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

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 22, 2023--

A Kansas Department of Revenue spokesperson says the initial online search of a state website that led a central Kansas police chief to raid a local weekly newspaper was legal

The pandemic was far from Dr Alena's only challenge on a far-flung archipelago in the Philippines.

Despite his large lead in a crowded Republican primary field, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says he does not know if Donald Trump is the “strongest” candidate to take on President Joe Biden in the 2024 election. In an interview on CNBC, Mr McCarthy said Mr Trump can beat Mr Biden but that he’s not sure another Republican couldn’t do better. Later in the day, the speaker appeared to walk back the remarks by telling Breitbart that the former president is “stronger today than he was in 2016”. On Monday night, bombshell audio revealed the former president apparently bragging about possessing still-classified military documents about Iran after he left the White House. In the recording, from a July 2021 meeting at Mr Trump’s Bedminster golf club and released by CNN, the former president is heard audibly shuffling the documents. Mr Trump took to Truth Social to fume about the tape, railing against “Deranged Special Prosecutor” Jack Smith and baselessly accusing the DOJ and FBI of leaking it. Meanwhile, Mr Trump’s co-defendant in the classified documents case, his aide Walt Nauta, has had his arraignment in Miami postponed after his flight was delayed by bad weather in New Jersey. Read More Trump fumes about ‘illegally leaked’ CNN tape of him boasting about classified documents Donald Trump countersues E Jean Carroll for defamation over rape claims Rudy Giuliani interviewed by special counsel over 2020 election interference attempts, says report Trump wants to keep 'communists' and ‘Marxists’ out of the US. Here’s what the law says Is Trump the best candidate to beat Biden? Kevin McCarthy says ‘I don’t know’

Japan was due Friday to publish preliminary sample results, a day after it began releasing wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant, in an attempt to reassure...

António Costa says he has handed in his resignation during a meeting with the Portuguese president.

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Muslim and Jewish civil rights groups say they’ve seen large increases in reports of harassment against members of their communities since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks

Ukraine has launched a fresh missile attack on a military airfield in Crimea’s Sevastopol, officials said. Sevastopol, an vulnerable Russian target in Crimea where Moscow parks its Black Sea Fleet, has come under repeated targeting in recent months as Ukraine looks to destroy Vladimir Putin’s logistics and infrastructure on the peninsula that Russia had illegally annexed in 2014. Russian air defence units downed a missile near the Belbek military airfield in the late hours on Monday, Russian-backed governor Mikhail Razvozhayev said on his official Telegram channel early Tuesday. Sevastopol remained under an air raid alert starting around 11.30pm on Monday, as per Mr Razvozhayev’s Telegram message. It continued for an hour, covering midnight, as Russian air defence systems were activated. Traffic on the main bridge connecting the Russian mainland with the Crimean peninsula was also impacted during the attack, but was restored shortly after. The raid alert was subsequently lifted around 12.30am, said the Russian-installed governor. This comes just three days after one Ukrainian missile struck the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea navy in Sevastopol on 22 September. While Ukraine never directly takes responsibility for attacks on Crimea and other Russian targets, it has expressed satisfaction at the strikes. On Friday, it also indirectly showed the massive attack on Black Sea navy headquarters in its video of Ukrainian attacks on Russian positions. Mr Putin’s commander of his Black Sea Fleet has been killed in a missile strike in annexed Crimea, according to Ukraine. Admiral Viktor Sokolov was among 34 officers who died when British-made Storm Shadow missiles hit the Russian Navy headquarters in Sevastopol during the devastating attack. The death of Sokolov – said to have been handpicked by Mr Putin for the job last year – was announced by the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces in a social media update on Monday. Moscow has not yet responded to the claim. The Russian defence ministry initially said the strike had killed one service member, but later issued a statement that he was missing. On Monday, Ukrainian Special Operations Forces said Sokolov was among the 34 killed during the missile strike. They also claimed 105 other occupiers were injured. Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin’s Black Sea fleet commander ‘killed in attack on Crimea navy HQ’ Ex-Ukraine president derides ‘crazy’ figure at centre of GOP’s Biden allegations in Fox News interview Putin’s Black Sea fleet commander ‘killed in navy attack’ as Ukraine breakthrough triggers ‘panic’ How Ukraine’s forces have surged back against Russia Russia unleashes hypersonic missiles on Odesa port in overnight attack

A free event to celebrate 61 years of Jamaica's independence takes place in Birmingham.