The initial ad, which accused the prime minister of not wanting child sex abusers to go to prison, caused unease among the shadow cabinet with shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell declining to endorse it.
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On Monday, Abbott, who was shadow home secretary under Jeremy Corbyn, responded to a tweet from Shabana Mahmood, the party’s national campaign coordinator who defended the aggressive ads.
Mahmood wrote: “People don’t want more excuses from politicians – they want answers. Labour is the party of law and order.”
In response, Abbott said: “But do people want a party that posts pictures of an Indian-heritage PM claiming he does not want sex offenders put in prison?”
She said in an earlier tweet: “Starmer stands by his ad. Does he also stand by suggesting Indian-heritage PM won’t put sex abusers in prison, when right wing says most sex abusers are from Indian sub-continent?”
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Abbott has recently criticised home secretary Suella Braverman for rhetoric claiming most child sex abusers are Pakistani.
Others on the Labour left have expressed their unease with the tactics. Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell said Labour is “better than this” and Corbyn – who has been suspended from the parliamentary party – has hit out at “dog-whistle politics”.
Starmer stands by his ad. Does he also stand by suggesting Indian heritage PM won’t put sex abusers in prison, when right wing says most sex abusers are from Indian sub-continent? https://t.co/RHqEI1wPEO
Sunak is responsible for lots of things. But sentencing is the responsibility of the judiciary. You would think a former DPP would know that. Horrible ad. https://t.co/zEgRZxYWtE
Starmer has dismissed criticism of the advert, saying he made “absolutely zero apologies” for the campaign regardless of how “squeamish” it made people feel.
Writing in the Daily Mail, the Labour leader said he refused “to just stand by or avoid calling this what it is”.
Senior party figures including former home secretary Lord David Blunkett called for the ad to be withdrawn, arguing that Labour is better than the “gutter” politics.
Further adverts scheduled to drop ahead of the May local elections are to include one suggesting Sunak thinks it is right that the public is paying for the “Conservatives crashing the economy” through higher housing costs.
<img class="img-sized__img landscape" loading="lazy" alt="Labour’s two attack adverts following the same format.” width=”720″ height=”478″ src=”https://www.wellnessmaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/diane-abbott-questions-labour-attacking-indian-heritage-pm-in-controversial-ads-2.jpg”>
Labour’s two attack adverts following the same format.
Labour Party
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The row centres on a tweet in which Labour highlighted analysis of official data and said that under the Tories “4,500 adults convicted of sexually assaulting children under-16 served no prison time”.
Alongside a photo of the prime minister, it read: “Do you think adults convicted of sexually assaulting children should go to prison? Rishi Sunak doesn’t.”
Judges and magistrates, rather than the prime minister of the day, are responsible for handing out sentences.
The figures Labour highlighted cover the period since 2010, five years before Sunak entered parliament. He did not become prime minister until October last year.
The leader of the Scottish Tories has been slapped down by party bosses at Westminster after he suggested voters back Labour to beat the SNP.
Douglas Ross said people should “do what’s best for the country” when deciding who to vote for at the next election.
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But a spokesman for the Tories at Westminster insisted tactical voting was “emphatically not the view of the Conservative Party”.
Speaking to the Telegraph, Ross said voters in Scotland opposed to the SNP should back the party most likely to beat them in their area.
He said: “The public know how to tactically vote in Scotland.
“I will always encourage Scottish Conservative voters to vote Scottish Conservative, but I think generally the public can see and they want the parties to accept that where there is a strongest candidate to beat the SNP you get behind that candidate.
“If parties maybe look beyond their own narrow party agenda and do what’s best for the country and for me as Scottish Conservative leader what would be best is if we see this grip that the SNP have on Scotland at the moment is loosened.”
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But a UK Tory spokesman said: “This is emphatically not the view of the Conservative Party.
“We want people to vote for Conservative candidates wherever they are standing as that’s the best way to keep Labour and the SNP out.”
Ross’s remarks come at a time of crisis for the SNP in the wake of Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation as first minister and party leader.
Her husband, former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, was arrested in the investigation into the spending of around £600,000 that was earmarked for an independence campaign.
“I haven’t, but I will fully cooperate with the police as and when they request that, if indeed they do,” she told reporters outside her Glasgow home, when taking questions after giving a brief statement.
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SNP president Mike Russell told The Herald newspaper the party was in the “most challenging crisis we’ve ever faced” during his 50 years as a member.
