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Why a Trump indictment would have huge political and national implications | CNN Politics

Published

2 years ago

March 20, 2023

Why a Trump indictment would have huge political and national implications | CNN Politics

CNN
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America’s political and authorized establishments are bracing for his or her subsequent excessive take a look at posed by former President Donald Trump.

Trump’s prediction on Saturday that he may very well be arrested this week – and his try to ignite a preemptive backlash – made what had been the theoretical prospect of an ex-president and 2024 candidate being criminally charged seem rather more actual. And it signaled America is headed for an much more politically divisive ordeal that can take a look at his affect over the GOP.

The property developer, ex-reality TV star and former commander in chief faces a number of investigations after in search of to overturn the 2020 election and over his dealing with of categorised paperwork after leaving workplace. However his most fast publicity could also be in a case over an alleged hush cash fee to grownup movie star Stormy Daniels.

As of the weekend, Trump had not obtained any official notification that he shall be charged by Manhattan District Legal professional Alvin Bragg, a Democrat. However a grand jury course of seems to be in its remaining phases and Trump’s authorized crew has been making ready for the potential for an indictment, sources have instructed CNN.

The case revolves round whether or not Trump illegally lined up a $130,000 fee made by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, to Daniels to maintain quiet an alleged previous relationship forward of the 2016 election. The episode may doubtlessly symbolize an infringement of marketing campaign finance regulation. Trump says he didn’t do something fallacious and has denied having an affair with Daniels.

However the ex-president launched a attribute effort to discredit makes an attempt to name him to account, making an attempt to intimidate prosecutors, mobilize his grassroots supporters and strain high GOP officers to rally to his aspect. Each American has a constitutional proper to political self-expression, however the ex-president’s name this weekend for his loyalists – “Protest, take our nation again” – struck an ominous tone since he confirmed on January 6, 2021, that he was prepared to incite violence to additional his pursuits.

Trump lawyer Alina Habba instructed CNN’s Paula Reid Sunday there could be severe penalties if Trump had been to be indicted for a mere misdemeanor – one potential end result of the Manhattan probe. “It will trigger mayhem, Paula. I imply, it’s only a very scary time in our nation,” Habba stated. However she additionally stated that “nobody desires anybody to get damage” and Trump supporters ought to be “peaceable.”

An indictment would once more take a look at the truism of the Republican Social gathering within the age of Trump – that his grip on the GOP’s most fervent supporters is so nice that almost all of its lawmakers and officers really feel obliged to appease him as a way to protect their political careers.

Trump’s effort to politicize the case and to distract from the allegations towards him has already labored as his high allies in Republican Home management assault Bragg.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Sunday referred to as it “the weakest case on the market.” The California Republican, who has instructed GOP-led committees to analyze whether or not the Manhattan DA used federal funds to probe the hush cash fee, stated at a information convention that he had already spoken to Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan – who’s investigating “the weaponization” of the federal government towards political opponents – about wanting into that query.

However the speaker additionally stated individuals mustn’t protest over what might or not occur and insisted that Trump didn’t need that both. “If that is to occur we would like calmness on the market … no violence or hurt to anybody else,” McCarthy stated.

Additional underscoring Trump’s agency maintain on the GOP base, his social media publish prompted a number of of his Republican critics to line up beside him. Former Vice President Mike Pence, who’s mulling a marketing campaign to problem Trump for the 2024 nomination, instructed ABC Information, “It simply seems like a politically charged prosecution right here. And I, in my view, I simply really feel prefer it’s simply not what the American individuals need to see.”

New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, who has stated it’s time for Republicans to maneuver on from Trump, instructed Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union” the Bragg investigation was “constructing loads of sympathy for the previous president.” He added: “I (had) espresso this morning with some of us, and none of them had been large Trump supporters, however all of them stated they felt like he was being attacked.”

The likelihood that the previous president may quickly be charged has grave implications.

— An indictment of a former president could be unprecedented in US historical past and mark one other doubtful distinction for the twice-impeached Trump, who sought to interrupt the historic custom of peaceable transfers of energy and lied about his defeat within the 2020 election. There isn’t any custom of ex-US leaders being pursued by successor administrations. So, even when the instances towards Trump are legally justified, prosecutors in New York, in addition to in Georgia and on the Justice Division, face a dangerous and uncharted second.

— The scenario is much more fraught as a result of Trump is already an energetic candidate for the 2024 White Home race and has already rooted his marketing campaign in a story of persecution, particularly relating to investigations into his conduct after the final election. He’s additionally promising a presidency of “retribution” towards his foes if he wins the Oval Workplace once more.

