Stormy Daniels obliquely denies having written statement on Trump affair
The campaign of far-right racist French presidential contender Eric Zemmour claims that Donald Trump personally called the candidate to offer his encouragement. According to one of Mr Zemmour’s senior aides, Mr Trump “told Eric Zemmour not to give in, hold firm, stay courageous” – this after the campaign purportedly reached out to Mr Trump’s office directly. Mr Zemmour, who was recently fined for inciting race hate, is currently in a three-way fight for second place in the election’s first round.
Meanwhile, the Trump Organization’s longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA, is cutting ties with the company, writing in a court filing that a decade’s worth of Donald Trump’s financial statements could no longer be relied upon. The president’s company papers are at the centre of a New York investigation into his affairs, one he has decried as a political witch hunt.
The news comes as a US congressional committee prepares to investigate Donald Trump’s handling of administration documents after 15 boxes of records were transferred from his Mar-a-Lago residence.
The former president insists he was “under no obligation” to hand over any materials – despite laws requiring him to do exactly that.
Former congressman retweets message mocking Trump for ‘b****ing’ about Clinton ‘spying’
Former Republican congressman Justin Amash, who left the party over his disputes with former President Donald Trump and the general direction of the GOP, retweeted a conservative columnist who mocked the ex-president and his allies on Monday for complaining about Hillary Clinton’s allies supposedly “spying” on his administration and campaign.
The original tweet from Washington Examiner contributor Brad Polumbo read: “So many of the elected Republicans bitching about how Hilary spied on Trump also voted to reauthorize the Patriot Act. Unless they’ve issued a mea culpa about that and are working to repeal the mass surveillance of Americans they can shove their Daddy Trump crocodile tears.”
Mr Amash, whose district is now represented by another anti-Trump Republican, Peter Meijer, added in his own quote tweet: “Trump himself signed legislation to reauthorize the Patriot Act—and FISA!”, referring to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act as well as the legislation which allowed warantless international and domestic phone tapping of Americans and others.
John Bowden16 February 2022 04:15
Legal battle looms for Trump’s finances
New York attorney general Letitia James will go to court on Thursday seeking to enforce a subpoena for Mr Trump’s testimony in a civil investigation.
Ms James she says uncovered evidence his company used “fraudulent or misleading” valuations of his properties to get loans and tax benefits.
On Monday a court filing showed that Trump’s accounting firm recently advised him to stop using financial statements it prepared on his behalf.
Earlier on Wednesday, the former president’s son Eric Trump hit out at the attorney general after Trumps’ accounting firm cut ties.
Mr Trump tweeted that attorneys “will be in front of a New York Judge outlining the blatantly unethical behaviour of Tish James the NY Attorney General” on Thursday after Mazars’ announcement was made public in a court filing on Monday.
The Independent’s Gino Spocchia has more:
Sravasti Dasgupta16 February 2022 04:01
Biden touts legal victory of Newtown parents
President Joe Biden issued a statement late Tuesday afternoon celebrating a legal victory achieved by parents of nine children killed during the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary.
In his remarks, Mr Biden also pointed out that the victory showed that legal shielding for firearms manufacturers was not absolute.
“They have demonstrated that state and city consumer protection laws – like Connecticut’s Unfair Trade Practices Act – provide an opportunity to hold gun manufacturers and dealers accountable for wrongdoing despite the persistence of the federal immunity shield for these companies,” he said.
The Biden administration has faced calls from gun control activists like those involved with the March For Our Lives to take more action at the administrative level to battle gun violence and mass shootings, particularly this week which marks the fourth anniversary of the deadly mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.
John Bowden16 February 2022 03:45
Biden: US cannot verify Russian troops are pulling back
President Joe Biden warned in a national address on Tuesday that war between Ukraine and Russia remains very possible, stating that the US cannot verify Russian claims to be withdrawing some military forces from the region.
Mr Biden reiterated during the address that the US’s response to any attack would be swift and damaging.
