Tag: elections

Lawrence Wong set to take centre stage as Singapore’s new prime minister | Politics News

Singapore – For the first time in 20 years, Singapore will inaugurate a new prime minister, Minister for Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who will take the reins of power in a ceremony on Wednesday, May 15.

The 51-year-old will replace Lee Hsien Loong – the eldest son of the country’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew – who has been in the job since August 2004.

Wong is only the fourth leader in Singapore’s 59-year history as an independent nation. Like his predecessors, he is a member of the People’s Action Party (PAP), co-founded by the elder Lee and the only ruling party Singaporeans have ever known.

The stage is now set for a general election in the city-state of 6 million people, which observers say could be held as early as this year, although the term of the current government does not expire until 2025.

At the last election in 2020, the PAP secured more than 61 percent of the vote, losing just 10 seats in the 98-member parliament to the opposition, but this was considered a sub-par performance given the opposition had won only six seats in the previous parliament.

Lawrence Wong (left) has had less time than his predecessors to prepare for the top job [How Hwee Young/Pool via EPA]

The stakes are higher now, and a new leader is traditionally expected to gain a strong mandate from voters. Wong will be tasked with maintaining the dominance of the PAP in the face of an increasingly demanding electorate who want a greater say in governance and eschew the knuckleduster tactics and paternalistic politics of previous governments.

They are also tiring of the rat race, which Wong himself has acknowledged.

Among the most pressing issues on his plate: tackling the rising cost of living, an ageing population, a slowing economy and immigration. The PAP has also been rocked by a rare corruption scandal.

In addition, Wong must navigate the ever-present China-United States rivalry as the tiny island is a key ally to both superpowers.

Who is Lawrence Wong?

The mild-mannered Wong was selected by his peers among the “4G”, or fourth generation of leaders in Singapore’s political jargon, to be a successor to 72-year-old Lee in April 2022.

Something of a compromise candidate, he was not their first choice.

That was former central bank chief and Minister for Education Heng Swee Keat, 63, who had been appointed to succeed Lee in 2018. In a country renowned for its political stability, Heng sparked a mini political crisis by stepping aside two and a half years later, citing his age and admitting that he had not felt up to the task from the start.

Unlike many of his PAP peers, Wong did not come from the island’s establishment or attend its top schools. Going to university in the US on a government scholarship, he started out as an economist in the trade and industry ministry before entering politics in 2011.

After stints as a minister in less glamorous portfolios such as national development, he was not considered a potential prime minister, but the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything.

As co-leader of the country’s COVID-19 task force, Wong emerged as the public face of the government’s pandemic response, adroitly fielding questions from foreign media outlets in televised news conferences. Such events are a rarity in a country that performs dismally in the annual World Press Freedom rankings – Singapore was ranked 126th out of 180 countries and territories this year.

Heng Swee Keat meeting members of the public during the 2020 election campaign. He is wearing white - the colour of the People's Action Party. He is in a hawker centre and there are food stalls nearby. He is handing out leaflets.
Heng Swee Keat, seen campaigning in the 2020 election, was the first choice of the ruling People’s Action Party but decided he no longer wanted the job and stepped aside [How Hwee Young/EPA]

“Mr Wong is seen as a technocrat, [who is] friendly and approachable. He delivered well for the COVID-19 crisis, so he can be viewed as competent,” said former PAP lawmaker Inderjit Singh, who served alongside Lee in his central Ang Mo Kio ward for two decades.

Noting that Wong was only chosen two years ago after a period of political uncertainty, he added: “Anyone in his position will have his work cut out to show that he is indeed the right leader. He has a big task to quickly show that he is indeed the right person who can deliver.”

Leadership succession

Historically, leadership succession in Singapore has been a well-oiled process, with the heir apparent announced well in advance and groomed for years. This has been facilitated by a sterling record of governance, the PAP’s longstanding parliamentary supermajority – at its peak, there were no opposition lawmakers – and its dominance of key institutions.

Heng’s sudden departure was therefore unprecedented. Wong will also have the shortest runway of all – he became Lee’s deputy just two months after being anointed his successor. By comparison, the younger Lee served as deputy prime minister for 14 years before taking over the top job.

This perhaps explains Minister of Law and Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam’s prickly response to what he termed a “sneering” commentary in The Economist last month, which labelled Wong a compromise candidate and the Singapore media “docile”. Weeks later, the United Kingdom weekly conducted a wide-ranging interview with Wong where he stressed that as prime minister, he would not shy away from making unpopular decisions.

“Wong comes across as being very personable. He doesn’t portray the image of a hardliner,” said former newspaper editor PN Balji, who interacted extensively with Wong’s predecessors. While he is optimistic that Wong will come to prove himself, he added: “If you look at the leadership from Lee Kuan Yew till now, the quality of leadership has declined somewhat.”

The social-media-friendly Wong is seen as approachable [File: Sport Singapore / Action Images via Reuters]

Perhaps this is why Lee Hsien Loong is not going away – he will remain in the cabinet with the title of senior minister, just as his predecessors did.

“Given the short runway, I think Wong will benefit from [Lee’s] presence, especially in helping keep [good] external relations,” said Singh.

What do Singaporeans think of him?

Despite his increased profile during the pandemic, the guitar-playing, dog-loving, social media-friendly Wong remains something of an unknown quantity to Singaporeans.

According to a recent YouGov poll, just more than half of respondents considered him competent, with less than a third agreeing that he was a strong leader. Some 40 percent said he seemed trustworthy, a number that was significantly higher among Gen Z respondents. A fifth felt hopeful about Wong’s appointment, while 36 percent stated indifference.

Many also indicated high expectations for the incoming prime minister, perhaps reflecting the fact that Singapore’s government leaders are the world’s highest-paid, with the prime minister taking home 2.2 million Singapore dollars ($1.6m) a year including bonuses.

“Wong’s biggest challenge in the short term will be to articulate an easy-to-understand, inclusive, and progressive political vision that will draw widespread support for his government in the upcoming elections,” Elvin Ong, an assistant professor at the National University of Singapore’s political science department, told Al Jazeera.

Wong, who has stressed that he did not seek out the role or expect to become leader, is certainly working hard to win over the electorate. “Every ounce of my energy shall be devoted to the service of our country and our people,” he said in a post to his 200,000-odd Instagram followers after the handover date was announced. “Your dreams will inspire my actions.”

