Trump rants about presidential immunity as jury confirmed for criminal trial: Live – The Independent

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Former president holds rally in Wilmington, North Carolina on Saturday, ahead of opening statements in historic criminal trial on Monday
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With a jury now selected and with opening statements looming on Monday in his historic criminal trial, Donald Trump took to Truth Social this weekend to not just complain about the case, but also return to the topic of presidential immunity.
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments regarding Mr Trump’s claims of immunity on 25 April. The former president argues that without it, the nation’s commander-in-chief would not be able to function for fear of prosecution.
Meanwhile, in New York, the man who set himself on fire outside the Manhattan courthouse where Mr Trump’s trial is taking place has died.
Maxwell Azzarello, 37, from Florida, who posted a conspiracy-laden manifesto online moments before the incident, was “declared deceased by hospital staff”, police told NBC News.
After four days of jury selection, the final alternate jurors were picked from a batch of Manhattan residents on Friday.
The 12 jurors and six alternates will hear evidence against the former president and ultimately decide his fate in his so-called hush money trial.
On Monday, Judge Juan Merchan will decide whether Mr Trump’s previous misconduct and court cases can be included in proceedings.
Michael Avenatti, the disgraced former lawyer for Stormy Daniels, has said that he is in touch with Donald Trump’s legal defence team and is willing to testify on behalf of the former president at his hush money trial.
“The defence has contacted me,” Avenatti told The New York Post from prison.
“I’d be more than happy to testify, I don’t know that I will be called to testify, but I have been in touch with Trump’s defence for the better part of a year.”
Avenatti is currently serving a 19-year sentence for extortion, tax evasion, fraud, embezzlement and other federal crimes at Terminal Island, a minimum-security federal prison in Los Angeles.
Continue reading…
Michael Avenatti claims he and former president have both been targeted by justice system
Alex Woodward reports:
A teacher, two lawyers and people working in finance are among the 12 jurors tasked with hearing the first-ever criminal trial against a president.
A pivotal process is now under way in Manhattan to select the group of jurors in the so-called hush money case against Donald Trump, as he faces charges of falsifying business records to conceal payments to an adult film star ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
During the first two days of the historic trial in a New York City courtroom, the former president snapped awake from the defence table and craned his neck to get a good view of the jury box and the pool of New Yorkers who could ultimately convict him of a crime.
Read on…
Five women and seven men have been tasked with hearing the first-ever criminal case against a US president
Donald Trump has continued his Truth Social tirade about presidential immunity with an apparent threat to President Joe Biden that he will be prosecuted for his “actual crimes” if the former president wins back the White House.
Here’s what Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social this afternoon (among many other posts on the same topic):
REMEMBER, if I don’t have Presidential Immunity, then Crooked Joe Biden doesn’t have it either, and he would certainly be Prosecuted for his many ACTUAL CRIMES, including illegally receiving massive amounts of money from Foreign Countries, including China, Ukraine, and Russia, paying off Ukraine to fire an unfriendly prosecutor, allowing millions of people to illegally Enter and Destroy our Country, SURRENDERING in Afghanistan, with Hundreds Dead, many Americans Left Behind, and handing over Billions of Dollars Worth of the Best Military Equipment anywhere on Earth, the Decimation of American Wealth through the Green New Scam, and so much more. REMEMBER, Crooked Joe Biden and his CORRUPT JUSTICE DEPARTMENT, D.A.’s and A.G.’s, has attacked his Political Opponent at a level never seen before in this Country, and wants desperately to PUT “TRUMP” IN PRISON. He is playing a very dangerous game, and the great people of America WILL NOT STAND FOR IT. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!
There is no evidence that Mr Biden received any money from foreign countries (see the disastrous Republican-led House impeachment inquiry) or paid off Ukraine.
The allegations regarding the border and Afghanistan would presumably fall under existing presidential immunity and are not technically crimes (and the allegations here appear factually flawed).
There is no decimation of American wealth through “the Green New Scam”, indeed the economy is far outpacing that of any other developed nation, unemployment is at record lows, and the stock market is at record highs.
Finally, Joe Biden has no jurisdiction or influence over criminal indictments brought against Mr Trump at the local or state level (Manhattan and Georgia).
At the federal level, the Department of Justice handed its two investigations (into the classified documents in Florida and the events leading up to January 6 in Washington, DC) over to Special Counsel Jack Smith for the very purpose of avoiding a conflict of interest and to depoliticise the process.
Further, all four Trump criminal cases were assessed by members of the public in their respective grand juries.
John Bowden reports from Washington, DC:
Congress took another step towards banning the popular video sharing app TikTok on Saturday when the House took its second swing at passing legislation to address what lawmakers claim is a national security threat.
The House of Representatives voted 360-58 on a bill that included a provision that would force TikTok’s owner ByteDance to sell the company within a year or see it removed from app stores in the US. It would still allow users to access to app from other sources.
Chinese officials are widely expected to block any attempt by ByteDance to sell the app.
Continue reading…
Bill would prevent TikTok from appearing in app stores unless company’s Chinese owners divest
The Trump campaign has announced that they will have 100,000 poll watchers and attorneys ready to take action on election day as former president Donald Trump’s obsession with election security continues.
Mr Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election citing baseless allegations of fraud by Democrats, and he has made similarly evidence-free claims regarding what Democrats may do this November. Even in 2016, Mr Trump asserted that he only lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton because of fraud.
The Trump Campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) said in a Friday statement that they would launch “the most extensive and monumental election integrity program in the nation’s history”.
Gustaf Kilander reports:
Mr Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election citing baseless allegations of fraud
Kelly Rissman reports for The Independent:
Creditors in disgraced former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s bankruptcy case have issued subpoenas to his associates to try to determine whether his former client Donald Trump owes him money, as the ex-mayor has previously claimed.
The Committee of Unsecured Creditors — individuals and entities that Mr Giuliani owes — served more than a dozen subpoenas on Friday in an effort to recover his assets. Mr Giuliani filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after being hit with a massive $148m verdict for defaming two election workers.
The former Trump lawyer listed a “possible claim for unpaid legal fees against Donald J Trump” in a January bankruptcy court filing.
Read more…
His son, Andrew Giuliani, and his sexual assault accuser, Noelle Dunphy, were among those subpoenaed
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Former US President Donald Trump enters Manhattan Criminal Court
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