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Former president Donald Trump spent much of the day before his first appearance as a criminal defendant in federal court in search of experienced legal representation, but without much in the way of results. Mr Trump, who departed on Monday afternoon from the resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he primarily resides during the summer months to travel to Miami aboard his bespoke Boeing 757, has spent much of the last year and a half cycling through a rotating cast of criminal defence attorneys as he has contended with the Department of Justice probe that resulted in his unprecedented indictment under the Espionage Act last week. Two of the more experienced criminal defence lawyers in his stable, James Trusty and John Rowley, quit the ex-president’s team on Thursday, just hours after a Florida grand jury voted to charge him with 37 separate counts stemming from alleged violations of the Espionage Act and other portions of the US criminal code. Another lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, left Mr Trump’s employ roughly a month ago, citing conflicts with a longtime aide to the ex-president, Boris Epshteyn. Yet another of the criminal defence attorneys who once represented Mr Trump in the documents probe, Evan Corcoran, had to step away from that role in the wake of a court ruling ordering him to give evidence against the ex-president before a grand jury and turn over notes and recordings he’d made, citing a rarely-used exception to the attorney-client privilege used in case where an attorney’s advice is found to have been used to commit crimes. Mr Corcoran’s testimony and evidence figured heavily in the 39-page indictment against the ex-president, which detailed Mr Trump’s reaction after he was served with a subpoena compelling him to return all documents in his possession which bore classification markings. Now, with his arraignment just one day away, Mr Trump is scrambling to secure more experienced defence counsel to help him fend off charges which, if he is convicted, could theoretically land the 78-year-old ex-president in prison for the rest of his natural life. But although the Southern District of Florida is known to have a particularly strong defence bar, many of its most prominent practitioners are declining entreaties to join Mr Trump’s legal team. The Independent has learned that one well-known attorney, David Markus, has already declined to represent the ex-president. Mr Markus, a Harvard Law School graduate and former federal public defender, helped former Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum beat federal corruption charges earlier this year. While most lawyers would ordinarily jump at the chance to represent a former president of the United States, Mr Trump has long presented a challenge for those he’s asked to stand up for him in court. The ex-president is known to routinely disregard legal advice and is prone to making incriminating statements in public settings, two traits which have long dogged his attempts to find competent jurists to defend him in both civil and criminal matters, both during and after his presidency. Additionally, Mr Trump has a long history of refusing to pay for services rendered by skilled professionals, dating back to his days as a New York real estate developer. The involvement of Mr Epshteyn, a Georgetown Law School graduate who styles himself as Mr Trump’s in-house counsel despite the fact that he has never once appeared in any court on behalf of any client, has presented another stumbling block in the ex-president’s efforts to secure competent representation. According to sources familiar with the matter, Mr Epshteyn’s role in the ex-president’s orbit of late has been to coordinate the different teams of lawyers representing him in civil and criminal cases against him throughout the country. But some people who’ve been involved in those efforts say Mr Epshteyn has used his position to act as a gatekeeper and prevent Mr Trump’s lawyers from delivering candid advise or bad news, though spokespersons for Mr Trump have denied such claims and have described him as a valuable member of the ex-president’s team. As it stands now, Mr Trump is expected to be represented at his arraignment by Christopher Kise, a former Florida Solicitor General who joined the ex-president’s team in the wake of the 8 August 2022 search of his Palm Beach, Florida property by FBI agents, as well as Todd Blanche, a veteran New York-based criminal defence lawyer who has previously appeared for Mr Trump after a Manhattan grand jury indicted him for falsifying business records earlier this year. Mr Kise, a veteran Sunshine State practitioner who is licensed to appear in the Southern District of Florida — the venue where Mr Trump now faces charges — is not known as an experienced criminal defence attorney, as he was first brought on to handle Mr Trump’s failed effort to block the Department of Justice from using the evidence recovered during the search of his home and office. Though Mr Blanche is not licensed to practice by the Florida State Bar or the Southern District of Florida, he can appear for Mr Trump on Tuesday if an attorney licensed to practice in the district such as Mr Kise is willing to vouch for him. Read More Trump indictment – live: Trump leaves Bedminster ahead of Miami arraignment as Bill Barr calls him ‘toast’ Lindsey Graham is lying for Trump. And it shows the real issue with the Republican party Morning Joe host shouts down Republicans backing Trump to appease ‘weirdos and freaks’ Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement

As drone strikes continue to rain down on Russian soil, Vladimir Putin’s bloody war has reached his own doorstep. The strikes are now daily and on Tuesday the Russian defence ministry said its air defence systems destroyed two drones over the Kaluga and Tver regions, which border the Moscow region, as well as one closer to the capital, over the Istra district. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that the drones “were trying to carry out an attack on Moscow“ and that a consumer services facility was damaged in the Istra district, which is located some 65 km (40 miles) northwest of the Kremlin. Attacks on Russia have increased sharply, with the largest such strikes hitting six regions on one night last week. That assault included two Russian military transport planes being destroyed – and two more damaged – at an airbase in the city of Pskov. Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, said that the drones were launched from inside Russia. However, in speaking to the War Zone website, Mr Budanov did not say whether the attack – about 400 miles (700km) from the Ukraine border – was carried out by Ukrainian or Russian operatives. “We are working from the territory of Russia,” he said. Officials confirmed attacks on six targets in the Pskov, Bryansk, Kaluga, Orlov, Ryazan and Moscow regions. Meanwhile, Moscow has continued to carry out drone attacks on Ukrainian targets including port infrastructure. On Monday, 32 Russian kamikaze drones struck the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, damaging civilian and industrial buildings. The assault on the military airfield in Pskov that damaged aircraft has been deemed the most significant attack, situated more than 600km (400 miles) from Ukraine, it was where a number of elite paratroopers are stationed. The state-run Tass news agency reported at least four giant Il-76 transport planes were damaged in the four-hour wave of drones, two of which had “burst into flames”. Moscow retaliated on Wednesday by launching a “massive combined attack” on the Ukrainian capital using drones and missiles, that killed two people and injured another. Kyiv officials normally neither claim nor deny responsibility for attacks on Russian soil, though they sometimes refer obliquely to them. The apparent Ukrainian drones reaching deep into Russia and cross-border sabotage missions are part of Kyiv’s efforts to heap domestic pressure on the Kremlin, militarily and politically. Meantime, a Ukrainian counteroffensive launched in June is chipping away at some parts of the front line, Kyiv officials claim. Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary Ukraine war – live: Putin accused of trafficking Cubans to fight for Russia in his invasion The three reasons Putin will be terrified of Ukraine’s counteroffensive win Kim Jong-un to hold weapons talks with Putin after ‘travelling to Russia in armoured train’

A closely watched measure of US inflation will probably illustrate more of the moderate price growth that the

PwC Australia is putting nine senior partners on leave and appointing independent directors to its board as the