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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

Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy's family just got a little bigger.

Laurentian Bank of Canada, which has been working on a turnaround under a new chief executive officer since

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

MLB All-Star Game: Texas Rangers players praise Bruce Bochy's leadership, Carlos Estevez takes step for Los Angeles Angels, and Spencer Strider dishes on why he keeps it simple with the Atlanta Braves.SEATTLE —As we get closer to the start of the MLB All-Star Game, let's empty th...

The French village of Le Vernet in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence has been struck by tragedy following the disappearance of a young boy. Émile, aged two-and-a-half, was playing in the garden of his grandparent's house when he vanished on Saturday afternoon. Since then, a desperate search has been underway to try and find the missing toddler. But this isn't the first time that the sleepy village has been struck by tragedy. Locals speaking to the media have said they are worried their village may be "cursed" as a result of the unfortunate tragedies which have taken place over the last 15 years. Speaking to La Montagne, Christian Mollet said: "The village has been hit by this type of tragedy three times. "There was the murder of Jeannette in 2008, the manager of the Moulin café killed by a customer in 2008; the crash of the company Germanwings, a subsidiary of Lufthansa in 2015 with 150 people on board; and then there is this disappearance..." Jeanette and Café du Moulin In 2008, the peace of the village was shattered when Jeanette, the owner of Café du Moulin, was murdered by a customer. At the time of the death, the mayor at the time François Balique told Provence that "the village will have a hard time recovering from it". Jeanette Grosos was regarded as a "local institution", according to Gilles Thezan speaking to L'yonne Relublicaine. She came to a tragic end after a customer, who was well-known in the village, savagely beat her to death. According to local reports, the man who attacked her was known as the "simpleton" of the village. Airwing disaster Years later in March 2015, another tragedy struck when Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 crashed into the Alps. Evidence obtained from the cockpit flight record and other information showed how co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, 28, brought down the Airbus intentionally. The flight took off from Barcelona Airport and was heading for Duesseldorf, Germany, with 150 people on board - which is also around the same size population as Le Vernet. At around 9.30, the captain told the co-pilot he was leaving the cockpit and asked him to take over radio communications. As soon as he left, the co-pilot altered the flight monitoring system to send the aircraft into descent and within 10 minutes the plane had plummeted into a mountain at 430mph - killing everybody onboard instantly. In the last few minutes of the black box recording, there is the sound of banging on the door as staff tried to enter the cockpit and also the sound of the terrified passengers screaming. It was revealed later that the suicidal co-pilot was asked to seek psychiatric treatment just two weeks before the disaster. Examination of his computer showed that he had researched suicide methods in the months before the disaster. The co-pilot was allowed to fly because of a "waiver” following a previous episode of depression in 2008-9. A report said he knew that this waiver would be revoked – removing his licence – if he reported his psychiatric problems to his employer. A commemorative plaque remains in Le Vernet for the tragedy. Émile The toddler's grandparents were getting him ready for the day when suddenly they noticed he had vanished. The two-year-old’s disappearance has sent shockwaves through the community, with locals describing Le Vernet as “safe” and “quiet.” “It’s a quiet little hamlet, you feel safe there, much more than in the city”, one resident told La Provence of the search. “We all know each other here, I don’t think that a foreign person who would have gone up to the top of the village would have gone unnoticed”, another added. On Monday, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence prefect Marc Chappuis announced that from Tuesday morning, the village would be closed to non-residents. “Nearly 800 people took turns almost without interruption for two days to try to find the child, within a radius of 5 km around the place where he was last seen”, Mr Chappuis told reporters, praising the “neighbours, hikers, walkers, hunters from the surrounding communes” who “showed an exceptional outpouring of solidarity.” “We don’t need new arrivals of reinforcements”, he added. When asked whether the village is cursed, François Balique, the current first magistrate, said: “No, you can’t say that. It’s the coincidences of life.” The search for the toddler continues. Read More Missing French toddler – latest: Police give update as helicopter teams use mother’s voice recording in search Desperate search for French toddler who vanished on holiday with grandparents European heatwave Cerberus brings searing temperatures as Italy could hit 48C Nato refuses to offer Ukraine timeframe on joining, after Zelensky hits out at delays Why are we so obsessed with world leaders’ heights? European heatwave Cerberus brings searing temperatures as Italy could hit 48C

US prosecutors charged a New York man with stealing millions of dollars in crypto after exploiting vulnerabilities on

Leslie Van Houten was convicted in the 1969 slaying of a California couple alongside Charles Manson.

The implied chance of Microsoft Corp.’s takeover of Activision Blizzard Inc. going through jumped to around 80% from

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

NATO advanced its plans for enlargement in response to Russian aggression, firming up the prospects for Ukraine’s future