Calling Singapore the “improbable, unlikely nation”, he told The Economist: “My mission is to keep this miracle going for as long as I can.”

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Key takeaways as ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen testifies in New York trial | Donald Trump News

Michael Cohen, the key prosecution witness in Donald Trump’s hush-money case, has testified against the former United States president in one of the most widely anticipated days in court since the trial began.

Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, told the court on Monday that he lied and bullied on behalf of his former boss.

“It was what was needed in order to accomplish the task,” said Cohen, periodically glancing over at Trump, who was slouched in his chair at the defendant’s table in the New York City courtroom.

Prosecutors have accused Trump of falsifying business records related to hush-money payments made before the 2016 election, which he won.

The prosecution’s case hinges on a $130,000 payment Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the vote, in an effort to keep her from speaking publicly about a 2006 sexual encounter she says she had with Trump.

The former president has denied that any such encounter took place. He also has rejected the charges against him as politically motivated. The trial has come as Trump campaigns for re-election in November.

Here are the key takeaways from Cohen’s testimony on day 16 of the trial.

Cohen says he did ‘whatever’ Trump wanted

Cohen, 57, testified on Monday that it was fair to describe his role as being a fixer for Trump, testifying that he took care of “whatever he wanted”.

Rather than work as a traditional corporate lawyer, Cohen reported directly to Trump and was never part of the general counsel’s office for the Trump Organization.

Among his duties were renegotiating bills from business partners, threatening to sue people and planting positive stories in the press, he said.

Trump, he added, communicated primarily by phone or in person and never set up an email address.

“He would comment that emails are like written papers, that he knows too many people who have gone down as a direct result of having emails that prosecutors can use in a case,” Cohen said.

A courtroom sketch shows Cohen being questioned by prosecutor Susan Hoffinger as Trump sits with his eyes closed on May 13 [Jane Rosenberg/Reuters]

Cohen details effort to quash bad press

Cohen testified that — at a meeting in 2015 with Trump and David Pecker, then-publisher of the National Enquirer — the trio discussed using the supermarket tabloid to boost Trump’s candidacy while attacking his rivals.

According to the testimony, Trump told Pecker to let Cohen know if he became aware of negative press that might arise, and the three men agreed that Pecker would try to suppress any such stories.

As Trump prepared to announce his campaign for president, he allegedly told Cohen that there would be “a lot of women coming forward”.

Cohen further explained that, as Trump’s then-lawyer, he sought to harness the power of the National Enquirer for his boss’s benefit, given its high visibility next to the cash registers at tens of thousands of supermarkets across the US.

He testified that he went to Trump immediately after the National Enquirer alerted him to a story being peddled about an alleged affair with former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

Cohen recalled going to Trump’s office and asking him if he knew McDougal or anything about the story. Cohen said Trump then told him to make sure that the story doesn’t get released.

Cohen said he thought the story would have a “significant” impact on Trump’s presidential campaign if it were to be published.

The McDougal news came shortly after the National Enquirer paid $30,000 to squash a doorman’s false rumour that Trump had a child out of wedlock. “You handle it,” Cohen remembers Trump telling him after learning that the doorman had come forward.

Cohen’s testimony on Monday echoed similar claims from Pecker, the publisher, earlier in the trial. Pecker testified about the so-called “catch-and-kill” scheme to suppress stories that could negatively affect Trump before the 2016 vote.

Publisher pressed him for reimbursement, Cohen says

After the National Enquirer paid $150,000 to suppress McDougal’s story, Cohen testified that the tabloid’s publisher was hounding him to get Trump to reimburse him for the cost.

Cohen recounted meeting Pecker at his favourite Italian restaurant and the publisher being upset about not being repaid for burying the story about Trump’s alleged affair with the ex-Playboy model.

Pecker was concerned, Cohen said, that “it was too much money for him to hide from the CEO of the parent company” and he’d already laid out $30,000 to suppress the doorman’s story.

Cohen added that, at some point, Pecker had also expressed to him that his company, American Media Inc, had a “file drawer — or a locked drawer as he described it — where files related to Mr Trump were located”.

Cohen said he was concerned because the publisher’s relationship with Trump went back years and that Pecker was in the running to head another media company. Cohen feared what would happen to the files if Pecker left.

Trump attends the sixteenth day of his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 13 [Steven Hirsch/Pool via Reuters]

Trump furious at Daniels’ claims, Cohen says

Cohen also told jurors on Monday that Trump was furious that Daniels, the adult film star, was shopping a story about the sexual encounter she says she had with the ex-president.

“He said to me, ‘This is a disaster, a total disaster. Women are going to hate me,’” Cohen testified. “‘Guys, they think it’s cool, but this is going to be a disaster for the campaign.’”

Cohen explained he learned that Daniels was selling her story at a critical moment for Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. An audio recording had just been leaked from the TV show Access Hollywood, in which Trump bragged about grabbing women’s genitals.

The tape left the Trump campaign scrambling to contain the damage only weeks before Election Day in November 2016.

The ex-president’s defence team has suggested the payment to Daniels could have been made to spare Trump and his family embarrassment, not to boost his campaign. But Cohen testified that Trump appeared solely concerned with the effect on his presidential bid.

“He wasn’t thinking about Melania. This was all about the campaign,” said Cohen, referring to Trump’s wife. At the defence table, Trump shook his head.

Cohen added that he recalled Trump saying, “Just get past the election, because if I win, it will have no relevance because I’m the president, and if I lose, I won’t really care.”

‘Just do it,’ Cohen says Trump told him

Cohen also provided detailed testimony about the hush-money payment that he made to Daniels, which is at the heart of the prosecution’s case.

Cohen said Trump urged him to delay sending payment to Daniels’s lawyer until after the election, telling him that the story would no longer matter. In October 2016, with Daniels’s story about to come out, Cohen said Trump told him to finally pay up.

“He expressed to me: Just do it,” Cohen testified, saying Trump advised him to meet Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg and figure it out. Weisselberg baulked at paying, however, so Cohen said he decided to come up with the money himself.

