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The Department of Justice has told a federal judge in New York that it will no longer defend former president Donald Trump in a defamation case brought by writer E Jean Carroll, who earlier this year won a civil judgement against the ex-president for sexual battery and defamation in a separate matter. In a letter to the attorneys for Mr Trump and Ms Carroll, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton said the department would now decline to certify that Mr Trump was acting in the scope of his job as President of the United States when he denied attacking Ms Carroll in June 2019 and accused her of fabricating a sexual assault claim against him to boost book sales. Mr Boynton said the decision, which reversed an earlier effort to defend Mr Trump which had begun during his term in the White House, came due to clarified appellate court precedent which stated that courts need not always find that an elected official’s statements to the press were in the scope of their employment. “Applying the clarified D.C. respondeat superior standard, the Department has determined that it lacks adequate evidence to conclude that the former President was sufficiently actuated by a purpose to serve the United States Government to support a determination that he was acting within the scope of his employment when he denied sexually assaulting Ms. Carroll and made the other statements regarding Ms. Carroll that she has challenged in this action,” he said. The Justice Department official also said the department had considered new evidence of Mr Trump’s state of mind when he made the statements at issue, and determined that it “does not establish that he made the statements at issue with a ‘more than insignificant’ purpose to serve the United States Government”. Additionally, Mr Boynton noted that even though the defamatory statements regarding Ms Carroll and the allegations she was making against Mr Trump were made during a press gaggle on the South Lawn of the White House, they were not made in the context of “a work-related incident”. “Here, although the statements themselves were made in a work context, the allegations that prompted the statements related to a purely personal incident: an alleged sexual assault that occurred decades prior to Mr Trump’s Presidency. That sexual assault was obviously not job-related,” he said. Although the Justice Department official conceded that an elected official’s “ability to retain the trust of his constituents” is “an important part of his ability to effectively perform his job,” he said the “evidence of personal motivation” in the case at hand “outweighs any public- purpose inference one might draw in other circumstances,” and cited statements Mr Trump made about Ms Carroll after he left office — and after a New York jury found that he had defamed her in a separate trial in May. “The later statements are substantially similar to the three June 2019 statements at issue in this action, and because he was no longer the President when he made the later statements, Mr. Trump could not have been motivated by any interest in serving the United States Government,” he said. He added later that the jury’s finding that Mr Trump sexually assaulted Ms Carroll in a department store changing room in the 1990s “supports an inference that Mr Trump was motivated by a ‘personal grievance’ stemming from events that occurred many years prior to Mr Trump’s presidency”. Without the Department of Justice’s intervention to defend the twice-impeached ex-president, he will not be able to argue that he enjoys any immunity from the lawsuit and he will not be able to substitute the US government as a defendant in the case. And because a prior jury already found similar statements he made about the former Elle magazine writer to be defamatory, legal experts say it will be a simple matter for Ms Carroll to obtain another jury verdict against him when the case goes to trial. Ms Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, said: “We are grateful that the Department of Justice has reconsidered its position. We have always believed that Donald Trump made his defamatory statements about our client in June 2019 out of personal animus, ill will, and spite, and not as President of the United States. Now that one of the last obstacles has been removed, we look forward to trial in E Jean Carroll’s original case in January 2024.” Read More Trump loses bid to throw out E Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit Donald Trump countersues E Jean Carroll for defamation over rape claims Trump is funneling 10% of 2024 campaign donations to cover his legal bills Judge lets columnist amend defamation claim with over $10 million demand for damages from Trump

