The United Nations and other international organizations are bracing for four more years of Donald Trump, who famously tweeted before becoming president the first time that the 193-member U.N. was “just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time.” In his first term, Trump suspended funding for the U.N. health and family planning agencies, withdrew from its cultural organization and top human rights body, and jacked up tariffs on China and even longtime U.S. allies by flaunting the World Trade Organization’s rulebook. The United States is the biggest single donor to the United Nations, paying 22% of its regular budget. Trump’s take this time on the world body began taking shape this week with his choice of Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York for U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Stefanik, the fourth-ranking House member, called last month for a “complete reassessment” of U.S. funding for the United Nations and urged a halt to support for its agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA. President Joe Biden paused the funding after UNRWA fired several staffers in Gaza suspected of taking part in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack led by Hamas. Here’s a look at what Trump 2.0 could mean for global organizations: ‘A theater’ for a conservative agenda Speculation about Trump’s future policies has already become a parlor game among wags in Washington and beyond, and reading the signals on issues important to the U.N. isn’t always easy. For example, Trump once called climate change a hoax and has supported the fossil fuel industry but has sidled up to the environmentally minded Elon Musk. His first administration funded breakneck efforts to find a COVID-19 vaccine, but he has allied with anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “The funny thing is that Trump does not really have a fixed view of the U.N.,” said Richard Gowan, U.N. director for the International Crisis Group think tank. Gowan expects that Trump won’t view the world body “as a place to transact serious political business but will instead exploit it as a theater to pursue a conservative global social agenda.” There are clues from his first term. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the 2015 Paris climate accord and is likely to do it again after President Joe Biden rejoined. Trump also had the U.S. leave the cultural and educational agency UNESCO and the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council, claiming they were biased against Israel. Biden went back to both before recently opting not to seek a second consecutive term on the council. Trump cut funding for the U.N. population agency for reproductive health services, claiming it was funding abortions. UNFPA says it doesn’t take a position on abortion rights, and the U.S. rejoined. He had no interest in multilateralism — countries working together to address global challenges — in his first term. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calls it “the cornerstone” of the United Nations.

Donald Trump ran hours late to a rally in Michigan Friday, causing thousands of his supporters to leave while others huddled in cold weather to await the former president at an outdoor rally in the battleground state. The Republican presidential nominee was delayed for an interview with Joe Rogan, the nation’s most listened-to podcaster, that stretched to three hours in Austin, Texas. Trump is aggressively courting younger male voters with whom Rogan is widely popular. The interview was released Friday night. Democrat Kamala Harris was also in Texas Friday for an appearance with superstar Beyoncé in Houston at an event highlighting the conservative state's abortion ban enacted after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Three of the justices who voted to overturn Roe were nominated by Trump. Harris calls Trump 'fascist' after ex-aide's Hitler comparison Minutes before Trump's Michigan rally was scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. Eastern, his spokesman posted on the social media platform X that Trump was just leaving Texas, more than two hours away by air. Trump recorded a video from his plane urging his supporters to stay, noting it was Friday night and promising, “We’re going to have a good time tonight.” Trump was slated to speak at the Traverse City airport, where temperatures dipped into the low 50s Fahrenheit (above 10 degrees Celsius) after dark. Attendees who hadn't left bundled up, some covered by blankets, as they waited for him to land. The crowd sounded and looked disengaged as North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon tried to kill time onstage. Hats were being thrown to attendees. Some of those who stuck around took it in stride. “Well, we rather they were on time,” said Karen Targanski from Bay City, Michigan, a more than two-hour drive away. She added that it was nonetheless “worth the wait.” Trump drives immigration in Texas speech With 11 days until the election, Trump and Harris both took a detour battleground states for brief forays into solidly Republican Texas. Neither believes the state is competitive, but they’re using it as a backdrop to drive a message about the issues they hope voters will have front of mind when they cast ballots. For Trump, that’s border security. For Harris, it’s abortion rights. Appearing in Austin earlier Friday, Trump tried to turn Harris' event into an attack line tied to one of his favorite subjects, immigration. Hours before Harris' star-studded appearance with Beyoncé, Willie Nelson, Jessica Alba and others, Trump accused the vice president of hanging out with “woke celebrities” but not with the families of people who have been killed by migrants. Trump's trip to Texas, his second stop in a border state in two days, comes as the former president escalates his already dark and apocalyptic rhetoric against illegal immigration. “We’re like a garbage can for the rest of the world to dump the people that they don’t want,” Trump told supporters Friday in Austin. Trump has continued to push the unfounded idea that foreign governments actively send criminals to the U.S. Harris said the remark is “just another example of how he really belittles our country.” “The president of the United States should be someone who elevates discourse and talks about the best of who we are, and invests in the best of who we are, not someone like Donald Trump, who is constantly demeaning and belittling who the American people are,” Harris told reporters in Houston. Throughout the campaign, Trump has routinely appeared with grieving relatives of people who were hurt or killed by people living in the country illegally. On Friday, he ceded the microphone to the mother of a 12-year-old Texas girl, Jocelyn Nungaray, whose body was found in June. Prosecutors have charged two Venezuelan men in the U.S. illegally with capital murder. “She was just being a child, and due to the Biden-Harris policies we have here ... she’s not here anymore,” Alexis Nungaray said. During a rally Thursday in Arizona, Trump railed against Harris for the Biden administration’s record on the border, which he said had “unleashed” an “army of migrant gangs” that are “waging a campaign of violence and terror against our citizens.” Trump views immigration as the issue that won him the White House in 2016. He accuses Harris of perpetrating “a wicked betrayal of America” and having “orchestrated the most egregious betrayal that any leader in American history has ever inflicted upon our people,” even though crime is down. While migrants have been charged with some high-profile crimes that Trump repeatedly highlights, research has shown that immigrants — including those who entered the country illegally — are charged with fewer violent crimes than American citizens. He has also spread false theories that Democrats are registering immigrants without legal status to vote. Rogan interview underscores Trump's focus on masculinity His interview with Rogan, who tapes his podcast in Austin, created another opportunity for the Republican nominee to highlight the hypermasculine tone that has defined much of his 2024 White House bid. Trump has made masculinity a central theme of his campaign, appearing on podcasts targeting young male voters and tapping surrogates who sometimes use crude language. At a Trump rally Wednesday, former Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson called the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Tim Walz, a “weak man” and compared Trump’s return to the White House to a dad who comes home ready to punish his misbehaved children. “When Dad gets home, you know what he says?” Carlson asked. “You’ve been a bad girl. You’ve been a bad little girl, and you are getting a vigorous spanking right now.” Rogan and Trump have a complicated relationship. Rogan had previously said that he declined to host Trump on his podcast before because he did not want to help him. Earlier this year, Trump criticized Rogan after the podcaster said that then-candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. was the only person running for president who made sense to him. Kennedy has since suspended his bid, endorsed Trump and joined him on the campaign trail. “It will be interesting to see how loudly Joe Rogan gets BOOED the next time he enters the UFC Ring???” Trump wrote on his social media site in August, referring to Rogan's experience as a commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The podcaster is known for his hourslong interviews on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” which is listed as No. 1 in the United States, according to Spotify’s charts. He calls women “chicks” and once laughed as a comedian friend described repeatedly coercing young women comics into sex.    

