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Former Trump administration attorney general Bill Barr gave a devastating analysis of the indictment against Donald Trump, his former boss, in an appearance on Fox News Sunday. Mr Barr said that if even half of what is alleged in the 49-page, 37-count document is true, then the former president is “toast”. Host Shannon Bream asked the former attorney general about the argument from Trump loyalists that the case should have been handled under the Presidential Records Act and not under the Espionage Act. Mr Barr explained that this all began under the Presidential Records Act with the National Archives trying to retrieve the documents that Mr Trump had no right to have. However, it quickly became apparent that the government was particularly worried about how sensitive the classified documents were. He continued by saying that their sensitivity and how many there were shocked him, and that because Mr Trump had wilfully retained those materials that made the counts under the Espionage Act “solid”. “If even half of it is true, he is toast,” the former attorney general told Bream. “I mean, it’s a very detailed indictment, and it’s very, very damning.” Mr Barr also demolished claims that Mr Trump is some kind of victim being politically persecuted in a Democrat-led witch hunt. “This idea of presenting Trump as a victim here or a victim of a witch hunt is ridiculous,” he said. “Yes, he’s been a victim in the past. His adversaries have obsessively pursued him with phony claims. And I’ve been at his side defending against them when he is a victim. But this is much different. He’s not a victim here.” Mr Barr continued: “He was totally wrong that he had the right to have those documents. Those documents are among the most sensitive secrets that the country has. They have to be in the custody of the archivist. He had no right to maintain them and retain them.” The former attorney general then reminded viewers of his history of sticking up for Mr Trump despite the current hostility the former president now has for him. “He’s been angry with me for a while,” Mr Barr told Bream. “But you know, I defended the president on Russiagate. I stood up and called out Alvin Bragg’s politicised hit job. And I have spoken out for 30 years about the abuse of the criminal justice process to influence politics.” He continued: “But this is simply not true. In this particular episode of trying to retrieve those documents, the government acted responsibly. And it was Donald Trump who acted irresponsibly.” Mr Barr had previously drawn the former president’s ire by predicting he would face charges over the classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. He also described it as a crisis of his own making. Mr Trump lashed out at him for those comments calling him “sloppy” and “weak”. The former attorney general has also warned that Mr Trump getting a second term as president would “deliver chaos” to the country. “If you believe in his policies, what he’s advertising as his policies, he’s the last person that could actually execute them and achieve them,” Mr Barr said at a City Club of Cleveland luncheon in Ohio in early May. Read More Jim Jordan rejects Trump’s statement suggesting Mar-a-Lago papers weren’t declassified Trump-appointed judge will stay on Mar-a-Lago documents case unless she recuses Jonathan Turley tells Fox News the Trump indictment is ‘extremely damning’ and a ‘hit below the waterline’

NEW DELHI Overnight rain in New Delhi and its suburbs brought some relief to the Indian capital on

Six years ago, Kayla Unbehaun vanished from her Illinois hometown in an apparent abduction by her mother, who did not have custody. Six months ago, the nine-year-old’s photo appeared on an episode of the Netflix show Unsolved Mysteries about parental abductions, an age-progression image flashing on screen to depict what she would look like now. This month, someone at a North Carolina store recognised Kayla as a missing child — setting off a chain of events that led to her mother’s arrest and Kayla’s reunification with her father in the Midwest. Here’s everything we know about Kayla’s abduction and safe recovery — and the questions that remain unanswered in the case. A child and mother vanished on July 4th Kayla was born on 5 July 2008 to Ryan Iskerka and Heather Unbehaun in the western suburbs of Chicago. After the couple split, a judge awarded the child’s father permanent custody. Kayla was spending July 4th with her mother in 2017, however, and was scheduled to be returned to her father the next day, on her ninth birthday. “According to police interviews, Heather was last seen packing her belongings up to the roof of her car,” Mr Iskerka wrote in a GoFundMe established just days later. “Her closest family members indicated she went on a camping trip to an unknown location in Wisconsin and was expected to return on Wednesday July 5th at 7pm for a parenting time exchange with me. “Heather and Kayla did not show up for the court ordered exchange and the police were immediately contacted and an investigation was launched. It was discovered that all of Heather’s social media had been canceled and her phone turned off. As far as we know, no one has been able to reach her or has talked to