Labour has stepped up its attacks on Rishi Sunak by claiming he does not want thieves to be punished.
The latest move comes despite fierce criticism of an earlier ad accusing the prime minister of not wanting child sex offenders to be jailed.
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And it follows a second tweet which said Sunak did not want to imprison adults convicted of gun possession.
The latest online graphic, which again features a picture of the PM alongside his signature, says: “Do you think thieves should be punished? Rishi Sunak doesn’t.”
It adds: “Under the Tories, only 180 of the 4,500 thefts a day will see someone charged this year.”
HuffPost UK revealed yesterday that Labour was planning to step up its personal attacks on Sunak despite widespread condemnation of the tweet about child sexual assault.
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In an unusual move, Twitter has added a “context” note making clear the Tories do not want to end the jailing of child sex offenders.
Critics of the campaign included former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who said Labour is “better than this”.
But appearing on Radio Four’s Any Questions programme last night, shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry said: “I heard a lot of people criticising it, and a lot of people who I like and respect criticising it and saying they felt very uncomfortable about it. Some people said that they thought it was racist.
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“I have to say, I think they’re wrong. I just disagree with that. I think the truth is we do need to have a debate in this country, and Rishi Sunak is the Prime Minister and he is responsible for a broken justice system.”
Asked if she genuinely thinks Sunak held these views, Thornberry said: “If he believes that everyone responsible for child abuse should get a custodial sentence, why are so many not getting a custodial sentence?”
Nicola Sturgeon has said she will “fully co-operate” with the police if they want to quiz her in their investigation into the SNP’s finances.
In her first public comments since the arrest of her husband, Peter Murrell, the former first minister also asked for “privacy” as she tries to “get on with life”.
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She was speaking outside the home the couple share on the outskirts of Glasgow.
Detectives swooped on the house earlier this week, taking Murrell into custody and erecting a large incident tent in the front garden as they carried out a thorough search of the property.
He was later released without charge after being quizzed for 11 hours.
Asked if she had also been interviewed by the police, Sturgeon said: “I haven’t but I will fully cooperate with the police … if they do.”
The probe are centres around the whereabouts of around £660,000 which was earmarked for Scottish independence campaigning.
The investigation, called Operation Branchform, was launched following allegations that the money, which was meant to be in a ring-fenced fund, had been misappropriated. The party has denied any wrongdoing.
Speaking this afternoon, she said: “I’m also entitled to a little bit of privacy in my own home, and my neighbours I think are also entitled to a wee bit of privacy as well.
“Over the years, as a result of living next door to me, they’ve been subjected to more than their fair share of disruption and inconvenience.
“And that has obviously been particularly the case over the last couple of years.
“So as all of you do your jobs, I hope and I know you’ll get some respect to that. So that’s really all I needed to say.”
She added: “So that’s all really I’m able to say just now, other than I intend to get on with life and my job as you would expect.”
The SNP has been plunged into crisis following Sturgeon’s shock resignation in February.
Humza Yousaf was narrowly elected her successor as SNP leader following a bruising leadership election, during which it also emerged that the party has lost 30,000 members in recent months.
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Party officials had initially denied the story when it was reported by the Sunday Mail, but eventually confirmed it was true.
That led to the resignation of the SNP’s head of press, Murray Foote, followed by Peter Murrell quitting as the party’s chief executive.
He said: “Responsibility for the SNP’s responses to media queries about our membership number lies with me as chief executive.
“While there was no intent to mislead, I accept that this has been the outcome.
“I have therefore decided to confirm my intention to step down as chief executive with immediate effect.”
Labour is defying its critics by continuing to publish advertisements attacking the Tories despite a backlash even from one of its own MPs.
On Friday, a fresh post on Twitter suggested the Conservative Party is weak on firearms offences.
Using the same format as the heavily-criticised first poster, it asks: “Do you think an adult convicted of possessing a gun with intent to harm should go to prison?”
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Before answering, “Rishi Sunak doesn’t”, and adding Sunak’s signature.
It includes the statistic: “Under the Tories 937 adults convicted of possession of a firearm with intent to harm served no prison time. Labour will lock up dangerous gunmen.”
Judges and magistrates, rather than the prime minister of the day, are responsible for handing out sentences and the figures Labour highlighted cover the period since 2010 – Sunak only entered parliament in 2015 and did not become prime minister until October last year.
