Former President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departure from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Aug. 24.Alex Brandon/The Associated Press
Donald Trump has been booked in Georgia on his fourth indictment this year, accused of racketeering in his sweeping plot to overturn the result of the 2020 election. The former president arrived at the Fulton County Jail, a crumbling and violent facility in an Atlanta industrial park, around 7:40 p.m. Thursday after flying in from his New Jersey estate on a private plane.
Unlike Mr. Trump’s three previous arrests, the proceedings included getting his mug shot taken and posting US$200,000 bail. Despite his much-flaunted personal fortune, the former president used the services of a bail bondsman to secure the amount, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. He was not immediately arraigned but is expected to plead not guilty at a Sept. 5 hearing.
In his mug shot, which the local sheriff’s office promptly released publicly, a red-eyed Mr. Trump fixes the camera with his head tilted forward and a scowl on his face.
Mr. Trump arrived during prime time television hours and riding in a large motorcade whose progress was breathlessly tracked by news helicopters. His campaign said it would use the mugshot on its T-shirts and other merchandise as Mr. Trump seeks to win back the White House by portraying himself as the innocent victim of a Machiavellian justice system.
Speaking with reporters on the airport tarmac after his release, Mr. Trump repeated his lies that his 2020 defeat had been “rigged.” He described the arrest as “a travesty of justice” and insisted “I did nothing wrong.”
As a condition of Mr. Trump’s bail, Judge Scott McAfee ordered him not to threaten witnesses, co-defendants or “the community,” including via “posts on social media.” The former president has repeatedly attacked judicial officials, including labelling Atlanta’s district attorney, Fani Willis, a “LOWLIFE” on his Truth Social platform mere hours before turning himself in.
Ms. Willis asked court on Thursday to schedule the trial start date for Oct. 23, less than two months from now. Such a tight timeline is unlikely to hold, given the complexity of the case and expected pretrial motions. Still, it signals her aim to prosecute Mr. Trump’s case before the November, 2024, presidential election, raising the likelihood he will be fighting to stay out of prison at the same time as he is campaigning for office.
Mr. Trump and 18 co-defendants face a combined total of 41 charges, including 13 directly against Mr. Trump. Ms. Willis had given them all until Friday at noon to surrender. By late Thursday, nearly all had, including former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell, and lawyers Jenna Ellis and John Eastman. The District Attorney is seeking to try all 19 people together.
The former president faces 91 charges across all of his indictments. In addition to the Georgia case, he has also been charged in two federal cases brought by special counsel Jack Smith, one related to the election and another to keeping nuclear secrets and other classified documents after leaving office, and a New York state case over a hush-money payment to a porn star.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is shown in a police booking mugshot released by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office on Aug. 24.Fulton County Sheriff’s Office/Reuters
The prosecution in Atlanta, however, differs in several key respects. For one, Mr. Trump will not be able to pardon himself of the state-level charges if he returns to the presidency. For another, it is likely to be televised live, ensuring wall-to-wall coverage.
Ms. Willis’s indictment is also the most sprawling of the four. At its centre is a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) charge, which alleges that Mr. Trump and his co-defendants constituted a criminal enterprise. This allows the District Attorney to tie all of their alleged insurrectionary actions into the case.
After the November, 2020, vote, Mr. Trump put pressure on Republican officials and legislators in seven swing states, the federal Department of Justice and then-vice-president Mike Pence to help him reverse the loss of his re-election bid. Central to the effort was a plan to have Democrat Joe Biden’s electoral college members thrown out in the states and replaced with fake electors who would instead back Mr. Trump.
In one famous telephone call, Mr. Trump tried to cajole Georgia’s secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, to “find” enough Republican votes to overcome Mr. Biden’s victory in the state.
When Mr. Raffensperger and others refused to go along with the plan, Mr. Trump summoned his supporters to Washington and exhorted them to descend on the Capitol. The Jan. 6, 2021 riot shut down Congress for several hours as it met to certify Mr. Biden’s victory.
The former president also shook up his Georgia legal team in the hours before the arrest. He put Steven Sadow, an Atlanta criminal defence lawyer with experience handling RICO cases, at its head, in a sign of the seriousness of the charges.