— If he’s indicted, Trump will nonetheless get pleasure from constitutional protections and the presumption of innocence forward of any trial. At a brittle nationwide second, different political figures and the media may also face strain not to answer his efforts to inflame the scenario. Trump is already in search of to painting potential prosecutions towards him by the Justice Division as politically motivated weaponizations of justice, in a approach that presents a contemporary problem to President Joe Biden, his previous and probably future basic election opponent.

— An indictment would doubtlessly upend the 2024 Republican presidential major, with Trump browbeating opponents to assist his claims of innocence and portraying any failure to take action as siding with what he sees as a partisan investigation for political acquire. Neither Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a possible Republican candidate, nor former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who’s already within the race, have but commented on a scenario that presents them with a dicey dilemma. However each would have a robust curiosity in stopping the 2024 major marketing campaign from revolving completely round Trump portraying himself as a political martyr.

— The primary Republican nominating contests are practically a yr away, so it’s inconceivable to evaluate how GOP major voters and a nationwide citizens may react to any indictment of the ex-president. Sununu, who has additionally been contemplating a presidential run, accused Democrats of constructing sympathy for Trump with probes like Bragg’s in a approach that might “drastically change the paradigm as we go into the ’24 election.” However there has already been a palpable sense amongst some voters that it’s time to transfer on from the drama, chaos and authorized thickets consistently thrown up by Trump’s habits. The ex-president’s try to elevate his election-denying supporters into energy value Republicans dearly in swing states within the midterms final yr. An indictment would add to the talk over whether or not Trump’s persona and political attraction is so broken he couldn’t win a basic election.

— A cost within the Daniels case wouldn’t be Trump’s solely authorized drawback – or arguably his most severe one. Justice Division probes into his function within the January 6 mob assault on the US Capitol and Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election are nonetheless increasing. A separate particular grand jury investigated Trump’s pressuring of native officers to overturn Biden’s 2020 win in Georgia. Fulton County District Legal professional Fani Willis stated on the finish of January that choices within the inquiry had been “imminent.” Whereas an indictment in New York is perhaps seen as politically invigorating for Trump’s marketing campaign, it’s exhausting to see how a crush of expenses or trials in a number of instances would permit him to pay attention absolutely on a reputable presidential bid.

— Any indictment towards Trump could be rooted within the precept that nobody, not even an ex-president, is above the regulation. However given the weird nature and intricacy of the case and the opinion of some authorized specialists {that a} conviction is perhaps a problem, there may also be questions over whether or not the ex-president’s notoriety could be a think about any determination to indict him. His legal professionals may argue that somebody much less well-known or politically energetic would have been handled in a different way.

— There may be additionally the difficulty of whether or not the political division and trauma of placing Trump on trial could be within the wider nationwide curiosity — no less than in a reasonably constrained case that appears to carry fewer lasting constitutional implications than these linked to the January 6 investigations. Historical past might not look kindly on any failed prosecution.

The truth that the Daniels case dates again to an election that’s now greater than six years previous, even because the nation faces one other White Home marketing campaign, may additionally increase questions for the general public, particularly given the uncertainty concerning the case for anybody exterior the small bubble of the investigation. Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly instructed CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” on Sunday that “no person in our nation is or ought to be above the regulation.” However he additionally stated: “I’d hope that, in the event that they introduced expenses, that they’ve a robust case, as a result of that is … unprecedented. And there are definitely dangers concerned right here.”

Kelly’s remark emphasised how Trump, practically eight years after he burst onto the scene with an upstart presidential marketing campaign, is once more shattering conference concerning the function of presidents and ex-presidents in nationwide life. He once more could also be about to leap to the middle, in probably the most contentious of how, of the nationwide psyche and political debate.

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Naval Academy Takes Steps to End Diversity Policies in Books and Admissions

Published

6 hours ago

March 29, 2025

Press Room

Naval Academy Takes Steps to End Diversity Policies in Books and Admissions

The Pentagon and U.S. Naval Academy are proceeding with actions in support of the Trump administration’s push to eliminate “woke” initiatives throughout the federal government.

The U.S. Naval Academy said it had ended its use of affirmative action in admissions, reversing a policy it previously defended as essential for diversity and national security, according to a federal court filing on Friday. And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office has ordered the Naval Academy to identify books related to so-called diversity, equity and inclusion themes that are housed in the school’s Nimitz Library, and to remove them from circulation.

This week, according to a defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss policy decisions, Mr. Hegseth’s office became aware that the nation’s military service academies did not believe that President Trump’s Jan. 29 executive order to end “radical indoctrination” in kindergarten through 12th-grade classrooms applied to them, as they are colleges. The defense secretary’s office informed the Naval Academy that Mr. Hegseth’s intent was for the order to apply to the academies, and that the secretary expected compliance.