The first poster – which was variously described as “gutter politics”, “idiotic” and “a new low in British political attack ads” – suggested Sunak did not support the jailing of child sex offenders.
The tweet has come in for a wave of criticism from across the political spectrum, including from former Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell, who said: “We are better than this.”
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In an excruciating interview on BBC Breakfast this morning, shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell repeatedly refused to say she personally supported the tweet.
HuffPost UK has reported the party was planning to step up its attacks – despite the furore – after holding talks with political allies in America and Australia over how to take the fight to the Conservatives in the run-up to the next election.
Labour was accused of a “vile and desperate” campaign strategy by Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson and “cheapened and debased” politics by SNP MP John Nicolson after posting the advert on Twitter.
Jacinda Ardern has described herself as a “hugger and a crier” as the former New Zealand prime minister said she wanted her career to inspire others to take political office in an emotional farewell address to New Zealand’s parliament.
Ardern – who burst onto the global scene in 2017 when she became the world’s youngest female head of government at age 37 – had stepped down in January saying she had “no more in the tank” to lead the country.
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In her departing address, wearing a traditional Māori cloak called a korowai, she described how she’d navigated a pandemic and a mass-shooting during her tumultuous five-year tenure as prime minister.
When Ardern finished speaking after about 35 minutes, she was greeted with a standing ovation by politicians from across the political spectrum and rousing renditions of several indigenous Māori songs.
The daughter of a policeman and school canteen operator, Ardern described how she never thought she was meant to have the role of prime minister.
While she couldn’t control how her tenure would be defined by others, Ardern said, she hoped it had demonstrated something else.
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“That you can be anxious, sensitive, kind and wear your heart on your sleeve,” she said. “You can be a mother, or not, you can be an ex-Mormon, or not, you can be a nerd, a crier, a hugger, you can be all of these things, and not only can you be here, you can lead, just like me.”
“You can be anxious, sensitive, kind and wear your heart on your sleeve.”
Former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern delivers a final emotional address to parliament. pic.twitter.com/KwERQIeWFM
As head of the centre-left Labour party for five years, Ardern steered New Zealand through a volcanic eruption, a 2019 attack by a gunman in Christchurch that killed 51 Muslim worshippers and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ardern said she had found herself involved in people’s lives “during their most grief-stricken or traumatic moments” in that series of events.
She also described how she and fiancé Clarke Gayford thought they couldn’t have children after a failed round of IVF.
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“Rather than process that, I campaigned to become prime minister,” she joked. “A rather good distraction as far as they go. Imagine my surprise when a couple of months later, I discovered I was pregnant.”
Ardern became just the second elected world leader to give birth while holding office after she and Gayford had daughter Neve in 2018.
Ardern described how she’d approached the Covid-19 pandemic on a scientific basis and how New Zealand had fared best among developed nations when measuring excess mortality.
She said she once tried to argue with a lone protestor about a false conspiracy theory.
“But after many of these same experiences, and seeing the rage that often sat behind these conspiracies, I had to accept I was wrong,” she said. “I could not single-handedly pull someone out of a rabbit hole.”
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Later this month, Ardern will begin an unpaid role combating online extremism as special envoy for the Christchurch Call. It’s an initiative she started with French president Emmanuel Macron two months after the Christchurch shooting.
She has also announced she’s joining the board of trustees for The Earthshot Prize, an environmental charity started by Prince William.
Hundreds of asylum seekers will be housed on a barge docked on the Dorset coast, it has been confirmed.
The Bibby Stockholm vessel will be docked at Portland Port and house more than 500 migrants in its 222 bedrooms.
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It is estimated it will cost the public purse around £20,000 a day.
The Home Office is in discussions with other ports, and more barges will be used to house asylum seekers.
But home secretary Suella Braverman faces a potential legal action from Conservative-run Dorset Council, supported by the Tory MP for the area, Richard Drax.
The controversial move is part of Rishi Sunak’s plan to stop asylum seekers crossing the English Channel on small boats, while also cutting the £6m a day bill for housing migrants in hotels while their claims are processed.
The prime minister said: “We’re bringing forward alternative sites, like the barge, that will save us money and indeed reduce pressure on hotels – all part of our plan to stop the boats.”
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Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said: “The home secretary and I have been clear that the use of expensive hotels to house those making unnecessary and dangerous journeys must stop.
“We will not elevate the interests of illegal migrants over the British people we are elected to serve.
