List of All Articles with Tag 'americas'

Former president Donald Trump denied that he ever possessed a secret document about attacking Iran despite the fact a recording exists that had him discussing a document he kept from his presidency. Mr Trump spoke in an interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier at his property in Bedminster, New Jersey less than a week after he pleaded not guilty to 37 charges in a federal court in Miami for his arraignment in Miami. A federal grand jury had indicted him for allegedly willfully mishandling of classified documents, obstruction of justice and making false statements. Late last month, CNN reported that federal prosecutors had obtained audio of a recording in the summer of 2021 where Mr Trump acknowledged that he had held onto a classified document from the Pentagon detailing a potential attack on Iran. But Mr Trump denied there was a document. “I had lots of paper, I had copies of newspaper articles, I had copies of magazines,” he said. Mr Baier responded by reading back from the indictment wherein Mr Trump reportedly said that the plan to attack Iran was “highly confidential” and “secret,” and that “as president, I could have declassified it.” The president said “Now I can’t, you know, but it’s still a secret.” “When I said I couldn’t declassify it now, that’s because I wasn’t president, I’ve never made any bones about that,” Mr Trump said. “When I’m not president, I can’t declassify.” Mr Trump repeated his denial that such a document existed. “That was a massive amount of papers and everything else talking about Iran and other things,” he said. “And it may have been held up or it may not but that was not a document. I did not have a document per se.” Mr Baier responded by saying he was reading what the indictment said about a recording, as well as from people in the room who testified about Mr Trump’s. “These people are very dishonest people,” he said. “They’re thugs. If you look at what they’ve done, to other people and overturned in the US Supreme Court, these are thugs.” The unsealed indictment said that Mr Trump met with a writer and a publisher of his former White House chief of staff Mark Meadow’s book. Upon the meeting, the indictment says, Mr Trump said “Look what I found” and showed an unnamed military official’s plan of attack on Iran. The official was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley. At the time, neither the writer nor the publisher had security clearances. Mr Baier said that the suggestion was Mr Trump had requested the documents because there was evidence that the US military and Gen Milley had pre-emptively sent him for plans on an attack on Iran and that Mr Trump did not order such an attack to occur. But Mr Trump denied that he had done so, and proceeded to attack Gen Milley. “Milley, frankly, was incompetent,” he said. “The last one I’d want to attack with as my leader would be Milley.” The instance Mr Baier discussed was one of allegedly two instances where Mr Trump supposedly showed classified information to people who were not authorised to see them. On the second occasion in August or September 2021, also in Bedminster, Mr Trump commented that a military operation that was not going well and reportedly showed a representative from his political action committee a classified map of the country, before saying he should not be showing it. The interview is Mr Trump’s first interview with Fox News, a network with which he has regularly feuded since leaving office. Mr Trump has maintained his innocence. Mr Trump also explained to Mr Baier why he failed to return documents to the National Archives and Records Administration. “The only way NARA could ever get this stuff, this back, would be ‘please, please, please, could we have it back?” he said. He also said that many of the documents were “interspersed” with personal effects. “I want to go through the boxes and get all my personal things out. I don’t want to hand that over to (National Archives) yet. And I was very busy, as you’ve sort of seen,” he said. -Bevan Hurley contributed to this report Read More Trump gives Fox News new excuse for not giving back boxes of secret documents Trump news – live: Trump angry as Fox tells him he lost in 2020, as he floats new excuse over secret papers 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