her since the 4th of July. “Because of this, the following day I had filed a missing person’s report for both Kayla and Heather. Heather also did not show up for a court date motioned by her on Friday June 7th. Her lawyer had not talked to her for days, was unaware of what happened and was very concerned.” Mother charged with abduction as father pleads for help After Mr Iskerka filed the missing person’s reports, Ms Unbehaun was charged in 2017 with child abduction, a Class 4 felony, the Kane County State’s Attorney said Tuesday in a statement. A judge set her bail at $10,000 and, “since then, South Elgin police pursued numerous leads and tips, working with police agencies from around the country in an attempt to locate the child and Unbehaun.” Mr Iskerka, meanwhile, was appealing for donations and information, writing on the GoFundMe that he planned to use the assistance “to hire a private investigator and any additional cost concerning the search for them and their health and safety for when they are found. “The safety and return of Kayla is the top priority of all of my family and I and any help we receive through this funding is greatly appreciated,” he wrote. Between July 2017 and May 2023, the page raised just over $2,500 toward its $10,000 goal, the last donation recorded on the site coming in nearly four years ago. In November, however, Kayla’s picture featured on an episode of Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries. At the end of Abducted by a Parent, the final instalment of the program’s third Netflix season, missing posters and age progression images are shown from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). For just under five seconds, a photo of Kayla at nine appears onscreen alongside a picture of what she might look like as a teenager. A Bring Kayla Home Facebook page, meanwhile, was also promoting the age progression image — sharing it as recently as 21 April. Created the same day as the GoFundMe — five days after Kayla was last seen in Wheaton with her mother — the page has more than 7,000 followers. Search meets unlikely ending Kayla and her mother were at Westgate Regional Shopping Center on Saturday evening (13 May) in Asheville, North Carolina, when they caught the notice of a person at upmarket consignment shop Plato’s Closet, according to authorities. That person “recognized Unbehaun and recalled that the child was missing,” Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office posted Tuesday on social media. “A store employee immediately contacted Asheville police, who contacted South Elgin police. “South Elgin police confirmed the identity of the two individuals as Heather Unbehaun and the missing child.” Ms Unbehauen, 40, was subsequently taken into custody, and Kayla has since been reunited with her father. Mr Iskerka, in a statement issued through the NCMEC, that he was “overjoyed that Kayla is home safe”. “I want to thank the South Elgin Police Department, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and all of the law enforcement agencies who assisted with her case,” Mr Iskerka continued. “I also want to thank all of the followers on the ‘Bring Kayla Home’ Facebook page, who helped keep her story alive and were instrumental in spreading awareness. We ask for privacy as we get to know each other again and navigate this new beginning.” South Elgin Chief of Police Jerry Krawczyk also thanked citizens across the country and other law enforcement agencies who worked so dedicatedly to help bring Kayla home. “We are overjoyed to report that the child is in good condition and in good spirits since being reunited with her father,” he said Tuesday in a release. Law enforcement agencies — and well-wishers — were celebrating across several states as the case offered hope to investigators and families looking for people who’ve been missing for years. “I certainly think this is a unique case,” Asheville Police Lt. Jonathan Brown told WLOS. “It is unusual, it’s not a case that we see routinely or often.” He marveled at how Kayla’s mother had managed to go undetected for years. “What’s most unusual is the ability to stay off the grid, if you will, for that period of time,” he said. “Typically we leave a technological bread crumb and those are usually very easy and quick to be tracked down. This was not.” What happens next Following Ms Unbehaun’s arrest in Buncombe County, she was charged with the felony offence of extradition, which she declined to waive. She posted $25,000 bond on Tuesday and was released from custody, then turned herself in the following day in Kane County, Illinois, where she was booked on the abduction charge. The 40-year-old appeared before Judge Julia Yetter on Thursday (18 May) and has been released on bond with an electronic monitoring device. Kayla’s father obtained an order of protection against Ms Unbehaun, who is barred from being within 1,000 feet of his residence and cannot leave Illinois without court permission, a Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office spokesman told The Independent. The 40-year-old’s next scheduled court date is 14 June. A Class 4 Felony in Illinois can carry a sentence of one to three years, often probationary. The Independent has reached out to lawyers for Mr Iskerka and Ms Unbehaun.