“We have to use alternative accommodation options, as our European neighbours are doing – including the use of barges and ferries to save the British taxpayer money and to prevent the UK becoming a magnet for asylum shoppers in Europe.”
He insisted the accommodation “will meet our legal obligations” and also pledged to work with local people to address their concerns over the vessel’s location.
Bill Reeves, chief executive of Portland Port, said: “We are keen to play our part in the national effort to house some of the thousands of people needing accommodation.
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“We encourage everyone in the community to approach this with an open mind and help us show other areas just how successful this type of initiative can be, both for the migrants and the local community.”
But Drax, the South Dorset MP, said the barge was being “dumped on our door” without consultation by the Home Office as he urged Ms Braverman to scrap the idea.
“Every option’s being looked at including legal action,” he told the PA news agency.
“We want to get this consigned to the dustbin before anything’s signed.
“We want to activate ourselves and say look Home Secretary, sorry, this is not the right place, can you please cancel this.”
Former US president Donald Trump has surrendered at a New York courthouse following his indictment on criminal charges after a probe into hush money paid to a porn star.
Trump, 76, was formally charged on Tuesday in a watershed moment for the country as his supporters and detractors noisily rallied outside.
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Wearing a dark blue suit and red tie, he exhibited little emotion on his face as he waved to a crowd assembled outside the courthouse after he was driven in a motorcade from his New York residence at Trump Tower. Trump held his fist in the air in a gesture to reporters as he departed his New York residence.
From his motorcade, Trump posted on social media: “Heading to Lower Manhattan, the Courthouse. Seems so SURREAL – WOW, they are going to ARREST ME. Can’t believe this is happening in America.”
Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg has charged Trump with crimes related to a $130,000 payment made to Stormy Daniels in the final days of his 2016 run for the presidency.
Daniels claims these alleged payments, made by Trump’s then lawyer Michael Cohen, were meant to stop her from talking about her affair with Trump prior to the presidential election.
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The hush money in itself is not a crime, but Trump recorded his reimbursement to Cohen as legal fees. If prosecutors prove this was a falsification of records, it could count as a misdemeanour in New York.
It could also mean Trump violated campaign finance laws because it happened just before the 2016 election, and so it could indicate that he didn’t want his voters to know about her – that would be a class E felony.
US media has reported that there are more than 30 counts related to business fraud, although the details of the charges have not been made public yet.
Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, claims the affair did not happen and has alleged that the indictment is “political persecution” from the Democrats to impact the election.
He also alleged that the Democrats have “done the unthinkable” and indicted a “completely innocent person”.
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In a statement, his lawyer said: “He did not commit any crime. We will vigorously fight this political prosecution in court.”
Trump’s indictment involved him travelling to the district attorney’s office in downtown New York to surrender.
Trump will have his fingerprints taken and is to appear for the charges to be read before him in court. It’s unclear whether a mugshot will be taken. He is likely to be released and allowed to head home.
It marks the first instance in American history of a former president facing criminal charges, and comes after years of investigations into the 76-year-old’s business, political and personal dealings.
Any trial of the former US president would still be more than a year away, legal experts say, and could coincide with the final months of the 2024 presidential campaign as Trump seeks a return to the White House.
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The Manhattan case is the least serious of the potential criminal cases targetting Trump. A federal special prosecutor, Jack Smith, is investigating both Trump’s handling of classified documents and his role in the January 6 Capitol riot. And a grand jury in Georgia could soon hand up charges related to Trump’s efforts to change election results there.
In extraordinary moment in US history, former president Donald Trump is to turn himself in at a New York courthouse on Tuesday following his indictment on criminal charges after a probe into hush money paid to a porn star.
Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg has charged Trump with crimes related to a $130,000 payment made to Stormy Daniels in the final days of his 2016 run for the presidency.
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Trump, who was impeached twice but was never convicted, is the first former president to face criminal charges. But the case is just one of the many probes facing the Republican as he makes another run at the White House in 2024.
Georgia election tampering probe
A prosecutor in the state of Georgia is investigating Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat in that state.
The investigation focuses in part on a phone call Trump made to Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, on January 2, 2021. Trump asked Raffensperger to “find” enough votes needed to overturn Trump’s election loss in Georgia.
Fani Willis, the Fulton County district attorney and a Democrat who will ultimately decide whether to pursue charges against Trump or anyone else, told a judge on January 24 that a special grand jury had completed its investigation task and that decisions were “imminent”.