“I ultimately said, ‘OK, I’ll pay it,’” Cohen testified, explaining that he resisted paying out of his own pocket, but eventually relented after Trump promised him, “You’ll get the money back.”

Trump’s lawyers have argued that Cohen acted on his own, a notion he rejected on the witness stand. “Everything required Mr Trump’s sign-off,” Cohen said on Monday.

Cohen also described during his testimony how he set up a shell company — falsely listed as a “real estate consulting company” — to facilitate the payment through a bank across the street from Trump Tower.

Prosecutors showed phone records to jurors indicating that Cohen called Trump’s line twice on the morning he visited the bank.

Trump’s defence team is expected to challenge Cohen’s credibility during cross-examination later this week and paint him as a liar who cannot be trusted.

Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal charges related to the hush-money payments, as well as for lying to Congress. He was sentenced to three years in prison.

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Lithuania’s Nauseda wins first round of presidential election | Elections News

Incumbent president will now go into a run-off against rival Ingrida Simonyte on May 26, in repeat of 2019.

Incumbent Gitanas Nauseda has won the first round of voting in Lithuania’s presidential election, putting him on track for a second and final term in office.

With nearly all of the votes counted, former banker Nauseda was on 46 percent, just short of the overall majority needed for a first-round victory.

Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte was second with 16 percent and the two will now go head-to-head in a run-off on May 26 in a repeat of the last election in 2019.

Eight candidates were on the ballot this time around, with campaigns largely focused on security issues and the threat posed by neighbouring Russia following its February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. All the main candidates agreed the country, once part of the Soviet Union and now a member of NATO and the European Union, should boost defence spending to counter the perceived threat on its borders.

Nauseda, 59, said he was confident of victory in the second round and would require “no strategy” to campaign against Simonyte.

Both Nauseda and Simonyte support increasing defence spending to at least 3 percent of Lithuania’s gross domestic product (GDP), from the 2.75 percent planned for this year. The increase in spending would pay for the modernisation of Lithuania’s army and infrastructure ahead of the deployment of a brigade of German troops in Lithuania who are expected to be combat-ready from 2027.

Some eight candidates were vying for Lithuanians’ vote on Sunday [Petras Malukas/AFP]

General election looms

While agreeing on Russia policy, the two candidates differ on other issues such as same-sex civil partnerships, a contentious policy in the predominantly Catholic country with a population of 2.8 million people.

While Nauseda opposes such partnerships, Simonyte, a 49-year-old fiscal conservative, is supportive.

Lithuania’s president has a semi-executive role, which includes heading the armed forces and chairing the supreme defence and national security policy body. The president also represents the country at the EU and NATO summits.

In tandem with the government, the president sets foreign and security policy, can veto laws and has a say in the appointment of key officials such as judges, the chief prosecutor, the chief of defence and head of the central bank.

In 2019, Simonyte narrowly defeated Nauseda in the first round of the presidential election before Nauseda went on to win the run-off with 66 percent of the vote.

Simonyte is also facing a tough test in a general election this October, as her coalition of centre-right parties trails in the polls.

Nauseda posed for cameras on election night surrounded by the leadership of the Social Democrats, the likely main challengers for Simonyte at the general election.

“I think it will be easy for us to find common ground,” he said about the possibility of the Social Democrats winning.

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India Lok Sabha election 2024 Phase 4: Who votes and what’s at stake? | India Election 2024 News

India is bracing itself for the fourth phase of its weeks-long elections on May 13 to elect 96 members of parliament to the Lok Sabha, or the lower house of parliament, as the world’s largest electoral exercise moves into its final month.

The two main contenders for power are Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), a coalition of 26 parties led by the main opposition party, Rahul Gandhi‘s Indian National Congress.

Last week, the third phase of the voting saw Modi cast his vote in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar constituency. It also saw the competition between the two main contenders heighten as the Congress Party’s former President Sonia Gandhi said Modi and the BJP were focusing “only on gaining power at any cost”.

The fourth phase also features a bit of glamour in the east of the country, where Bollywood veteran Shatrughan Sinha is seeking re-election in West Bengal’s Asansol, and to the south, where actress Maadhavi Latha from the BJP is standing for the Hyderabad seat in Telangana. Latha is pitted against Asaduddin Owaisi, a four-time MP from the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen party.

The first three phases of the election, which were held on April 19, April 26 and May 7, saw a voter turnout of 66.1, 66.7, and 61 percent, respectively. The voting so far has been lower than in the 2019 elections. In total, 969 million people are registered to vote in 543 parliamentary constituencies across 36 states and federally-governed union territories.

Who is voting in the fourth phase?

Registered voters across nine states and a union territory will cast their ballots for the following constituencies:

  • Andhra Pradesh: All 25 constituencies in the southern coastal state
  • Telangana: All 17 constituencies in the southern state
  • Jharkhand: Four of the eastern state’s 14 constituencies
  • Odisha: Four of the eastern state’s 21 constituencies
  • Uttar Pradesh: Thirteen of the northern state’s 80 constituencies
  • Madhya Pradesh: Eight of the central state’s 29 constituencies
  • Bihar: Five of the eastern state’s 40 constituencies
  • Maharashtra: Eleven of the western state’s 48 constituencies
  • West Bengal: Eight of the eastern state’s 42 constituencies
  • Jammu and Kashmir: One of the union territory’s five constituencies

Which are some of the key constituencies?

Hyderabad (Telangana): Asaduddin Owaisi is being challenged by the BJP’s Maadhavi Latha in his family bastion. Owaisi’s brother, Akbaruddin Owaisi is a member of the state legislative assembly while his father, Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi, represented the parliamentary constituency, with a substantial Muslim population, six times. Owaisi pitches himself as the voice of India’s Muslim minority whose issues he regularly raises in his parliamentary debates. Owaisi was given the “best parliamentarian” award in 2022.

Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir): This constituency in Kashmir registered just 15 percent voting in the 2019 election, which was marred by a boycott. This is the first parliamentary election in Kashmir since the region’s special status was removed in August 2019. The two biggest mainstream pro-India parties in the region – the National Conference and People’s Democratic Party – have fielded Aga Syed and Waheed Parra, respectively, as their candidates.

