Eric Trump’s latest defence of his dad Donald Trump — who is currently on trial in his hush money case — went awry as he made one major mistake.
The Trump scion on Monday told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that, “Every time I watch my father walk into that courtroom it breaks my heart because they [the Democrats] will stop at nothing […] to take the man down and no one believes this nonsense, right?”
Eric Trump complained about his four-times-indicted dad being brought to trial so close to the 2024 election and suggested, without evidence, that it was only because he was “winning in the polls” as presumptive Republican nominee.
Then he claimed, “My father was focused on running the United States of America, not bookkeeping, not there was anything done wrong in the bookkeeping.”
But Trump is charged with 34 felony counts over the alleged falsification of business records to cover up $130,000 (£105,000) paid to porn actor Stormy Daniels — before the 2016 election – so that she wouldn’t reveal an alleged affair.
In other words, the allegations stem from when Trump was not, as his son put it, yet “running the United States of America.”
Donald Trump’s attempt to explain the Battle of Gettysburg took some strange verbal detours ― and his critics were quick to call him out over it.
“Gettysburg, what an unbelievable battle that was. The Battle of Gettysburg,” the former president said at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. “What an unbelievable, I mean it was so much, and so interesting, and so vicious and horrible, and so beautiful in so many different ways.”
“Gettysburg. Wow. I go to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to look and to watch. And the statement of Robert E. Lee ― who’s no longer in favour, did you ever notice that? No longer in favour ― ‘Never fight uphill, me boys, never fight uphill.’ They were fighting uphill. He said, ‘Wow, that was a big mistake.’ He lost his great general, and they were fighting. ‘Never fight uphill, me boys!’ But it was too late.”
The ramble was made even more surreal when someone just over Trump’s left shoulder began making odd faces midway through:
But even his critics were left perplexed by his attempt to describe one of the most famous battles in American history:
Donald Trump saidthe Arizona Supreme Court overstepped when it ruled Tuesday that a 160-year-old law criminalizing most abortions can go into effect.
Asked by reporters outside his plane Wednesday in Georgia if the ruling in Arizona “went too far”, Trump replied: “Yeah they did, and that will be straightened out.”
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“As you know, it’s all about states’ rights,” he continued, saying he believes Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) will “bring it back into reason”. He did not explain what he thought a reasonable restriction would be.
His remarks echo a murky statement he made on abortion days earlier that left voters wondering whether he would support a federal ban pushed by members of his party. But shortly after speaking to reporters outside his plane, Trump said he wouldn’t sign a national abortion ban if elected.
Arizona’s 1864 law is a near-total ban on abortion at every stage of pregnancy that only makes exceptions to save the pregnant person’s life, overriding a 15-week ban that went into effect in 2022. Abortion providers who violate the law could face two to five years in prison.
The law does not immediately go into effect, as the Arizona court stayed it for 14 days to allow a lower court to hear additional arguments.
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Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes vowed Tuesday that she would not enforce such an “unconscionable” and “draconian law” during her term even if the law were to be enacted.
“Today’s decision to reimpose a law from a time when Arizona wasn’t a state, the Civil War was raging, and women couldn’t even vote will go down in history as a stain on our state,” Mayes said in a statement. “This is far from the end of the debate on reproductive freedom, and I look forward to the people of Arizona having their say in the matter.”
A coalition of reproductive rights groups is spearheading an effort to ask the residents of Arizona to vote on adding an amendment protecting abortion to the state’s constitution. They said last week they’ve collected enough signatures for the amendment to appear on the ballot this November.
Trump’s remarks come two days after he issued a vague statement on abortion rights, seemingly responding to pressure he clarify his stance on the issue before officially becoming the GOP nominee for president. In a video he posted to social networking site Truth Social, Trump took credit for the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 and said he thinks abortion rights should remain up to the states.
“My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint. The states will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land — in this case, the law of the state,” he said in the video.
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Though he clarified Wednesday he wouldn’t sign a national abortion ban, he’s yet to offer an opinion on attempts to limit access to the drug mifepristone ― the most common method of terminating pregnancies.
