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Critics Bring The Receipts Over Trump’s New Claim About Sidney Powell

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Donald Trump is suddenly claiming Sidney Powell was never his attorney, but reporters and social media users were quick to jog his memory.

The former president posted on Truth Social on Sunday morning that the election-denying lawyer “WAS NOT MY ATTORNEY, AND NEVER WAS.”

The post followed Thursday’s news that Powell had reached a deal with Fulton County prosecutors handling the Georgia racketeering case against Trump and 17 others over an alleged plot to change the state’s 2020 election results.

Powell pleaded guilty to six misdemeanours related to intentionally interfering with an election.

In exchange for her cooperation with prosecutors, Powell must serve six years of probation, pay a fine of $6,000 (£4,940) and write an apology to Georgia residents.

Over on X (formerly Twitter), people promptly pointed out someone who contradicts Trump’s latest version of events: Trump, in 2020.

Trump announced in a tweet on November 15, 2020, that Powell had joined his “truly great” legal team, weeks after losing the election to YS President Joe Biden, as the Washington Post’s Aaron Blake noted.

Trump’s former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, who led the legal charge to overturn the 2020 results, also made comments explicitly to the contrary.

At a now-infamous press conference on November 19, 2020, Giuliani introduced himself, Powell and others as members of Trump’s legal team, saying, “We’re representing President Trump and we’re representing the Trump campaign.”

Powell testified under oath before the House January 6 committee that Trump had asked her to be “special counsel to address the election issues.”

Video of that moment from her deposition was shown at one of the panel’s congressional hearings last year.

Some people, including HuffPost’s SV Dáte, also noted that if Trump claims Powell was never his attorney, then that means he was never entitled to attorney-client privilege — a tidbit that prosecutors might find useful.

See some of the other posts about Trump’s claim below:

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EastEnders Fans Uncover Potential Return Of Soap Villain After On-Set Clue

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Between Michelle Collins’ comeback as Cindy Beale, and Jaqueline Jossa’s forthcoming reappearance as Lauren Branning, the EastEnders returnees have been coming thick and fast lately.

And now fans are convinced that another big character is set to walk back into Walford in the very near future – the villainous Dean Wicks.

Dean Wicks in EastEnders
Dean Wicks in EastEnders

Played by actor Matt Di Angelo, Dean left the BBC soap back in 2016 after being acquitted of the attempted rape of Roxy Mitchell (played by Rita Simmons).

But now, eagle-eyed followers of the show seem to have spotted Matt in the background of a photo which was taken in the Queen Vic pub.

“This BTS pic of current filming for Xmas eps, I swear this is Dean in the background..,” one fan wrote on X/Twitter.

The potential news comes after show boss Chris Clenshaw teased that Linda Carter, played by Kellie Bright, will be getting a major shock this Halloween.

The Queen Vic landlady – who was raped by Dean back in 2014 – is facing her first year without husband Mick (Danny Dyer), who is presumed to be dead after drowning in a horrific car crash last Christmas.

“Poor Linda’s struggling this Halloween as it’s the first one without Mick,” Chris previously told Inside Soap. “Obviously she wasn’t with Mick this time last year, but Halloween was very much their thing, and something they did together in the Vic.

“So, she’s trying her best to make a go of things, but she gets one hell of a surprise that she doesn’t bargain for…”

Linda Carter will get "one hell of a surprise" on Halloween
Linda Carter will get “one hell of a surprise” on Halloween

BBC/Jack Barnes/Kieron McCarron

And fans will also know that a huge Christmas storyline is set to go down, which was hinted at in a dramatic flash-forward episode back in February, and showed Linda, Suki Panesar, Stacey Slater, Denise Fox, Sharon Watts and Kathy Beale standing over a male body in the Walford pub.

The identity of the victim and the killer are yet to be revealed – but with Dean’s potential return to the street, could this be the way he meets his grizzly end?

A source told The Sun: “Dean is the ultimate villain so to bring him back was a genius move especially with everything that’s coming up this autumn. There’s also the small matter of the big murder at Christmas, could it be Dean’s body under the tree?

“We know that Linda is one of the women involved, and this just throws another name in the mix. It’s a very exciting time.”

EastEnders airs Monday to Thursday at 7.30pm on BBC One.

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Michael Gove Delays Scrapping No-Fault Evictions In Face Of Major Tory Rebellion

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Michael Gove has delayed plans to end no-fault evictions after dozens of Tory MPs threatened to vote against it.

The levelling up secretary said the changes – which were promised in the Conservatives’ election manifesto – would not go ahead until reforms were made to the way courts handle so-called “Section 21” cases.

But Labour accused him of striking a “grubby deal” with Tory MPs to avoid an embarrassing backbench rebellion.