Kamala Harris insisted it was time to “end the suffering” in the Middle East while Donald Trump visited one of the nation's only Muslim-majority cities on Friday as the dueling presidential contenders fought for a small but pivotal bloc of Arab American voters in swing-state Michigan. In a rare reference to Israel's fight against Hamas and Hezbollah, Harris said, “This year has been very difficult, given the scale of death and destruction in Gaza and given the civilian casualties and displacement in Lebanon.” She said the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar “can and must be a turning point.” “Everyone must seize this opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza, bring the hostages home and end the suffering once and for all,” she said. Panel on Trump assassination attempt for Secret Service reform Trump, meanwhile, avoided any specifics about his plans for the Middle East, but he said he didn’t think the Arab American community would vote for Harris “because she doesn’t know what she’s doing.” Later, he fought through technical glitches that silenced his microphone for almost 20 minutes at a rally in Detroit. Michigan is one of three “blue wall” states that, along with Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, will help decide the election on Nov. 5. Diverse voting blocs are key to winning virtually any swing state, but Michigan is unique with its significant Arab American population, which has been deeply frustrated by the Biden administration's support for Israel's offensive in Gaza following Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Trump, who instituted a travel ban targeting Muslim countries while in office and has vowed to expand the ban to include refugees from Gaza if elected again, is trying to capitalize on the community's frustration with the Democratic administration, despite his well-documented history of hostile rhetoric and policies. There were modest signs Friday that he may be making progress. The Republican nominee visited a new campaign office in Hamtramck, one of the nation’s only Muslim-majority cities, and was joined there by Mayor Amer Ghalib, a Democrat who has endorsed Trump. Meanwhile, three city council members in the same town have endorsed Harris. “His visit today is to show respect and appreciation to our community,” said Ghalib, who presented Trump with a framed certificate of appreciation. Trump's allies have held meetings for months with community leaders in the state, which Biden carried by less than 3 points in 2020. Asked about the Hamtramck mayor’s endorsement, Trump said: “I mean, frankly, it’s an honor. I’ve got a lot of endorsements, Arab Americans, from a lot of people.” Trump has held 15 separate events in Michigan dating back to April, when Biden was still the presumed Democratic nominee. Including a scheduled Saturday event in Detroit, Harris will have visited Michigan 11 times since she became the nominee, according to AP tracking of the campaigns’ public events. And while foreign policy rarely sways U.S. elections, the war in the Middle East is a critical concern for many of Michigan's Arab American voters. Trump said Sinwar “was not a good person" when asked about the Hamas leader's death. Sinwar, one of the architects of the Oct. 7 attack, was killed Wednesday by Israelis. "That’s my reaction. That’s sometimes what happens,” Trump told reporters at the airport in Detroit. Even as he reached out to disillusioned Arab American voters, Trump suggested he would end efforts to encourage Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to restrain military operations that have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. Even though Biden “is trying to hold him back ... he probably should be doing the opposite, actually,” Trump said. Harris highlighted her support from the Arab American community as well. On Friday, 52 Lebanese Americans endorsed Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, saying in a letter that the voice of their community "will be heard” under the ticket's leadership. The letter reiterated calls for a cease-fire, and it cited a recent decision by the Department of Homeland Security to extend temporary legal status to Lebanese citizens in the U.S. Such status is made available to people from certain countries marred by war, turmoil or natural disasters. But Harris has also faced demonstrators protesting U.S. support of Israel in the conflict. During a closed-door meeting Thursday with students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she was confronted by a protester, according to a video posted by a pro-Palestinian student group on social media. According to the video, as Harris was telling students she was invested in them, a protester interrupted her, asking, “And in genocide, right? Billions of dollars in genocide?” A phalanx of Democratic governors — Maura Healey of Massachusetts, Wes Moore of Maryland, Tony Evers of Wisconsin, Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Kathy Hochul of New York — campaigned with Harris earlier Friday. Longtime Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat, emphasized that the army of top Democrats descending on the state was not a sign of panic, stating, “We have to run like we’re behind.” “A lot of people have always said we’re a blue state. She knows we’re not. And she’s not taking us for granted,” Stabenow told the AP ahead of a rally for Harris in Oakland County. Both Trump and Harris also made a push for union workers and Black voters as they worked every angle for support. At an appearance at the United Auto Workers Local 652 hall in Lansing, Harris offered a direct message to union members: “I will always have your back.” She warned that Trump would undermine collective bargaining and worker protections. “We’ve got to get the word out to all the brothers and sisters in labor to remind them what this dude does,” she said before the campaign played a clip of Trump saying it’s not hard to build a car. “We could have our child doing it,” he said. Meanwhile, Trump talked up his own support among labor unions and criticized the rise of electric cars during a rival event in Oakland County ahead of his evening rally in Detroit. While visiting a campaign office, Trump said the head of the United Auto Workers — who has endorsed Harris — doesn’t have a clue. “I’ve saved Michigan,” he said, telling the crowds he would bring back more manufacturing. “We’ll end up having those plants built over here instead of in other countries.” Later, he called Teamsters President Sean O’Brien “a great guy.” O’Brien spoke at the Republican National Convention, and his union decided not to endorse Harris, which was viewed as a victory for Trump, given the union’s past support for Democrats. “I think it’s been many decades before they endorsed a Republican. I think they’ll start very soon,” Trump said. Trump's Detroit event was his first there since insulting the city last week. While warning what will happen if Harris is elected, he said that “our whole country will end up being like Detroit." The city spent years hemorrhaging residents and businesses, plunging into deep financial problems, before rebounding in recent years. “We love Detroit,” Trump said Friday night as the crowd erupted. “We’re going to make Detroit great again.”