Krishnanagar, Baharampur and Asansol (West Bengal): These three parliamentary contests in West Bengal state, bordering Bangladesh, offer a mix of star power and political significance. Bollywood actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha is seeking re-election from Asansol, while ex-cricketer Yusuf Pathan is taking on senior Congress Party leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who has been representing Bahrampur since 1999. Chowdhury was also the leader of the opposition Congress Party in the outgoing Lok Sabha. Pathan is the candidate of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the party that rules the state and is also aligned with the national opposition INDIA alliance – even though the coalition’s members are standing against each other in West Bengal.

Yet, the most high-profile electoral battle in the state on May 13, is in Krishnanagar, where the fiery TMC parliamentarian and fierce critic of Modi, Mahua Moitra, is seeking a second term. A former vice president of JPMorgan Chase based in London, Moitra entered politics in 2009. Her parliamentary speeches asking tough questions of the government often go viral. In December 2023, the firebrand MP was expelled from parliament after being accused of accepting cash to ask questions. She said her expulsion was a way to silence her. She has challenged her expulsion in the Supreme Court. The BJP has fielded Amrita Roy, whose husband is a descendant of the erstwhile king of the region, against Moitra.

Kannauj and Lakhimpur Kheri (Uttar Pradesh): Akhilesh Yadav, the leader of the Samajwadi Party – a regional powerhouse that has seen its influence shrink with the BJP’s rise – has decided to enter the electoral race in Kannauj in northern Uttar Pradesh state, which accounts for 80 seats in the parliament. The BJP currently governs the state. Kannauj, known for its perfume industry, has been a Yadav family bastion. Akhilesh, his father Mulayan Singh Yadav and his wife Dimple Yadav have represented the seat since 1999. But in 2019, Dimple lost to the BJP in a shock defeat. Akhilesh’s entry into the electoral fray is an attempt to wrest back the family pocket borough.

The other seat that has attracted a lot of attention is Lakhimpur Kheri, where controversial federal Minister of Home Affairs Ajay Mishra Teni is seeking re-election. Mishra has been caught in a storm since his son Ashish Mishra allegedly ran his car over farmers protesting against now-repealed farm laws. Ashish is out on bail and farmers’ groups as well as activists have been demanding that Mishra be denied a ticket by the BJP.

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): This constituency, a stronghold of the BJP, has been in the news for unlikely reasons. The Congress candidate Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew from the race at the last minute, after the last date for candidates to file nominations had passed. The Congress could not field a replacement and Bam later joined the BJP. Thirteen other candidates are in the fray, but the Congress Party has urged voters to opt for NOTA (none of the above) in protest.

When does the voting start and end?

Voting will begin at 7am local time (01:30 GMT) and end at 6pm (12:30 GMT). Voters already in the queue by the time polls close will get to vote, even if that means keeping polling stations open longer.

Complete election results for all phases are to be released on June 4.

Which parties rule the states being polled in the fourth phase?

  • The BJP governs Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh outright.
  • The BJP governs Maharashtra and Bihar in alliances.
  • Odisha is governed by the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which leans towards the NDA but is not a part of the alliance.
  • Andhra Pradesh is governed by the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu (YSR) Congress Party.
  • Congress governs Telangana.
  • Jharkhand is governed by the INDIA alliance led by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.
  • West Bengal is governed by the All India Trinamool Congress Party, a member of the INDIA alliance.
  • Jammu and Kashmir is governed directly by New Delhi. Its state legislature remains suspended.

Who won these Lok Sabha seats in 2019?

  • In the last Lok Sabha elections, Congress, along with parties now affiliated with the INDIA alliance and those affiliated then with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, won 13 of the 96 seats to be decided on May 13.
  • The BJP and parties affiliated with the NDA won 50 of the seats in 2019.
  • The YSR Congress Party in Andhra Pradesh won 22 seats while the Telangana-based Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) won nine seats in 2019.
  • The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) won two seats in 2019.

How much of India has voted so far?

The first three phases of the Lok Sabha elections have already decided the fate of 284 MPs.

So far, voting has concluded for all seats in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Meghalaya, Assam, Manipur, Karnataka, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura; the Andaman and Nicobar islands; and the Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman, Diu, Lakshadweep and Puducherry union territories.

The fifth phase will kick off on May 20 and the sixth on May 25, before the election heads towards the seventh and final phase on June 1.

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Five takeaways from day 15 of Donald Trump’s New York hush-money trial | Donald Trump News

The fourth week of Donald Trump’s criminal hush-money trial in New York has come to a close, with the prosecution hinting that it would soon rest its case.

Nevertheless, on Friday, the prosecution continued to call a line of witnesses, seeking to bolster its case that Trump, a former United States president, intentionally falsified business documents in an effort to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.

The documents in question pertain to an alleged hush-money payment made to the adult film star Stormy Daniels, who came forward with allegations that she and Trump had an affair.

Trump has denied any sexual relations with Daniels, but in 2016, his former lawyer Michael Cohen transferred $130,000 to Daniels to buy her silence.

Cheques to reimburse Cohen for the payment were classified as “legal expenses”, a label the prosecution says was designed to conceal their true purpose. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as a result.

Trump’s defence team, however, has denied any wrongdoing, saying that the former president merely aimed to avoid embarrassment for his family. It has also sought to have a mistrial declared in the case.

Here are five main takeaways from day 15 of the criminal trial, the first in history to feature a US president:

Madeleine Westerhout has testified about her past experiences serving in Trump’s White House [File: Andrew Harnik/AP Photo]

Trump aide returns to the witness hand

The first witness to take the stand on Friday was a familiar face: Madeleine Westerhout, who appeared a day earlier to testify to how Trump managed his affairs while in the White House.

A former White House aide who served as a personal assistant to Trump, Westerhout explained that the then-president would regularly receive envelopes from New York with cheques to sign.

But as cross-examination proceeded on Friday, Westerhout was pressed about the details she presented and whether she could have been aware of the precise business matters Trump was attending to.

Trump defence lawyer Susan Necheles also asked Westerhout about the amount of work the then-president juggled each day.

“Would you see him signing things without reviewing them?” Necheles asked at one point.

Westerhout responded, “Yes.” She also testified that Trump was worried about how rumours of an affair with Daniels would affect his family.

“My understanding was that he knew it would be hurtful to his family,” Westerhout said, echoing a centrepiece of the defence’s argument.