“We have not yet verified the Russian military units are returning to their home bases. Indeed, our analysts indicate that they remain very much in a threatening position,” he said. “The fact remains right now Russia has more than 150,000 troops and circling Ukraine and Belarus and along Ukraine’s border and invasion remains distinctly possible.”
Read more from The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg:
John Bowden16 February 2022 03:15
Jan 6 committee wants Pennsylvania Republican to spell out his ‘agitator’ conspiracy
Lawmakers on the January 6 committee revealed on Tuesday that they want a Republican state senator in Pennsylvania who was present during the Capitol riot to explain to them what he meant when he claimed to see “agitators” fighting with law enforcement during the riot.
To state Sen Doug Mastriano, the committee wrote that it “understand[s]” he was “present during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and that you witnessed ‘agitators…getting in the face of the police’ and ‘agitators…start pushing the police up the [Capitol] steps’”.
“We would like to better understand these and other statements, events that you witnessed or in which you participated, and communications we believe you may have had with national, state, and local officials and others about the outcome of the November 2020 election and the events of January 6, 2021,” wrote committee chairman Rep Bennie Thompson.
Read more from The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg:
John Bowden16 February 2022 02:15
Los Angeles becomes latest city to ease Covid restrictions
Los Angeles is the latest city to choose to ease Covid-19 restrictions in response to falling case numbers following the spread of the Omicron variant over the winter and late fall.
Residents will now be able to go maskless at large outdoor events as well as at outdoor activities put on by K-12 schools and childcare facilities.
The move comes as the CDC continued to recommend masking, but the Biden administration cautions that the federal guidance is under review. Many jurisdictions led by Democrats now appear to be moving in a similar direction on mask orders and, in some cases, vaccine mandates.
The Independent’s Graeme Massie has more:
John Bowden16 February 2022 01:45
The Onion mocks ‘cannibal terrorist’ Sarah Palin after court defeat
Satire news site The Onion took a shot at Sarah Palin after the former Alaska governor lost her battle with The New York Times in court this week.
Ms Palin was unable to convince either a judge or a jury that the Times’s editorial linking her political group to the shooting of former Rep Gabby Giffords was not done with “actual malice”. As a result, her defamation trial ended this week unless she plans to mount a long-shot appeal.
On Tuesday, The Onion took the opportunity to do some more unfounded linking of Ms Palin to controversial topics, dubbing her a “cannibal terrorist” in a tweet.
John Bowden16 February 2022 01:15
Conway says Trump’s accounting firm ditching him is worse than getting impeached
Conservative attorney George Conway weighed in on news that the Trump Organization was being dropped by its accounting firm which had identified 10 years’ worth of statements as unreliable.
Mr Conway, a longtime critic of the ex-president, called the news worse for the former president than his two impeachments. He also predicted that it would be “next to impossible” for Mr Trump’s company to find a new willing firm as its accountant.
Read more from The Independent:
John Bowden16 February 2022 00:45
Billionaire tech investor funding dating app for Trump supporters who can’t find love in liberal cities
Trump-supporting billionaire Peter Thiel is funding a project that could appeal to conservatives spurned from Tinder or Bumble for their support of Donald Trump.
He’s putting $1.5 million into an initial seed funding round for The Right Stuff, a conservative-targeted dating app that hopes to be an alternative for those who want to date in line with their right-leaning beliefs.
The venture follows his investment in Rumble, an alternative to other mainstream social media platforms that also seeks to target conservative audiences.
Read more from The Independent:
John Bowden16 February 2022 00:15
Hillary Clinton ignores shouted questions about Durham allegations
Former 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was confronted by a reporter on Monday about the allegations raised by John Durham claiming that a lawyer who had formerly worked for her campaign was involved in an effort to search White House data for connections between Donald Trump and Russia by exploiting a business relationship with the Trump administration.
Ms Clinton ignored the shouted questions, while giving the reporter a small wave.
John Bowden15 February 2022 23:45