Following Trump’s statements Wednesday, President Joe Biden’s campaign emphasised that Trump cannot be trusted on abortion and questioned the veracity of his promise not to sign a national abortion ban.
“Trump lies constantly ― about everything ― but has one track record: banning abortion every chance he gets,” communications director Michael Tyler said. “The guy who wants to be a dictator on day one will use every tool at his disposal to ban abortion nationwide, with or without Congress, and running away from reporters to his private jet like a coward doesn’t change that reality.”
A spokesperson for Donald Trump tried to attack President Joe Biden as someone who “can hardly speak,” but then struggled herself with a couple of words.
She repeated the non-word moments later.
“It also was extremely damn-en-ing to him politically as it showed what the American people see with their own eyes every single day, and that is Joe Biden can hardly speak,” she said.
Leavitt also referred to Attorney General Merrick Garland as “Merricka Garland.”
Former Justice Department officials have slammed Hur for what seemed more like a personal attack on the president than a report explaining the case.
On Tuesday, critics mocked Leavitt for stumbling over words herself as she claimed Biden “can hardly speak.”
The foreign secretary held talks with the former president as he tries to boost Republican support for Ukraine.
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Trump, who will be his party’s presidential candidate in November, has previously said he could end the Russia-Ukraine war “within 24 hours”.
But experts have condemned the plan, which they say would see Kyiv forced to make major concessions to Vladimir Putin in return for an end to the conflict.
Cameron met with Trump overnight at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida before heading to Washington for talks with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
Ahead of the meeting, a Foreign Office spokesman said: “It is standard practice for ministers to meet with opposition candidates as part of their routine international engagement.”
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However, the meeting had the potential to be awkward given Cameron’s previous comments about Trump – and the former president’s well-known dislike of being criticised.
When he was still prime minister in 2016, Cameron described Trump – who was running to be president first time around – as “divisive, stupid and wrong”.
And in his memoirs after he quit Downing Street, Cameron said Trump was “protectionist, xenophobic, misogynistic”.
The foreign secretary’s talks with the former president came amid mounting concerns that Russia is gaining the upper hand in its war with Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on the west to boost its financial support for his country – but Republicans in America have tried to block President Joe Biden’s multi-billion dollar aid package.
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Cameron has previously drawn the ire of leading Republicans over his pro-Ukraine comments.
In February, leading right-winger Marjorie Taylor Greene said Cameron could “kiss my ass” after he drew comparisons between the appeasement of Adolf Hitler when urging the US Congress not to abandon Ukraine.
Former President Donald Trump likened himself to late South African leader Nelson Mandela as he ranted on social media about his various court cases on Saturday.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee took aim at Judge Juan Merchan, writing that it’d be a “GREAT HONOR” to go to jail for violating a gag order against him in his upcoming New York hush money trial.
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“If this Partisan Hack wants to put me in the ‘clink’ for speaking the open and obvious TRUTH, I will gladly become a Modern Day Nelson Mandela – It will be my GREAT HONOR,” wrote Trump on his Truth Social platform.
He continued, “We have to Save our Country from these Political Operatives masquerading as Prosecutors and Judges, and I am willing to sacrifice my Freedom for that worthy cause.”
The former president has previously compared himself to Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison over his anti-apartheid activism.
Trump told a New Hampshire crowd in October that he wouldn’t “mind being Nelson Mandela” while declaring himself to be a victim of political persecution.
Page 3: Now, we have Merchan, who is not allowing me to talk, thereby violating the Law and the Constitution, all at once. It is so bad what he is trying to get away with – How was he even chosen for this case??? I heard he fought like hell to get it, and all of the rest of them…
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) April 6, 2024
Former U.S. attorney Barbara McQuade told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart that Trump’s posts on Saturday could lead to a stricter gag order but it’s the “kind of stuff” the judge is allowing him to say.
“If it is simply sort’ve political speech that isn’t targeting anybody in particular, I think the judge is gonna give him a lot of leeway to say this,” said McQuade, a law professor at the University of Michigan.
“What the gag order specifically tries to proclude is doing anything that might intimidate witnesses, threaten witnesses or call into question the motives of the parties here. I think this kind of thing is probably going to be allowed to pass.”