Trump’s lawyers have maintained that the former president did not seek to sway the 2016 election but rather to shield his wife and children from news that might cause them discomfort.

Defence lawyer Emil Bove questions paralegal Jaden Jarmel-Schneider on May 10 [Jane Rosenberg/Reuters]

Technical witnesses fill out the day

Four more witnesses took the stand after Westerhout, testifying to technical aspects of the case and other evidence collected.

They included two representatives from major phone services: compliance analyst Daniel Dixon from AT&T and Jenne Tomalin from Verizon.

They briefly authenticated phone records, tracing communications between key figures in the trial, like Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer for the Trump Organization.

The last two witnesses on Friday came from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office: Georgia Longstreet — a familiar face on the stand — and Jaden Jarmel-Schneider, both paralegals.

Longstreet reviewed social media posts and text messages on behalf of the district attorney’s office.

During Friday’s testimony, she read aloud text messages Daniels’s manager Gina Rodriguez exchanged with an editor from the National Enquirer tabloid in 2016, before she accepted a hush-money payment from Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen.

Jarmel-Schneider, meanwhile, spoke to the data collected from Cohen’s phone.

He discussed, for example, why a recorded conversation between Cohen and Trump — seemingly about a hush-money payment to Playboy model Karen McDougal — appeared to be so short: Cohen had another call coming in.

Prosecutors also used Jarmel-Schneider’s testimony as an opportunity to display on screen the 34 documents Trump allegedly falsified — the basis for the case.

Former President Donald Trump walks with his defence lawyer Todd Blanche on May 10 [Curtis Means/DailyMail.com via AP, Pool]

Larry King interview barred from evidence

During breaks in the witness testimony, the prosecution sought to convince Judge Juan Merchan to allow a 1999 interview between Trump and CNN personality Larry King into evidence.

The interview contained a segment where Trump professed to be familiar with campaign finance laws, something the prosecution hoped to use to buttress its case that he knew his actions were illegal.

But the defence argued that an interview from 1999 had little relevancy to a case hinged on events in 2016, by which time campaign finance laws had changed.

Judge Merchan ultimately sided with the defence. The 1999 interview, he said, was “too attenuated” by the long stretch of time between the events in question.

Former lawyer Michael Cohen is expected to testify in the New York hush-money trial on Monday [File: Yuki Iwamura/AP Photo]

Cohen attacks Trump from TikTok

Another matter before the court was the question of Cohen’s presence on the social media platform TikTok.

Cohen is a key witness for the prosecution. He is expected to testify on Monday that Trump himself directed the hush-money payment to Daniels — and that the former president also ordered the subsequent falsification of the business records.

The defence, however, has sought to shift the blame away from Trump, saying that any criminal activity was Cohen’s fault instead.

Cohen and Trump have had a bitter relationship in recent years. Cohen left Trump’s employ in 2018, and the two men have exchanged lawsuits over legal fees and breached trust.

During the trial, Trump has been under a court-imposed gag order that bars him from speaking out against any witnesses, including Cohen. But he has violated that gag order multiple times, including to call Cohen a “liar” and share an article that labelled Cohen a “serial perjurer”.

But on Friday, Judge Merchan turned his attention to the comments Cohen himself was making on TikTok, attacking Trump.

The defence team had asked the judge to issue a separate gag order against Cohen, to stem his comments.

“It’s becoming a problem every single day that President Trump is not allowed to respond to this witness but this witness is allowed to continue to talk,” defence lawyer Todd Blanche said.

The prosecutors, however, argued they had little control over what Cohen said in his free time.

Judge Merchan, nevertheless, issued a stern warning. The prosecutors, he said, should tell Cohen “that the judge is asking him to refrain from making any more statements” about Trump.

“That comes from the bench,” he added.

Paralegal Georgia Longstreet testifies at the Manhattan criminal court on May 10, sharing messages sent by Stormy Daniels’s manager Gina Rodriguez [Jane Rosenberg/Reuters]

Two more prosecution witnesses to go

Friday’s court proceedings ended with an acknowledgement that the prosecution’s case is winding to a close.

Lawyer Joshua Steinglass told the court that the prosecution anticipated calling two more witnesses, then potentially resting its case.

“It’s entirely possible” that the prosecution could finish presenting evidence by next week, Steinglass explained.

The coming week is expected to be a short one, though: The court takes a midweek break every Wednesday, and on Friday, May 17, Trump requested the day off to attend his son Barron’s graduation.

With Friday’s hearing finally at an end, Trump exited the courtroom and spoke to the press, denouncing the prosecution’s case as a “scam”.

He complained that the court hinged on events that happened years ago, in 2016 — and that the charges landed in the middle of his current re-election campaign.

“It’s all fake. The whole case is fake,” he said as he left court for the day.

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Chad’s President Deby wins election against prime minister in heated race | Elections News

Violence and questions of election-rigging, however, marred the provisional vote tally, which was announced earlier than expected.

Military leader Mahamat Idriss Deby has won a closely watched presidential election in the country of Chad, according to provisional results released by its National Election Management Agency.

Deby secured more than 61 percent of the vote, according to the numbers released on Thursday, eliminating the need for a runoff with his closest rival, Prime Minister Succes Masra, who received 18.5 percent.

The victory allows Deby, the incumbent, to hold onto the presidency with a voter mandate.

Previously, he led the country as its interim president, seizing power after his father, the late President Idriss Deby, was killed in April 2021 while fighting a rebel group in the north of the country.

But his rival in the presidential race, Masra, has already indicated he will not accept the election results.

Earlier on Thursday, Masra issued a live broadcast on Facebook declaring himself the winner. He also accused Deby and other government officials of rigging the election results to hold onto power.

“A small number of individuals believe they can make people believe that the election was won by the same system that has been ruling Chad for decades,” Masra said.

President Mahamat Idriss Deby casts his vote during the May 6 presidential election [Stringer/Reuters]

Deby’s father had led the country for more than 30 years, from 1990 to 2021, when he was shot to death shortly after his sixth presidential victory.

Critics have accused both him and now his son, the current President Deby, of stifling the opposition to maintain their grip on power.

They have also pointed to circumstances leading up to the May 6 presidential vote that could have swayed its outcome.

