Why Is Donald Trump Facing Criminal Charges Over Classified Documents?

Posted on 13/06/2023 by Boris Clair

Donald Trump has appeared in a Miami courtroom to face criminal charges over national security documents he kept when he left the presidential office, and lied to officials who sought to recover them.

Here’s a summary of what’s happened so far.

What are the charges?

On Tuesday, the former US president pleaded not guilty as he was charged on 37 criminal counts relating to keeping classified documents at his Florida home – including in his ballroom and shower, and involving nuclear weapons and foreign adversaries.

The charges include violations of the Espionage Act, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and making false statements to investigators.

It’s the first time a former president has been indicted by the federal government.

What did he do?

The charges are less to do with taking the documents – some of which were top secret, the classification level reserved for the country’s most closely held secrets – and more to do with not handing them back when asked.

In January 2022, Trump agreed to return 15 boxes of records to the US National Archives and Records Administration, and officials discovered in them more than 700 pages of records marked as classified.

Stacks of boxes in a bathroom and shower in former US president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida.

Handout via Getty Images

The Justice Department issued a grand jury subpoena in May 2022 asking Trump to return any other classified records. Trump’s attorneys later turned over 38 pages marked as classified and attested that all records with classified markings had been returned to the government – a claim that later proved to be false.

In August, the FBI conducted a search of Trump’s Palm Beach home and seized approximately 13,000 more records, about 100 of which were marked as classified.

What about other document cases?

Sitting US president Joe Biden and former vice president Mike Pence have not been charged after it was discovered that both men retained classified records after leaving office. The Biden documents stem from his time as a vice president and senator.

Unlike Trump, Biden and Pence immediately returned the records and cooperated with efforts to search for additional documents. The Justice Department is investigating the Biden matter and dropped a separate probe of Pence on June 1.

What has Trump said?

Trump has resorted to his usual playbook – calling the charges an attempt to stop him from being president again and labeling them a witch hunt.

Trump announced his indictment on his personal social media platform last week after having been informed of it by his lawyers. He has spent the subsequent four days attacking special counsel Jack Smith, calling him a “thug”, “deranged”, a “Trump hater” and a “maniac”.

Even during his motorcade trip to the courthouse – complete with highway travel lanes closed down during its passage – Trump continued posting messages. “ON MY WAY TO COURTHOUSE. WITCH HUNT!!! MAGA”, he wrote.

What are Trump’s other legal troubles?

In April, he pleaded not guilty to state charges in New York stemming from a hush money payment to a porn star. Tuesday’s appearance in Miami was on federal charges.

In May, Trump was found liable of sexually abusing and defaming journalist E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s and was ordered to pay her $5 million.

But there’s more to come with further investigations into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Donald Trump waves as he makes a visit to the Cuban restaurant Versailles after he appeared for his arraignment in Miami.

Alon Skuy via Getty Images

How does it affect Trump’s political future?

Trump is currently the frontrunner to be the Republican nominee for next year’s presidential election – and is currently leading his rivals by wide margins in polling. His previous legal problems have even boosted his poll rating.

The case is unlikely to conclude before the vote in November next year – so will cast a long shadow over the primaries and election campaign.

Tellingly, Trump’s main rivals for the Republican presidential nomination have condemned the Justice Department for its move to charge him, underscoring their fear of upsetting his core supporters.

Is Trump going to jail?

Most of the charges carry prison terms as long as 10 years if convicted, but the obstruction charges have 20-year maximums.

Even if he does go to jail, there’s nothing stopping Trump from being president from behind bars.

Biden Trips And Falls During US Air Force Academy Commencement

Posted on 02/06/2023 by Boris Clair

President Joe Biden tripped and fell while appearing at the US Air Force Academy’s commencement ceremony in Colorado on Thursday.

Video of the spill appeared to show the president clip the front of his foot on something before falling to the ground with his arms out, braced for impact.

Biden appeared unfazed after getting helped to his feet, and he took his seat shortly after.

“He’s fine,” White House communications director Ben LaBolt wrote on Twitter. “There was a sandbag on stage while he was shaking hands.”

“I know you are going to meet the moment,” he told the service members.

Actor Danny Masterson Found Guilty Of Raping Two Women

Posted on 31/05/2023 by Boris Clair

A jury has found That ’70s Show actor Danny Masterson guilty of raping two women at his Hollywood Hills home in the early 2000s, according to The Associated Press.

The jury was not able to come to a verdict on an additional count of rape involving a third woman.