As a grand jury in Georgia convened to potentially consider criminal charges against him, and as a partisan investigation into his political enemies appears to have imploded, Donald Trump lashed out on his Truth Social with a series of unhinged posts suggesting President Joe Biden’s son should get the death sentence and that a “crackhead” is running the White House. The leading Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential nomination, facing what could be a third criminal indictment within a year, lambasted a federal prosecutor who directly refuted baseless allegations that the investigation into Hunter Biden was marred by political interference. In another post, he said the “deranged” US Department of Justice special counsel investigating Mr Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents and his attempts to overturn 2020 election results should instead investigate the “Cocaine dilemma” at the White House. “I’d bet they already know the answer, but just in case, it could be done in 5 minutes,” Mr Trump wrote. “Is it Crooked Joe and his wonderful son, Hunter? Release the findings, release the tapes. We can’t have a crackhead in charge of our Nuclear Arsenal!!!” Mr Trump called US Attorney David Weiss a “COWARD” and a “smaller version” of his Attorney General Bill Barr, who “never had the courage to do what everyone knows should have been done.” “He gave out a traffic ticket instead of a death sentence,” Mr Trump wrote. Last month, the Justice Department approved a plea deal with Hunter Biden that will likely allow the 53-year-old to avoid prison in exchange for a guilty plea over failing to pay taxes on income he received in 2017 and 2018. Shortly before that plea deal was struck, IRS agent Gary Shapley alleged before a congressional committee that the Justice Department had buried a more-serious case against the president’s son, and that Mr Weiss unsuccessfully persuaded federal prosecutors to bring charges, prompting Mr Weiss to request his appointment as a special counsel. Mr Weiss, who was appointed by Mr Trump, has shot down those claims. “To clarify an apparent misperception and to avoid future confusion, I wish to make one point clear: in this case, I have not requested Special Counsel designation,” he wrote in a recent letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee. On Monday, the Justice Department announced charges against a “whistleblower” who has repeatedly accused the Bidens of corruption with arms trafficking, acting as a foreign agent for China and violating Iran sanctions – charges that have roiled Republican officials who have repeatedly accused the Bidens of wrongdoing without presenting such evidence. Meanwhile, Republicans like Mr Trump have baselessly accused the Bidens of trafficking cocaine into the White House after the drug was allegedly discovered at an entry while the family was in Maryland. Congressional Republicans have demanded a briefing from the US Secret Service. The former president’s latest statements come as a grand jury in Atlanta was sworn in to consider charges against Mr Trump and his allies in their attempts to subvert the outcome of Georgia’s election results in that state. A potential indictment in that state would follow federal charges in Florida stemming from the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case and in New York City, where prosecutors have criminally charged him with 36 counts of falsifying business documents. The Georgia case is separate from the Justice Department special counsel probe into his attempts to overturn 2020 election results. On Monday, Mr Trump’s lawyers asked a federal judge in Miami to indefinitely delay his trial on charges over his handling of classified documents, claiming that it would not be possible to try the case before the presidential election. In the 12-page filing, they called the government’s case against him “extraordinary” and claim it “presents a serious challenge to both the fact and perception of our American democracy” because Mr Trump is seeking his party’s nomination to run against the incumbent president who defeated him in 2020. Read More Trump news – live: Georgia grand jury sworn in for 2020 election case as Trump calls Biden ‘crackhead’ Georgia grand jury sworn in to consider Trump charges over attempts to upend 2020 election He claimed to have dirt on the Bidens. Now the DoJ say he’s a Chinese spy. Who is Gal Luft? Karine Jean-Pierre shuts down ‘incredibly irresponsible’ question about White House cocaine

A man who says he is armed has barricaded himself in a room at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, police say, where the individual is holding a female hostage. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said they received a complaint of a domestic disturbance at around 9.15am on Tuesday. When they arrived at the hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip, the man refused to come out and told officers he was armed, police said. Vegas police said the man pulled a woman into his room “by force” and that she remains inside. “She is still in the room at this time,” a police spokesman said on Tuesday morning during a press update. “The female has been heard from and is still OK.” The officer added that no shots have been fired and no weapons have been seen. SWAT teams and crisis negotiators have been sent to the hotel on the 3500 block of South Las Vegas Boulevard. Police asked residents to avoid the area and watch out for emergency personnel. “We are actively trying to resolve this situation,” the LVPD said in a tweet. North Carolina real estate broker Alyssa Hellman told The Independent she was at the Caesars Palace pool with her wife when she heard a loud bang at about 1.30pm. She said she looked up to see that a window had been broken on about the 10th floor, and a man inside started throwing