For instance, one of the leading opposition figures, Deby’s cousin Yaya Dillo, was killed when security forces engaged in a shootout at his party headquarters.

Other opposition figures have been barred from running over “irregularities” in their applications to campaign.

On Thursday, Masra called on his supporters and security forces to back his claim to the presidency and reject the election agency’s results.

“To all Chadians who voted for change, who voted for me, I say: mobilise. Do it calmly, with a spirit of peace,” he said in his Facebook broadcast.

A poll worker shows off a copy of the presidential ballot on May 6, showing all 10 candidates [Desire Danga Essigue/Reuters]

Thursday’s results came earlier than expected, as the provisional results were originally thought to arrive on May 21.

Chad is considered the first of the military-led countries in Africa’s Sahel region to hold a democratic election, though questions about the vote’s fairness and credibility have endured.

Nearby countries like Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have weathered coups that have left military leaders in charge of their governments, too. Eight coups have struck the region since 2020 alone.

This month’s presidential race was also the first time in the country’s history that an incumbent faced his prime minister in the polls.

Upon taking office in 2021, Deby pledged to hold “free and democratic elections” within 18 months – but his government extended the transition period until 2024, allowing Deby to remain in office in the interim.

During that time, he led a referendum on a new constitution that allowed him to mount his 2024 election bid.

A lifelong soldier, Deby led the powerful DGSSIE, an acronym for the General Direction of the Security Services of State Institutions. In that role, he worked closely with French troops.

Home to nearly 18 million people, Chad was under French colonial rule until 1960, and it remains the last country in the Sahel region to have a French military presence, with warplanes and troops stationed there.

In the wake of Thursday’s announcement, security forces were stationed at intersections throughout the capital of N’Djamena, in case of unrest.

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A year since Pakistan’s May 9 riots: A timeline of political upheaval | Imran Khan News

EXPLAINER

Nationwide riots on this ‘dark day’ last year triggered a months-long political crisis that saw ex-PM Imran Khan jailed, and a crackdown on his party.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has scheduled rallies all across the country on Thursday to mark a year since the arrest of its leader and former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Cricketer-turned-politician Khan was arrested on this day last year, triggering a political crisis that lasted for months, which saw the PTI chief imprisoned again in August on several serious charges and a government crackdown on his party.

Khan, 71, remains embroiled in a slew of cases in which he has been convicted, and is currently lodged in Rawalpindi town’s Adiala jail.

Here’s a recap of the lead-up to Khan’s May 9, 2023 arrest, and the key events that transpired since:

2022

April 10: Khan loses a no-confidence vote in parliament, forcing his removal from power. He alleges a United States-backed conspiracy to sack him. Rival Shehbaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) party becomes the prime minister. The US has denied any role in Khan’s removal from power.

October 21: The Election Commission of Pakistan disqualifies Khan as a member of parliament after finding him guilty of “corrupt practices”, two months after he is charged in the state gifts case, which relates to him allegedly selling gifts he received from foreign countries when he was in power.

November 3: An assassination attempt is made on Khan while he is leading a protest in Wazirabad city in Punjab province to demand snap elections.

2023
May 9: Khan is arrested in a corruption case while making a court appearance in capital Islamabad, triggering nationwide protests by his supporters who blame the military for orchestrating the arrest. The military has consistently denied any role in Khan’s legal or political troubles.

 

PTI supporters protest Khan’s arrest in Karachi on May 9, 2023 [Sabir Mazhar/Anadolu]

May 11: Amid deadly protests led by PTI, Pakistan’s Supreme Court says Khan’s arrest is illegal, ordering his immediate release.

May 17: Authorities allege that Khan is hiding May 9 rioters in his residence in Lahore. Pakistan’s National Security Committee approves the military’s decision to try the arrested protesters in military courts.

August 5: Police arrest Khan in Lahore after an Islamabad court sentences him to three years in prison for illegally selling state gifts.

August 6: Pakistan’s election panel bars Khan from politics for five years following his conviction in the state gifts case.

August 9: President Arif Alvi dissolves the country’s National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, paving way for elections.

August 14: A caretaker government takes office under Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar.

August 20: Khan’s close aide and former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi is arrested in the state secrets or cypher case – which refers to the leaking of a secret diplomatic cable Khan alleges proves his charge that the US was involved in his removal from power.

October 21: Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif’s elder brother, returns to Pakistan from self-exile in the United Kingdom. A few days after his arrival, the Islamabad High Court grants him bail in several corruption cases.

October 24: A five-member Supreme Court bench declares the military trial of civilians in May 9 cases unconstitutional.

November 21: Islamabad High Court declares Khan’s in-jail trial illegal, striking down his indictment in the cypher case.

December 14: A six-member bench of the Supreme Court upholds an appeal by the government against its October 24 ruling. This allows the military trial of the May 9 accused to continue.

2024

January 13: Khan’s PTI is banned from using the iconic cricket bat symbol for not holding intra-party elections. PTI-backed candidates are forced to contest the elections as independents.

January 30: Khan is sentenced to 10 years in jail in the cypher case.

January 31: A court in Rawalpindi sentences Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, to 14 years in the state gifts case.

February 3: Another court in Rawalpindi sentences Khan and Bibi to seven years, ruling that their marriage violated Islamic law.

February 8: Pakistan holds parliamentary and provincial elections. PTI alleges widespread vote rigging — accusations that the government denies.

February 13: PMLN and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), along with other allies, form the government despite PTI-backed MPs emerging as the single largest bloc in parliament.

March 11: Police arrest more than 100 PTI supporters protesting against alleged rigging in the election.

April 1: Islamabad High Court suspends jail sentences of Khan and Bibi in state gifts case.

May 8: Bibi, who was under house arrest at Khan’s Bani Gala residence in Islamabad, is moved to Adiala jail.

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John Swinney elected as new Scotland leader | Politics News

Swinney replaces Humza Yousaf, who formally resigned on Tuesday after just over a year in office.

Scotland’s Parliament has approved political veteran John Swinney of the Scottish National Party (SNP) to lead the country as first minister.

Swinney, 60, succeeds Humza Yousaf, who formally resigned from the role earlier on Tuesday after his announcement last week that he would step down after just more than a year in charge.