The Fulton County Jail is notoriously decrepit and currently under federal investigation after the deaths of several inmates. On one occasion last year, the county sheriff’s office confiscated nearly 100 homemade knives from inmates in the facility, including some fashioned from pieces of the building’s walls.
Despite his legal troubles, Mr. Trump has a commanding lead in polling for the Republican presidential nomination and is roughly even with Mr. Biden in a prospective rematch. Much of the coming weeks is likely to be spent in wrangling over timelines for the trials. Mr. Trump’s lawyers are trying to push back all of the cases until well after the election, while prosecutors want to move forward far sooner.
Rudy Giuliani, the former attorney for Donald Trump, says he’s honoured to be involved in the Georgia elections case because it is ‘a fight for our way of life.’ The former New York mayor surrendered Aug. 23. He’s accused of conspiring with Trump and others to subvert the 2020 election.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will not be taking advice from Pierre Poilievre after the Conservative leader challenged him to bring down government.
“I say directly to Pierre Poilievre: I’m not going to listen to you,” said Singh on Wednesday, accusing Poilievre of wanting to take away dental-care coverage from Canadians, among other things.
“I’m not going to listen to your advice. You want to destroy people’s lives, I want to build up a brighter future.”
Earlier in the day, Poilievre challenged Singh to commit to voting non-confidence in the government, saying his party will force a vote in the House of Commons “at the earliest possibly opportunity.”
“I’m asking Jagmeet Singh and the NDP to commit unequivocally before Monday’s byelections: will they vote non-confidence to bring down the costly coalition and trigger a carbon tax election, or will Jagmeet Singh sell out Canadians again?” Poilievre said.
“It’s put up or shut up time for the NDP.”
While Singh rejected the idea he would ever listen to Poilievre, he did not say how the NDP would vote on a non-confidence motion.
“I’ve said on any vote, we’re going to look at the vote and we’ll make our decision. I’m not going to say our decision ahead of time,” he said.
Singh’s top adviser said on Tuesday the NDP leader is not particularly eager to trigger an election, even as the Conservatives challenge him to do just that.
Anne McGrath, Singh’s principal secretary, says there will be more volatility in Parliament and the odds of an early election have risen.
“I don’t think he is anxious to launch one, or chomping at the bit to have one, but it can happen,” she said in an interview.
New Democrat MPs are in a second day of meetings in Montreal as they nail down a plan for how to navigate the minority Parliament this fall.
The caucus retreat comes one week after Singh announced the party has left the supply-and-confidence agreement with the governing Liberals.
It’s also taking place in the very city where New Democrats are hoping to pick up a seat on Monday, when voters go to the polls in Montreal’s LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. A second byelection is being held that day in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood—Transcona, where the NDP is hoping to hold onto a seat the Conservatives are also vying for.
While New Democrats are seeking to distance themselves from the Liberals, they don’t appear ready to trigger a general election.
Singh signalled on Tuesday that he will have more to say Wednesday about the party’s strategy for the upcoming sitting.
He is hoping to convince Canadians that his party can defeat the federal Conservatives, who have been riding high in the polls over the last year.
Singh has attacked Poilievre as someone who would bring back Harper-style cuts to programs that Canadians rely on, including the national dental-care program that was part of the supply-and-confidence agreement.
The Canadian Press has asked Poilievre’s office whether the Conservative leader intends to keep the program in place, if he forms government after the next election.
With the return of Parliament just days away, the NDP is also keeping in mind how other parties will look to capitalize on the new makeup of the House of Commons.
The Bloc Québécois has already indicated that it’s written up a list of demands for the Liberals in exchange for support on votes.
The next federal election must take place by October 2025 at the latest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is defending her decision to turn off comments on her social media accounts — with an announcement on social media.
She posted screenshots to X this morning of vulgar names she’s been called on the platform, and says comments on her posts for months have been dominated by insults, to the point that she decided to block them.
Montreal’s Opposition leader and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association have criticized Plante for limiting freedom of expression by restricting comments on her X and Instagram accounts.
They say elected officials who use social media should be willing to hear from constituents on those platforms.
However, Plante says some people may believe there is a fundamental right to call someone offensive names and to normalize violence online, but she disagrees.
Her statement on X is closed to comments.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
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