Trump says there were no documents found at Mar-a-Lago, just ‘cool’ empty folders marked classified
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Donald Trump has withdrawn a $250m lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James after getting a warning from a federal judge.
The same judge sanctioned Donald Trump and his lawyer nearly $1m for suing former secretary of state Hillary Clinton over claims that she and others rigged the 2016 presidential election.
“This case should never have been brought,” wrote Judge Donald M Middlebrooks of the Southern District of Florida in his order. “Its inadequacy as a legal claim was evident from the start.”
Judge Middlebrooks said the sanctions were warranted because the former president had exhibited a “pattern” of misusing the courts for his political agenda. “Intended for a political purpose, none of the counts of the amended complaint stated a cognizable legal claim,” he wrote.
Mr Trump and his lawyer Alina Habba are now liable for $937,989 in sanctions.
Meanwhile, the former president angrily reacted to the failure of the Supreme Court to identify the source of the decision leak that sparked outrage last year.
He shockingly called for the jailing of the Politico reporter, publisher, and editor who broke the story in an effort to force them to identify the source of the leak.
Trump and his lawyer fined nearly $1m for Hillary Clinton lawsuit
A federal judge in Florida on Thursday sanctioned former president Donald Trump and his legal team nearly $1m for filing a “frivolous” lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and others.
Mr Trump, in the suit filed against the former Democratic presidential candidate Ms Clinton and others, alleged that they tried to rig the 2016 election by falsely accusing his campaign of links to Russia.
“This case should never have been brought,” wrote Judge Donald M Middlebrooks of the Southern District of Florida in his order. “Its inadequacy as a legal claim was evident from the start.”
Read more here.
‘Its inadequacy as a legal claim was evident from the start’
Earlier: Retreating Trump drops Letitia James lawsuit after being sanctioned by same judge
Donald Trump has withdrawn a $250m lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James after getting a warning from a federal judge.
In a short filing on Friday morning, the Trump legal team withdrew the filing with US District Judge Donald Middlebrooks after his Thursday warning.
Read on:
‘Its inadequacy as a legal claim was evident from the start,’ US District Court judge writes
GOP spending at Trump DC hotel dried up soon after he sold it, report says
According to a report by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), official Republican spending at the Washington, DC, hotel previously owned by Donald Trump has all but dried up since he sold it.
For five years, the Trump International Hotel served as an assembly point for GOP officials, lobbyists, and Trump’s visitors. However, since its sale and reopening as the Waldorf Astoria, this is no longer the case.
The Trump International Hotel, is now a Waldorf Astoria
CREW found from FEC data that in the first six months of the hotel opening in 2016, Republicans spent some $266,000 at the property. This rose to $867,000 in the five months from June to November leading up to the 2018 midterm elections.
In the same period in 2022 following the rebrand and reopening in June of that year, and in the run-up to that year’s midterms, the GOP spent $2,000 at the property.
These figures belie the fact that this is only a portion of the spending that took place relating to the party as they only cover spending that must be disclosed and made public. Donors and other groups affiliated with the GOP will likely have spent money at the property both during and after the Trump presidency.
The hotel was often said to be convenient due to its location on Pennsylvania Avenue between the White House and Capitol Hill. CREW contends that if patronage was determined by convenience “then the Waldorf Astoria should be equally as popular as its predecessor”.
The group suggests that there is no longer any need to use the hotel to seek the approval of its owner.
An ‘insult to the rule of law’: White House forcibly condemns Trump call to jail reporters
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has forcefully condemned Donald Trump’s call to jail the Politico journalists who reported on the Supreme Court’s leaked decision to overturn Roe v Wade.
The twice-impeached ex-president, who during his term repeatedly disparaged the press as “the enemy of the people” and suggested White House reporters who reported unflattering information about him and his administration could be tried for treason, took to his Truth Social platform on Thursday after ater a Supreme Court leak investigation failed to identify a person responsible for leaking a draft of the high court’s Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization opinion to Politico last year.
Andrew Feinberg reports for The Independent from the White House.
‘It is a complete insult to the rule of law,’ White House tells The Independent
Judge: DeSantis wrongfully suspended twice-elected state attorney
A federal judge has determined that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis unconstitutionally suspended an elected state attorney who criticised the governor’s positions on abortion and transgender healthcare, but the judge said he did not have authority to return the prosecutor to office.
US District Judge Robert Hinkle said the governor had falsely accused Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren of relying on a blanket policy to avoid prosecuting certain cases with which he disagreed.
Alex Woodward has the full story:
Andrew Warren criticised Florida governor’s anti-abortion measures and threats to transgender healthcare
Bolton knocks Pompeo’s ‘character’ after being dubbed ‘scumbag loser’
Former national security adviser John Bolton has responded after his former colleague, Mike Pompeo, called him a “scumbag loser” and said that he wanted to see the former White House aide thrown in federal prison.
Yikes.
Ex-State Department chief takes swings at multiple former colleagues in upcoming memoir
Secret Service plans new guardhouse at Mar-a-Lago… which is already an ‘armed fort’ Trump says
The Mar-a-Lago Club, Palm Beach, Florida
The Secret Service is planning a new guardhouse at Donald Trump’s home and private members club, Mar-a-Lago.
The design will be themed to match the architectural style of the resort and surrounding Palm Beach and comes from local firm REG Architects.
In recent days, the former president has described his Florida home as already being like an “armed fort” in an attempt to depict it as a secure place in which to hoard classified materials that should have remained with the National Archives.
reports that Palm Beach’s Landmarks Preservation Commission board members reviewed a request on 18 January to construct a 232-square-foot guardhouse at the main gate of Mar-a-Lago, which is listed as a national historic landmark.
While staying true to the resort’s architecture, the security booth would have similar protections to those at the residences of other past presidents, but will also include additional security features such as armour, ballistic glass, and communication equipment in anticipation of potential coordinated attacks at the main gate or from South Ocean Boulevard which wraps around two sides of the property.
The landmarks board has requested revised design plans to depict the scale and visibility of the project in its location and has deferred approval until mid-February.
Press freedom advocate calls Trump’s demand to jail reporters ‘appalling’
Donald Trump’s demand to jail a reporter who broke the story of a leaked Supreme Court draft has been denounced as “appalling” by a leading press freedom activist.
The top court has said that an eight-month investigation to try and identify who had leaked the draft of decision to overturn Roe v Wade had been unable to uncover the source of the leak.
The leaked draft, and its shuddering implications for the country, were published in May by Politico.
The Independent’s Andrew Buncombe reports from Seattle.
Hillary Clinton supporters are goading Donald Trump after he withdrew a $250m lawsuit against New York Attorney General Letitia James, which followed a warning from a federal judge regarding a lawsuit against his 2016 opponent and other officials.
Just one example:
Gustaf Kilander filed this report:
‘We knew Trump was the sorest of sore losers. Now we know he’s a sore winner too!’
Fight between YouTubers Stephen Crowder and Ben Shapiro roils right-wing media
The right-wing media sphere is in turmoil after popular YouTuber Stephen Crowder publicly accused a number of conservative media companies of being con jobs.
John Bowden has the story.
Right-wing hosts war over ‘slave contract’ that would have paid Stephen Crowder tens of millions
