Former U.S. President Donald Trump steps off his plane Trump Force One upon arrival at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on his way to the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta on Aug. 24. Trump and 18 others have until Aug. 25, to surrender at the courthouse after being indicted on 41 counts related to their efforts to overturn the 2020 US Presidential election.ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP/Getty Images
Within an hour of Donald Trump surrendering at Atlanta’s decrepit county jail this week to be booked for racketeering, his campaign had plastered his scowling mugshot on t-shirts and started selling them for US$47.
It offered a preview of how thoroughly the former president’s four criminal trials are set to dominate the 2024 race for the White House. And it was an illustration of how he is reframing his 91 charges in astarkly divided country. While prosecutors accuse Mr. Trump of a wide range of illegal acts that would normally end a political career – plotting to overthrow the government he seeks to lead chief among them – he casts himself as victim of an establishment bent on taking him down.
“What has taken place here is a travesty of justice,” he declared after his Georgia arrest, before repeating his lie that the 2020 election had been rigged. “I did nothing wrong.”
Mr. Trump’s determination to forge ahead and his unwavering base of support have the U.S. facing a range of once-unimaginable, but now suddenly plausible, scenarios. A leading presidential campaign could end up being conducted from prison, for instance, and a potential future president might attempt to pardon himself. In the immediate term, the country will undergo the test of trying a former leader accused of attempting an unprecedented insurrection without deepening its political fissures in the process.
The first crucial question the courts will have to determine is a calendar for Mr. Trump’s four cases: federal and state indictments for trying to illegally cling to power after his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden; a federal prosecution for absconding with military secrets and other classified documents; and state-level charges of falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money payment to a porn star.
Mr. Trump is scheduled to go to trial in New York on the hush-money case in March of next year and in Florida on the documents case in May. Special counsel Jack Smith is seeking a January trial date for the federal elections charges while district attorney Fani Wallace wants to start the Georgia trial this October. The former president’s legal team is trying to delay all proceedings until well after the election.
Jacob Frenkel, a former federal prosecutor who handled political-corruption cases, said the courts will have to balance Mr. Trump’s right to a fair trial with the government’s interest in getting the cases resolved before the election. The courts could set tight deadlines for pretrial motions, for example, to make sure relevant legal issues are given a hearing but dealt with swiftly. With such an approach, he estimated, Mr. Trump could realistically start at least one of his trials between midwinter and early spring of 2024.
“I think the courts will be sensitive to the political calendar but will not allow the political calendar to drive the schedule,” said Mr. Frenkel, who now works for the firm Dickinson Wright.
Among the many logistical issues to sort out are co-ordinating the schedules of Mr. Trump’s 18 co-defendants in the Georgia case, some of whom disagree about when and in which court they should be tried; access to classified documents for the defence and the court in the Florida case; and possibly litigating any issues of executive privilege Mr. Trump tries to raise.
The cases’ timing will determine whether Mr. Trump will have to balance defending himself in court with campaigning in the Republican primaries, which run from January to June, and whether the prosecutions will finish before the July nominating convention and the November election.
Whatever the outcome, there is no prohibition in the U.S. for anyone charged with or convicted of a crime from running for or serving as president.
Two conservative legal scholars, however, argue that the U.S. Constitution should bar Mr. Trump from office, regardless of the court cases. The 14th amendment prohibits former government officials who “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the U.S. from ever running again. Passed in 1868, the language was meant to exclude former Confederate leaders from returning to power. In an article for the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, William Baude and Michael Stokes Paulsen contend that the wording is broad enough that it still applies.
“It disqualifies former President Donald Trump, and potentially many others, because of their participation in the attempted overthrow of the 2020 presidential election,” write Professors Baude and Paulsen, both members of the right-wing Federalist Society.
They contend that elections officials have an obligation to keep Mr. Trump off the ballots in their states to comply with the amendment. So far, no one has signalled they will do this and no one has attempted a court challenge to get the amendment enforced. But either could happen before the election, which would almost certainly end with a legal battle that could go to the Supreme Court.
The indictments have not had any effect on Mr. Trump’s popularity. He holds a roughly 40-point lead in recent polls of Republican primary voters and is competitive with Mr. Biden in a prospective rematch.
Most of his challengers for the nomination have shied away from criticizing him directly. But they argue that allowing the election to become a referendum on Mr. Trump’s actions will help Mr. Biden by keeping the focus off criticisms of his governance.
At the Republican debate in Milwaukee this week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis became exasperated when asked about the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. “Is that what we’re going to be focusing on going forward, the rehashing of this? The Democrats would love that,” he said.
Much of what Mr. Trump did, particularly in the elections cases, is not actually in dispute: His demands that various officials throw out Mr. Biden’s victory are on tape, in writing and, in many cases, were made in pubic speeches and tweets.
Instead, the prosecution will turn on whether these actions were criminal. The former president has argued that he did nothing wrong because he sincerely believes the election was stolen. Mr. Smith has pushed back with examples in his indictment of many of Mr. Trump’s own advisers repeatedly telling him Mr. Biden’s victory was legitimate.
Daniel Richman, a Columbia law professor and former prosecutor, said “the issue will be intent and knowledge,” with Mr. Trump’s defence team likely arguing that “he had a firm and good-faith belief that something awful was happening and he needed to act.”
However it turns out, there is little precedent for a case of such magnitude.
When former vice-president Aaron Burr was tried for treason in 1807, for instance, the indictment foundered because of very little evidence – a far cry from the voluminous records prosecutors are expected to introduce in Mr. Trump’s case. In the cases of other top leaders accused of abusing their power (such as former president Richard Nixon) or abrogating the Constitution (such as Confederate president Jefferson Davis), no criminal charges were ever brought.
“It’s all uncharted territory,” Mr. Frenkel said. “We’re going to watch the law being made.”
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
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