Donald Trump has floated a new excuse for refusing to return classified documents — he was “very busy”. The former president claimed in a new interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier that the hundreds of top secret papers he took to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House were “interspersed” with his personal effects. “I want to go through the boxes and get all my personal things out. I don’t want to hand that over to (National Archives) yet. And I was very busy, as you’ve sort of seen,” he said. Mr Trump was arraigned in Miami last week on 37 federal counts related to willful mishandling classified documents, obstruction of justice and making false statements. In the Fox interview which aired on Monday night, Mr Baier asks the former president why he failed to comply with the request from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to return the documents. “The only way NARA could ever get this stuff, this back, would be ‘please, please, please, could we have it back?’” he replied. Mr Baier then points out that NARA had asked for them back, and then sought a subpoena from the Department of Justice when he refused. The sensitive documents included the US’s nuclear capabilities, invasion plans and defence capabilities, according to the DoJ indictment. The Fox host then asked Mr Trump about allegations in the indictment that he ordered his aide Walt Nauta to move documents “after telling lawyers to say you’d fully complied with the subpoena when you hadn’t”. “Before I send boxes over, I have to take all of my things out. These boxes were interspersed with all sorts of things.” Mr Trump went on to repeat lies about the 2020 presidential election being stolen, insult his Republican primary opponents, and quip that Fox was losing viewers. Watchdog Citizens for Ethics tweeted that Mr Trump’s comments would be admissible in court. “The most damning evidence against Trump is Trump talking.” His excuses echoed a speech Mr Trump made to supporters at his Bedminster private club last Tuesday. “Many people have asked me why I had these boxes, why did you want them?” he said. “The answer, in addition to having every right under the Presidential Records Act, is that these boxes were containing all types of personal belongings — many, many things, shirts and shoes, everything.” Read More Trump news – live: Trump gives Fox News interview after attacking network over poll showing 2024 Biden win The indictment has helped Trump in the primaries – but there’s a catch Sketch artist defends controversial take on Trump arraignment 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

A primary candidate for Mexico’s June 2024 presidential elections proposed Monday giving the president’s son a central role in the next administration. The proposal by candidate Marcelo Ebrard raised the specter of a national political dynasty being born in Mexico, where traditionally they were frowned on. Ebrard said that if he wins the nomination of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Morena party, he would appoint the president’s son, Andrés Manuel López Beltrán — better known as Andy — to a newly created Cabinet post to ensure his father’s legacy. While López Beltrán has not publicly commented on the proposal, it would appear to be a way to solve a central problem for Morena. The young, disparate party was largely found around, and centered on, López Obrador's personal popularity and charisma, which all the contenders to succeed him lack. The six-way primary race will be decided in September by a series of polls. The inclusion of his son was an obvious bid by Ebrard, the centrist former foreign relations secretary, to ensure continuity and perhaps to attract some of the president's most devoted followers. Ebrard said the son would be put in charge of a Cabinet-level department “to continue building on the legacy” left by López Obrador. López Beltrán has not held any formal post in his father's administration, but has been widely reported to be a behind-the-scenes dealmaker and influencer in political and economic matters. While family dynasties have governed some parts of Mexico at the municipal or even state level, for nearly 100 years an ironclad rule has prevailed on the federal level: the outgoing president agrees to retire from political activity, as does his immediate family. In exchange, incoming presidents have seldom investigated corruption on the part of their predecessors. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

Mexico’s president announced Monday the appointment of a 35-year-old lawyer as interior secretary, considered the country’s top Cabinet post. Luisa María Alcalde previously served as secretary of labor. In that post, she oversaw the implementation of reforms meant to ensure fair and transparent voting procedures and free organizing in Mexico's corruption-riddled union sector. Alcalde will become the second woman to be interior secretary, which is the Mexican government's top domestic affairs position. Early in his administration, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador named Olga Sánchez Cordero to the post, but she left to return to the Senate. Alcalde was appointed to replace Adán Augusto López, who resigned as interior secretary last week in order to compete in the primary race for the 2024 presidential nomination of López Obrador’s Morena party. The Morena party required all primary candidates to resign their official posts by last week, to avoid the appearance of government, money or influence skewing the race. The country's foreign relations secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, also resigned to compete in the Morena primary and was replaced by a woman, veteran diplomat Alicia Bárcena. The new Cabinet members are expected to serve until López Obrador leaves office in September 2024. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