Elon Musk held his first solo event in support of Donald Trump for president on Thursday, encouraging voters in the Philadelphia suburbs to register to cast their ballots and vote early, though some attendees shouted back, “Why?” The America PAC event at Ridley High School's auditorium in Folsom featured the world's richest man speaking onstage in front of a large U.S. flag for roughly 15 minutes before taking questions from the crowd, many of whom wore “Make America Great Again” hats. The event was billed as a call to action to vote early in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania, where Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris are fiercely contesting the election. Some in the crowd questioned Musk's entreaties to vote early, reflecting the possibility that Republicans are still persuading their supporters to embrace early voting after Trump spent years demonizing the method. The crowd rose to its feet and took cellphone videos as Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla and Space X and owner of the social media platform X, walked onstage. They remained standing during his remarks and cheered loudly after he said the U.S. Constitution needs to be upheld. “This is literally the fundamental values that made America what it is today. And anyone who is against those things is fundamentally anti-American and to hell with them,” said Musk, who was born in South Africa. The crowd erupted. He exhorted the crowd to make sure they and their friends and family were registered to vote and to “pester” those who weren't. Toward the end of the question period, which included more than a dozen from those in the audience, he was asked to explain whether people should vote early in Pennsylvania. Musk was momentarily distracted by a fan waving a hat, which he appeared to sign, and then by a child whom he brought onstage for a photo. Redirected to the question, he said people should vote immediately. Read: Elon Musk commits $70 million to boost Donald Trump Some in the crowd cupped their hands and shouted, “Why?” He did not answer. A spokesperson said after the event that he didn't have additional comment. Trump for years has sowed doubt about mail and early voting by claiming it was rife with fraud, though voter fraud is rare in the United States. This year, Republicans are making a renewed push to encourage their supporters to vote early and lock in their ballots, though they acknowledge skepticism from those conditioned by Trump’s false claims. John and Linda Bird, a couple who attended the event, said they had concerns about the integrity of the voting system and worried about voting early. John Bird said he planned to vote on Election Day. Linda pointed to a sign given out at the event that said Trump called for early voting and worried about the possibility of not getting to the polls on Nov. 5. Still, she said she'd cast her ballot on Election Day, too. “Anything can happen, you know, you wake up that morning, some catastrophe happens or whatever,” she said. “But, you know, we’re planning on voting on Nov. 5.” One of the questioners asked about fraud in elections — something Trump has falsely insisted cost him the 2020 race. An Associated Press review of every potential case of voter fraud in the six battleground states disputed by Trump found fewer than 475, a number that would have made no difference in the outcome. Musk said sarcastically that it must be a coincidence that Dominion voting machines, which had been at the center of conspiracy theories in the 2020 election, were used in Philadelphia and Maricopa County, Arizona, located in two battleground states won by Democrat Joe Biden. In 2023, Fox News agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787 million to avoid a trial in a defamation lawsuit the voting machine company brought against the network for lies told about their company switching ballots. In an emailed statement Thursday, Dominion said its machines are not used in Philadelphia, as Musk said. The statement also said its systems are based on “verified paper ballots.” "These are not matters of opinion. They are verifiable facts.” Dominion said. Musk has become a major booster of Trump this campaign season. On Thursday evening, he cast the election in dire terms. Read more: Trump's economic plans would worsen inflation, experts say “I haven’t been politically active before. I’m politically active now because I think the future of America and the future of civilization is at stake,” he said. People were lined up to attend before 3 p.m. as school was letting out. A few people began to leave early when it became clear that not everyone who had lined up to ask a question would have a chance to ask one. The event was livestreamed on X, formerly Twitter, and was at times glitchy and difficult to follow, even as it drew hundreds of thousands of viewers. Musk is undertaking much of the get-out-the-vote effort for Trump through his America PAC, a super PAC that can raise and spend unlimited sums of money. He has committed more than $70 million to the super PAC to help Trump and other Republicans win in November. Trump and the Republican National Committee he controls opted for an unorthodox strategy of sharing canvassing duties in key regions with groups like Musk’s. They’ve also focused their efforts not on independent or moderate voters, but on those who already support Trump but usually don’t vote. Republican activists in swing states said in September that they had seen little activity from the PAC’s get-out-the-vote efforts.