furniture out onto the concourse. “We heard a bang and then one of the windows was broken open, and the guy was throwing things out. Lamps, a TV and a minibar. He’s drawn the curtains now,” Ms Hellman said. Ms Hellman said guests were evacuated from the pool area, but staff did not explain what was going on. The couple had retreated to a safe distance and said everyone around them seemed “pretty calm and content”. “We’re tucked back hidden away, closer to the Bellagio,” she said. A video posted to Twitter showed security guards duck for cover as a television fell to the ground behind them. One guest told 8NewsNow that she had been swimming in the pool when a security guard ordered everybody out. The witness said she saw chairs being thrown from a window, which appeared to be completely smashed out. Caesars Entertainment said in a statement: “We are aware of the security incident at Caesars Palace. Our team is cooperating fully with law enforcement officers on scene who are handling the investigation.” Read More Caesars Palace standoff news - live: SWAT teams respond to ‘armed’ man barricaded in Las Vegas hotel room Las Vegas police officer set to go on trial over $165k stolen in 3 casino heists Oklahoma county sheriff and three other officials allegedly caught on tape talking about killing journalists Ex-student sentenced to 16-plus years in prison for 2022 attack on Las Vegas high school teacher

A man has barricaded himself inside the famous Caesars Palace hotel and casino in Las Vegas on Tuesday morning, claiming he is armed. Vegas police said the man pulled a woman into his room “by force” and that she remains inside. “She is still in the room at this time,” a police spokesman said on Tuesday during a press update. “The female has been heard from and is still OK.” The officer added that no shots have been fired and no weapons have been seen. SWAT teams and crisis negotiators are on site. A bystander told The Independent a broken window could be seen on the outside of the building, and someone inside was throwing objects out. Read More Armed man barricades himself in room at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas as SWAT teams descend

A grand jury in Georgia has been sworn in to consider charges against Donald Trump and his allies in their attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in that state. The office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has helmed the investigation into the former president and his allies for more than two years, following Mr Trump’s pressure campaign targeting state officials to reject the results. Ms Willis began investigating Mr Trump shortly after his call to Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, the state’s top elections official, who was pressed to find “11,870 votes” – just enough needed for then-President Trump to beat Joe Biden in the state. A special grand jury previously heard testimony from 75 witnesses, including aides and former attorneys to Mr Trump. That jury concluded its report in January with recommendations for state prosecutors to bring charges that will soon be reviewed by the newly impaneled grand jury. The investigation is among several facing the former president, who is separately the subject of a US Department of Justice special counsel probe into his attempts to subvert the election. He also faces 37 federal charges stemming from the alleged mishandling of dozens of sensitive government documents and has been criminally charged in New York City on fraud-related charges from hush-money payments to bury potentially damaging stories about his affairs in the leadup to the 2016 election. Mr Trump has repeatedly rejected any charges and investigations against him in several jurisdictions as political “witch hunts” and has called the Democratic elected prosecutor in Atlanta, who is Black, “racist” and a “lunatic Marxist.” He has similarly characterised prosecutors in Manhattan, where was found liable for sexual abuse, hit with a $250m lawsuit from the state attorney general, and criminally charged with more than 30 counts of falsifying business records. Ms Willis has previously suggested that any potential charges stemming from the grand juries could come in August. What happens now? The new grand jury in Fulton County, which includes Atlanta and surrounding suburbs, was sworn in on 11 July. Two jury panels selected at a courthouse in downtown Atlanta each have 26 participants. One of those panels will handle the Trump investigation. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who previously handled the special grand jury that collected evidence in the investigation, will preside. What happened to the special grand jury? Roughly one year into her investigation, Ms Willis took the unusual step of asking for a special grand jury to rely on its subpoena power to compel testimony from witnesses who otherwise would not be willing to talk with prosecutors. That special grand jury was seated in May 2022 and concluded its work in January 2022. A list of witnesses included former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, US Senator Lindsey Graham and former Senator Kelly Loeffler, and five members of Mr Trump’s legal team, including Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis and “fake elector” architect John