Former president Donald Trump reacted angrily on Monday after Fox News highlighted a Quinnipiac University poll showing him as trailing President Joe Biden by a four-point margin. Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social website that the respected polling organisation had released a “bad poll” and accused Quinnipiac of using too few Republican voters in the sample of Americans who were surveyed. Mr Trump argued that the poll actually showed that he was in the lead over Mr Biden. “It under samples Republicans by 10 points, which means, instead of being down 4 points, I am up 6 points,” he said. “Other Polls show me much higher than that, but FoxNews will always attempt, as they did in 2016, to only show negatives on MAGA & TRUMP. We’re winning BIG, they don’t like it, the RINOS don’t like it, the Democrats don’t like it but, most of all, the Marxists & Communists don’t like it!” Mr Trump’s unsubstantiated claim echoes grievances that GOP figures aired in the run-up to the 2012 election, in which they alleged that reputable, mainstream polls were somehow “skewed” against Republicans and therefore were inaccurately showing that then-GOP nominee Mitt Romney was trailing then-president Obama, who was running for re-election at the time. Mr Obama, of course, ended up winning the 2012 election handily. Read More Trump news – live: Bill Barr slams Trump’s ‘absurd’ classified papers defence as ex-attorney quits CNN lawsuit Petition seeks to ban Donald Trump Jr from Australia visit over ‘white supremacy, transphobia and misogyny’ Trump faces questions about whether he'll drag down the Republican Party after his indictments

Russian agents reportedly attempted to assassinate a CIA informant on American soil in 2020, a dramatic ploy that has since been blamed for a sudden deterioration of relations between Washington and leaders of the Russian Federation. Their target was a former Russian agent whose defection to the United States led to a counterintelligence investigation that resulted in the capture and expulsion of nearly a dozen spies embedded along the US eastern seaboard. His attempted murder is just the latest alleged effort by agents of Vladimir Putin, formerly head of the country’s feared intelligence service and now its leader, to get revenge against Russian defectors living abroad. Three former senior US officials told The New York Times that Russian agents targeted Aleksandr Poteyev with an operation in early 2020 that involved an effort to tail Mr Poteyev around his new hometown of Miami. A Mexican scientist, coerced into being the face of the effort after members of his family were prevented from leaving Russia, is reported to have rented an apartment near Mr Poteyev’s residence for the purpose of surveiling the ex-spy. That scientist, Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, would later be instructed by his Russian handlers to tail Mr Poteyev, leading to an incident where he and his wife were spotted by security agents and cameras (apparently at their victim’s apartment complex) photographing Mr Poteyev’s license plate. Realising they had likely just blown their cover, the two fled for Mexico, but were stopped at the US border and arrested. According to one former official, Mr Fuentes was likely unaware of the eventual goals of the operation and was merely tasked with providing initial intelligence regarding Mr Poteyev’s whereabouts. More follows... Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

Former president Donald Trump will be barred from viewing the evidence the Department of Justice has collected against him except when in the presence of his attorneys, according to a new order by one of the judges overseeing the criminal case against him. In a four-page order signed on Monday, Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart granted a prosecution request for a protective order meant to shield the information that must be disclosed to Mr Trump about the case against him from public view. It covers “non-classified discovery produced by the United States to the Defendants in preparation for, or in connection with, any stage” of the case that began when a Florida grand jury indicted the ex-president on 37 separate counts of violating the federal criminal code earlier this month, and requires that those materials can only be used “in connection with the defense of this case, and for no other purpose, and in connection with no other proceeding”. Magistrate Judge Reinhart also ordered that the discovery materials be kept only by Mr Trump’s legal