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Legal experts said Trump may have violated at least three Georgia criminal election laws: conspiracy to commit election fraud, criminal solicitation to commit election fraud and intentional interference with performance of election duties.
Trump could argue that his discussions were constitutionally protected free speech.
US Capitol attack
The US justice department has investigations under way into both Trump’s actions in the 2020 election and his retention of highly classified documents after departing the White House in 2021.
Both investigations are being overseen by Jack Smith, a war crimes prosecutor and political independent. Trump has accused the FBI, without evidence, of launching the probes as political retribution.
A special House of Representatives committee investigating the deadly January 6, 2021, assault by Trump supporters on the US Capitol urged the justice department to charge Trump with corruption of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement and inciting or aiding an insurrection.
Only the justice department can decide whether to charge Trump, who has called the Democratic-led panel’s investigation a politically motivated sham.
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Demonstrators protest against former president Donald Trump at Collect Pond Park near the courthouse ahead of his arraignment hearing in New York city.
Michael M. Santiago via Getty Images
Missing government records
US attorney general Merrick Garland also appointed Smith to investigate whether Trump improperly retained classified records at his Mar-a-Lago Florida estate after he left office in 2021 and then tried to obstruct a federal investigation.
Garland also appointed former US attorney Robert Hur to investigate the removal of classified records in president Joe Biden’s possession dating to his time as vice president.
It is unlawful to willfully remove or retain classified material.
In Trump’s case, the FBI seized 13,000 documents from Mar-a-Lago in an August 8 search. About 100 documents were marked classified; some were designated top secret, the highest level of classification.
Trump has accused the justice department of engaging in a partisan witch hunt.
New York attorney general civil lawsuit
New York attorney general Letitia James sued Trump and his Trump Organisation last September for fraud.
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James said her office found more than 200 examples of misleading asset valuations between 2011 and 2021, and that Trump inflated his net worth by billions of dollars.
The attorney general said the scheme was intended to help Trump obtain lower interest rates on loans and better insurance coverage.
She also said her probe uncovered evidence of criminal wrongdoing, and referred it to federal prosecutors and the Internal Revenue Service.
The civil lawsuit seeks to permanently bar Trump and three of his adult children from running companies in New York state, and recoup at least $250 million obtained through fraud.
Trump, a Republican, has called James’ lawsuit a witch hunt, and the defendants have called the claims meritless. James is a Democrat.
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A New York judge ordered an independent monitor to oversee the Trump Organisation before the scheduled October 2023 trial.
A flag in support of former US president Donald Trump is waved outside Manhattan Criminal Courthouse on the day of his planned court appearance after his indictment by a Manhattan grand jury following a probe into hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, in New York city.
AMANDA PEROBELLI via Reuters
Defamation lawsuits
E Jean Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, has filed two lawsuits accusing Trump of defaming her by denying he raped her in New York’s Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in late 1995 or early 1996.
Carroll first sued Trump after he told a reporter at the White House in 2019 that he did not know Carroll, that “she’s not my type”, and that she lied to drum up sales for her memoir.
The second lawsuit arose from an October 2022 social media post where Trump called the rape claim a “hoax”, “lie”, “con job” and “complete scam”.
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That lawsuit includes a battery claim under New York’s adult survivors act, which gave adults a one-year window to sue their alleged attackers even if statutes of limitations have expired.
Trump and Carroll are awaiting a decision from a Washington, DC, appeals court on whether, under local law, Trump should be immune from Carroll’s first lawsuit.
The second lawsuit could go to trial on April 25, after a US judge in January called Trump’s bid to dismiss it “absurd”.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Former president Donald Trump boarded his private plane Monday and flew from Florida toward New York ahead of his expected booking and arraignment, as the nation’s largest city bolstered security and warned potential agitators that it is “not a playground for your misplaced anger”.
Trump’s ground journey from his Mar-a-Lago club to his red, white and blue Boeing 757, emblazoned with “TRUMP” in gold letters was carried live on national television and took him past supporters waving banners and cheering the former president. Trump and his supporters criticize the case against him — stemming from hush money payments during his 2016 campaign —as politically motivated.
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The scene was quite different in New York, where Trump built a national profile in business and entertainment but became deeply unpopular as he moved into politics.
