Amid all the jockeying in next year’s presidential race, frontrunner for the Republican nomination Donald Trump has been busy in a New York City courtroom, where a judge is presiding over his family’s civil fraud trial – and just ruled that his daughter can appear as a witness.
Law360 reports that judge Arthur Engoron decided Ivanka Trump can be called to testify in the trial, where he is deciding what penalties to impose against the Trumps after finding they committed financial fraud:
However, the soonest Ivanka could appear on the witness stand is next week, Engoron ruled:
George Santos, a Republican congressman from New York who has admitted to lying about much of his resume, will stand trial on an array for federal charges on 9 September of next year, the Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reports:
That’s days before the election that could see Santos booted from office.
Santos was first indicted in May, and earlier this month, federal prosecutors unveiled a slate of new charges against him, including that he stole political donors’ identities and committed credit card fraud. Reuters reports he pleaded not guilty to those allegations today.
The damages phase of Donald Trump and his family’s civil fraud trial is continuing with testimony from a former tax attorney to their company, Law360 reports:
The ex-president has appeared personally in the New York City courtroom where it is being held for weeks, leading to some interesting moments. For instance, judge Arthur Engoron earlier this week fined him $10,000 and attacked his credibility when Trump made a brief appearance on the witness:
Amid all the jockeying in next year’s presidential race, frontrunner for the Republican nomination Donald Trump has been busy in a New York City courtroom, where a judge is presiding over his family’s civil fraud trial – and just ruled that his daughter can appear as a witness.
Law360 reports that judge Arthur Engoron decided Ivanka Trump can be called to testify in the trial, where he is deciding what penalties to impose against the Trumps after finding they committed financial fraud:
However, the soonest Ivanka could appear on the witness stand is next week, Engoron ruled:
Age is in the eye of the beholder, but Dean Phillips does have a point about Joe Biden being unpopular.
The president’s public approval ratings have been underwater for more than two years, and Gallup yesterday reported that his support has slipped among Democrats.
Approval from his own party has dropped 11 points to 75% from September, Gallup said, the lowest rating of his presidency among Democrats so far. Overall, Biden’s approval rating is at 37%.
What could be the cause of Biden’s ebbing support among his allies? Gallup says it could have to do with his decision to publicly back Israel in its escalating conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip – which has involved a bombing campaign that has killed thousands. Noting a separate survey that found Democrats are more sympathetic towards Palestinians than Israelis, “the daily results strongly suggest that Democrats’ approval of Biden fell sharply in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas and Biden’s promise of full support for Israel on the same day,” Gallup said.
Joe Biden is getting a challenger for next year’s Democratic presidential nomination in the form of Dean Phillips, a third-term House representative from Minnesota. Phillips is kicking off his campaign in New Hampshire today, and, while he’s been vague on his actual policy proposals, appears to be arguing that Biden is too old and unpopular to be trusted to win next year.
Needless to say, the decision to go up against their sitting president is not making Phillips popular with his fellow Democratic lawmakers. Here’s the Guardian’s Rachel Leingang with the full report:
Little-known Democratic congressman Dean Phillips has launched a campaign to challenge sitting President Joe Biden, leaving many of his supporters and colleagues confused, if not outright upset.
After weeks of speculation and behind-the-scenes manoeuvreing, Phillips finally publicly announced he’s running in an interview on CBS.
A campaign website, dean24.com, went live Thursday night, but simply solicits donations and carries no details on Phillips’ plans or policy ideas. He also filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission Thursday night.
The centrist third-term Minnesota congressman is expected to file paperwork to run in the primary contest in New Hampshire on Friday morning, the secretary of state’s office there confirmed Thursday.
Running on a slogan of “Make America Affordable Again,” a nod to former President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again,” Phillips brought a campaign bus and “government repair” van to New Hampshire to make his case to voters.
In his interview on CBS News, Phillips said Biden had done a “spectacular job for our country.”
“But it’s not about the past,” Phillip said. “This is an election about the future. I will not sit still, I will not be quiet, when we’re facing numbers that are so clearly saying that we’ll be facing an emergency next November.”
Phillips so far has not articulated the policy differences between himself and Biden. Instead, he’s pointed to Biden’s age, saying a younger generation should be given the opportunity to lead.
It’s not clear how Phillips’ entry into the Democratic primary would achieve the goal of passing the torch to younger politicians: He is near-certain to lose the Democratic nomination contest, and his pressure on the president’s campaign cannot solve the issue of Biden’s age. Phillips’ end goal with the campaign could be an attempt to boost himself nationally, though it’s likely to anger more Democrats than win them over.
He will not have the financial or organizational support of the Democratic Party, either nationally or locally, as it will work to keep the top office in party control by backing Biden. Phillips, though, has his own wealth. He is heir to a distilling company and the former co-owner of gelato company Talenti.
And here’s a clip from Mike Johnson’s time in Louisiana’s House of Representatives in which he calls the US “a completely amoral society”:
That’s a small piece of a larger speech – once again being shared by Democrats – Johnson delivered at the Christian Center of Shreveport during his campaign to be elected to the US House.
In his previous life as an attorney for what is now called the Alliance Defending Freedom, speaker of the House Mike Johnson was much more open about what he thought about same-sex marriage:
It’s no surprise these comments are being promoted by Joe Biden’s re-election campaign. Democrats are seizing on his rise to power to argue the GOP is too extreme to govern, and will press that message further next year.
Mike Johnson’s interview on Fox News was as notable for what he said as for what he didn’t say. He has been outspoken against gay marriage before – and we’ll get to that shortly on this blog – but as the Guardian’s Martin Pengelly reports, declined to reiterate those attacks in last night’s interview:
Questioned about comments and actions deemed by many to be homophobic, the new Republican US House speaker, Mike Johnson of Louisiana, told Fox News his worldview was: “Go pick up a Bible.”
Speaking on Thursday, Johnson said he “genuinely love[d] all people regardless of their lifestyle choices.
“This is not about the people themselves. I am a Bible-believing Christian. Someone asked me today in the media, they said, ‘… People are curious. What does Mike Johnson think about any issue under the sun?’ I said, well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it – that’s my worldview. That’s what I believe and so I make no apologies for it.”
Johnson added: “That’s my personal worldview.”
Good morning, US politics blog readers. In his first major interview since winning election as speaker of the House, Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson both made clear that the conservative ideology he embraced throughout his six years in office has not changed, while also avoiding weighing in one some of the most controversial issues before him. Speaking to conservative Fox News commentator Sean Hannity, he declined to reiterate his attacks on same-sex marriage, nor elaborate on if he would push for a national ban on abortion.
But there was one topic on which Johnson did not hold back, perhaps because it’s not particularly controversial among Republicans: Joe Biden. “I think it’s been a failed presidency,” he said, and repeated the familiar allegation that the president is suffering from cognitive decline. The speaker also said it was “very likely” the ongoing impeachment inquiry into the president, which centers into long-running and still-unverified corruption allegations regarding his son Hunter Biden, will turn up offenses worth of bringing charges. It was as sure a sign as any that the divisive and almost certainly quixotic effort will continue in the months to come.
Here’s what else we expect to happen today.
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Dean Phillips, a Democratic congressman from Minnesota, is launching a presidential campaign aimed at challenging Biden for the party’s nomination.
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GOP bigshots are converging on Las Vegas for the kickoff of the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Summit. Today’s speakers include Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, senators Rick Scott and Lindsey Graham and the Nevada’s own governor, Joe Lombardo.
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George Santos, the Republican congressman and admitted fabulist, is expected to enter a not guilty plea to 10 new federal charges in court today.