team and stored securely on premises controlled by them. He further specified that Mr Trump (and his co-defendant Walt Nauta) “shall only have access to Discovery Materials under the direct supervision of Defense Counsel or a member of Defense Counsel’s staff,” and prohibited either of them from retaining copies of the materials themselves or taking any notes with them after viewing any of the materials. The protective order and the restrictions it places upon Mr Trump are meant in part to prevent him from directing his followers to harass any witnesses against him or any FBI or DOJ personnel involved in the case. After FBI agents searched his Palm Beach, Florida property on 8 August last year, the former president’s camp leaked an unredacted copy of a property receipt provided to his counsel at the time of the search to right-wing Breitbart News. The document named multiple FBI agents involved in the search of his property, and in subsequent court filings the government disclosed that those agents had been targeted for harassment by Mr Trump’s supporters. Read More Blinken meets Xi in Beijing at climax of high-stakes China visit The 25-year-old party chairwoman who wants to turn North Carolina blue Anger as Fox guest says it’s time for someone to ‘pull a trigger’ over ‘the left’

Donald Trump’s former defence chief threw cold water on the assertion from his former boss and his allies that the classified records and other documents seized from the ex-president’s home and resort in an FBI raid were his to take. As the ex-president’s loyalists continue to offer a wide scope of defences for their leader ranging from arguments that Mr Trump was allowed to designate the materials as personal records for his own safekeeping to the idea that the prosecution is merely a politicised weaponisation of the Justice Department, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper has offered his own assessment on the situation. On Sunday, he joined CNN’s State of the Union with Jake Tapper, and flatly stated that his ex-boss’s actions were “illegal and dangerous”. “People have described him as a hoarder when it comes to these type of documents. But, clearly, it was unauthorized, illegal and dangerous,” said Mr Esper. “If the allegations are true that it contained information about our nation’s security, about our vulnerabilities, about other items, it could be quite harmful to the nation. And, look, no one is above the law. And so I think this process needs to play out and people held to account, the president held to account,” he continued. It was a firm look at the facts of the investigation from a man who, under the same ex-president now facing roughly three dozen federal charges, had access to some of the nation’s most classified materials and had oversight over America’s armed services as well as intelligence services such as the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA). Mr Esper was one of a number of the former president’s top officials who did not make it through the end of the Trump presidency; in the secretary’s case, he was fired days after the 2020 election as an increasingly volatile then-President Trump ordered thousands of US troops out of an already rapidly-deteriorating Afghanistan — reportedly having wanted the effort to conclude even before the election. Others, like members of his press team and the head of the Department of Transportation, Elaine Chao, would resign following the attack on the US Capitol by thousands of Mr Trump’s supporters on January 6. The withdrawal agreement signed by the Trump administration has widely been cited as contributing to the swift end of Afghanistan’s democratic government at the hands of the Taliban, accelerating with the departure of military contractors under Joe Biden’s presidency in 2021. Mr Trump has pled not guilty to 37 charges related to his allegedly illegal retention of documents from the White House following the end of his presidency, includng classified materials. He separately faces 34 counts of falsifying business records in New York state. Read More Attorney General Garland keeps poker face as firestorm erupts after Trump charges Miami's Francis Suarez looks to become first sitting mayor to be president Nikki Haley's husband begins Africa deployment as she campaigns for 2024 GOP nomination South Carolina GOP sets Feb. 24 date for first-in-the-South presidential primary Voters think Trump is a criminal, Biden is too old and DeSantis is a fascist, new poll finds DeSantis quiet on Trump indictment as he faces conservatives in Trump country