Gove’s climbdown was revealed in a letter to MPs ahead of a Commons debate on the Renters Reform Bill.

In it, he said ministers will “reform the courts before we abolish section 21”.

Shadow levelling up secretary Angela Rayner said: “The government has betrayed renters with this grubby deal with the Tory backbenches.

“The Conservatives’ long-promised ban on no-fault evictions has majority and cross-party support across the House, but this flip-flop kicks it into the long grass.

“Having broken the justice system, they are now using their own failure to indefinitely delay keeping their promises to renters in the most underhand way.”

She added: “Tens of thousands more families who the government promised to protect, now face the prospect of being threatened with homelessness or kicked out of their homes by bailiffs.”

A spokesman for Rishi Sunak this morning insisted the government was still committed to ending no-fault evictions, but could not guarantee that it will happen before next year’s general election.

He said: “We think that this is an important commitment. Equally, it’s right that the right provisions are in place.”

One of the Tory rebels, Marco Longhi, told LBC: “The consequences of this well-meaning legislation is a reduction in supply as landlords continue to leave the market.

“Where will these tenants go at a time of huge demand? This is an inflationary measure that will make things worse for tenants.”

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‘Are You In Denial?’: Robert Jenrick Mocked Over His Response To Tory By-Election Defeats

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A Tory minister was asked if he was “in denial” after he tried to play down the significance of the party’s latest by-election disasters.

Robert Jenrick insisted “the public are undecided” about Labour, despite their seismic victories last Thursday.

The Conservatives lost in Tamworth despite having a majority of nearly 20,000, while Keir Starmer’s party managed to overturn a 25,000 majority in Nadine Dorries’ former seat of Mid Bedfordshire.

But appearing on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme this morning, Jenrick, who is the immigration minister, insisted Rishi Sunak is “making good progress” on his promises to voters, which he said were in tune with people’s priorities.

Presenter Victoria Derbyshire replied: “It doesn’t seem to be having any effect though if you look at what happened in Tamworth and Mid Beds.

“In Tamworth Labour overturned a majority of almost 19,000, in Mid Beds a majority of 25,000.”

Jenrick said: “With all due respect I wouldn’t read too much into by-elections – governments tend to lose by-elections.”

But Derbyshire hit back: “They are massive majorities with double digit swings – are you in denial?”

The minister replied: “I think we all have to listen to what the voters are saying in those by-elections, but we also shouldn’t read too much into them.

“My sense is that the public are undecided, they’re certainly not sold on Keir Starmer.”

Derbyshire interrupted: “Labour just won those two by-elections.”

Jenrick said: “The key thing for us as a party right now is not to worry about party politics but to deliver on the public’s priorities.”

Derbyshire then asked Jenrick how worried he was about losing his own seat of Newark, where he has a majority of 21,816.

“It would be foolish to be complacent – we all need to work hard and be good constituency members of parliament every day,” he said.

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Further Civilian Casualties ‘Entirely Likely’ In Gaza, Tory Minister Admits

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Further civilian casualties are “entirely likely” in Gaza as Israel continues its campaign to destroy Hamas, a government minister has admitted.

Robert Jenrick called on Israel to “surgically” attack the Palestinian militant group amid fears of a humanitarian disaster in the region.

But he conceded that more civilians will probably be killed as the conflict continues.

More than 1,400 Israelis were killed after Hamas launched an assault on the country two weeks ago.

An estimated 4,300 Palestinians have died as a result of Israel’s retaliatory strikes on Gaza.

Appearing on Sky News this morning, immigration minister Jenrick said: “We have confidence that Israel will take all the steps that it can in the circumstances to avoid civilian lives being lost.

“But the real tragedy here is that Hamas, who started this war by committing those appalling, barbaric atrocities in Israel deliberately enmesh themselves with the civilian infrastructure in Gaza, using innocent Palestinians as hostages to their own political aims.

″And so it is entirely likely that more civilian lives will be lost in this appalling conflict, but we have to defend Israel’s right to secure its borders, to release the hostages and bring a degree of security to its situation.

“What we need Israel to do is to surgically degrade and eradicate Hamas and their unfrastructyre in the Gaza Strip so that Palestinians can be free from Hamas and Israel can have the security that it needs.”

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‘You’re Not Doing Very Well, Are You?’: Robert Jenrick Roasted By Trevor Phillips On Tory Record

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Immigration minister Robert Jenrick was left squirming on Sky News as he was presented with proof of the government’s failures.

Presenter Trevor Phillips told him “you’re not doing very well” on the five pledges Rishi Sunak made to voters at the start of the year.