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In a bombshell moment in federal court on Tuesday, the former leader of right-wing hate group Proud Boys finally admitted for the first time that Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election. Enrique Tarrio, 39, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for orchestrating a failed plot to keep the former president in power – marking the longest sentence ever doled out in connection to the January 6 Capitol riot. Before his sentence was handed down, the man who once led the neo-fascist gang gave a statement to the court where he begged for leniency from the judge. Tarrio apologised for his actions, branded the Capitol riot a “national embarrassment” and vowed that his days of meddling in politics are over. Then, in a shock move, he publicly denounced his false claims that the election was “stolen” from Mr Trump for the very first time. “My candidate lost,” he admitted. “What happened on January 6 was a national embarrassment... I do not think what happened that day was acceptable.” Choking up with emotion, Tarrio said that he had let his family down with his actions as he begged the judge not to rob him of his 40s behind bars. “I am not a political zealot. Inflicting harm or changing the results of the election was not my goal,” Tarrio said. “Please show me mercy. I ask you that you not take my 40s from me.” He added: “When I get back home I want nothing to do with politics, groups, activism or rallies... and when you walk out that door your honour, I won’t be saying anything other than that.” But the admission came too late to save him from being hit with the longest prison sentence to date over the Capitol riot that resulted in five deaths and hundreds of law enforcement officers injured. US District Judge Timothy Kelly said that Tarrio was the “ultimate leader” of the Proud Boys’ conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election in Mr Trump’s favour. “I do think the evidence of Mr Tarrio’s leadership was, quite frankly, evident during trial,” the judge said. “I do find the evidence shows that Mr Tarrio was on the top of the command structure with regard to the planning of the offence.” “That day broke our previously unbroken tradition of peacefully transferring power,” he added. Tarrio was among four members of the group convicted of seditious conspiracy and other crimes earlier this year following a four-month trial. Tarrio, as the group’s leader, organised and directed a mob towards the US Capitol, where Proud Boys dismantled barricades and broke windows to breach the halls of Congress, then bragged about their actions on social media and in group chat messages that were later shared with jurors. He served as a “naturally charismatic leader, a savvy propagandist, and the celebrity Chairman” of the group, wielding his influence over his subordinates and allies to “organize and execute the conspiracy to forcibly stop the peaceful democratic transfer of power” as lawmakers convened to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, federal prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo. Tarrio instead used his talents “to inflame and radicalise untold numbers of followers, promoting political violence in general and orchestrating the charged conspiracies in particular,” they argued. Federal sentencing guidelines indicated Tarrio could have faced 27 to 33 years in prison. Prosecutors sought a sentence of 33 years. As he did with other Proud Boys cases, Judge Kelly applied what is called a terrorism “enhancement” to the sentencing guidelines but refrained from imposing larger prison sentences for crimes he has contrasted to mass casualty events. Four other members of the group were sentenced last week for their roles in the attack. Ethan Nordean received a sentence of 18 years in prison, tying Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes for what is now the second-longest sentence to date among the hundreds of people convicted in connection with January 6. Joe Biggs was sentenced to 17 years, Zachary Rehl was sentenced to 15 years, and Dominic Pezzola – the sole co-defendant among them who was not convicted of seditious conspiracy – was sentenced to 10 years. Tarrio’s verdict marked the first successful seditious conspiracy conviction against a January 6 defendant who was not physically at the Capitol that day – he was barred from entering Washington DC after he was arrested for burning a Black Lives Matter banner outside a church during a riot weeks earlier. He watched the insurrection from a hotel room in Baltimore. During the Proud Boys trial, prosecutors presented hundreds of internal messages revealing the group’s culture of violence and preparations for an attack in the weeks leading up to January 6. Prosecutors argued that Proud Boys were not merely obedient followers of Donald Trump’s commands, amplifying his bogus narrative of election fraud, but were preparing for “all-out war” to undermine millions of Americans’ votes and upend a democratic election to preserve his presidency. In the insurrection’s aftermath, Tarrio wrote on the social media platform Parler that “when the government fears the people, there is liberty,” a post he accompanied with a photo of House members ducking for cover. “When he wrote those words, Tarrio was not referring to politicians’ fear of being voted out of office,” prosecutors wrote. “He was speaking concretely and approvingly about what the members of Congress and their staffs were experiencing that very afternoon: fear of injury and death at the hands of a vicious mob that included Tarrio’s own hand-picked soldiers.” Defence attorney Sabino Jauregui claimed that his client was simply a “misguided patriot” who never intended to “bring down” the government. Tarrio’s attorneys sought unsuccessfully to separate Tarrio from the destructive actions of other Proud Boys on the ground. Tarrio’s influence among the Proud Boys and far-right extremism more broadly extends far beyond the scope of January 6. Following the federal case against him in the aftermath of the January 6 attack, as the US Department of Justice scrutinized far-right groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, Tarrio announced he was stepping down from his leadership role. He urged other members to “start getting more involved in local politics” and said the group would be “running our guys for office from local seats, whether it’s a simple GOP seat or a city council seat.” Members of the group would go on to do just that. Members have also harassed drag queen story-telling events at libraries and amplified “groomer” smears aimed at LGBT+ people. Proud Boys have been central to a wave of attacks and threats against drag performers and the people and venues that host them, targeting at least 60 such events within the last year, with more than half resulting in physical and verbal clashes. Read More Proud Boys ringleader Enrique Tarrio sentenced to 22 years in prison for Jan 6 attack Who is Enrique Tarrio? Ex-Proud Boys leader faces longest prison sentence yet for January 6 ‘Donald Trump’s army’: Proud Boys members face decades in prison for January 6 sedition