Donald Trump is back on the campaign trail today, addressing conservative Christians at the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference in Washington, DC. The former president, a convicted felon and accused adulterer, has declared his “love” of the Ten Commandments following new legislation in Louisiana that requires them to be displayed in all classrooms.
Later on Saturday, he will head to a rally near Philadelphia, continuing a recent streak of campaigning in traditionally solidly Democrat cities.
Yesterday, a hearing in the former president’s classified documents case ended with no ruling as Judge Aileen Cannon entertained a motion from Trump’s legal team that Jack Smith was unlawfully appointed as special counsel.
Smith has brought charges for allegedly mishandling classified information in Florida and in the District of Columbia for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
The Trump argument that Smith’s appointment was illegal stems from the claim that Attorney General Merrick Garland doesn’t have the legal authority to appoint a special counsel who the Senate hasn’t confirmed.
Cannon seemed skeptical of Trump’s argument that Smith was appointed illegally but also said that the prosecution’s statutory analysis appeared to be an excessively “malleable” reading of the Constitution, Lawfare reported.
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‘We’ve all broken the Ten Commandments haven’t we?’
The Independent’s Bel Trew is speaking to delegates at the Faith and Freedom conference in Washington, DC ahead of Donald Trump’s remarks at lunchtime today.
Frank Collins, 69, a pastor who drove eight hours from Detroit to attend the event, prayed for Donald Trump with his son, also called Frank, who was wearing a “Make America Great Again” baseball cap.
“We need someone who will speak the truth boldly, like a lion, and really, really tell people what’s going on in this nation,” Pastor Collins said.
about the criticism of Mr Trump supporting the new Louisiana law requiring classrooms to post the Ten Commandments, he said: “We’ve all broken the Ten Commandments haven’t we?”
“We’re not looking for a perfect person, but we’re looking for a person who has a heart for the American people and a heart for God. And I think I honestly believe in my heart that he’s the one that has it. I don’t see it in Biden. I didn’t see it in Obama,” Collins said.
“I didn’t vote for either one of them. I voted for Donald Trump the first time. I was here for the first inauguration, and I’ll be here for the second inauguration. So this is the man of the day. This is the man of the hour. And we’re praying, we are praying”.
His son Frank, 19, who will be voting for the first time said that he believed young people “want to have someone we can trust in office, which is Trump.”
“Everyone makes mistakes. He’s done a lot of things in office that have helped this country. I solely believe he is the answer to our problems.”
The family rejected the trial against Trump – saying members of the Black community in the USA felt solidarity with the former president as they felt the judicial “dice are stacked against us”.
“It’s a kangaroo trial. No, offense to the people from Australia, but [the USA] is a banana republic. It is really unfair what they did to him and people see through it. And I think it’s going to show in the polls now. Donald Trump went through something that Black Americans go do a lot. We have the dice stacked against us,” he said.
“We go to court and things are against us. And so not only us but poor people. So when they look at what they did to him, we can relate. What was done here was not fair and legal also. The judiciary has been has been militarized against him.”
Oliver O’Connell22 June 2024 16:30
Lauren Boebert: Get ready for a seriously messy primary
Voters will decide the fate of Boebert and other races across the state on Tuesday, June 25. One way or another, they make their judgment on the long, strange road the far-right Republican congresswoman has taken since her 2022 defeat, after which she became further embroiled in scandals and fled her district.
John Bowden and Sheila Flynn report from Colorado.
Oliver O’Connell22 June 2024 16:15
‘I’m not voting for a pastor. I’m voting for someone that leads the country’
The Independent’s Bel Trew is speaking to delegates at the Faith and Freedom conference in Washington, DC ahead of Donald Trump’s remarks at lunchtime today.
In the audience, Renata DaSilva, 49 — a Brazilian-American and host of the “God and Country” podcast — was proudly wearing a cowboy hat emblazoned with a broach reading “Free Trump” in diamanté jewels.
She had flown in from South Carolina especially for the event and to hear Donald Trump speak after meeting him at an event in Detroit earlier this year.
“He’s always a beacon of light. Whenever he comes in he just lights up the room. Trump speaks to people directly. That’s the difference between him and a lot of politicians. He speaks in the way that we understand and we believe him.”
She said under his presidency the economy “was at the highest.”
“I never lived so well. I purchased my home during his presidency.
Right now, with soaring interest rates, when you go to the gas station, the American people see the difference between his presidency when he was governing to what we see now during the Biden presidency.”