“The U.S. Naval Academy is fully committed to executing and implementing all directives outlined in executive orders issued by the president and is currently reviewing the Nimitz Library collection to ensure compliance,” said Cmdr. Tim Hawkins, a Navy spokesman. “The Navy is carrying out these actions with utmost professionalism, efficiency, and in alignment with national security objectives.”

The academy’s library in Annapolis, Md., houses roughly 590,000 print books, 322 databases, and more than 5,000 print journals and magazines, Commander Hawkins said.

The court filing on the admissions policy, submitted by the Naval Academy, the Department of Defense, Mr. Hegseth and other officials, states that the Naval Academy changed its admissions policy in February in response to federal directives prohibiting the practice of considering race, ethnicity and sex during the admissions process.

The Naval Academy superintendent issued revised internal guidance on Feb. 14, stating that would not be happening, according to the filing. The superintendent, Vice Admiral Yvette M. David, reaffirmed this change on Wednesday, when she testified before a subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“At no time are race, sex or ethnicity considered in the qualification of a candidate,” she said. The Naval Academy did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the admissions policy on Friday.

Thus far, the review of Nimitz Library’s holdings has identified 900 books that may run afoul of the defense secretary’s verbal order. According to a second defense official, they include “The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.,” “Einstein on Race and Racism,” and a biography on Jackie Robinson.

Mr. Hegseth is scheduled to visit the Naval Academy on Tuesday and to speak to the Brigade of Midshipmen. It is unclear whether the secretary expects the books to be removed before his arrival.

Defense officials said they were unaware whether the United States Military Academy at West Point, the United States Air Force Academy or the United States Coast Guard Academy had received similar orders, or whether the military’s graduate schools, such as the Naval War College and the Army’s Command and General Staff College, were expected to comply.

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Anti-Americanism is a mug’s game

Published

8 hours ago

March 29, 2025

Press Room

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Perhaps there is one simple reason why Donald Trump’s agenda is so hostile to Europe. Trump responds to flattery. Europe offers him almost none.

Even as European leaders sometimes try to massage the world’s most thin-skinned man, their publics make no secret of their contempt. Among voters in France, Germany and Spain, two-thirds say that Trump’s election has made the world less safe. Europe is too rowdy for sycophancy.

Trump surely notices this, just as he surely noticed the balloon of a giant orange baby flown on his state visit to London in 2019. His policies — imposing tariffs, threatening Greenland, shredding climate action, betraying Gaza and Ukraine — could hardly be better targeted as payback.

The temptation for Europeans is to go further: to vent not only at him, but America itself. It’s a short jump from decrying the US president as a dictatorial moron to decrying the public who elected him. In February, Canadian ice-hockey fans booed the US national anthem; “Make America Go Away” has made a great baseball cap. But otherwise, anti-Americanism has been notable by its absence.

Compare this to the years of George W Bush, the president who claimed he was misunderestimated before choking on a pretzel, when Americans were routinely mocked as fat, ignorant and arrogant. New Yorkers on holiday were made to feel personally responsible for war crimes. On the eve of the Iraq war, Europeans joked about the difference between yoghurt and Americans. The punchline: after a while, yoghurt develops some culture.

The then French president, Jacques Chirac, liked to say that he had a simple principle in foreign affairs: “I see what the Americans are doing and I do the opposite. That way, I’m sure to be right.” How they chuckled. This was the zenith not just of anti-American Islamist terrorism, but of anti-imperialist Latin American populists such as Hugo Chávez and Evo Morales.

But anti-Americanism has changed in 2025. Jokes about nationality don’t land as comfortably now. It’s rightly unfashionable to blame citizens for their governments, especially if the Americans we are most likely to encounter are despairing Democrats.

Anyway, Netflix and social media have bound us all together. You can’t really dismiss American culture when you choose to consume it daily. Go to Paris today, and see how readily people speak English. Go to London, and puzzle at the number of NFL fans. Judging by JD Vance’s and Pete Hegseth’s Signal messages, the Trump team is more anti-European than Europeans are anti-American.

Those repelled by Elon Musk’s X have moved to another West Coast-based network, Bluesky. European car buyers boycott Tesla but would buy a good American alternative. Just as the most effective takedowns of Bush came from an American filmmaker, Michael Moore, the best critiques of Trump and Musk will probably also come from the US itself. America is both thesis and antithesis.

Diplomatically too, anti-Americanism doesn’t fit the moment. Trump has reconciled with one regime that was fanatically anti-American under Bush — that is, Putin’s Russia — and even makes sporadic gestures to chavista Venezuela. Europeans are hardly in anti-imperial mood: they want American protection, not withdrawal.

The lesson of the Bush years is that presidential idiocy is temporary. Five and a half years after invading Iraq, America elected Barack Obama as president. Anti-Americanism is akin to amputating your broken leg, instead of waiting for it to heal.