Eastman, among several others. In all, the grand jury heard from roughly 75 witnesses before dissolving in January. As a judge heard arguments on 24 January whether to publicly release the grand jury’s report, Ms Willis said that a decision from her office on whether to bring criminal charges was “imminent”. A partially released report from the special grand jury shows that jurors unanimously agreed that “no widespread fraud took place” in Georgia’s election following interviews with election officials, analysis and poll workers. It also includes a recommendation that prosecutors seek indictments for “one or more” witnesses who likely committed perjury, and it will ultimately be up to her office to “seek indictments where she finds sufficient cause”. The publicly released filing does not include witness names, names of people recommended for indictments, or other recommended charges. Who could be charged in the case? Lat year, Ms Willis’s office sent letters warning several people – including fake electors and Mr Giuliani – that they could face charges in the case. She also may be considering a wider set of charges that Ms Willis has made a career out of bringing against dozens of others. The state’s anti-racketeering RICO statute – typically used to break up organized crime – has been used by her office in indictments against more than two dozen people connected to a sprawling Atlanta hip-hop empire, 38 alleged gang members, and 25 educators accused of cheating Atlanta’s public school system. The RICO Act allows prosecutors to bring charges against multiple people that they believe committed separate crimes while working toward a common goal. How common are regular grand juries? Two grand juries are typically seated in Fulton County in each two-month term of court. They usually meet every week – one on Mondays and Tuesdays and the other on Thursdays and Fridays. Their work takes place behind closed doors, not open to the public or to news media. What will they do? Georgia law requires an indictment from a grand jury to prosecute someone in most felony cases. When prosecutors present a case, they’re trying to convince the grand jurors that there is probable cause that one or more people committed crimes and to get the grand jurors to agree to bring charges against them. For each case, prosecutors read or explain the potential indictment and then call witnesses or present any other evidence. Any witnesses who testify must swear an oath to tell the truth. Often in Georgia, the only witnesses the grand jury hears from are law enforcement officers, including investigators for the district attorney’s office. They can tell the grand jurors what they’ve learned in their investigation, including what suspects or witnesses have said and what other evidence they have. Members of the grand jury are allowed to question witnesses. In general, a person who is named as a defendant on the potential indictment cannot be called to testify before the grand jury. After a case is presented, members of the grand jury convene to deliberate the case and whether to vote for a “true bill” or a “no bill” indictment, the former meaning that there is probable cause to believe a person committed a crime. A “no bill” means jurors did not believe a person committed a crime or that there is not enough evidence to indict them. An indictment is then presented in open court. Additional reporting from the Associated Press Read More Who is Fani Willis, the Georgia prosecutor who could take down Trump Trump news – live: Trump wants classified documents trial delayed to after 2024 as Georgia grand jury meets Ethics board recommends Rudy Giuliani be disbarred for ‘destructive’ attempts to undermine 2020 results Trump valet charged in classified documents case set again for arraignment after earlier delays

A Fox News host has claimed that she was “turned on” by reports of Joe Biden’s alleged bad temper and foul mouth. Lisa Kennedy said that she had enjoyed an Axios report that current and former aides were reluctant to meet with the president because of his volatile moods. “Swearing at people, it’s a quirk,” Kennedy said on Monday’s Outnumbered show on the right-wing network. “It kind of turned me on when I heard that the president gets angry and volatile, I’m not gonna lie.” Her stance amused her four co-hosts on the show, which led her to clarify her feelings for the Democratic president. “I’m disappointed by just about every single thing he’s done as president,” she insisted. Mr Biden’s former aides told Axios that they often brought a colleague to meetings to try and blunt the president’s temper. “God dammit, how the f*** don’t you know this?!” He was quoted as yelling on at least one occasion. Another Biden aide said that he also shouted “Don’t f***ing bulls*** me,” at one point and threw another staffer out of a meeting by saying, “Get the f**k out of here.” “There’s no question that the Biden temper is for real. It may not be as volcanic as Bill Clinton’s, but it’s definitely there,” Chris Whipple, author of The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden’s White House, told Axios. Read More Biden privately loses his temper and yells at staffers, report claims Biden blames busy schedule for skipping Nato leadership dinner Why are we so obsessed with world leaders’ heights?