The supercut also shows him urging supporters to “fight like hell” on Jan. 6, 2021, just before some of those in the crowd near the White House marched to the U.S. Capitol to attack Congress at it met to certify the electoral vote that gave the presidency to Joe Biden:
One of the four criminal cases against Trump is centered on his role in the events of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
In his personal account, Biden also accused Trump of hypocrisy for holding events for law enforcement and claiming to “back the blue” while also embracing those who attacked police in the U.S. Capitol riot.
A Manhattan judge expanded the limited gag order imposed on former President Donald Trump over his upcoming hush money trial after a series of attacks on the judge and his family.
Judge Juan Merchan barred the former president from going after his family members or those of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, saying Trump’s efforts served “no legitimate purpose.”
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“It merely injects fear in those assigned or called to participate in the proceedings, that not only they, but their family members as well, are ‘fair game’ for Defendant’s vitriol,” Merchan wrote on Monday. “It is no longer just a mere possibility or a reasonable likelihood that there exists a threat to the integrity of the judicial proceedings. The threat is very real.”
His previous order blocked Trump from disparaging or making public comments about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff or jurors. But the judge pointed to Trump’s comments in recent days and said the court could not rely on the former president to modulate his behavior during the proceedings without explicit instructions.
“Admonitions are not enough, nor is the reliance on self-restraint,” Merchan added. “The average observer, must now, after hearing defendant’s recent attacks, draw the conclusion that if they become involved in these proceedings, even tangentially, they should worry not only for themselves, but for their loved ones as well.”
The judge declared that those concerns would “undoubtedly” interfere with the fair administration of justice in the Manhattan criminal case.
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Former President Donald Trump faces an expanded gag order in the Manhattan hush money case that’s set to go to trial on April 15.
Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
Bragg’s office on Monday asked Merchan to expand the order after Trump took aim at the judge’s daughter, spreading false claims about her on social media.
“Defendant’s dangerous, violent, and reprehensible rhetoric fundamentally threatens the integrity of these proceedings and is intended to intimidate witnesses and trial participants alike — including this Court,” the district attorney wrote in a court filing.
“[Trump] knows what he is doing, and everyone else does too.”
The former president assailed Merchan after the judge imposed the order last week, claiming Merchan was attempting to deny the former president his “First Amendment Right to speak out against he Weaponization of Law Enforcement.” Trump claimed that Merchan’s daughter, Loren, had used an image of him behind bars as her profile picture on the social media platform X.
But that wasn’t true. The account once belonged to the judge’s daughter, but she deleted the handle about a year ago. It has since been taken over by someone else. A spokesperson for New York’s state court was forced to clarify that she was not linked to the account in any way.
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“So, let me get this straight, the Judge’s daughter is allowed to post pictures of her ‘dream’ of putting me in jail, the Manhattan D.A. is able to say whatever lies about me he wants, the Judge can violate our Laws and Constitution at every turn, but I am not allowed to talk about the attacks against me,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Loren Merchan is a Democratic political consultant.
Trump had been subject to a gag order during his civil fraud trial in New York. He was fined twice for violating the restrictions, and the judge overseeing the case warned the former president to refrain from doing so again or face even “worse” penalties.
Trump’s hush money trial is set to begin on April 15. It centers on payments made before the 2016 presidential election to quash accusations of extramarital affairs. The payments included a reported $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels less than a month before Election Day.
Truth Social, the conservative social media network that former President Donald Trump launched in 2022 after being banned from other platforms, lost more than $58 million and generated a mere $4.1 million in revenue last year.
The revelations about Truth Social’s current situation came in a Securities and Exchange Commission regulatory filing from Trump’s company, Trump Media & Technology Group, on Monday. The financial situation is so dire, an auditor warned in the filing, that it raises “a substantial doubt” about whether TMTG can “continue as a going concern”.
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In other words, Truth Social may have to shut down, going the way of Parler ― another conservative social network that had to shutter after just a few years in business.
The news comes a week after TMTG completed a merger with a shell company, Digital World Acquisition, to go public, infusing Truth Social with $300 million. But shares in the company dropped more than 15% following Monday’s news.