This was the second trial for the 47-year-old actor and Scientologist. Prosecutors said Scientology officials protected Masterson for years after he drugged and sexually assaulted the women. The women, who were also Scientologists, testified that the church barred them from making reports to police.

Jurors deliberated for eight days before returning their verdict. The original trial ended on November 30, 2022, with the jury deadlocked on all counts after extended deliberations, which had to be restarted when two jurors got Covid.

Masterson pleaded not guilty to the charges and didn’t testify in his own defence in either trial.

Danny Masterson appears at the CMT Music Awards in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 7, 2017.

This second jury, comprising seven women and five men, was the first to hear allegations that Masterson had drugged his victims, which Judge Charlaine Olmedo had not allowed in the original trial. That jury only heard that the women had been “incapacitated” when Masterson allegedly raped them in separate incidents at his home between 2001 and 2003.

“The defendant drugs his victims to gain control. He does this to take away his victims’ ability to consent,” deputy district attorney Ariel Anson told the jury in her closing argument on May 16, according to The Associated Press.

“You don’t want to have sex? You don’t have a choice,” Anson said. “The defendant makes that choice for these victims. And he does it over and over and over again.”

The first victim to testify said that Masterson smothered her with a pillow and threatened her with a gun during an attack in 2003, while she was semiconscious after drinking from a glass of alcohol he had served her.

Masterson claimed that he had consensual sex with the women. His defence attorney Philip Cohen sought to discredit the women in his closing argument, pointing out inconsistencies in their stories and suggesting that the prosecution focused on Scientology to distract from “other problems” with the case, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The judge ruled that more evidence related to Scientology could be heard in this second trial ― allowing former Scientology official Claire Headley to testify as an expert witness to push back on church denials about its policies and principles, which critics have described as controlling and abusive.

The women, who are no longer Scientologists, testified that the church barred them from reporting the assaults to police, blamed them for the alleged rapes, and harassed, intimidated and stalked them. Headley, who sued the church in 2009 after years of rising through the ranks of its Sea Org religious order, testified that “it is policy that you do not call police” without “specific authorisation” — and that “by the laws of Scientology, it would be a high crime” to report a fellow Scientologist to the police without permission.

Church of Scientology spokesperson Karin Pouw flatly denied that such policies exist in the church. “The Church has no policy prohibiting or discouraging members from reporting criminal conduct of anyone, Scientologists or not, to law enforcement,” Pouw said in a statement to HuffPost. She also called the stalking and harassment allegations “an attempted money grab” by the alleged victims who are also suing Masterson and the church in a civil suit.

In closing arguments, Anson said: “The church taught his victims, ‘Rape isn’t rape, you caused this, and above all, you are never allowed to go to law enforcement’”, calling Masterson “untouchable” because of his celebrity status in Scientology, the AP reported.

On Thursday while the jurors were deliberating, Leah Remini posted a letter that she claimed a mother of one of the victims sent to Scientology leader David Miscavige in 2004, listing graphic details of Masterson’s alleged sexual assaults. The mother concluded by asking whether the church tried to persuade her daughter to “perjure herself so that their celeb can walk scout [sic] free” and whether “celebs are exempt” from “justice codes”.

Masterson is best known for playing Steven Hyde on all eight seasons of That ’70s Show, which aired on Fox from 1998 to 2006. Masterson was the only original member of the cast not to appear in That ’90s Show, a Netflix sequel series that debuted in January.

Rihanna Wore A Stunning Diamond Ring On Her Toe And It’s Everything

Posted on 27/05/2023 by Boris Clair

Rihanna shines bright like a diamond from her head down to her toes.

The We Found Love singer showed off a gorgeous diamond ring ― which she wore on the third toe of one of her feet ― on her TikTok page earlier this week.

The 38-second video, captioned “quiet luxury”, starts with a shot of the entertainer’s feet before she begins walking.

Scott Friedman, a master gemologist appraiser at the International Gemological Institute, told HuffPost more about the accessory on Friday.

“Judging by the photos, the stone itself appears to be a classic pear brilliant cut diamond, weighing around 15-20 carats,” Friedman estimated, adding that it is “set in a classic solitaire setting, most likely using platinum metal.”

A closer look at the diamond ring Rihanna was wearing on her toe.

Rihanna captioned the video Quiet luxury. The popular term and trend are often used to describe a type of dress and lifestyle that members of the 1% typically employ.