In a dramatic escalation of security measures, Donald Trump’s campaign has formally requested the use of military aircraft and vehicles to safeguard the former president during the final stretch of the 2024 US presidential election. This request follows two recent assassination attempts and warnings from US intelligence officials about alleged threats from Iran to kill the Republican candidate. The Trump campaign's appeal for heightened protection includes military-grade assets such as vehicles and aircraft, as well as expanded flight restrictions over Trump's residences and campaign events. Biden and Netanyahu hold their first conversation in weeks. Trump recently called the Israeli leader The campaign has also sought prepositioned ballistic glass at rallies in key battleground states, according to sources cited by The New York Times and The Washington Post. Highest Protection, but More Requested While the US Secret Service confirmed that Trump is already receiving the "highest levels of protection," it acknowledged that the campaign had requested additional measures. A representative emphasized that the agency remains vigilant and will "adjust and enhance its protective posture" as needed to counter evolving threats. The push for extra security comes on the heels of an intelligence briefing Trump received last month. During this meeting, US officials allegedly warned him of credible assassination plots linked to Iran, though specific details of the threats have not been publicly confirmed. Biden Okays Expanded Security President Joe Biden weighed in on the issue, confirming that Trump is being treated with security measures similar to those afforded to sitting presidents. "If Trump's request falls within that category, it should be granted," Biden told reporters, signaling that the necessary resources would be deployed to ensure the safety of his political rival. Events Disrupted by Security Concerns The Trump campaign has voiced concerns that inadequate security has already impacted their schedule. They claim to have been forced to reschedule, relocate, or outright cancel several campaign events due to threats and insufficient protection. These security lapses are reminiscent of the widespread criticism the US Secret Service faced after the first assassination attempt on Trump in July, which led to the resignation of its director. Despite these incidents, there have been no known ties between the alleged shooters and Iran, and investigations into the attempts are ongoing. As Trump faces off against US Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming November 5 election, the heightened security measures underscore the intense atmosphere surrounding the election and the personal risks facing the candidates. With concerns over foreign involvement in assassination plots and disruptions to his campaign trail, the former president's calls for increased military protection mark an unprecedented moment in modern US political history. Source: With inputs from agencies & newspapers  Tags: Trump protection, Iran-linked threats

Donald Trump was indicted on felony charges Tuesday for working to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the violent riot by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol, with the Justice Department acting to hold him accountable for an unprecedented effort to block the peaceful transfer of presidential power and threaten American democracy. The four-count indictment, the third criminal case against Trump, provided deeper insight into a dark moment that has already been the subject of exhaustive federal investigations and captivating public hearings. It chronicles a months-long campaign of lies about the election results and says that, even when those falsehoods resulted in a chaotic insurrection at the Capitol, Trump sought to exploit the violence by pointing to it as a reason to further delay the counting of votes that sealed his defeat. Even in a year of rapid-succession legal reckonings for Trump, Tuesday’s indictment, with charges including conspiring to defraud the United States government that he once led, was stunning in its allegations that a former president assaulted the “bedrock function” of democracy. It’s the first time the defeated president, who is the early front-runner for next year's Republican presidential nomination, is facing legal consequences for his frantic but ultimately failed effort to cling to power. Trump pleads not guilty to federal charges that he illegally kept classified documents “The attack on our nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy,” said Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, whose office has spent months investigating Trump. “It was fueled by lies, lies by the defendant targeted at obstructing a bedrock function of the U.S. government: the nation’s process of collecting counting and certifying the results of the presidential election.” The Trump campaign called the charges “fake” and asked why it took two-and-a-half years to bring them. Trump was the only person charged in Tuesday's indictment. But prosecutors obliquely referenced a half-dozen co-conspirators, including lawyers inside and outside of government who they said had worked with Trump to undo the election results. They also advanced legally dubious schemes to enlist slates of fake electors in battleground states won by Democrat Joe Biden to falsely claim that Trump had actually won them. The indictment accuses the defeated president and his allies of trying to “exploit the violence and chaos” by calling lawmakers into the evening on Jan. 6 to delay the certification of Biden’s victory. Trump arrives in Florida as history-making court appearance approaches in classified documents case It also cites handwritten notes from former Vice President Mike Pence that give gravitas to Trump’s relentless goading to reject the electoral votes. Pence, who is challenging Trump for the GOP presidential nomination, declined overtures from a House panel that investigated the insurrection and sought to avoid testifying before the special counsel. He appeared only after losing a court fight, with prosecutors learning that Trump in one conversation derided him as “too honest” to stop the certification. Trump is due in court Thursday, the first step in a legal process that will play out in a courthouse situated between the White House he once controlled and the Capitol his supporters once stormed. The case is already being dismissed by the former president and his supporters — and even some of his rivals — as just another politically motivated prosecution. Trump set for first public appearances since federal indictment, speaking in Georgia, North Carolina Yet the case stems from one of the most serious threats to American democracy in modern history. The indictment centers on the turbulent two months after the November 2020 election in which Trump refused to accept his loss and spread lies that victory was stolen from him. The turmoil resulted in the riot at the Capitol, when Trump loyalists violently broke into the building, attacked police officers and disrupted the congressional counting of electoral votes. In between the election and the riot, Trump urged local election officials to undo voting results in their states, pressured Pence to halt the certification of electoral votes and falsely claimed that the election had been stolen — a notion repeatedly rejected by judges. Among those lies, prosecutors say, were claims that more than 10,000 dead voters had voted in Georgia along with tens of thousands of double votes in Nevada. Each claim had been rebutted by courts or state or federal officials, the indictment says. Prosecutors say Trump knew his claims of having won the election were false but he "repeated and widely disseminated them anyway — to make his knowingly false claims appear legitimate, to create an intense national atmosphere of mistrust and anger, and to erode public faith in the administration of the election.” The document carefully outlined arguments that Trump has been making to defend his conduct, that he had every right to challenge the results, to use the courts, even to lie about it in the process. But in stark detail, the indictment outlines how the former president instead took criminal steps to reverse the clear verdict voters had rendered. The indictment had been expected since Trump said in mid-July that the Justice Department had informed him he was a target of its investigation. A bipartisan House committee that spent months investigating the run-up to the Capitol riot also recommended prosecuting Trump on charges, including aiding an insurrection and obstructing an official proceeding. The indictment includes charges of conspiring to defraud the U.S., conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding, obstructing an official proceeding and violating a post-Civil War Reconstruction Era civil rights statute that makes it a crime to conspire to violate rights that are guaranteed by the Constitution — in this case, the right to vote. The mounting criminal cases are unfolding in the heat of the 2024 race. A conviction in this case, or any other, would not prevent Trump from pursuing the White House or serving as president, though Trump as president could theoretically appoint an attorney general to dismiss the charges or potentially try to pardon himself. In New York, state prosecutors have charged Trump with falsifying business records about a hush money payoff to a porn actor before the 2016 election. The trial is set to begin in March. In Florida, the Justice Department has brought more than three dozen felony counts, accusing him of illegally possessing classified documents after leaving the White House and concealing them from investigators. That trial begins in May. Prosecutors in Georgia are also investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to reverse his election loss to Biden there. The district attorney of Fulton County is expected to announce charging decisions within weeks. Smith's team has cast a broad net as part of his federal investigation, with his team questioning senior Trump administration officials, including Pence, before a grand jury in Washington. Prosecutors also interviewed election officials in Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and other battleground states won by Biden who were pressured by the Trump team to change voting results. Rudy Giuliani, a Trump lawyer who pursued post-election legal challenges, spoke voluntarily to prosecutors. Giuliani was not named in the indictment, but appears to match the description of one of the co-conspirators. A spokesman for Giuliani said Tuesday night that Trump had a “good-faith basis” for the actions he took. Attorney General Merrick Garland last year appointed Smith, an international war crimes prosecutor who also led the Justice Department’s public corruption section, as special counsel to investigate efforts to undo the election as well as Trump’s retention of classified documents at his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago. Although Trump has derided him as “deranged” and called him politically motivated, Smith’s past experience includes overseeing significant prosecutions against high-profile Democrats. The Justice Department’s investigations began well before Smith’s appointment, proceeding alongside separate criminal probes into the rioters themselves. More than 1,000 people have been charged in connection with the insurrection, including some with seditious conspiracy.  

