Trump to address religious conference after backing Ten Commandments law: Live – The Independent

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Trump to speak at Faith and Freedom Coalition ‘Road to Majority’ conference in Washington, DC before evening rally in Philadelphia
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Donald Trump is back on the campaign trail today, addressing conservative Christians at the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference in Washington, DC. The former president, a convicted felon and accused adulterer, has declared his “love” of the Ten Commandments following new legislation in Louisiana that requires them to be displayed in all classrooms.
Later on Saturday, he will head to a rally near Philadelphia, continuing a recent streak of campaigning in traditionally solidly Democrat cities.
Yesterday, a hearing in the former president’s classified documents case ended with no ruling as Judge Aileen Cannon entertained a motion from Trump’s legal team that Jack Smith was unlawfully appointed as special counsel.
Smith has brought charges for allegedly mishandling classified information in Florida and in the District of Columbia for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
The Trump argument that Smith’s appointment was illegal stems from the claim that Attorney General Merrick Garland doesn’t have the legal authority to appoint a special counsel who the Senate hasn’t confirmed.
Cannon seemed skeptical of Trump’s argument that Smith was appointed illegally but also said that the prosecution’s statutory analysis appeared to be an excessively “malleable” reading of the Constitution, Lawfare reported.
Donald Trump kicked off his remarks at the Faith & Freedom Coalition Road to Majority conference with a confusing shout-out to Rep Barry Loudermilk.
Watch here:
Loudermilk was accused of giving a guided tour of Congress on January 5 2021 to a group of people who were accused of taking part in the Capitol riot the next day — it’s not clear why Trump confused this with Russian spies…
He went on to chide the Christian audience for not voting.
Bel Trew reports from the Road to Majority conference in Washington, DC:
Frank Pavone, an American anti-abortion activist and national director of Priests for Life who spoke at the event, dismissed criticism that Donald Trump does not practice privately what he preaches publicly. Mr Trump faced a slew of comments over his enthusiastic support for Louisiana’s divisive decision to require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom this week — with critics saying he had been publicly accused of breaking several commandments, including adultery.
“We’re not looking for somebody who necessarily is going to live out our faith in all its particulars. We’re looking for someone who’s going to defend our right to live our faith,” said Pastor Pavone, who has served on a number of advisory councils for Mr Trump and believes he will follow an anti-abortion agenda including supporting further legislation if he becomes president.
“He’s going to give us the freedom to live our faith. He’s going to talk today about how people of faith need to have their voice strong in this nation.”
“Donald Trump is not a person who wears his faith on his sleeve in terms of talking about his relationship with the Lord. But he has a strong relationship with Christ.”
Bel Trew reports from the Road to Majority Conference in Washington, DC:
After addressing the conference, Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley claimed “record turnout and record enthusiasm” for Donald Trump, as he dismissed concerns of divisions within the Republican Party, ahead of the Republican National Convention due to take place in three weeks in Milwaukee.
“We have absolutely an enthusiasm gap between President Trump and Joe Biden [that] is at record proportions. We have people that are coming out of the woodwork.”
“We are seeing Black families, Hispanic families, Asian American families, and they’re leaving the Democratic Party because President Trump fights for every single American family.”
“We saw him leave the courthouse in New York, go around the corner to a bodega, have a press conference, and command 48 hours worth of press, just like that.
“… He had a rally in New York City. 25,000 people showed up. He had a rally in New Jersey. 107,000 people showed up. Every single event that we’re going to all across the country.”
[Law enforcement sources put the Bronx rally crowd at 8,000-10,000 people and estimates of the crowd size in Wildwood, New Jersey range from 30,000 to 60,000 people]
“We’re having record turnout, record enthusiasm. We are very excited about where we are from an enthusiasm standpoint.”
Whatley said they were expecting 50,000 delegates, guests and alternates to attend the RNC in early July.
“We’re looking for… very unified delegate slates from all across the country, people who are going to be very excited to support President Trump and his vision for the next four years.”
Whatley, whose speech at the Road to Majority conference ended on his pro-life beliefs, defended Mr Trump who has been evasive about the abortion ban legislation.
“President Trump has made very clear his position on abortion which is that we fought for 50 years to end the tyranny of Roe v Wade.
“He’s is the most pro-life president that we’ve ever had.”