Lashing out after his arraignment on federal charges last week, Donald Trump took aim at President Joe Biden and Democrats with language that seemed to evoke another era: He was being persecuted, he said, by “Marxists” and “communists.” Trump has used the labels since he first appeared on the political scene, but it lately has become an omnipresent attack line that also has been deployed by other Republicans. The rhetoric is both inaccurate and potentially dangerous because it attempts to demonize an entire party with a description that has long been associated with America's enemies. Experts who study political messaging say associating Democrats with Marxism only furthers the country's polarization — and is simply wrong: Biden has promoted capitalism and Democratic lawmakers are not pushing to reshape American democracy into a communist system. That hasn't mattered to Trump and other Republicans, who for years have used hyperbolic references to the associated political ideologies to spark fears about Democrats and the dangers they supposedly pose. Hours after pleading not guilty in federal court, Trump told a crowd of his supporters at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, that Biden, “together with a band of his closest thugs, misfits and Marxists, tried to destroy American democracy.” He added, “If the communists get away with this, it won’t stop with me.” He again hit on the Marxist theme days later during a telephone rally with Iowa voters. The comments came after numerous campaign emails and social posts in recent months in which Trump has claimed that Biden’s America could soon become a “third world Marxist regime” or a “tyrannical Marxist nation.” Other Republicans have piled on with similar messaging. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene last week took to Twitter to lambast what she called the “CORRUPT AND WEAPONIZED COMMUNISTS DEMOCRAT CONTROLLED DOJ.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump's closest rival for the GOP presidential nomination, has argued the U.S. risks falling victim to “woke” ideology, which he has defined in interviews as a form of “cultural Marxism.” Experts say there is a long history of U.S. politicians calling opponents Marxist or communist without evidence — perhaps most infamously the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who led efforts to blacklist accused communists in the 1950s. In a country that has historically positioned itself against Marxism, “red-baiting is as American as apple pie in political communications,” said Tanner Mirrlees, an associate professor at Ontario Tech University in Canada who has researched political discourse about “cultural Marxism.” The attacks are carefully constructed to hit voters emotionally, said Steve Israel, a former U.S. congressman from New York who studied political messaging as chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. “Democrats tend to message to the part of the brain that is about reason and empirical evidence,” he said. “Republicans message to the gut.” For some Hispanic Trump supporters who gathered outside the federal courthouse in Miami where the former president was arraigned, the charges evoked memories of political persecutions their family members had once escaped. “This is what they do in Latin America,” said Madelin Munilla, 67, who came to Miami as a child when her parents fled Fidel Castro's Cuba. She carried a poster with a photo of Biden alongside Castro, Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega — leftist leaders whose jailing of opponents has driven immigration to south Florida for decades. Unlike the U.S., which has a tradition of respect for the rule of law and constitutional separation of powers, the judiciary in many parts of Latin America lacks the same independence. In a region where corruption flourishes, poorly paid prosecutors and judges are routinely caught doing the bidding of powerful politicians seeking to settle scores or derail criminal investigations. A surge in immigration from Southeast Asia after the Vietnam War also brought a population of staunchly anti-communist voters, some of whom have aligned with the Republican Party in part because of its forceful messaging on the issue. Yet opposing an actual regime that suppresses individual freedom and opposes a free market economy is different from the way many Republicans use these terms now —- to falsely claim Marxists are U.S. society's ruling class. “Bluntly, there is no empirical ground beneath the Republican claim that Marxists rule the big institutions of American society,” Mirrlees said. Other Republicans, from DeSantis to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, have used another term, “cultural Marxism,” to characterize fights for gender or racial equity that they argue are “woke” and threaten a traditional American way of life. Cruz used it in the title of his book. Though the term has become popular among mainstream Republicans, it has a darker past. Experts say the concept of “cultural Marxism” posing a threat was historically spread by antisemitic and white supremacist groups. For most voters who hear candidates say someone is communist or Marxist, the true meaning may matter less than the negative associations with the terms, said James Gardner, a University