Donald Trump became the first former president to face a judge on federal charges as he pleaded not guilty in a Miami courtroom Tuesday to dozens of felony counts accusing him of hoarding classified documents and refusing government demands to give them back. The history-making court date, centered on charges that Trump mishandled government secrets that as commander-in-chief he was entrusted to protect, kickstarts a legal process that will unfold at the height of the 2024 presidential campaign and carry profound consequences not only for his political future but also for his own personal liberty. Trump approached his arraignment with characteristic bravado, posting social media broadsides against the prosecution from inside his motorcade en route to the courthouse and insisting — as he has through years of legal woes — that he has done nothing wrong and was being persecuted for political purposes. But inside the courtroom, he sat silently, scowling and arms crossed, as a lawyer entered a not guilty plea on his behalf in a brief arraignment that ended without him having to surrender his passport or otherwise restrict his travel. The arraignment, though largely procedural in nature, was the latest in an unprecedented reckoning this year for Trump, who faces charges in New York arising from hush money payments during his 2016 presidential campaign as well as ongoing investigations in Washington and Atlanta into efforts to undo the results of the 2020 race. Also read:Trump arrives in Florida as history-making court appearance approaches in classified documents case Always in campaign mode, he swiftly pivoted from the solemn courtroom to a festive restaurant, stopping on his way out of Miami at Versailles, an iconic Cuban spot in the city’s Little Havana neighborhood where supporters serenaded Trump, who turns 77 on Wednesday, with “Happy Birthday.” The back-to-back events highlight the tension for Trump in the months ahead as he balances the pageantry of campaigning with courtroom stops accompanying his status as a twice-indicted criminal defendant. Yet the gravity of the moment was unmistakable. Until last week, no former president had ever been charged by the Justice Department, let alone accused of mishandling top-secret information. The indictment unsealed last week charged Trump with 37 felony counts — many under the Espionage Act — that accuse him of illegally storing classified documents in his bedroom, bathroom, shower and other locations at Mar-a-Lago and trying to hide them from the Justice Department as investigators demanded them back. The charges carry a yearslong prison sentence in the event of a conviction. Also read: Trump indicted in classified documents case in a historic first for a former president Trump has relied on a familiar playbook of painting himself as a victim of political persecution. He attacked the Justice Department special counsel who filed the case as a “thug” and “deranged,” pledged to remain in the race no matter what and addressed supporters Tuesday night at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club, where he delivered a roughly half-hour speech full of repeated falsehoods and incendiary rhetoric and threatened to go after President Joe Biden and his family if elected. “The seal is broken by what they’ve done. They should never have done this,” Trump said of the indictment. But Attorney General Merrick Garland, an appointee of President Joe Biden, sought to insulate the department from political attacks by handing ownership of the case last November to a special counsel, Jack Smith, who on Friday declared, “We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone.” Smith attended Tuesday’s arraignment, sitting in the front row behind his team of prosecutors. The court appearance unfolded against angst over potential protests, with some high-profile backers using barbed rhetoric to voice support. Though city officials said they prepared for possible unrest, there were few signs of significant disruption. Trump didn’t say a word during the court appearance, other than to occasionally turn and whisper to his attorneys who were seated on either side of him. He fiddled with a pen and clasped his hands on the table in front of him as the lawyers and the judge debated the conditions of his release. While he was not required to surrender a passport — prosecutors said he was not considered a flight risk — the magistrate judge presiding over the arraignment directed Trump to not discuss the case with certain witnesses. That includes Walt Nauta, his valet who was indicted last week on charges that he moved boxes of documents at Trump’s direction and misled the FBI about it. Nauta did not enter a plea Tuesday because he did not have a local lawyer with him. Trump attorney Todd Blanche objected to the idea of imposing restrictions on the former president’s contact with possible witnesses, noting they include many people close to Trump, including staff and members of his protection detail. “Many of the people he interacts with on a daily basis — including the men and women who protect him — are potential witnesses in this case,” Blanche said. Trump, who has repeatedly insisted that he did nothing wrong, showed no emotion as he was led by law enforcement out of the courtroom through a side door. Even for a man whose presidency and post-White House life have been defined by criminal investigations, the documents probe had long stood out both because of the volume of evidence that prosecutors had seemed to amass and the severity of the allegations. A federal grand jury in Washington had heard testimony for months, but the Justice Department filed the case in Florida, where Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort is located and where many of the alleged acts of obstruction occurred. Though Trump appeared Tuesday before a federal magistrate, the case has been assigned to a District Court judge he appointed, Aileen Cannon, who ruled in his favor last year in a dispute over whether an outside special master could be appointed to review the seized classified documents. A federal appeals panel ultimately overturned her ruling. It’s unclear what defenses Trump is likely to invoke as the case moves forward. Two of his lead lawyers announced their resignation the morning after his indictment, and the notes and recollections of another attorney, M. Evan Corcoran, are cited repeatedly throughout the 49-page charging document, suggesting prosecutors envision him as a potential key witness. The indictment Friday accuses Trump of illegally retaining national security documents that he took with him from the White House to Mar-a-Lago after leaving office in January 2021. The documents he stored, prosecutors say, included material on nuclear programs, defense and weapons capabilities of the U.S. and foreign governments and a Pentagon “attack plan,” prosecutors say. He is accused of showing off some to people who didn't have security clearances to view them. Beyond that, according to the indictment, he repeatedly sought to obstruct government efforts to recover the documents, including by directing Nauta to move boxes and also suggesting to his own lawyer that he hide or destroy documents sought by a Justice Department subpoena.