Susan Lorincz, the white woman accused of fatally shooting her Black neighbour, Ajike “AJ” Owens through the front door of her house, pled not guilty to a manslaughter charge on Tuesday. Last month Ms Lorincz, 58, was charged with manslaughter and assault in Marion County, Florida after shooting Ms Owens, 35, through her front door when Ms Owens knocked on Ms Lorincz’s door. Ms Owens, a mother to four, was trying to confront Ms Lorincz for allegedly calling her children racial slurs, taking their iPad and then throwing skates at her son when Ms Lorincz fired her gun. Authorities said Ms Lorincz and Ms Owens had a longstanding feud regarding Ms Owen’s children playing in an area next to Ms Lorincz’s home. On 2 June, Ms Owens went over to Ms Lorincz’s home to speak with her about the incident involving skate-throwing. Ms Lorincz then fired a bullet from within her home which went through the locked door and struck Ms Owens. The shooting occurred in front of her nine-year-old child. First responders’ attempted to keep Ms Owens alive and rushed her to a nearby hospital, but she did not survive her injuries. More follows Read More A Black mother confronted a neighbour for scolding her son. Then she was shot dead Body camera footage sheds new light on ‘racist’ who shot Black mother of four White woman charged after shooting through her door and killing Black mother in front of her son

Federal regulators said Tuesday they found that Bank of America harmed customers by double-dipping on fees, withholding credit card rewards and opening fake accounts, all of which are violations of various consumer financial protection laws.

By Chris Prentice (Reuters) -Bank of America on Tuesday agreed to pay $250 million in fines and compensation to settle

Her first day as the chief prosecutor for Fulton County came with news that then-President Donald Trump attempted to pressure Georgia’s top election officials to reverse his loss in the state during the 2020 presidential election. A phone call between Mr Trump and Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger was published by The Washington Post late at night on 3 January, 2021. Hours later, Fani Willis would walk into her first day on the job as Fulton County’s district attorney, an office that is now spearheading a criminal investigation into Mr Trump, with the phone call serving as a central damning piece of evidence against him. For more than two years, her office has been investigating efforts to overturn election results in the state and the baseless allegations of widespread election fraud that fuelled them, adding to a long list of investigations and other legal consequences facing Mr Trump and others who rejected 2020 results. A grand jury seated on 11 July is expected to consider charges against the former president and his allies. She has previously indicated that any potential indictments could follow in August. The closely watched case against the former president could result in racketeering charges similar to those that Ms Willis has made a career out of bringing against dozens of others. An anti-racketeering RICO statute – typically used to prosecute members of the Mafia and break up organised crime – has been used by her office in indictments against more than two dozen people connected to a sprawling Atlanta hip-hop empire, 38 alleged gang members, and 25 educators accused of cheating Atlanta’s public school system. Such charges could also await Mr Trump, leaving Ms Willis in an unprecedented position of deciding whether to charge a former president – who is once again running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 – for a criminal offence. “It doesn’t matter if you’re rich, poor, Black, white, Democrat or Republican,” Ms Willis told CNN last year. “If you violated the law, you’re going to be charged.” ‘Get out of my county’ Ms Willis graduated from Howard University in 1992 and Emory University School of Law in 1996. She began her career in the Fulton County District Attorney’s office in 2001, with roles in nearly every division in the agency, and serving as lead prosecutor in more than 100 jury trials. She is the first Black woman elected to lead the count’s district attorney’s office. Last year, her office charged rappers Young Thug and Gunna and 26 others in a sprawling, 65-count RICO case following an 88-page grand-jury indictment characterising their YSL group as a “criminal street gang” behind 182 instances of gang activity and criminal conspiracies. Her office also led RICO indictments against 12 alleged members of the Bloods gang, including the rapper YFN Lucci, and 26 alleged members of the Drug Rich