Yousaf, 39, made the announcement before a confidence vote in the Scottish Parliament that he was set to lose, having ditched the SNP’s junior coalition partners, the Scottish Green Party, in a row over climate policy.

Swinney won the backing of 64 members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) in the vote that was all but a foregone conclusion. His nearest rival, Scottish Conservatives leader Douglas Ross, picked up 31.

The political veteran said it was “something of a surprise” to find himself taking the top job at this stage of his career but added it was “an extraordinary privilege”.

“I am here to serve you. I will give everything I have to build the best future for our country,” he told parliament after accepting the nomination.

Swinney, an old party hand who led the pro-independence SNP from 2000 to 2004 when the nationalists were in opposition, was elected unopposed as leader of the SNP on Monday.

He is seen as an experienced operator able to reach across the political divide, which is key to the SNP being able to rule as a minority government.

Swinney must also unite his divided party, split between those on the left supportive of trans rights and urgent climate action and members on the right wanting to focus on issues such as health and the economy.

He has said that alongside advancing the case for Scottish independence, he wants to eradicate child poverty.

But he inherits a difficult political legacy with former SNP leader and ally Nicola Sturgeon embroiled in a party funding scandal and a challenging domestic policy landscape.

Resurgent Labour

The SNP is expected to lose several seats in the United Kingdom Parliament to a resurgent Labour Party at a general election due this year.

The SNP currently holds 43 seats at Westminster. Labour hopes a comeback in its former stronghold of Scotland will help it win an outright majority in the nationwide vote.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a Conservative, said he looked forward to “working constructively” with Swinney “on the real issues that matter to families – delivering jobs, growth and better public services for people across Scotland”.

Critics have accused the SNP, in power in the devolved parliament in Edinburgh for 17 years, of focusing on pursuing independence at the expense of issues like the cost-of-living crisis and education.

The party has struggled to rebuild momentum for another independence referendum since Scotland voted against leaving the UK in 2014.

Despite the SNP slumping in the polls since Sturgeon quit in March last year, support for independence continues to hover around 40 percent, giving the party cause for hope.

The SNP holds 63 seats in the 129-member Scottish Parliament, two short of a majority, meaning Swinney will need the support of other parties to pass legislation.

He has said he will not resurrect the defunct power-sharing deal between the SNP and the Scottish Greens and will approach issues on a case-by-case basis.

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Progressive US Senator Bernie Sanders to run for reelection | Politics News

United States Senator Bernie Sanders, the 82-year-old leftist and two-time presidential candidate from Vermont, has announced that he will run for reelection amid rumours of possible retirement.

Sanders, whose presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2020 galvanised young people and progressives, announced on Monday that he would run for a fourth six-year term in the US Senate.

“Let me thank the people of Vermont, from the bottom of my heart, for giving me the opportunity to serve them in the United States Senate. It has been the honour of my life,” Sanders, an independent, said in a video recording.

“Today, I am announcing my intention to seek another term.”

The announcement comes during a tumultuous time for the Democratic Party, which is facing intense backlash from key constituencies, especially young voters, over President Joe Biden’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza.

While initially rejecting calls for a ceasefire, Sanders has emerged as one of Congress’s most outspoken critics of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

The war has killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and reports have emerged of Israeli forces committing rights abuses, such as the torture and indiscriminate bombing of civilians.

In January, Sanders spearheaded a bill that would have halted security aid to Israel until the US Department of State completed a report evaluating claims of human rights abuses in Gaza.

The measure was ultimately defeated after Sanders forced it to a vote. Sanders, who identifies as Jewish himself, has also voiced support for the antiwar encampments that began on college campuses in April to show solidarity for the Palestinians under Israel’s siege.

The wave of protests engulfed university life in the US and highlighted generational divides within the Democratic Party over support for Israel. But Sanders likened the campus activism to his own experiences protesting for civil rights in the 1960s.

“In 1962, we organized sit-ins to end racist policies at the University of Chicago. In ’63, I was arrested protesting segregated schools. But we were right,” Sanders said in a recent social media post.

“I’m proud to see students protesting the war in Gaza. Stay peaceful and focused. You’re on the right side of history.”

He also slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for attacking the campus protests as “anti-Semitic”.

“Anti-Semitism is a vile and disgusting form of bigotry that has done unspeakable harm to many millions of people. But, please, do not insult the intelligence of the American people by attempting to distract us from the immoral and illegal war policies of your extremist and racist government,” Sanders wrote in a statement on April 25.

“It is not anti-Semitic to hold you accountable for your actions.”

Sanders has gained a devoted following for championing progressive causes, including a universal healthcare system that guarantees access as a human right.

He ran against Biden in the 2020 Democratic primaries, making strong showings in early-voting states. In the 2020 Iowa caucuses, for instance, he placed second. In the New Hampshire primary, he notched first.

But Biden’s dominant performance in South Carolina augured a shift in the race, and Sanders ultimately suspended his campaign in April 2020.

Nevertheless, he has since appeared with Biden to champion initiatives to lower healthcare costs. In April, for instance, he and Biden held a joint news conference to tout improvements in the costs of inhalers, used to treat asthma.

“You and I have been fighting this for 25 years,” Biden told Sanders from the podium. “Finally we beat Big Pharma.”

In March 2020, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders participate in a Democratic presidential primary debate in Washington, DC [File: Evan Vucci/AP Photo]

Still, Sanders’s decision to run for reelection in the US Senate underscores an ongoing debate over age in the Democratic Party.

While he is all but guaranteed to win his race in the Democratic stronghold of Vermont, Sanders would be in his late 80s by the end of another term.

Voters, for instance, have consistently expressed concern that President Biden, 81, is too old to run for a second term. A February poll from ABC News and Ipsos found 86 percent of all Americans believe Biden’s age is too advanced for the job.

In his announcement video, Sanders said that he was motivated to run again partly due to the possibility that former President Donald Trump could return to the White House for a second term in office.

Trump is the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party, set to face Biden in a rematch of the 2020 presidential race.

“Will the United States continue to even function as a democracy?” Sanders asked. “Or will we move to an authoritarian form of government?”



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Key takeaways from 12th day of Trump’s New York hush-money trial | Donald Trump News

A New York jury has heard more testimony in the criminal trial against former United States President Donald Trump, who is accused of falsifying business records linked to hush-money payments ahead of the 2016 elections.