The descriptor ― also synonymous with stealth wealth ― has become more popular lately because of the HBO hit Succession.

On the show, characters that embody quiet luxury typically shun clothing or accessories with loud, designer labels and opt for lowkey displays of wealth that only other members of their class would recognise.

“So-called ‘quiet luxury’ is so much more than a passing trend; it’s a lifestyle,” Chris Reid, head designer at Carl Friedrik, told HuffPost earlier this year. “Born out of subtlety, the style is softer than minimalism but has a more polished look than other style trends, like normcore, for example.”

Rihanna appears to be winking at the term while also starting a “toe ring revolution” amongst her fans, according to her TikTok comments.

“Rihanna rocks a toe ring, so I went out and bought a toe ring,” one commenter said.

“And on that day, a toe ring revolution began,” another added.

Others pointed out that the singer might’ve been announcing her engagement ― or wearing what they wish was their engagement ring.

“She said YES!” one fan joked, while another wrote: “Not the queen wearing most peoples DREAAM ENGAGEMENT RING on her little toe… not even the big toe 🥲.”

Angela Bassett Shares Emotional Tribute To ‘Icon’ Tina Turner: ‘She Gave Us Her Whole Self’

Posted on 25/05/2023 by Boris Clair

Angela Bassett has paid an emotional tribute to “icon” Tina Turner following the singer’s death.

The actress, who was Oscar nominated for her performance as Turner in the 1993 film What’s Love Got To Do With It, began her Instagram post by asking: “How do we say farewell to a woman who owned her pain and trauma and used it as a means to help change the world?”

Turner’s autobiography, I, Tina, was turned into the film starring Bassett, and dramatised the mother-of-two’s relationship with husband and musical collaborator Ike Turner.

In her 1986 book, the singer narrated a harrowing tale of abuse, including suffering a broken nose during the course of her first marriage.

Celebrating the eight-time Grammy winner’s strength, Bassett’s statement read:

“How do we say farewell to a woman who owned her pain and trauma and used it as a means to help change the world?

“Through her courage in telling her story, her commitment to stay the course in her life, no matter the sacrifice, and her determination to carve out a space in rock and roll for herself and for others who look like her, Tina Turner showed others who lived in fear what a beautiful future filled with love, compassion, and freedom should look like.

“Her final words to me — for me — were, ‘You never mimicked me. Instead, you reached deep into your soul, found your inner Tina, and showed her to the world.’ I shall hold these words close to my heart for the rest of my days. I am honoured to have known Tina Turner. I am humbled to have helped show her to the world.

“So on today, while we mourn the loss of this iconic voice and presence, she gave us more than we could have ever asked. She gave us her whole self. And Tina Turner is a gift that will always be ‘simply the best’. Angels, sing thee to thy rest…Queen.”

The singer died at her home in Switzerland on Wednesday after a long illness.

The Turner team made a statement via her Instagram, captioning a photo of the star: “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Turner. With her music and her boundless passion for life, she enchanted millions of fans around the world and inspired the stars of tomorrow. Today we say goodbye to a dear friend who leaves us all her greatest work: her music.”

Turner’s monumental musical career spanned over six decades, with hits like 1971’s Proud Mary, 1989’s The Best and, of course, 1984’s What’s Love Got To Do With It. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, first with Ike Turner in 1991 and then as a solo artist in 2021.

Julia Fox Rocks A Completely See-Through Glass Top At Cannes

Posted on 23/05/2023 by Boris Clair

Leave it to Julia Fox to turn France’s Cannes Film Festival into a veritable runway for her bold ― and unconventional ― sense of style.

Amid the annual event, the “Uncut Gems” actor attended a party Sunday night in a flowing white skirt with a billowing train. Her structured bodice was made of a glasslike material that was completely see-through.

Fox completed the daring look with diamond jewelry from the brand Marli New York. (NSFW images below.)

This isn’t the first time that Fox has rocked a sheer look. In March, she wore a black mesh dress while sitting front row at Courrèges’ fall-winter 2023 show during Paris Fashion Week.

And earlier this month, she was photographed in Los Angeles wearing a white miniskirt with a see-through tube top covered in condoms.

Of course, Fox is one of many celebrities who have brought their fashion A-game to Cannes this year. Natalie Portman and Viola Davis were among those who also rocked some impressive looks at the film festival in southern France.

Speaking to People last year, Fox said she was providing fans and media outlets “a visual service” with her outré ensembles.