Donald Trump declared his “love” for the Ten Commandments and called for them to be displayed in schools and “many other places” in an all-caps, late-night post on his social media platform, Truth Social.
His post came after Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed legislation this week that requires the display of the Ten Commandments in every public classroom in the state, a move that will be challenged in court. Elementary, middle and high schools, as well as public colleges, must all display posters no smaller than 11 by 14 inches and the commandments must be “the central focus of the poster” and “in a large, easily readable font,” the law states.
Louisiana is the only state in the country with such a requirement — but Trump suggested he’d like to see that changed.
Martha McHardy reports.
His post came after Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed legislation that requires the display of the Ten Commandments in every public classroom in the state
After hundreds of complaints against her, and one day after a report revealed that she ignored other federal judges who urged her to step away from the case, District Judge Aileen Cannon kicked off the first of a three-day series of hearings in Donald Trump’s classified documents case.
Cannon has indefinitely delayed a trial against the former president. So the hearings in her Florida courtroom are instead putting special counsel Jack Smith under a microscope.
On Friday, Trump’s attorneys and his allies argued that Smith — who brought federal charges against the former president — was unlawfully appointed as special counsel. Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump, appeared somewhat skeptical of their long-shot arguments, which join a long list of motions to dismiss the case.
Alex Woodward has been following the case for The Independent.
Judge Aileen Cannon is in the middle of three days of hearings in the former president’s Mar-a-Lago case
Lauren Boebert danced in red stilettos down a gauntlet of Republicans wielding foam pool noodles in a faux “American Gladiator” event during one of the more surreal moments of a final campaign appearance Thursday – before voters in a district she’s just moved to decide whether they want her representing them in Congress.
Sheila Flynn reports from Centennial, Colorado.
The controversial gun-loving Republican is having to persuade voters in a district she’s just moved to that they should help her get back to Congress
The Independent’s Bel Trew is speaking to delegates at the Faith and Freedom conference in Washington, DC ahead of Donald Trump’s remarks at lunchtime today.
Frank Collins, 69, a pastor who drove eight hours from Detroit to attend the event, prayed for Donald Trump with his son, also called Frank, who was wearing a “Make America Great Again” baseball cap.
“We need someone who will speak the truth boldly, like a lion, and really, really tell people what’s going on in this nation,” Pastor Collins said.
about the criticism of Mr Trump supporting the new Louisiana law requiring classrooms to post the Ten Commandments, he said: “We’ve all broken the Ten Commandments haven’t we?”
“We’re not looking for a perfect person, but we’re looking for a person who has a heart for the American people and a heart for God. And I think I honestly believe in my heart that he’s the one that has it. I don’t see it in Biden. I didn’t see it in Obama,” Collins said.
“I didn’t vote for either one of them. I voted for Donald Trump the first time. I was here for the first inauguration, and I’ll be here for the second inauguration. So this is the man of the day. This is the man of the hour. And we’re praying, we are praying”.
His son Frank, 19, who will be voting for the first time said that he believed young people “want to have someone we can trust in office, which is Trump.”
“Everyone makes mistakes. He’s done a lot of things in office that have helped this country. I solely believe he is the answer to our problems.”
The family rejected the trial against Trump – saying members of the Black community in the USA felt solidarity with the former president as they felt the judicial “dice are stacked against us”.
“It’s a kangaroo trial. No, offense to the people from Australia, but [the USA] is a banana republic. It is really unfair what they did to him and people see through it. And I think it’s going to show in the polls now. Donald Trump went through something that Black Americans go do a lot. We have the dice stacked against us,” he said.
“We go to court and things are against us. And so not only us but poor people. So when they look at what they did to him, we can relate. What was done here was not fair and legal also. The judiciary has been has been militarized against him.”
Colorado’s congressional primaries could end up bringing about the downfall of one of the US’s most scandal-plagued members of the House of Representatives: Lauren Boebert.
If it doesn’t it will be because, as one of her opponents put it, there were too many horses in the race.
Voters will decide the fate of Boebert and other races across the state on Tuesday, June 25. One way or another, they make their judgment on the long, strange road the far-right Republican congresswoman has taken since her 2022 defeat, after which she became further embroiled in scandals and fled her district.
John Bowden and Sheila Flynn report from Colorado.
Scandal-ridden congresswoman has Trump’s backing in her bid to win a district across the state from her current seat
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