But even before the jury was seated on Monday, Judge Juan Merchan levied another $1,000 fine against Trump and held him in contempt of court for the 10th time for violating a gag order in the case.

“I do not want to impose a jail sanction and have done everything I can to avoid doing so. But I will if necessary,” Merchan said from the bench.

Imprisonment would be an unprecedented step in the historic trial, which stems from hush-money payments that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

The prosecutors have argued that Trump himself directed the payments, in an attempt to silence Daniels, who claimed they had an extramarital affair.

Trump, who faces 34 felony charges in the case, is accused of engaging in a conspiracy that aimed to “undermine the integrity” of the 2016 presidential election, by suppressing information that would have been unflattering to his campaign.

After Merchan’s ruling, jurors saw bank records and heard testimony from two members of the Trump Organization — one a former employee, the other current — who spoke to invoices and logs related to the alleged hush-money payments.

Trump, who is the presumptive Republican Party nominee heading into November’s presidential election, has pleaded not guilty and accused prosecutors of seeking to derail his re-election bid. He has also denied any sexual relations with Daniels.

Here are five key takeaways from the 12th day of the trial.

Bank records shown

For the first time, jurors on Monday heard about the reimbursements at the root of the charges against Trump.

Former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney testified about conversations he had with the company’s longtime finance chief Allen Weisselberg in January 2017 about reimbursing Cohen.

“Allen Weisselberg said we had to get some money to Michael, we had to reimburse Michael. He tossed a pad toward me and I started taking notes on what he said,” McConney testified. “That’s how I found out about it.”

Cohen, who had worked for the Trump Organization for about a decade, had just been taken off the payroll as a salaried employee. However, he had paid $130,000 to lawyer Keith Davidson, who represented the adult film star Daniels, in an effort to buy her silence.

A bank statement displayed in court showed Cohen paying Davidson $130,000 on October 27, 2016, out of an account for a shell company Cohen created for that purpose.

Weisselberg’s handwritten notes about reimbursing Cohen were stapled to the bank statement in the company’s files, McConney testified.

The notes spell out a plan to pay Cohen a base reimbursement of $180,000 — covering the payment to Davidson and an unrelated technology bill. That total was then doubled or “grossed up” to cover the state, city and federal taxes that Weisselberg estimated Cohen would incur on the payments.

Weisselberg then added a $60,000 bonus, for a total of $420,000, according to the notes.

The reimbursement payments were listed as legal fees, something which prosecutors say underscores their claim that Trump falsified business records.

Payments made from Trump’s account, McConney says

After paying the first two reimbursement cheques to Cohen through a trust, the remainder of the cheques — covering payments from April to December 2017 — were paid from Trump’s personal account, McConney also testified.

With Trump, the only signatory to that account, in the White House, the change in funding source necessitated “a whole new process for us”, McConney said.

McConney’s own notes were also shown in court. After calculations that laid out that Cohen would get $35,000 a month for 12 months, McConney wrote: “wire monthly from DJT”.

Asked what that meant, McConney said, “That was out of the president’s personal bank account.”

McConney’s testimony also touched on a key part of the case: how and why Cohen’s reimbursement for the Daniels payment was entered as a legal expense. He testified that he instructed an accounting department employee to do so.

All expenses had to be entered in the general ledger with a category code, and McConney instructed the accounting team to enter the code for legal expenses: 51505.

“We were paying a lawyer,” McConney said of Cohen on Monday.

Trump awaits the start of his criminal trial at Manhattan criminal court on May 6 in New York City in the United States [Peter Foley/Pool via AP Photo]

Under cross-examination later in the day, McConney acknowledged that Trump never directed him to log Cohen’s payments as legal expenses, nor did Weisselberg say Trump had wanted them listed that way.

Trump lawyer Emil Bove also pointed out that Cohen was a lawyer and that “payments to lawyers are legal expenses”.

Trump’s team has argued there was nothing illegal about the way Cohen was paid.

Another Trump Organization employee testifies

The prosecution also called Deborah Tarasoff, the accounts payable supervisor at the Trump Organization, to the stand on Monday afternoon.

Tarasoff was the recipient of a 2017 email in which McConney told her to “post to legal expenses” the reimbursement payments to Cohen. She prepared the cheques used to pay the former Trump lawyer.

Tarasoff testified about the process through which the cheques used to reimburse Cohen were issued.

Most of the cheques were paid out of Trump’s personal account and were signed by him at the White House, she said. She added that cheques would then return with Trump’s Sharpie signature.

“I’d pull them apart, mail out the cheque and file the backup,” she said, meaning putting the invoice into the Trump Organization’s filing system.

Two other cheques shown in court were drawn from Trump’s revocable trust, which was used to hold his assets while he was president.

It bore the signatures of two trustees: Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr and Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s longtime finance chief.

The cheques were logged in internal records as legal expenses arising from a retainer agreement. Prosecutors allege the payments were mislabelled to conceal Cohen’s reimbursement and the underlying hush-money payment.

Judge issues another fine against Trump

Monday’s $1,000 fine against Trump was the 10th such punishment for violating a court-imposed gag order, which bars the ex-president from making comments about the jurors, witnesses and families of court employees that might interfere with the case.

But as he issued the fine, Judge Merchan noted the nine previous fines of $1,000 each did not seem to be preventing Trump from violating the gag order.

“It appears that the $1,000 fines are not serving as a deterrent. Therefore, going forward, this court will have to consider a jail sanction,” Merchan told Trump and his defence team.

The judge also emphasised that jail time was “truly the last resort”, as it could disrupt the trial and have implications for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.

But Merchan added that Trump’s “continued, willful” violations of the gag order amounted to a “direct attack on the rule of law”.

The latest violation stemmed from an April 22 interview Trump gave to a right-wing broadcaster, in which he criticised the jury composition. “That jury was picked so fast — 95 percent Democrats. The area’s mostly all Democrat,” Trump said.

Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom on Monday, Trump continued to strike a defiant tone.

“It’s a ridiculous case, I did nothing wrong — absolutely nothing wrong,” said Trump, accusing the judge of stripping him of his “constitutional rights” with the gag order. “He’s taken away my constitutional right to speak.”

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