Trump news live: Manhattan DA says Trump sparked ‘false’ indictment expectation
How Stormy Daniels might lead to Donald Trump’s first charges
The Manhattan DA has said that former President Donald Trump sparked a “false” indictment expectation as the grand jury skipped its hearing on the matter on Thursday.
In a letter responding to the Republican chairs of the House Judiciary, Oversight, and Administration committees, the general counsel for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said that their demand for documents “only came after Donald Trump created a false expectation that he would be arrested the next day and his lawyers reportedly urged you to intervene. Neither fact is a legitimate basis for congressional inquiry”.
General counsel Leslie Dubeck called the letter sent by the chairmen on 20 March “an unprecedent inquiry into a pending local prosecution”.
New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg called off the grand jury on 22 March, and the jury will not hear the highly scrutinised case on 23 March, pushing any potential indictments until next week at the earliest.
There are a number of reasons why a grand jury hearing for a specific case would be delayed, cancelled or rescheduled, including scheduling conflicts, illness and other court matters, as well as other cases that the grand juries are considering.
Resurfaced video shows Giuliani blowing apart Trump’s new ‘evidence’ in Stormy Daniels case
Mr Giuliani complicated Donald Trump’s defence in May 2018 when he appeared on Fox News admitting that Mr Trump was aware of the payments to women who claimed that they had had affairs with him.
He said at the time that Mr Trump “did know the general arrangement” and that his attorney and fixer Michael Cohen was reimbursed for paying off Stormy Daniels with funds being “funnelled” through a law firm.
Mr Cohen is now one of his former boss’s staunchest critics.
Mr Trump rejected this notion at the time, saying that Mr Giuliani “started yesterday. He’ll get his facts straight”.
Giuliani shatters Donald Trump’s new ‘evidence’ in Stormy Daniels case in resurfaced video
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Gustaf Kilander24 March 2023 05:00
Ron DeSantis breaks silence on allegations he observed torture at Guantanamo
Ron DeSantis has broken his silence on allegations that he observed the force-feeding of detainees at Guantanamo Bay during his time serving as a Navy lawyer there.
The Independent reported last week on claims by a former prisoner of the prison camp, Mansoor Adayfi, that Mr DeSantis observed his brutal force-feeding by guards during a hunger strike in 2006 – a practice the United Nations characterised as torture.
Mr DeSantis was stationed on the base between March 2006 and January 2007, according to his military records, and part of his role involved hearing complaints and concerns from prisoners over their conditions.
“I was a junior officer. I didn’t have authority to authorise anything,” Mr DeSantis told Piers Morgan, in an interview to be broadcast on Thursday.
“There may have been a commander that would…
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