gang, connected to a gang string of robberies and home invasions across Atlanta. “I have some legal advice: Don’t confess to crimes on rap lyrics if you do not want them used,” she told reporters at a press conference last year. “Or at least get out of my county.” In a controversial case from 2014, she served as the lead prosecutor in a RICO case involving 35 Atlanta public school educators tied to an infamous cheating scandal, ultimately resulting in racketeering convictions against 11 of 12 people accused of manipulating students’ standardised test scores. As the county’s chief prosecutor, she has expanded her office’s gang unit and lobbied for passage of a statewide measure that would impose mandatory minimum sentences for repeat offenders and increase the power of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in an effort to crack down on gang violence. Following RICO charges against alleged members of the Drug Rich gang, accused of a series of high-profile robberies and shootings involving Atlanta’s wealthy, Ms Willis told reporters: “If you thought Fulton was a good county to bring your crime to, to bring your violence to, you are wrong and you are going to suffer consequences.” ‘Imminent’ charges Over the last two years, the Fulton County district attorney’s office has helmed a criminal probe into whether Mr Trump and his allies illegally interfered with the 2020 election in the state, which several recounts have confirmed President Joe Biden won definitively against Mr Trump. In January 2022, Ms Willis convened a special grand jury, a 26-member panel given subpoena power and investigative authority to interview witnesses and ultimately deliver a report, as per state law, that includes charging recommendations. The grand jury does not have authority to issue an indictment. It will ultimately be up to Ms Willis to determine whether to charge Mr Trump and others connected to her case. Her office sent letters to people connected to the so-called “alternate electors” scheme, including Georgia lawmakers and the chair of the Georgia Republican Party, and more than a dozen others who signed “unofficial electoral certificates” to subvert the Electoral College process and pledge the state’s votes for Mr Trump, who lost in Georgia. Central to the investigation is Mr Trump’s call on 2 January, 2021, which he made days before a joint session of Congress convened to certify Mr Biden’s victory, while those faithful to Mr Trump made last-ditch efforts to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject the election’s outcome, or stormed the US Capitol in an antidemocratic show of force that has led to hundreds of federal prosecutions, including more than a dozen on treason-related charges. A list of grand jury witnesses included former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, US Senator Lindsey Graham and former Senator Kelly Loeffler, and five members of Mr Trump’s legal team, including Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis and “fake elector” architect John Eastman, among several others. The grand jury investigation also looked into a phone call on 13 November, 2020 from Senator Graham to Mr Raffensberger, as well as Mr Trump’s own remarks to a rally crowd months after he left the White House in which he appeared to publicly brag that he had asked Georgia’s Governor Brian Kemp to “help us out” and re-do the election. In all, the special grand jury heard from roughly 75 witnesses before dissolving in January. As a judge heard arguments on 24 January whether to publicly release the grand jury’s report, Ms Willis said that a decision from her office on whether to bring criminal charges was “imminent”. In a series of Truth Social posts during the hearing, Mr Trump continued to lie about the results of the 2020 election, defended his “perfect” phone call to Georgia officials, and baselessly alleged widespread vote manipulation. Judge Robert McBurney granted a partial release of the special grand jury’s report, which includes its introduction and conclusion and a section in which jury members expressed concerns that some witnesses may have lied under oath. The recommendations to Ms Willis include “a roster of who should (or should not) be indicted, and for what, in relation to the conduct (and aftermath) of the 2020 general election in Georgia.” A partially released report shows that the jury unanimously agreed that “no widespread fraud took place” in Georgia’s election following interviews with election officials, analysis and poll workers. It also includes a recommendation to Ms Willis’s office to seek indictments for “one or more” witnesses who