But if it’s wrong to conflate Americans and their president, it’s wrong to disentangle them entirely. Trump reflects half of America. He reflects a society where a democratic majority is prepared to tolerate mass shootings and a warped political system. America provides so much of the world’s cultural backdrop that we sometimes mistake it for our own country. It is not, even when a Democrat is president.

Just last spring, during Joe Biden’s presidency, the US was seen unfavourably by at least half the public in Greece, Singapore and Australia, and by more than 40 per cent in Britain and Canada. The next time pollsters ask the question, they will doubtless find record western disillusion.

Europeans — and Canadians and others — are realising that we have our own values and not long to stand up for them. Boycott Philadelphia cream cheese if it makes you feel better. But most Europeans see that the times are now too serious for knee-jerk anti-Americanism.

Henry Mance is the FT’s chief features writer

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Hundreds of anti-Musk protests are planned at Tesla locations worldwide this weekend

Published

8 hours ago

March 29, 2025

Press Room

Hundreds of anti-Musk protests are planned at Tesla locations worldwide this weekend

Protesters showed up outside a Tesla showroom and service center in the North Hollywood area of Los Angeles on Saturday, March 15, 2025.

Richard Vogel/AP

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Richard Vogel/AP

Tesla facilities worldwide have been the target of protests objecting to Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s influential role in the Trump administration. This weekend, organizers who have been leading peaceful protests in recent weeks are staging what they hope to be their biggest day yet.

Protesters holding signs rally outside a Tesla store in Boston. One sign says "Stop Elon."

As part of the “Tesla Takedown” campaign, hundreds of nonviolent demonstrations are planned to take place across the U.S. on Saturday. Organizers are calling it a “global day of action” with a goal of 500 protests worldwide.

For weeks, the movement’s organizers have been encouraging people to boycott the EV maker by selling their Tesla cars and stocks. According to Tesla Takedown, thousands of grassroots groups and individuals worldwide are driving the decentralized effort.

Tesla Takedown organizers say the movement is fueled by anger over Musk’s slashing of the federal government, and that it aims to hit the billionaire where it hurts — the electric vehicle company that’s become his main source of wealth.

Joel Lava, who has been helping lead Tesla Takedown protests in Los Angeles, says Musk’s work to dismantle government agencies and workforce through the unofficially named DOGE initiative is the primary motivator for the movement’s members.

“He’s spearheading DOGE, which is spearheading our country’s destruction — literally destroying our country’s infrastructure,” Lava said. “Therefore, we are taking direct aim at his power, which is his wealth, which is Tesla.”

Musk critics point to a litany of other grievances, including his attacks on diversity, a gesture he made on the Inauguration Day stage that was widely interpreted to be a Nazi salute, and his support for far-right parties.

Elon Musk at a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on March 24, 2025, in Washington, D.C.

Musk and the White House did not respond to NPR’s request for comment.

Since Musk’s political turn, Tesla sales have slumped, and investors have grown uneasy. But market analysts question how much the dip in Tesla sales and shares can be pinned on its CEO’s actions. Tesla has been losing market share to EV competitors for years. And the stock price has fallen in anticipation of auto tariffs. But Trump administration’s recently announced 25% import tariffs on cars made outside the U.S. could give the stock a welcome boost; auto industry analysts say that among domestic carmakers, Tesla will be the least impacted by the tariffs.

Some of the anti-Musk backlash has been violent. Tesla vehicles, dealerships and charging stations across the U.S. and in Europe have been the target of arson and vandalism. Some have taken to spray-painting swastikas on Tesla sedans and Cybertrucks.

Tesla Takedown movement, organizers say its participants are exercising their right to peacefully protest and that they oppose violence and property destruction.

But Musk did not make that distinction when he went after Valerie Costa, a community activist who has helped organize recent peaceful protests in the Seattle area as part of the Tesla Takedown demonstrations.

Musk, in a post on X earlier this month, accused Costa of “committing crimes,” without giving evidence or specific allegations. That was after he claimed that an environmental activist group she cofounded was backed by the ActBlue, a fundraising platform for Democrats.

A man walks in a parking lot of a Tesla Collision Center in Las Vegas in front of a building with the word "RESIST" spray-painted on the door.

Costa told NPR that the accusations were false, and that Musk supporters subsequently targeted her in direct messages that included threats of physical violence.

“When one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful person in the world is saying you’ve committed a crime, it doesn’t matter what the truth is,” Costa said.

Tesla Takedown organizers who say they want to chip away at Musk’s power, and that starts with tarnishing Tesla’s brand.

“Trump only likes [Musk] because he’s rich,” Lava, the LA-based organizer, said. “If suddenly Musk becomes just another boring, low-end billionaire, Trump will dump him too, and that will also show the power we have as people to effect change.”