The prime minister vowed to halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce national debt, cut NHS waiting lists and stop the small boats carrying asylum seekers across the Channel.

But Jenrick was shown a graphic demonstrating how the government is failing on four of them.

Inflation is still running at 6.7%, debt and waiting lists have gone up and the government is nowhere near stopping the boats.

Phillips said: “That [small boats] pledge does not say stop 10% of small boats, it says stop small boats. You’re not doing very well really, are you?”

Jenrick replied: “I’m not pretending this is job done, I’m saying our plan is beginning to work.

“We’re around a quarter reduction now in small boats compared to last year, and if you compare that to Italy and much of Europe, small boat arrivals are up by 100%.

“If you look at the number of Albanians coming illegally to the UK, down by 90%. If you look at the number of people who are being returned who shouldn’t have come here, up 75%.”

He added: “On this area we are delivering. There is clearly a long way to go.”

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Donald Trump Promises 100% Evidence Of 2020 Fraud — With A Racist Dogwhistle

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Donald Trump just became his own hypeman in the trials he faces for attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The ex-president promised yet again on Friday to produce irrefutable evidence in court that he got robbed of a victory after lying about his election loss for three years.

“Massive information and 100% evidence will be made available during the Corrupt Trials started by our Political Opponent,” he wrote on Truth Social. “We will never let 2020 happen again. Look at the result, OUR COUNTRY IS BEING DESTROYED. MAGA!!!”

Trump even threw in what many people identified as thinly veiled racism.

“Does anyone notice that the Election Rigging Biden Administration never goes after the Riggers, but only after those that want to catch and expose the Rigging dogs,” he said.

Following a similar statement about “riggers” in August, critics, including his former communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin, accused the ex-president of using a racist dogwhistle to appeal to bigots. “Riggers,” of course, is just a letter away from a heinous slur.

We’ve been here before with Trump and his promises to verify his baseless claims of a stolen election. He recently announced a press conference to present a “CONCLUSIVE” report that would lead to “a complete EXONERATION.” But he canceled it.

Trump can’t really cancel a trial, so maybe we’ll see that purported evidence after all. Promises, promises.

In the meantime, potential legal jeopardy mounted for the autocratic ex-president and current Republican presidential front-runner. Trump’s co-defendants Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro both pleaded guilty in the Georgia election conspiracy case and agreed to testify against their alleged accomplices, which would include Trump.

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The 3 Things A Brain Health Expert Would Never Do

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Raise your hand if you’ve ever thought about brain health. No? Well, apparently it’s quite a big deal. And, there are things we absolutely should not be doing that — I hazard a guess – you are doing every single day. I know I certainly have been.

According to neuroscientist and TikToker Emily a.k.a @emonthebrain, there are three big no-nos when it comes to brain health.

But why? How do these three things affect our mood and brain age? If you open your phone first thing in the morning, like to indulge in highly processed food and engage in a little negative self-talk (my personal fave), then you’re going to want to read this.

Time to cut out morning screen-time

Does this sound like you? Wake up in the morning, reach for phone, scroll, scroll some more and then get up?

If it does, this could be why throughout your day you’re addicted to checking your phone. Here’s why.

Turns out, there’s a science to waking up well, and it’s all to do with brain waves.

When you wake up, your brain goes from producing theta to alpha waves. These tell your body you’re in a state of restful wake, rather than sleeping or extremely relaxed. And, according to Emily, this is a time when you are more susceptible to programming. So whatever content you’re consuming will have a greater impact on your mindset.

The result? In her TikTok, Emily says, “It messes up dopamine for the day so we continue to check our phones.”

*Adds traditional alarm clock to basket immediately*

Put a stop to the negative self-talk

“What you say to yourself matters, and the more you say the more it gets wired in. And what’s wired in is what we manifest,” says Emily.

She’s not wrong – the way you speak to yourself affects cognitive function. So if you’re engaging in negative self-talk, you’re more likely to rewire your brain to believe it. Whereas if you opted for affirming language you could teach yourself to feel more positive about yourself.

It’s easy to get caught up in self-flagellating thought processes, there’s enough going on in the world to make us feel bad about ourselves. From comparison on social media to feeling under pressure to achieve more at work.

Approaching these moments with self-compassion and acceptance can help us overcome some of these negative cycles, as can cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

No more eating ultra-high processed foods (cries in McDonald’s)

Okay so, bad news. Highly processed foods lead to brain ageing, otherwise known as cognitive decline.

In a study conducted by ZOE, they found that those who ate the least amount of ultra-processed foods experienced slower cognitive decline.

Eating these foods is especially bad for you if you’re over 60, but — there’s some good news. Interestingly, the researchers in this study were only able to identify links between ultra-processed foods and cognitive decline in people with a “generally unhealthy diet”.