Donald Trump has been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, a remarkable development that makes him the first former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges by the federal government that he once oversaw. The Justice Department was expected to make public a seven-count indictment ahead of a historic court appearance next week in the midst of a 2024 presidential campaign punctuated by criminal prosecutions in multiple states. The indictment carries unmistakably grave legal consequences, including the possibility of prison if Trump's convicted. Also Read: Trump indicted: What to know about the documents case and what's next But it also has enormous political implications, potentially upending a Republican presidential primary that Trump had been dominating and testing anew the willingness of GOP voters and party leaders to stick with a now twice-indicted candidate who could face still more charges. And it sets the stage for a sensational trial centered on claims that a man once entrusted to safeguard the nation's most closely guarded secrets willfully, and illegally, hoarded sensitive national security information. The Justice Department did not immediately confirm the indictment publicly. But two people familiar with the situation who were not authorized to discuss it publicly said that the indictment included seven criminal counts. One of those people said Trump's lawyers were contacted by prosecutors shortly before he announced Thursday on his Truth Social platform that he had been indicted. Within minutes of his announcement, Trump, who said he was due in court Tuesday afternoon in Miami, began fundraising off it for his presidential campaign. He declared his innocence in a video and repeated his familiar refrain that the investigation is a "witch hunt." Also Read: Trump and DeSantis' rivalry intensifies as Florida governor formally enters 2024 presidential race The case adds to deepening legal jeopardy for Trump, who has already been indicted in New York and faces additional investigations in Washington and Atlanta that also could lead to criminal charges. But among the various investigations he faces, legal experts — as well as Trump's own aides — had long seen the Mar-a-Lago probe as the most perilous threat and the one most ripe for prosecution. Campaign aides had been bracing for the fallout since Trump's attorneys were notified that he was the target of the investigation, assuming it was not a matter of if charges would be brought, but when. Appearing Thursday night on CNN, Trump attorney James Trusty said the indictment includes charges of willful retention of national defense information — a crime under the Espionage Act, which polices the handling of government secrets — obstruction, false statements and conspiracy. The inquiry took a major step forward last November when Attorney General Merrick Garland, a soft-spoken former federal judge who has long stated that no one person should be regarded as above the law, appointed Jack Smith, a war crimes prosecutor with an aggressive, hard-charging reputation to lead both the documents probe as well as a separate investigation into efforts to subvert the 2020 election. The case is a milestone for a Justice Department that had investigated Trump for years — as president and private citizen — but had never before charged him with a crime. The most notable investigation was an earlier special counsel probe into ties between his 2016 campaign and Russia, but prosecutors in that probe cited Justice Department policy against indicting a sitting president. Once he left office, though, he lost that protection. The indictment arises from a monthslong investigation into whether Trump broke the law by holding onto hundreds of documents marked classified at his Palm Beach property, Mar-a-Lago, and whether Trump took steps to obstruct the government's efforts to recover the records. Prosecutors have said that Trump took roughly 300 classified documents to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House, including some 100 that were seized by the FBI last August in a search of the home that underscored the gravity of the Justice Department's investigation. Trump has repeatedly insisted that he was entitled to keep the classified documents when he left the White House, and has also claimed without evidence that he had declassified them. Court records unsealed last year showed federal investigators believed they had probable cause that multiple crimes had been committed, including the retention of national defense information, destruction of government records and obstruction. Since then, the Justice Department has amassed additional evidence and secured grand jury testimony from people close to Trump, including his own lawyers. The statutes governing the handling of classified records and obstruction are felonies that could carry years in prison in the event of a conviction. Even so, it remains unclear how much it will damage Trump's standing given that his first indictment generated millions of dollars in contributions from angry supporters and didn't weaken him in the polls. The former president has long sought to use his legal troubles to his political advantage, complaining on social media and at public events that the cases are being driven by Democratic prosecutors out to hurt his 2024 election campaign. He is likely to rely on that playbook again, reviving his longstanding claims that the Justice Department — which, during his presidency, investigated whether his 2016 campaign had colluded with Russia — is somehow weaponized against him. Trump's legal troubles extend beyond the New York indictment and classified documents case. Smith is separately investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. And the district attorney in Georgia's Fulton County is investigating Trump over alleged efforts to subvert the 2020 election in that state. Signs had mounted for weeks that an indictment was near, including a Monday meeting between Trump's lawyers and Justice Department officials. His lawyers had also recently been notified that he was the target of the investigation, the clearest sign yet that an indictment was looming. Though the bulk of the investigative work had been handled in Washington, with a grand jury meeting there for months, it recently emerged that prosecutors were presenting evidence before a separate panel in Florida, where many of the alleged acts of obstruction scrutinized by prosecutors took place. The Justice Department has said Trump repeatedly resisted efforts by the National Archives and Records Administration to get the documents back. After months of back-and-forth, Trump representatives returned 15 boxes of records in January 2022, including about 184 documents that officials said had classified markings on them. FBI and Justice Department investigators issued a subpoena in May 2022 for classified documents that remained in Trump's possession. But after a Trump lawyer provided three dozen records and asserted that a diligent search of the property had been done, officials came to suspect even more documents remained. The investigation had simmered for months before bursting into front-page news in remarkable fashion last August. That's when FBI agents served a search warrant on Mar-a-Lago and removed 33 boxes containing classified records, including top-secret documents stashed in a storage room and desk drawer and commingled with personal belongings. Some records were so sensitive that investigators needed upgraded security clearances to review them, the Justice Department has said. The investigation into Trump had appeared complicated — politically, if not legally — by the discovery of documents with classified markings in the Delaware home and former Washington office of President Joe Biden, as well as in the Indiana home of former Vice President Mike Pence. The Justice Department recently informed Pence that he would not face charges, while a second special counsel continues to investigate Biden's handling of classified documents. But compared with Trump, there are key differences in the facts and legal issues surrounding Biden's and Pence's handling of documents, including that representatives for both men say the documents were voluntarily turned over to investigators as soon as they were found. In contrast, investigators quickly zeroed on whether Trump, who for four years as president expressed disdain for the FBI and Justice Department, had sought to obstruct the inquiry by refusing to turn over all the requested documents.  

