation that would have provided aid to Ukraine and how his “predecessor” had incited a riot to overturn the 2020 election results.
“History is watching — just like history watched three years ago on January 6 when insurrectionists stormed this very Capitol and placed a dagger to the throat of American democracy,” Biden said.
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Eric Garcia 8 March 2024 23:30
14 hours ago Fact checking Trump’s ‘play by play’ of Biden’s State of the Union
Donald Trump promised a play-by-play fact-check response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union, teeing up something of a virtual debate between the two men seeking their re-elections.
The former president planned to “correct, in rapid response, any and all inaccurate statements” from Mr Biden, particularly anything about the US-Mexico border and what Mr Trump called the “weaponization” of federal law enforcement “to go after his Political Opponent, ME,” he announced on his Truth Social this week,
Mr Trump’s account – between ads for his “signature trading card”, “mugshot coins”, Truth Social-branded sweatpants and a sponsored posts from an anti-vaccine “JesusMAGA” account with 80 followers – fired off dozens of posts, insults and memes throughout his rival’s remarks. Most of them were false.
Right off the bat, the former president’s account claimed Mr Biden was “very substantially late” (he wasn’t), and that Mr Biden would need racing driver Mario Andretti behind the wheel to get to the US Capitol on time for his 9pm address.
The president arrived in the chamber minutes after 9 o’clock.
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Alex Woodward 8 March 2024 23:00
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More about Donald Trump US election 2024 Supreme Court Nikki Haley Joe Biden Truth Social State of the Union Republican Party E Jean Carroll Russia Nato
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1/ 1Trump posts $91m bond in E Jean Carroll defamation case: Live
Trump posts $91m bond in E Jean Carroll defamation case: Live
Donald Trump
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