To put Truth Social’s precarious finances into context, Twitter, now known as X, generated more than $660 million in revenue in the year leading up to its going public, and it generated $5 billion in the year before Elon Musk bought it and took the company private.
Truth Social had fewer than 500,000 monthly active users in February.
NurPhoto via Getty Images
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Per the SEC filing, all of Truth Social’s money comes from advertisers buying space on the platform, and most of its expenses involve paying interest on debt.
The biggest problem Truth Social faces is that its user base is microscopic compared to that of other social platforms. In February, it had just 494,000 monthly active users, according to statistics obtained by CNN. That’s about 150 times smaller than Twitter’s roster of active users, and 290 times smaller than Facebook’s.
Despite its small community, and despite other social platforms lifting their bans on Trump, Truth Social remains the former president’s go-to forum for attacking his opponents and issuing reactions to news events. His posts there have repeatedly landed him in hot water, forcing various judges to impose gagorders on Trump while presiding over cases against him.
Last week, Trump came under fire for posting a video on Truth Social showing an image of a hogtied President Joe Biden painted on a truck. The Biden campaign accused the post of suggesting physical harm toward the president.
“Trump is regularly inciting political violence and it’s time people take him seriously,” Michael Tyler, the campaign’s communications director, said in a statement.
Judge Juan Merchan, the latest jurist to face the indicted Republican presidential candidate’s ire for doing their job, is presiding over a trial that stems from payments Trump allegedly made to porn star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign in order to bury accusations he had an affair. The former president was charged last year with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to the alleged payments.
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Later Tuesday, Merchan issued a gag order against Trump in the hush money case. The order prohibits the former president from speaking publicly about witnesses, jurors, court staff or prosecutors involved in the trial.
“It is without question that the imminency of the risk of harm is now paramount,” he wrote in the order.
As Trump has done in other cases he’s charged in, the GOP presidential frontrunner has fervently denied wrongdoing in the hush-money case. This trial will be the first time a United States president is criminally prosecuted.
In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee called Merchan a “very distinguished looking man” who is “nevertheless a true and certified Trump Hater who suffers from a very serious case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.
The trial was originally set to start Monday. But Merchan delayed it until next month, after the Manhattan District Attorney’s office received a massive document dump from the federal Southern District of New York that may include new evidence in the case.
That initial delay was meant to give both sides enough time to sift through the documents, which are related to an earlier investigation. That probe centered on whether Trump instructed his then-fixer Michael Cohen to give Daniels $130,000 to stay quiet about an extramarital sexual encounter she allegedly had with the former president years ago. Prosecutors in that case decided against charging Trump, but the federal investigation did lead to Cohen pleading guilty in 2018 to to campaign finance violations, among other charges.
The upcoming hush-money trial is not the first time Merchan will be overseeing a case related to the former president or his business. The judge, a former prosecutor who often handles financial cases, previously presided over a criminal tax fraud prosecution of the Trump Organisation that resulted in a $1.6 million fine for the company. The organisation’s chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, pleaded guilty and served 100 days in prison for his role, though Merchan commented at the time that he wished he could impose a stricter penalty.
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In his Tuesday post, Trump also attacked Merchan for “viciously” treating Weisselberg, who the former president described as “elderly and not in good health.” Nicholas Gravante, who represented Weisselberg in the plea negotiations, said Merchan was “a real listener, well-prepared, always accessible, and a man who kept his word,” according to The Associated Press.
Trump’s attorneys filed a motion in August asking Merchan to recuse himself because of the judge’s remarks about Weisselberg’s sentencing, as well as donations to Democratic groups totaling $35 in 2020 and his daughter’s employment with a political consulting firm that did digital marketing for the Biden campaign. Merchan rejected the calls for his recusal.
Tuesday’s post was the latest attack by Trump against judges overseeing his multiple court cases, as he’s repeatedly claimed the judicial system is attempting to interfere with this year’s election. Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon earlier this month rejected a bid by Trump’s lawyers to throw out the case accusing him of keeping classified government documents at his personal home in Florida.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over the federal insurrection case against Trump in Washington, has also repeatedly faced his anger. She experienced a so-called swatting attempt after someone made a false emergency call about her home.