at Buffalo law professor who focuses on election law. “The tactic seems to be to pick an adjective that most people think describes something bad and try to associate it with the person you are denigrating,” he said. Still, while railing against communists and Marxists may be effective at animating voters who form the Republican base, it may not be an effective strategy in next year's general election, Israel said. That's because it doesn't as easily sway moderate and independent voters who don't see evidence that ties Democrats to those ideologies. “Moderate voters may succumb to the Republican argument that Democrats are for more spending, but they’re not going to fall for the argument that Democrats are Marxists,” Israel said. “The Republicans are overplaying their hand.” ____ Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Read More 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 20 years after invasion, Iraqis still waiting to come to US Trump’s defence chief slams ex-president’s ‘illegal and dangerous’ documents trove South Carolina GOP sets Feb. 24 date for first-in-the-South presidential primary

A Fox News guest discussing last week’s “drag nuns” protest, the Trump prosecution and “the left” has suggested the time may be coming for someone in America to “pull the trigger” like at Concord, the battle which helped to spark the Revolutionary War. Retired MLB pitcher and conservative commentator Curt Schilling made the on-air comments Friday while in conversation with host Jesse Watters. Schilling complained that leaders on the right “talk, talk, that’s all they’re doing” without backing up ideology with action. “We’re up against a side and a force that doesn’t play by the rules – refuses to play by the rules,” Schilling said, adding of conservatives: “We get excited, and we get emotional; that’s it. They break the law; they do the things they need to do to ensure their agenda is driven forward – and we’re watching them gut our nation from the inside out, and I don’t know where the rubber’s gonna meet the road.” Referencing the American founding fathers and “the young men that signed the Constitution,” Schilling continued: “They sacrificed everything to come out from under a tyrannical government and, then, eventually, at some point, there was a man at Concord who decided he was gonna pull the trigger.” The Battles of Lexington and Concord on 19 April 1775 marked the start of America’s ultimately victorious War of Independence from Britain. “And I feel like we’re getting back to a point where somebody’s gonna have to pull a trigger, because everything we hold dear – everything this country was founded on – is being just dragged through the mud and mocked and made fun of,” he said. “This country was founded on godly principles – no matter how offensive that is to the left, it’s true.” When Watters asked whether his guest meant “pull the trigger” metaphorically, Schilling stumbled slightly over his words. “Absolutely. Well, no,” he said. “I mean, it doesn’t matter if I say ‘metaphorically,’ because they’re gonna run with that quote no matter how I put it. I could’ve phrased it in any possible way, saying ‘stand up and fight and blah blah blah’ – and I would be inciting a riot.” The backlash was swift on social media, where Schilling’s choice of words – despite the partial backtracking – was vilified as inciteful. The Intellectuast, @highbrow_nobrow, tweeted a clip of the interview on Saturday, writing: “This is a very clear dog whistle for stochastic terrorism” while deriding Fox as “dangerous propaganda.” “This is who MAGA are — they prefer violence over voting,” wrote Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell, tweeting a clip of the comments. “It’s not going to work. RT if you plan to vote next November.” Author Brian O’Sullivan called Schilling’s comments “undeniably dangerous” in a tweet, suggesting charges should result “If some right-wing nut ever took his call-to-arms to heart.” Schilling is no stranger to political controversy. The All-Star pitcher was fired by ESPN in 2016 after promoting social media content that appeared to mock the transgender community. He was an outspoken Trump supporter and has espoused the 45th President’s aversion to finesse, coming under fire more than once for posts and statements many deemed offensive. The Independent has reached out to Fox News Media. Schilling, one day after his Fox interview made headlines, attempted clarification again on Twitter. “Be the first to admit it was a bad choice of words but it was clarified immediately,” he wrote on Saturday. “As I said then and we’ve seen now, doesn’t matter. They’ll outright lie and make up s**t to the point where they can quote you and create a fictional quote then jate {sic) you for it or talk s**t. Or the best one is when these clowns do the ‘dog whistle’ BS OR ‘what he meant to say was’ schtick. “No matter, like I said, when you call them out as the