She supported Louisiana’s decision earlier this week to become the first state to require the the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom – which has sparked concerns about the separation of church and state, and whether the action could be unconstitutional. Critics of Mr Trump, who enthusiastically showed his support for the move on social media, have pointed out he has been accused of breaking several commandments including adultery with Stormy Daniels and corruption over his felony conviction in New York.
His supporters brushed the criticism aside.
“I’m not voting for a pastor. I’m voting for someone that leads the country,” ” Ms Renata said.
“Like Jesus says, he who is not a sinner let him throw the first stone. So Donald Trump is not perfect. I’m not perfect. I don’t think you are perfect. The problem is we always want to visualize this perfect man. That perfect person does not exist.”
“And that’s why Trump speaks to us, because he’s not perfect.”
Oliver O’Connell22 June 2024 16:00
‘Huge red flags’: Giuliani’s ‘mess’ of finances is slammed in bankruptcy court
Giuliani’s bookkeeping was heavily criticized during a three-hour-long hearing in his high-profile Chapter 11 bankruptcy case. Judge Sean Lane also heard heated arguments from Giuliani’s creditors, who want a trustee to seize control of his finances and force the disgraced mayor to file monthly operating reports on time.
“There are reasons to be concerned here,” the bankruptcy court judge declared, conceding that the former mayor’s records appear to be a “mess.”
“At a certain point, a failure to comply with [court] orders means my voice will take on a decided edge,” the judge warned. “If people don’t obey court orders, it’s a profound problem.”
Oliver O’Connell22 June 2024 15:45
Donald Trump’s numerous celebrity obsessions over the years: The good, the bad, and the ‘unusually attractive’
But Trump has been starting fights and insulting other famous people for years — here’s some who’ve caught his attention and wrath.
Oliver O’Connell22 June 2024 15:15
In pictures: Delegates pray as Faith & Freedom conference gets underway in Washington, DC
Oliver O’Connell22 June 2024 14:58
Accused adulterer Trump who paid to keep Stormy Daniels affair secret professes ‘love’ for the Ten Commandments
Donald Trump has declared his “love” for the Ten Commandments and has called for them to be displayed in schools and other places in an all-caps, late-night post on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Louisiana is the only state in the country with such a requirement however it appears that it is one that the former president would like to expand.
Oliver O’Connell22 June 2024 14:45
Trump hits out at Bill Maher in breakfast time rant on Truth Social
Good morning and welcome to today’s live coverage of Donald Trump, his myriad legal woes, and his quest to retake the White House in November’s presidential election.
The former president and convicted felon began his morning in the traditional style — lashing out at someone on Truth Social.
Today’s target is comedian and political panel show host Bill Maher. Here’s what Trump had to say:
Bill Maher, the highly overrated “Star” of the ratings challenged show with the Fake, Loud and Obnoxious laughter pouring out of your set every few seconds, even when nothing was said that was funny (which is most of the time!), suffers from a terminal case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, sometimes referred to as TDS. Republicans should stop using him as a reference point, his show is dead!
Oliver O’Connell22 June 2024 14:15
Judge dismisses criminal charges against Trump’s ‘fake electors’ in Nevada
Clark County District Court Judge Mary Kay Holthus argued that the case from state prosecutors was filed in the wrong county.
Attorneys for the six defendants argued that the case should have been brought in Carson City, where they approved false certificates certifying Trump’s electors, or in Douglas County, where those documents were mailed.
Nevada’s Attorney General Aaron Ford is expected to appeal the decision.
Alex Woodward22 June 2024 13:00
Miami newspaper runs pro-Trump political ad filled with racial slurs
A newspaper in Miami, Florida is under fire after running several pro-Trump political ads filled with racial slurs.
The quote was taken from a 1985 hearing in which then-Senator Biden quoted racist remarks made by a state legislator during a redistricting process in Louisiana. At the time, Biden was questioning William Bradford Reynolds, a nominee for deputy attorney general, who oversaw the redistricting process.
During the hearing, Biden read verbatim from a memo highlighting racist language used by lawmakers to support the redistricting plan. “We already have a n—– mayor, we don’t need any more n—–big shots!” Biden quoted a lawmaker as saying, before arguing that Reynolds had ignored racist comments by lawmakers and allowed them to gerrymander Louisiana’s congressional districts in a way that underrepresented Black residents.
Martha McHardy22 June 2024 11:00