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Donald Trump has claimed that he has “effectively” been indicted on charges for a third time – this time over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. The former president took to Truth Social on Tuesday morning to claim that he had been informed that he is the “target” of a grand jury investigation by special prosecutor Jack Smith. “On Sunday night, while I was with my family...HORRIFYING NEWS for our country was given to me by my attorneys,” said Mr Trump. “Deranged Jack Smith...sent a letter (again, it was Sunday night!) stating that I am a TARGET of the January 6th Grand Jury investigation, and giving me a very short 4 days to report to the Grand Jury, which almost always means an Arrest and Indictment.” His announcement came on the same day Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced criminal charges against 16 people who signed certificates falsely declaring that Mr Trump won the 2020 presidential election, part of a nationwide scheme to upend the results in states that the former president lost to Joe Biden. In addition, the first hearing took place in the federal classified documents case. A trial date is still to be set. Read More Donald Trump brands US a ‘third-world hellhole’ run by ‘perverts’ and ‘thugs’ Ron DeSantis campaign fires staff as Florida governor trails Trump in the polls Fundraising takeaways: Trump and DeSantis in their own tier as Pence and other Republicans struggle RFK Jr revives antisemitic conspiracy theory that Covid-19 was ‘ethnically targeted’ to spare Jewish people

The Republican attorney general of Kentucky, Daniel Cameron, has reportedly not used his key fob to enter the state capitol building in Frankfurt even once in the last three years. According to records obtained by HuffPost, Mr Cameron’s key fob and security card logs from the Capitol show that he has not used his own credentials to enter the building where his office is located since January of 2020. Mr Cameron was first elected to the job in November of 2019. There are, as HuffPost notes in its story, several potential ways to explain why the attorney general hasn’t shown up for work at his main office in more than three years. One possibility is that Mr Cameron has spent much of his time since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic working remotely. Another is that he has had a staff member or Capitol official swipe him into the building, or that he’s used an entrance that does not require him to use his key fob or security card. Still another explanation is that he’s instead choosing to work out of one of the attorney general’s five satellite offices scattered around the state. But Mr Cameron’s office did not offer any of those explanations for HuffPost’s reporting, instead choosing to contest the data revealed by the open records request. “This is not correct,” Atley Smedley, Mr Cameron’s deputy communications director, told HuffPost of the notion that his boss isn’t going to his office. “Attorney General Cameron has regularly come to his office since he assumed the position of Attorney General in December 2019.” There are several other factors complicating the narrative about Mr Cameron’s whereabouts. One is that Mr Cameron has been photographed in the Capitol building on multiple occassions since 2020, suggesting that the key fob records are not in fact wholly reflective of his presence or lack thereof in the building. Another records request from HuffPost revealed that Mr Cameron did use his key fob to enter the Capitol 11 times between May 2019 and January 2020. In a statement to The Independent, Mr Cameron’s communications director Shellie May wrote the key fob records “do not accurately reflect the comings and goings of General Cameron or any elected official.” “Attorney General Cameron has regularly come to his office since he assumed the position of Attorney General in December 2019, and he works tirelessly advocating for the men, women, and children of all 120 Kentucky counties,” she wrote. “Due to security concerns, the Office cannot provide any additional information.” Mr Cameron, a former aide to Sen Mitch McConnell, has been under a newly intense spotlight since he won the Republican primary for governor in May. Mr Cameron will face incumbent Democrat Andy Beshear in November, with Mr Beshear seeking re-election after he beat former Gov Matt Bevin by less than single percentage point in 2019. Read More Troubled US soldier Travis King seized by North Korea after fleeing across border disguised as tourist Chris Christie mocks Trump’s ‘top secret’ plan for ending Ukraine war: ‘Move over Churchill’ Donald Trump Jr says he wouldn’t have got away with having cocaine at White House: ‘Luckily it’s not my thing’ Editorial cartoonists' firings point to steady decline of opinion pages in newspapers Kentucky's ban on gender-affirming care takes effect as federal judge lifts injunction Cameron bows out of Kentucky political event hosted by possible Rep. Massie challenger

Donald Trump has reached out to his top allies on Capitol Hill to strategize how they can help defend him against potential criminal charges over his effort to overturn the 2020 election -- the latest example of Republicans racing behind the scenes to use their power and platforms to shield the former president without knowing details yet about the criminal investigation.

Alabama Republicans have advanced proposals to boost the number of Black voters in one of the state’s congressional districts, but critics say they're floating a court order to create a second majority-Black district or something close to it