likely committed perjury, and it will ultimately be up to her office to “seek indictments where she finds sufficient cause”. The publicly released filing does not include witness names, names of people reccomended for indictments, or other reccomended charges. Asked on 13 Febrary how she feels about the judge’s decision to publicly release parts of the document, Ms Willis smiled and told reporters: “I’m pleased with it.” This story was first published on 15 February and has been updated with developments Read More ‘I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break’: The Georgia phone call that could bring down Donald Trump The 20 major lawsuits and investigations Trump is facing now that he’s left office Why Donald Trump’s phone call seeking to overturn Georgia election results was so damaging

Donald Trump is now seeking to have his federal criminal trial delayed until after the 2024 election. In a court filing late on Monday, Mr Trump’s lawyers asked the judge for a lengthy delay to his classified documents case, saying that due to the extraordinary nature of the case it would not be possible to try it before the election. Mr Trump has been charged with 37 federal counts over his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House. The filing was submitted just hours before a Georgia grand jury was slated to meet on Tuesday as part of the investigation into the efforts of the former president and his allies to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has been investigating Mr Trump after he called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in early 2021 and urged him to “find 11,780 votes” to flip the state in his favour. As his legal troubles heat up, Mr Trump is lashing out at Iowa Republican Governor Kim Reynolds for staying neutral in the 2024 race. Other GOP presidential candidates including Ron DeSantis jumped to defend her from Mr Trump’s attacks. Read More Trump strains relations with Iowa Republicans with no-show at charity event Trump says ‘damaged’ DeSantis is ‘desperately trying to get out’ of 2024 race Trump’s encounter with Guy Fieri at UFC fight sparks mixed reactions Trump lawyer Alina Habba leaves his defence team in New York fraud case

Donald Trump is now seeking to have his federal criminal trial delayed until after the 2024 election, citing his status as a candidate for president and other legal arguments which experts say lack any grounding in actual law. In a court filing in Miami late on Monday, Mr Trump’s lawyers asked the judge to indefinitely delay his trial on charges over his handling of classified documents, saying that due to the extraordinary nature of the case it would not be possible to try it before the presidential election. In the 12-page filing, they called the government’s case against him “extraordinary” and claim it “presents a serious challenge to both the fact and perception of our American democracy” because Mr Trump is seeking his party’s nomination to run against the incumbent president who defeated him in 2020, Joe Biden. “The Court now presides over a prosecution advanced by the administration of a sitting President against his chief political rival, himself a leading candidate for the Presidency of the United States. Therefore, a measured consideration and timeline that allows for a careful and complete review of the procedures that led to this indictment and the unprecedented legal issues presented herein best serves the interests of the Defendants and the public,” they said. While prosecutors had asked Judge Aileen Cannon to set a trial date of 11 December, the former president has opposed that request on the grounds that to “begin a trial of this magnitude within six months of indictment is unreasonable, telling, and would result in a miscarriage of justice” for him and his co-defendant, longtime aide Walt Nauta. In a brief order issued shortly after Mr Trump’s arraignment last month, Judge Cannon set a trial date for 14 August, but Special Counsel Jack Smith later asked for the four-month delay the ex-president and his co-defendant now oppose. Instead, Mr Trump is seeking an indefinite delay to the proceedings against him. “Based on the extraordinary nature of this action, there is most assuredly no reason for any expedited trial, and the ends of justice are best served by a continuance,” his attorneys wrote in Monday’s filing. “The Court should, respectfully, before establishing any trial date, allow time for development of further clarity as to the full nature and scope of the motions that will be filed, a better understanding of a realistic discovery and pre-trial timeline, and the completion