An investigation into the origins of the FBI's probe into ties between Russia and Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign has finally been concluded, with the prosecutor leading the inquiry submitting a much-awaited report that found major flaws. The report, the culmination of a four-year investigation into possible misconduct by U.S. government officials, contained withering criticism of the FBI but few significant revelations. Nonetheless, it will give fodder to Trump supporters who have long denounced the Russia investigation, as well as Trump opponents who say the Durham team's meager court record shows their probe was a politically motivated farce. Also Read: Jury finds Trump liable for sexual abuse, awards accuser $5M A look at the investigation and the report: WHO IS JOHN DURHAM? Durham has spent decades as a Justice Department prosecutor, with past assignments including investigations into the FBI's cozy relationship with mobsters in Boston and the CIA's destruction of videotapes of its harsh interrogations of terrorism subjects. He was appointed in 2019 to investigate potential misconduct by U.S. government officials as they examined Russian election interference in 2016 and whether there was any illegal coordination between the Kremlin and Trump's presidential campaign. Despite skimpy results — one guilty plea and two acquittals — that failed to live up to Trump's expectations, Durham was able to continue his work well into the Biden administration, thanks in part to William Barr appointing Durham as a Justice Department special counsel shortly before Barr's 2020 resignation as attorney general. WHY DID THE TRUMP JUSTICE DEPARTMENT THINK SUCH AN APPOINTMENT WAS NECESSARY? The appointment came weeks after a different special counsel, Robert Mueller, wrapped up his investigation of possible connections between Russia and the Trump campaign. That probe produced more than two dozen criminal cases, including against a half-dozen Trump associates. Though it did not charge any Trump aide with working with Russia to tip the election, it did find that Russia interfered on Trump's behalf and that the campaign welcomed, rather than discouraged, the help. From the start, Barr was deeply skeptical of the investigation's foundation, telling Congress that “spying did occur” on the campaign. He enlisted an outside prosecutor to hunt for potential misconduct at the government agencies who were involved in collecting intelligence and conducting the investigation, even flying with Durham to Italy to meet with officials there as part of the probe. WERE THERE PROBLEMS WITH THE RUSSIA INVESTIGATION? Yes, and a Justice Department inspector general inquiry already identified many. The watchdog report found that FBI applications for warrants to eavesdrop on a former Trump campaign aide, Carter Page, contained significant errors and omitted information that would likely have weakened or undermined the premise of the application. The cumulative effect of those errors, the report said, was to make it “appear that the information supporting probable cause was stronger than was actually the case.” Still, the inspector general did not find evidence that investigators acted with political bias and said there was a legitimate basis to open a full investigation into potential collusion, though Durham has disagreed. WHAT CRIMINAL CASES DID HE BRING AND WHAT WAS THE OUTCOME? Durham brought three prosecution during his tenure, but only one resulted in a conviction — and that was for a case referred to him by the Justice Department inspector general. None of the three undid core findings by Mueller that Russia had interfered with the 2016 election in sweeping fashion. A former FBI lawyer, Kevin Clinesmith, pleaded guilty in 2020 to altering an email related to the surveillance of ex-Trump campaign aide. He was given probation. But two other cases, both involving alleged false statements to the FBI, resulted in acquittals by jury. Michael Sussmann, a lawyer for the Hillary Clinton campaign, was found not guilty of lying to the FBI during a meeting in which he presented computer data information that he wanted the FBI to investigate. A different jury acquitted Igor Danchenko, a Russian-American analyst, of charges that he lied to the FBI about his role in the creation of a discredited dossier about Trump. WHAT SPECIFICALLY DID DURHAM FIND? Durham found that the FBI acted too hastily and relied on raw and unconfirmed intelligence when it opened the Trump-Russia investigation. He said at the time the probe was opened, the FBI had no information about any actual contact between Trump associates and Russian intelligence officials. He also claimed that FBI investigators fell prone to “confirmation bias,” repeatedly ignoring or rationalizing away information that could have undercut the premise of their investigation, and he noted that the FBI failed to corroborate a single substantive allegation from a dossier of research that it relied on during the course of the probe. “An objective and honest assessment of these strands of information should have caused the FBI to question not only the predication for Crossfire Hurricane, but also to reflect on whether the FBI was being manipulated for political or other purposes,” the report said, using the FBI's code name for the Trump-Russia probe. “Unfortunately, it did not.” HOW DID THE FBI RESPOND? The FBI pointed out that it had long ago made dozens of corrective actions. Had those measures been in place in 2016, it says, the errors at the center of the report could have been prevented. It also took pains to note that the conduct in the report took place before the current director, Christopher Wray, took the job in fall 2017. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? It didn't take long for Republicans in Congress to react. Rep. Jim Jordan, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, said he had invited Durham to testify on Capitol Hill next week. Trump, too, sought to seize on the report, claiming anew in a post on his Truth Social platform that the Durham report had found “the crime of the century” and calling the Russia investigation the “Democrat Hoax.” Though the FBI says it's already taken some steps to address the problems cited in the report, Durham did say it's possible more reform could be needed. One idea, he said, would be to provide additional scrutiny of politically sensitive investigations by identifying an official who would be responsible for challenging the steps taken in a probe. He said his team had considered but did not ultimately recommend steps that would curtail the FBI's investigative authorities, including its use of tools under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to eavesdrop on suspected spies or terrorists.