His return to the city opens an unprecedented chapter in American history, with Trump being the first former president to face criminal charges even as he is in the midst of a third campaign for the White House. It’s causing major legal, political and cultural events collide in unprecedented ways.
The former president planned to spend the night at Trump Tower, then surrender to authorities on Tuesday for booking and a likely afternoon arraignment. So far, officials have not seen an influx of people coming into the city, as was the case in Washington in the days before the January 6, 2021, insurrection.
Still, authorities warned that possessing a weapon in certain areas of the city, including near courthouses, is a crime.
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“While there may be some rabble rousers thinking about coming to our city tomorrow, our message is clear and simple: control yourselves,” said New York mayor Eric Adams. “New York City is our home, not a playground for your misplaced anger. We are the safest large city in America because we respect the rule of law in New York City.”
Trump Tower was open on Monday, but authorities were planning to close nearby streets as Trump came and went, and additional security was also in the works. They’ve taken steps to close and secure the courthouse floor where the former president is set to appear for an arraignment Tuesday afternoon.
Trump supporters, including one of his staunchest defenders in Congress, Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, planned a rally in New York late on Tuesday morning, probably before Trump would have to stand before a judge as part of the arraignment. Adams took the unusual step of calling out the congresswoman by name.
“Although we have no specific threats, people like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is known to spread misinformation and hate speech, she’s stated she’s coming to town,” Adams said. “While you’re in town, be on your best behaviour.”
The former president and his aides were eagerly embracing the expected media circus. After initially being caught off guard by news of the indictment when it broke on Thursday evening, Trump and his team are focused on using what they call a weak case against Trump to his advantage.
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<img class="img-sized__img landscape" loading="lazy" alt="A police bus sits outside of Trump Tower.” width=”720″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.wellnessmaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/trump-heads-to-new-york-amid-tight-security-ahead-of-his-surrender-4.jpg”>
A police bus sits outside of Trump Tower.
STEFANI REYNOLDS via Getty Images
<img class="img-sized__img landscape" loading="lazy" alt="Members of the press gather outside of Trump Tower.” width=”720″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.wellnessmaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/trump-heads-to-new-york-amid-tight-security-ahead-of-his-surrender-5.jpg”>
Members of the press gather outside of Trump Tower.
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS via Getty Images
<img class="img-sized__img landscape" loading="lazy" alt="Trump supporters hold flags outside the Trump Tower on April 3, 2023 in New York City. ” width=”720″ height=”480″ src=”https://www.wellnessmaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/trump-heads-to-new-york-amid-tight-security-ahead-of-his-surrender-6.jpg”>
Trump supporters hold flags outside the Trump Tower on April 3, 2023 in New York City.
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS via Getty Images
More than 1,200 miles away in Florida, demonstrators supporting Trump began gathered before dawn at a West Palm Beach shopping center on the way to the airport, hours before he was set to pass along the route.
Boca Raton firefighter Erik Solensten and his retired colleague, John Fischer, got an early start putting up banners. One was 30 by 6 feet (9 by 2 meters), picturing police officers and firefighters saying, “Thanks for having our backs, president Trump.”
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“We are fire-rescue. We are prepared and don’t like to wait for things to happen,” said Solensten, who took a vacation day to show support for Trump. “He needs morale just like everyone else needs morale. He’s done more for this country than any 10 presidents combined.”
Trump is facing multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offence, in the indictment handed down by a Manhattan grand jury last week. The investigation is scrutinising six-figure payments made to porn actor Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Both say they had sexual encounters with the married Trump years before he got into politics. Trump denies having sexual liaisons with either woman and has denied any wrongdoing involving payments, arguing that the case against him is politically motivated.
No former president has ever been indicted and trump’s active campaign for the presidency during next year’s election only further raises the political stakes. Trump spent the weekend golfing and meeting advisers but his campaign says it has raised more than $5 million since word of the indictment broke. One Trump fundraising email Monday carried the subject line, “Tomorrow, I will be arrested”.
Top Republicans, including some of Trump’s potential rivals in next year’s GOP presidential primary, have decried the case against him. President Joe Biden and leading Democrats have largely had little to say about it.
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Solensten said it is wrong that Trump is being charged with a crime stemming from an alleged tryst with a porn star long before he was in office. He said investigators should instead be looking at Biden’s son, Hunter, and his business dealings, which committees in the Republican-controlled House have already begun examining.
“To me, those acts are treasonable,” Solensten said of the Bidens. “But it’s a walk.”