of the security clearance process,” they said, adding later that the trial should also be delayed because Mr Trump’s presidential campaign “requires a tremendous amount of time and energy,” and makes trial preparation too difficult. Mr Trump’s attorneys also say that the case poses “significant” legal questions that could see the case dismissed long before trial, and suggest in their filing that they plan to argue that Mr Trump declassified the documents at issue, challenge the constitutionality of the Classified Information Procedures Act — the law used to allow classified evidence in criminal trials — and they further suggest that it would be impossible to select an impartial jury during the 2024 election. “Proceeding to trial during the pendency of a Presidential election cycle wherein opposing candidates are effectively (if not literally) directly adverse to one another in this action will create extraordinary challenges in the jury selection process and limit the Defendants’ ability to secure a fair and impartial adjudication,” they said, citing a Justice Department policy that “cautions against taking prosecutorial action for the purpose of affecting an election or helping a candidate or party” even though that policy pertains only to investigations and indictments, not the conduct of criminal cases that have already been brought. The ex-president’s lawyers later suggested that they intend to repeat baseless legal claims Mr Trump has advanced on his Truth Social page, namely the argument that under the Presidential Records Act and a 2012 court precedent regarding tapes belonging to former president Bill Clinton, he had the right to keep the documents at issue in this case. “Contrary to the Government’s assertion regarding the nature of the legal issues in this matter ... this case presents novel, complex, and unique legal issues, most of which are matters of first impression. As noted above, this Court will need to evaluate the intersection between the Presidential Records Act ... and the various criminal statutes forming the basis of the indictment. These will be questions of first impression for any court in the United States, and their resolution will impact the necessity, scope, and timing of any trial,” they said. Continuing, they also said they plan to challenge the constitutionality of the Espionage Act under which Mr Trump is being prosecuted, as well as Mr Smith’s ability to indict a former president. Mr Smith’s office has not yet responded to the filing. Last month, Mr Trump was indicted on 37 federal charges over his handling of classified documents, including national defence information, after leaving the White House. The indictment, which was unsealed on Friday (9 June), alleges that Mr Trump deliberately lied to and misled authorities so that he could hold onto documents that he knew were classified. On at least two separate occasions, Mr Trump then showed some of the classified documents to people not authorised to see them, the indictment alleges. Stunning photos revealed that many of the documents were stored around a toilet, shower and ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago estate. The charges include 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information and single counts of false statements and representations, and counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding a document or record, corruptly concealing a document, concealing a document in a federal investigation and a scheme to conceal. He pleaded not guilty to the charges at his arraignment in a Miami federal courthouse, becoming the first current or former US president ever charged with a federal crime. Mr Trump’s longtime aide Walt Nauta was also charged with six obstruction- and concealment-related charges after he allegedly helped move boxes of documents from Mar-a-Lago to Mr Trump’s residence and then lied to investigators about having any knowledge of the handling of the papers. The two men appeared in court together but Mr Nauta did not enter a plea as he did not have legal counsel in Florida. Mr Nauta appeared for his arraignment last week where he pleaded not guilty. Read More Trump news – live: Trump wants classified documents trial delayed to after 2024 as Georgia grand jury meets Trump’s co-defendant wants to delay routine hearing on classified documents case Ron DeSantis reveals wife Casey’s reaction to being called ‘America’s Karen’ Pence shuts down voter who blamed him for certifying Biden’s 2020 win Trump’s co-defendant wants to delay routine hearing on classified documents case Ex-Congressman suggests Hunter Biden alleged laptop data fabricated