His name has been plastered on this city’s tabloids, bolted to its buildings and cemented to a special breed of brash New York confidence. Now, with Donald Trump due to return to the place that put him on the map, the city he loved is poised to deliver his comeuppance. Rejected by its voters, ostracized by its protesters and now rebuked by its jurors, the people of New York have one more thing on which to splash Trump's name: Indictment No. 71543-23. “He wanted to be in Manhattan. He loved Manhattan. He had a connection to Manhattan,” says Barbara Res, a longtime employee of the former president who was a vice president at the Trump Organization. “I don't know that he has accepted it and I don't know that he believes it, but New York turned on him.” None of Trump's romances have lasted longer than his courtship of New York. No place else could match his blend of ostentatious and outlandish. His love of the city going unrequited is Shakespearean enough, but Trump took it a step further, rising to the presidency only to become a hometown antihero. Trump was born and raised in Queens to a real estate developer father whose projects were largely in Queens and Brooklyn. But the younger Trump ached to cross the East River and make his name in Manhattan. He gained a foothold with his transformation of the rundown Commodore Hotel into a glittering Grand Hyatt and ensured a spotlight on himself by appearing at the side of politicians and celebrities, popping up at Studio 54 and other hot spots and coaxing near-constant media coverage. By the greed-is-good 1980s, he was a New York fixture. And in a city that prides itself as the center of the world, Trump saw himself as king. “Trump grew up with a great deal of resentment toward others who he thought had more fame, wealth, or popularity,” says David Greenberg, a Rutgers University professor who wrote “Republic of Spin: An Inside History of the American Presidency.” “Making it in Manhattan — building Trump Tower and becoming a fixture of the Manhattan social scene in the 1980s — meant a lot to him.” The feeling was never truly mutual, though. Trump left a trail of unpaid bills, jilted workers and everyday New Yorkers who saw through his shameless self-promotion. He may have been a singular character, but in a city of 8 million stories, his was just another one. So, for years, Trump's life here continued as the city raced on around him. Marriages came and went. Skyscrapers rose. Bankruptcies were filed. Trump flickered in and out of fame's upper echelon. He may never have been a common New Yorker, packed in the subway on the morning commute or grabbing a hot dog from a street vendor, but for many he remained a benign, if outsized, presence. That began changing with years of bizarre, racially-fueled lies about Barack Obama's birthplace, and by the time he descended the golden escalator at Trump Tower on June 16, 2015, to announce his presidential bid, many in his hometown had little patience for the vitriol he spewed. Rockefeller Center played host to a weekly “Saturday Night Live” that made him a mockery, and at a Waldorf-Astoria gala, he elicited groans. In vast swaths of the city, distaste for Trump turned to hatred. Even among Republicans, many saw him as believable as a Gucci bag on Canal Street. Trump won the state's Republican primary, but couldn't convince GOP voters in Manhattan. “He’s no longer just this TV show charlatan. People see this man is actually going to lead the country and the world in the wrong direction,” says Christina Greer, a political scientist at Fordham University. On Election Night 2016, tears flowed at the Javits Center, where Hillary Clinton's victory party never materialized, while giddy supporters of Trump reveled in his surprise win across town in a Hilton ballroom. New Yorkers' rebuke of their native son meant nothing. His face was projected unto the face of the Empire State Building as locals digested the fact that he would be president. In the days that followed, a curious parade of politicians and celebrities journeyed to Trump Tower to meet the president-elect and, for weeks after, predictions about his presidency were rampant. Among the musings of observers was speculation of a commuter president shuttling between New York and Washington. When word emerged that his wife and young son wouldn't immediately move to the White House, it gave credence to the idea that Trump could never fully part with the city that made him. But Trump continued being Trump, his presidency gave way to one controversy and broken norm after another, and New York become a capital of the resistance, giving birth to persistent mass protests. The city of his dreams was no longer a place he could call home. “New York has gone to hell,” he said as Election Day 2020 neared. When the ballots were counted, Manhattan had seven times as many supporters of Joe Biden than those for Trump, and this time the Electoral College followed. When Trump's presidency ended and he left Washington after the violent insurrection he incited, it was clear New York would be inhospitable. Like droves of New Yorkers before him, he retired to Florida. When he returns north now, he spends most of his time at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey. The man who long tried to eschew his bridge-and-tunnel past is again separated from Manhattan by a river. On his first return to Manhattan after leaving office, the New York Post reported a single person waited outside Trump Tower to catch a glimpse. Even protesters couldn't be bothered with him anymore. His rebuke came from New Yorkers taking part in a rite-of-passage for city dwellers, jury duty, and if it fit the mold of prior grand juries, it brought together a quintessential Manhattan cross-section, from neighborhoods, incomes and backgrounds different enough to ensure a cast of characters fit for TV. With word of Trump's indictment now out, the story of his deteriorating romance with New York is gaining a sense of finality. Even the Post, part of the Rupert Murdoch media empire that helped Trump win the White House to begin with, has abandoned him. The paper that once documented his affair with a screaming “Best Sex I've Ever Had” headline beside Trump's smirking face, last week called him “deranged” on a front page on which he was branded “Bat Hit Crazy” in huge letters. Trump once bragged he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and remain popular. Today, he could hand out fifties in New York and still not win the support of most locals. He has dismissed the grand jury's actions as a “scam" and a “persecution" and denied he did anything wrong. Democrats, he says, are lying and cheating to hurt his campaign to return to the White House. Outside the courthouse that awaits him, the spectacle has largely been confined to the hordes of media. Among the few regular New Yorkers to make the trip there was Marni Halasa, a figure skater who showed up in a leopard print leotard, cat ears and wads of fake bills strung into a “hush money” boa. She stood alone outside Friday to celebrate the indictment of one of her city's most famous sons. “New Yorkers are here in spirit,” she says, “and I feel like I'm representing most of them.”