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During a surprise testimony in a courtroom hearing connected to a sprawling criminal conspiracy case in Georgia, Mark Meadows did not recall how a highly scrutinized and recorded phone call at the center of the case against Donald Trump and 18 allies came to be. The phone call – during which then-President Trump urged Georgia’s chief elections official to “find” votes to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state – is among central pieces of evidence in a sprawling racketeering indictment targeting Mr Trump’s efforts to subvert the outcome of 2020 presidential election results in the state. Mark Meadows, a former White House chief of staff, testified in US District Court in Atlanta on 28 August as part of his effort to move the state case out of Fulton County and into federal court, marking one of the first courtroom battles between the 19 defendants and prosecutors under Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in the largest case against the former president and his allies yet. He faces two counts in the sprawling 41-count indictment outlining dozens of acts that encompass the conspiracy: one count of violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO statute, and one count of solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer. Mr Meadows said on the stand that he was not sure whether attorneys on the call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger were working for Mr Trump or his campaign. US District Court Judge Steve Jones, shaking his head, asked why Mr Meadows would even allow them on the call without knowing their roles, ABC News reported. He said that the purpose of the call was to find a “less litigious way” to resolve a dispute over ballot signatures. He testified that he reached out to both Mr Raffensperger himself and a member of his staff, but neither had responded. Mr Trump himself eventually reached out to Mr Raffensperger, according to Mr Meadows. Ms Willis has subpoenaed Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to testify. Mr Meadows repeatedly testified that he did not recall setting up the call or how aides connected to the campaign – not the federal government – joined in. “I dealt with the president’s personal position on a number of things. It’s still a part of my job to make sure the president is safe and secure and able to perform his job,” Mr Meadows said, according to CBB. “Serving the president of the United States is what I do, to be clear.” His surprise testimony comes two weeks after a grand jury indictment presented the largest and most significant case yet facing Mr Trump and others connected to an alleged racketeering scheme in which they “knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election” to ensure he remained in power. Mr Trump, Mr Meadows and their 17 other co-defendants were booked in Fulton County jail and released on bond last week. They are scheduled to appear in court for their arraignment hearings on 5 September. Attorneys for Mr Meadows have asked for the “prompt removal” of the case from Fulton County, citing federal law that allows US officials to remove civil or criminal trials from state court over alleged actions performed “under color” of their offices, with Mr Meadows performing such acts during his “tenure” as White House chief of staff, they wrote in court filings. His lawyers said they then intend to file a motion to dismiss the indictment “as soon as feasible,” according to attorneys. “Nothing Mr Meadows is alleged in the indictment to have done is criminal per se,” his attorneys wrote. “One would expect a Chief of Staff to the President of the United States to do these sorts of things.” Prosecutors, however, have argued that Mr Meadows was acting on behalf of the Trump campaign, performing acts that were “all ‘unquestionably political’ in nature and therefore, by definition, outside the lawful scope of his authority” as chief of staff. “Even if the defendant somehow had been acting as authorized under federal law (rather than directly contrary to it), that authority would be negated by the evidence of his ‘personal interest, malice, actual criminal intent,’” they wrote. During the hearing on Monday, which was not broadcast, Mr Meadows himself argued in his sworn testimony that he was both a principal figure and an observer in meetings with and about Mr Trump, and was “invited to almost every meeting that the president had,” CNN reported. “Those were challenging times, bluntly,” he said during his sworn testimony, according to CNN. “I don’t know if anyone was fully prepared for that type of job.” He also was grilled over false election claims amplified by the former president despite statements from members of his own administration rejecting them, including then-Attorney General Bill Batt telling then-President Trump that allegations of voter fraud are “bull****.” Mr Meadows said he believed the claims warranted “further investigation” at the time but had “no reason” to doubt Mr Barr, according to CNN. Mr Meadows is one of five defendants in the Georgia case who want to transfer the case out of Fulton County. Former assistant US Attorney General Jeffrey Clark and three people wrapped up in the so-called “alternate” elector scheme – David Shafer, Cathy Latham and state Senator Shawn Still – are also asking a judge to move the case to federal court. Mr Trump also is expected to do the same. Ms Willis also has subpoenaed his former lead investigator Frances Watson. Mr Meadows met with Ms Watson in December 2020 during a state-run audit of absentee ballot signatures that Ms Watson was overseeing. Mr Trump called her the next day. On 27 December 2020, Mr Meadows asked if “there was a way to speed up Fulton County signature verification in order to have results before Jan 6” if the Trump campaign can “assist financially”, which Ms Willis is likely to use to bolster prosecutors’ argument that Mr Meadows acted on behalf of the campaign, thus not immune from federal protections allowing his removal. Mr Meadows testified on Monday that he did not “recall reaching out” to Ms Watson. He also denied that he directed White House aide John McEntee to draft a memo outlining how to delay the certification of electoral college results on 6 January, 2021 during a joint session of Congress that would be targeted by a mob of the former president’s supporters in a violent attempt to upend the election’s outcome. Mr Meadows “did not ask” Mr McEntee to that, he said, according to CNN. Those allegations outlined in the indictment from Georgia prosecutors “did not happen” and were the “biggest surprise” to him as he read the charging document, Mr Meadows said. The Georgia case is separate from the US Department of Justice investigation and federal charges against Mr Trump for his efforts to subvert the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. At a separate hearing on Monday, US District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington DC set a tentative trial date in that case for 4 March, 2024 – one day before Super Tuesday primary election contests. Read More Trump handed two key court dates as bid to delay trials until after election falls apart - latest Who is Fani Willis, the Georgia prosecutor who could take down Trump Trump and all 18 others charged in Georgia election case meet the deadline to surrender at jail