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has announced criminal charges against 16 people who signed certificates falsely declaring that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election, part of a nationwide scheme to upend the results in states that the former president lost to Joe Biden. The outcomes of presidential elections rest on slates of electors who decide their votes based on the outcome of their states’ popular vote. As then-President Trump sought a spurious legal effort to reject the outcome, his allies arranged slates of “alternate” electors in several states to cast their votes for him, despite his loss. Ms Nessel’s announcement arrived the same day that the former president said he has received a target letter from federal prosecutors indicating that he is the subject of an investigation into his efforts to overturn election results, suggesting that he could imminently be facing charges. The criminal charges in Michigan against the so-called “fake” electors appear to be the first. They each face eight felony counts, including election law forgery and conspiracy. Her office also has not ruled out charges against other potential defendants, she said. Those 16 people met in the basement of the state’s Republican Party headquarters and signed certificates falsely claiming that they were “the duly elected and qualified electors for president and vice president of the United States of America for the state of Michigan,” Ms Nessel said in prepared remarks on 18 July. “That was a lie,” she said. “They weren’t the duly elected and qualified electors, and each of the defendants knew it.” Those electors then attempted to deliver those documents to the state Senate and to the US Senate, where Vice President Mike Pence presided over the congressional certification of electoral college votes, and where Mr Trump and his allies allegedly pressured him to use those false slates of electors to overturn the election’s outcome and keep Mr Trump in office. “This plan – to reject the will of the voters and undermine democracy – was fraudulent and legally baseless,” Ms Nessel said. “The false electors’ actions undermine the public’s faith in the integrity of our election, and not only violate the spirt of the laws enshrining and defending our democracy, but, we believe, also plainly violated the laws by which we administer our elections in Michigan and peaceably transfer power in America.” Ms Nessel, an elected Democratic official, dismissed arguments that the prosecutions are politically motivated. “But where there is overwhelming evidence of guilt, in respect to multiple crimes, the most political act I can engage in as a prosecutor is to take no action at all,” she said. Ms Nessel’s office had previously referred the cases to the US Department of Justice but indicated earlier this year that she was reopening the “parallel investigation” into election crimes in the state, citing “clear evidence” for a prosecution. Prosecutors in Georgia have also indicated that fake electors from that state may also face criminal charges, as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis pursues a separate investigation into the former president’s efforts to reject election results in that state. “Every serious challenge to the election had been denied, dismissed, or otherwise rejected by the time the false electors convened. There was no legitimate legal avenue or plausible use of such a document or an alternative slate of electors,” Ms Nessel said in a statement accompanying the announcement of charges. “There was only the desperate effort of these defendants, who we have charged with deliberately attempting to interfere with and overturn our free and fair election process, and along with it, the will of millions of Michigan voters,” she added. “That the effort failed and democracy prevailed does not erase the crimes of those who enacted the false electors plot.” Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith has focused his office’s attention in several states, including interviews with the office of Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who provided a tranche of documents that included communications between the state’s election officials and Mr Trump’s former lawyers and members of his campaign as the former president’s allies targeted the critical battleground state. Mr Smith is investigating an array of schemes pursued by Mr Trump and his allies to reject 2020 results, including the fake electors plot. This is a developing story Read More Trump news – live: Trump could be indicted for a third time as soon as this week in Jan 6 probe Trump says he is about to be arrested again after letter confirms he’s target of Jan 6 grand jury

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has charged 16 Republicans with multiple felonies after they are alleged to have submitted false certificates stating they were the state’s presidential electors despite Joe Biden’s 154,000-vote victory in 2020

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Tuesday suggested that indicting former president Donald Trump for any crime stemming from his attempt to remain in office against the wishes of voters after losing the 2020 election would mean the Department of Justice is “criminalising political differences” and going after Mr Trump because prosecutors dislike him. Mr DeSantis, who currently trails Mr Trump in most polls of 2024 Republican primary voters, was speaking to CNN anchor Jake Tapper when he was asked about Mr Trump’s claim that he has received a letter from prosecutors informing him that he could soon be indicted a second time by a Washington, DC grand jury that has been investigating events leading up to the January 6 attack on the Capitol, when a riotous mob of the ex-president’s supporters tried to stop certification of his loss to Joe Biden. The Florida governor replied: “ So here's the problem. This country is going down the road of criminalising political differences, and I think that’s wrong”. Rather than address the possibility of charges against Mr Trump stemming from the January 6 investigation, Mr DeSantis instead pivoted to attack Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who earlier this year charged Mr Trump with multiple felony counts of having allegedly falsified business records relating to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Mr DeSantis claimed that Mr Bragg “stretched” the statute under which he charged the ex-president in order to “target” him, and said “most people, even people on the left” have agreed that such a case wouldn’t have been brought had Mr Trump been “a normal civilian”. He also invoked the 2016-2018 Justice Department probe into Russia’s 2016 campaign of interference in that year’s presidential election as a “number one example” of both the DOJ and FBI being “weaponised against people they don’t like,” and called that investigation — which found that the Russian government’s efforts on Mr Trump’s behalf had been “sweeping and systematic” — “not a legitimate investigation” and alleged, falsely, that it had been opened to “drive Trump out of office”. Mr DeSantis then claimed his aim as president would be to “restore a single standard of justice” and “end weaponisation of these agencies” by firing FBI Director Christopher Wray, a Trump appointee who has become a conservative hate object for failing to protect Mr Trump while not acting to target the ex-president’s Democratic enemies. Asked whether he was advocating for ignoring evidence of criminality on Mr Trump’s part, he replied that what he was actually saying was that “going after somebody on the other side of the political spectrum” was “wrong”. “I think we've gone down the road in this country of trying to criminalise differences in politics rather than saying, okay, you don't like somebody then defeat them in the election, rather than trying to use the justice system,” he said. Read More Michigan charges 16 fake electors for Donald Trump with election law and forgery felonies DeSantis pushes AI-generated attack ad featuring fake Trump voice Matt Gaetz launches bill to defund Jack Smith probe as Trump asks Capitol allies help

By Joseph Ax Illinois' top court on Tuesday upheld a 2021 state law that eliminated cash bail and

North Korea may have launched multiple ballistic missiles early on Wednesday local time, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK, which landed in the sea.

By Dan Williams TEL AVIV Protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial overhaul intensified on Tuesday with demonstrations

Sixteen fake electors who signed certificates falsely claiming President Donald Trump won Michigan in the 2020 election have been charged with crimes, state Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Tuesday.

Authorities in Nevada confirmed Tuesday that they served a search warrant this week in connection with the long-unsolved killing of rapper Tupac Shakur