American hating lazy ass frauds they are they scream and make s**t up. Their ENTIRE EXISTANCE (sic) is based on race, sexual orientation, unfettered access to abortion, legalizing drugs and emotions. Facts elude them and destroy everything they claim. Facts and an honest days (sic) work that is.” Read More Curt Shilling: Pro-Trump All-Star pitcher blasts ‘coward’ baseball writers after ninth Hall of Fame rejection Fox News host criticised for ‘disturbing’ claim about immigrants Fox News producer out after onscreen message calling President Biden a 'wannabe dictator' A nun commends Dodgers' handling of Pride Night controversy; some archbishops call it blasphemy Former drag queen George Santos launches random vulgar attack on ‘drag nuns’ Trump says ‘Long live the King’ in rant day after Biden said ‘God save the Queen’ Nikki Haley's husband begins Africa deployment as she campaigns for 2024 GOP nomination Fox News producer out after onscreen message calling President Biden a 'wannabe dictator'

A new poll out from JL Partners underscores major weaknesses for the three men most likely to be sworn in as president on 20 January 2025, with little good news to soften the blow. With the GOP primary now in full swing, Americans are getting a good look at the alternatives the Republican Party will present to the re-election of President Joe Biden, who was already the oldest president ever to take office when he did so in 2021. But the top contenders in the GOP, former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, each have debilitating labels to overcome if they have any shot of picking up ground with a general election audience, according to the survey. For Mr Trump, voters were most likely to describe him in one word as a “criminal”; others were even less flattering, such as “disgusting”, “liar”, “evil” and “dangerous” (though “patriot” also made a top-10 appearance). The Florida governor got off arguably worse. The top two responses from voters describing Mr DeSantis were “fascist” and “unsure”, the latter indicating possible unfamiliarity with his political record or a lack of name recognition. And while Mr Biden fares better than either of his would-be opponents, the incumbent president nevertheless remains chained to concerns about his age, which dominated the minds of the most voters asked for their one-word summation of him. Altogether, the poll results signaled that Americans are largely unsatisfied with the options they have for leadership over the next half decade. To be sure, those three men are not the only candidates running, but no other Republican is polling at a numerically significant level at present and Mr Biden’s party is highly unlikely to facilitate a primary challenge against an incumbent president. The poll, conducted on behalf of the Daily Mail, most likely outlines the kind of attacks that voters can expect to see in a general election scenario; concerns about Mr Biden’s age and supposed feebleness will be front and centre, as will discussion of Mr Trump’s multiple criminal investigations or Mr DeSantis’s record of support for hard-right conservative legislation in his home state of Florida should either of them be the GOP nominee. JL Partners’ survey included responses from 1,000 likely general election voters between 12-15 June. The margin of error was 3.1 per cent. Read More Attorney General Garland keeps poker face as firestorm erupts after Trump charges Miami's Francis Suarez looks to become first sitting mayor to be president Biden warns union members that Republicans are ‘coming for your jobs’ in 2024 campaign speech in Philadelphia Trump is incredibly guilty: that doesn’t mean he’ll get the prison time he deserves Trump says ‘Long live the King’ in rant about Fox a day after Biden said ‘God save the Queen’ DeSantis quiet on Trump indictment as he faces conservatives in Trump country

Former president Donald Trump began his weekend by lashing out against his long list of enemies, ranting on Truth Social about Biden family conspiracies, the federal indictment against him, and perceived disloyalty at Fox News. In a bizarre post, he compared himself to a “King” and a “Golden Goose.” Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, the former president’s chief rival in the 2024 election sharped his message. Joe Biden told a room full of union members Republicans were coming to take their jobs. “They are coming for your jobs. They are coming for your future. They are coming for the future we are building for your kids and grandkids,” Mr Biden told the crowd. Read More Trump declared ‘food for all’ in post-arrest stop at Miami cafe – but reportedly skipped bill Trump says ‘Long live the King’ in rant about Fox a day after Biden said ‘God save the Queen’ Donald Trump scores rare legal win as DA drops golf course tax probe Trump's promise of payback for prosecution follows years of attacking democratic traditions Is Donald Trump going to prison?