“Sometimes the paparazzi get me, and I look like [shit]. … If they’re gonna get me, I might as well make the best of it,” she explained, adding that the point is “not caring about whether society thinks it’s normal”.

“If I think it’s cool, then it’s cool,” she added.

Sylvester Stallone Shows Al Pacino How To Take A Selfie And We Can’t Even

Posted on 18/05/2023 by Boris Clair

Sylvester Stallone shows fellow Hollywood icon Al Pacino how to take a selfie in a new video clip that should reassure Luddites young and old. (Watch it below.)

In a preview of the reality show The Family Stallone, which premiered Wednesday on Paramount+, the two eat pizza and catch up.

Pacino mentions to Stallone that he’s seen his daughters’ podcast, prompting the Rocky star to remark that Pacino is more “tech savvy” than he is.

“Well, I can text. I haven’t been able to take a photo yet,” the Oscar-winning Pacino replies. “My son [Anton] keeps telling me, ‘Send me stuff, Dad. Send me stuff.’ I said, ‘I’ll ask Sly.’”

Stallone calls him a liar as he pulls out his phone and tells the Godfather legend: “This is how it works, see.” Stallone appears to take a photo or two.

The conversation meanders from their gray hair to Stallone, 76, noting that Pacino, 83, is now on The Family Stallone reality show.

“Everything happens if you stay alive,” Pacino said.

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The two were spotted last July at a pizza joint in Beverly Hills, California, with cameras rolling.

Maybe by now Pacino has mastered the art of selfie-shooting.

George Santos Pleads Not Guilty To 13 Federal Charges

Posted on 10/05/2023 by Boris Clair

George Santos, the New York Republican who became the subject of ridicule for the extent to which he lied about his background, appeared in federal court Wednesday to be arraigned on 13 counts after turning himself into authorities earlier in the day.

He pleaded not guilty, multiple outlets reported.

Santos, 34, was elected in November to represent portions of Long Island and Queens, but in the weeks and months afterward, a number of reports showed he was not exactly the wealthy young businessman he claimed to be. While he admitted in December certain details — that he attended two top colleges and worked at prestigious Wall Street firms — were false, he denied and even defended others while refusing calls to resign.

Santos entered the Long Island courtroom with a scowl, a New York Times reporter observed.

His lawyer, Joseph Murray, said that Santos plans to continue campaigning for reelection and asked that he be free to travel to do so, according to The Associated Press. He surrendered his passport and was released on a $500,000 bond.

Outside the courthouse, Santos asserted that he had “plenty of evidence” that would supposedly clear his name.

“The reality is, it’s a witch hunt,” Santos told a crowd of reporters angling for a comment. “Because it makes no sense that [after] four months, five months — I’m indicted.”

“I will not resign,” he said.

The charges against Santos span both his personal and public life.

Federal prosecutors allege that Santos pocketed $25,000 in donations to his campaign beginning in 2022, spending the money on luxury clothes, car payments and his credit cards instead of legitimate things like political ads. In 2020, Santos allegedly received pandemic-related unemployment benefits totaling more than $24,000 from the state of New York while earning a $120,000 salary from a company in Florida.

Prosecutors also say he lied when filling out financial disclosure forms needed to run for Congress ― both in his unsuccessful 2020 campaign and his successful 2022 campaign. Santos allegedly overstated his income and assets in the 2022 filing to the tune of millions.

The case against him is a product of the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section and local agencies.

Authorities at the federal and local level promised to investigate Santos late last year amid public outcry over the new congressman’s apparent penchant for spinning yarns.

The list of Santos’ claims has become unwieldily and, in many instances, bizarre. He has said that he is Jewish (later amended to “Jew-ish”), that his mother was in the twin towers on 9/11, that several of his employees died in the mass shooting at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub, and that he survived a brain tumor — among many other tales.

A former roommate, Gustavo Ribeiro Trelha, alleged in a sworn statement earlier this year that Santos was the ringleader of a credit card scheme in 2017 that led to Trelha serving jail time before being deported back to Brazil. (Santos denies the accusation.) The scheme is not mentioned in the federal indictment, but Politico reported in March that the case remains open.

In yet another instance of alleged fraud, Santos reportedly agreed to a deal with Brazilian prosecutors who say he wrote fraudulent checks in 2008. Part of the deal included a formal admission that Santos did the crime and would pay damages to the elderly man whose checkbook was taken, according to CNN.

In the US, however, Santos has denied that he is lawbreaker.