A lot of healthy foods and naughty little treats from time to time won’t do you much harm.

So, it’s all about balance!

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Exclusive: BBC Director General Tim Davie To Speak At Private Meeting Of Tory MPs

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BBC director general Tim Davie is to be grilled at a private meeting of Tory MPs, HuffPost UK can reveal.

In a highly unusual development, he will address the 1922 Committee of Conservative backbenchers next Wednesday.

Committee chairman announcement Davie’s appearance in an email to Tory MPs which has been seen by HuffPost UK.

It comes amid the ongoing row over the corporation’s refusal to describe Palestinian militant group Hamas as terrorists.

However, it is understood Davie’s appearance at Committee Room 14 in the House of Commons was arranged in July, before the controversy.

Asked why he had been invited to attend the meeting, a 1922 Committee source said: “We thought it would be interesting.”

Labour shadow minister Justin Madders said: “If the Director General of the BBC wants to talk to MPs he should talk to all of them of all parties, not just some.”

High-profile figures, including tech billionaire Bill Gates, have spoken to the 1922 committee before.

But Davie’s appearance is controversial because he is a former Tory Party member and twice stood for election as a Conservative councillor in the 1990s.

Many Tory MPs are also highly critical of the BBC’s political coverage, which they believe has a left-wing bias.

BBC sources said Davie meets a range of people as part of his role and will be meeting Labour parliamentarians in the coming weeks.

But Labour sources said there were no plans for him to address a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party.

Security minister Tom Tugenhadt criticised the corporation’s reporting of the Al-Ahli hospital blast in Gaza City during an interview on BBC Breakfast yesterday.

A post on X (formerly Twitter) by BBC World said: “Hundreds of people have been killed in an Israeli strike on a hospital in Gaza, according to Palestinian officials.”

Israel has denied responsibility for the carnage, which it has blamed on a misfiring rocket by the Hamas militant group.

US president Joe Biden was due to meet with Arab leaders in the region, but those talks were cancelled in the wake of the blast.

Tugenhandt was asked by presenter Charlie Stayt who the UK government thought was responsible for the hospital deaths.

He said: “We’ve seen some pretty wild speculation and some rushing to headlines in recent days.

“This is first and foremost a human tragedy. We know that some people have been killed there and we also know that the Al-Ahli hospital was offering a service to Palestinian civilians that is incredibly needed at the moment.

“However, the reporting that we’ve seen in recent days has already had a major cost. President Biden was due to meet with Arab leaders, including probably Mahmood Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, and to begin the conversations that could have led to peace.

“Those talks have been stopped – perhaps only pushed back, we hope – and that in itself as a cost. But we’ve also seen the destruction of a synagogue in Tunisia and sadly we’ve seen raising tensions in the United Kingdom.

“This is one of those moments where wild speculation, fast and loose reporting, has real costs and consequences and I’m not going to engage in it.”

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Alison Hammond’s Hysterics As Dermot O’Leary Outs Her Secret Is Pure Friday Joy

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Alison Hammond has proven once again that her laugh is a tonic to us all, as she broke into hysterics on Friday’s This Morning.

During a segment on the happiness of finding unexpected change around the house, her co-host Dermot O’Leary outed Alison when she told viewers a story about a time she did a good deed.

Alison told her co-stars: “I did find a note the other day. I was coming out of a car park and I was walking and I looked at the floor and I was like, that looks like a £20 note. It was! I picked it up and I donated it to charity.”

As the guests praised Alison’s actions and she smiled to the camera, Dermot pulled a face and interjected: “Hang on, when you say you donated it to charity…”

The Great British Bake Off host kept trying to move on and stick to the schedule, Dermot kept pestering her to “tell the truth” about what she did with the money.

As they both broke into hysterics, Alison wheezed through her infectious laughter: “I’m never telling you anything again!”

Before Dermot revealed her secret to the audience: “She went to the charity shop and she bought a handbag for £15.”

“For charity” she choked through her tears of laughter, as she went on to admit: “I did keep the five pounds and buy some sweets with that one.”

Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary on This Morning
Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary on This Morning

Later, Dermot added: “It was a lovely bag print,” as Alison laughed: “I am very grateful.”

It comes after the host was on hand to support Great British Bake Off contestant Tasha when she fell ill mid-way through Tuesday’s episode.

Alison escorted the baker back to the house, after Tasha scummed to the intense heat during Chocolate Week.

Her absence then threw the programme’s trusted formula into chaos, as Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith made the decision to not eliminate anyone from the competition, with the caveat that two would leave next week.

This Morning airs weekdays at 10am on ITV1.

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