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The fanfare around Narendra Modi’s visit to the US has been punctuated by protests over accusations that his right-wing administration is cracking down on human rights in India. Several trucks bearing banners calling upon Joe Biden to question the Hindu leader were seen in the streets of New York on Wednesday even as several Democratic lawmakers urged Mr Biden to “directly” put across questions about human rights violations to Mr Modi. Addressed to Mr Biden, digital posters on the trucks carried slogans like “Did you know mob lynching of Muslims, Christians and Dalits have surged under Modi’s rule. With almost no accountability” and “Hey Joe! Ask Modi why student activist Umar Khalid has been in prison for 1000+ days WITHOUT Trial?” Another banner addressed to Mr Biden asked “Why was Modi banned from the USA from 2005-2014?” and provided an answer for him. It read, for “particularly severe violations of religious freedom” and added that the Indian prime minister was the “only person ever to be denied a visa on these grounds”. The banners also labelled Mr Modi as the “Crime Minister of India”. As Mr Biden and Mr Modi enter the second day of the latter’s high-profile state visit and look to ink new partnerships in defence, semiconductor manufacturing and more, the visit has been overshadowed with calls to address violence and crimes against minorities in India. Notable progressive voices, like Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, have said they will boycott Mr Modi’s address to the US Congress, stating that a “joint address is among the most prestigious invitations and honours the United States Congress can extend”. “We should not do so for individuals with deeply troubling human rights records – particularly for individuals whom our own State Department has concluded are engaged in systematic human rights abuses of religious minorities and caste-oppressed communities,” Ms Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement. More than 70 lawmakers earlier wrote to Mr Biden and called on him to use his meeting with Mr Modi to raise concerns about the erosion of religious, press and political freedoms. “It is an important country to me, and we must call out some of the real issues that are threatening the viability of democracy in all of our countries,” said representative Pramila Jayapal, who was born in India and helped organise the lawmakers’ letter. “If India continues to backslide, I think it will affect our ability to have a really strong relationship with the country.” A week before Mr Modi was due to arrive in the country, US rights groups planned protests over what they call India’s deteriorating human rights record. The Indian American Muslim Council, Peace Action, Veterans for Peace and Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition planned to gather near the White House when the two leaders were expected to meet. The protesting groups prepared flyers that said “Modi Not Welcome” and “Save India from Hindu Supremacy”. Another event is planned in New York, featuring a show titled “Howdy Democracy”, a play on Mr Modi’s 2019 “Howdy Modi!” rally in Texas with Donald Trump. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch invited policy makers, journalists and analysts to a screening in Washington of India: the Modi Question, a BBC documentary that questioned Mr Modi’s leadership during the 2002 communal Gujarat riots. The documentary was banned in India, with the Indian government calling it a “propaganda piece” that displays “bias, [a] lack of objectivity, and frankly a continuing colonial mindset” on the part of the BBC. The BBC defended itself and said it adhered to the “highest editorial standards”. Since Mr Modi came to power in 2014, India has plummeted from 140th in the World Press Freedom Index, to 161st this year, its lowest dip ever, while also topping the list for the highest number of internet shutdowns globally for five consecutive years. Advocacy groups have also raised concerns over alleged human rights abuses under Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Read More Biden and Modi to unveil new science and defence cooperation between US and India India's Modi is getting a state visit with Biden, but the glitz is shadowed by human rights concerns Jill Biden is taking Indian Prime Minister Modi on side trip before Thursday's White House visit Biden ‘won’t lecture Modi’ on India’s human rights record even as 75 US lawmakers differ Modi US visit: Amnesty calls for human rights to be central in talks with Joe Biden

At least eight people have died after two Russian missiles hit a residential building in east Ukraine, on the same day Vladimir Putin has ordered the state-owned defence conglomerate to produce more attack drones. Five people, including four civilians and one emergency official, were killed after the rockets hit an apartment complex in the city of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region on Monday, Ukrainian interior minister Ihor Klymenko said. At least 31 more have been injured, as videos from outside the building show emergency services rescuing people trapped under the rubble and treating the wounded. Writing on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky vowed “Russia will be held accountable for everything it has done in this terrible war”. It came as the UK’s Foreign Office told The Independent it was reviewing its sanctions on Russia after a dramatic intervention from Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska condemning loopholes that allow Moscow to fund its invasion. Speaking to Independent TV from Kyiv’s presidential compound, Ms Zelenska called for an urgent crackdown on such trade to strangle Moscow’s funds. Read More Chris Christie gifted Zelensky handwritten Jon Bon Jovi lyrics Moment Russian drone nearly hits Ukrainian evacuation car Russia blasts Saudi Arabia talks on ending war in Ukraine after Moscow gets no invitation to attend

Donald Trump’s bond has been set at $200,000 in the Georgia case accusing the former president of scheming to overturn his 2020 election loss