“I am not a criminal here — not here or in Brazil or any jurisdiction in the world. Absolutely not. That didn’t happen,” he told The New York Post in December.

5 Key Moments From Donald Trump’s Bonkers Deposition Video

Posted on 06/05/2023 by Boris Clair

Around 45 minutes of video deposition given by former President Donald Trump was released to the public on Friday as the civil trial brought by writer E Jean Carroll began winding down in a New York federal court.

Carroll says that Trump trapped her in a dressing room and raped her at the luxury Manhattan department store Bergdorf Goodman in the 1990s after a chance encounter. She was able to sue for battery in addition to defamation under a recent state law that gave sexual assault victims a one-time chance to bring lawsuits in spite of any relevant statutes of limitations.

Although Carroll does not recall the precise date of the alleged assault, not having filed a police report out of concern for the negative attention it would bring, she has been able to narrow the timeframe to late 1995 or early 1996.

Her lawyers rested her case on Thursday. Along with the advice columnist herself, they called to the stand friends whom she says she confided in, and other women who say Trump sexually assaulted them.

Trump’s side is not expected to call any witnesses — nor has the former president appeared in court — but US District Judge Lewis Kaplan is giving him until Sunday in case he changes his mind. Trump has consistently denied the allegations and dismissed Carroll as a political operative.

Written excerpts of his deposition have already been made public in the course of the lawsuit, but the video had not been seen outside of the courtroom until several news outlets successfully petitioned for its release.

It is certainly something. Watch below, and read on for key takeaways.

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Trump confused Carroll for second wife Marla Maples in a party photograph.

One of Trump’s main defenses has been saying that he would not have raped Carroll because she was not his “type”. He doubled down on the argument in his deposition.

“The only difference between me and other people is I’m honest,” he told Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan.

Trump was then shown a black-and-white photograph from a late 1980s event showing himself and Maples speaking with Carroll and her then-husband John Johnson, an NBC news anchor. He confused the two women.

“The person you just pointed to is Carroll,” Kaplan told him, pointing out Maples nearby.

She asked: “I take it the three women you’ve married are all your type.”

“Yeah,” Trump replied.

Trump defended his infamous “grab ’em by the pussy” comments.

Kaplan played the 2004 Access Hollywood tape for Trump where he infamously says, “When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”

“Well, historically, that’s true with stars,” Trump told Kaplan afterward.

“It’s true with stars that they can grab women by the pussy?” she asked.

“Well, that’s — if you look over the last million years, I guess that’s been largely true. Not always, but largely true,” Trump said.

“Unfortunately or fortunately,” he added.

He claimed he could not remember whether he dated Maples while still married to first wife, Ivana.

Kaplan asked Trump to affirm that he dated women outside of his marriages and official relationships, given that part of Carroll’s story is that Trump told her he was at the store to pick out a gift for an unspecified female friend.

Kaplan asked if he saw Maples while still married to his first wife, Ivana Trump.

“It could be a lapover, but I don’t really know,” Trump said.

His failing marriage and relationship with Maples was thoroughly chronicled in tabloids at the time; a 1990 feature in Vanity Fair reported that Trump had “moved [Maples] onto his luxe yacht” in the summer of 1989. Trump’s divorce from Ivana was finalized in 1991.

He told Carroll’s lawyer that she was not his type, either.

Trump appeared to grow frustrated with Kaplan as she pressed him with questions about some of the other women who have accused him of sexual assault.

He responded with comments on the women’s appearances before shifting focus to the woman in front of him.

“You wouldn’t be a choice of mine either, to be honest with you. I hope you’re not insulted,” Trump told Kaplan. “I would not under any circumstances have any interest in you. I’m honest when I say it.”

And suggested that Carroll enjoyed being sexually assaulted.

Trump brought up an interview Carroll gave to CNN’s Anderson Cooper in 2019, shortly after coming forward with her rape accusation. At one point, she argued that people tend to think of rape “as being sexy” due to sexual “fantasies”, but said that her experience was simply very painful.

“She actually indicated that she loved it,” Trump told Kaplan. “In fact, I think she said it was sexy, didn’t she?”

Kaplan replied, “Sir, I just want to confirm: It’s your testimony that E. Jean Carroll said that she loved being sexually assaulted by you?”

“Well, based on her interview with Anderson Cooper, I believe that’s what took place … I think she said that rape is sexy, which it’s not, by the way,” Trump said.

Asked whether he knew Carroll had been speaking about other people’s views, Trump told Kaplan she would have to watch the interview to see for herself.

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