Tag: Donald Trump

Trump hush money trial: Juror who felt intimidated is excused, says judge

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A juror was excused on Thursday from Donald Trump’s criminal trial after saying she felt intimidated because some aspects of her identity had been made public, the judge overseeing the case said.

The juror told the court that family, friends and colleagues had contacted her after deducing through press accounts that she was on the jury.

“I don’t believe at this point that I can be fair and unbiased, and let the outside influences not affect my decision-making in the courtroom,” said the juror, who had been one of seven selected earlier this week.

Justice Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the case, told news outlets not to report where prospective jurors said they worked.

“We just lost what probably would have been a very good juror,” Merchan said.

Six jurors remained.

The decision highlighted the extraordinary pressures around the first criminal trial ever of a former US president. Trump has pleaded not guilty in this case and in three other criminal cases against him in Washington, Georgia and Florida.

Trump, the Republican presidential candidate in the Nov. 5 election, says, without providing evidence, that all four criminal cases are part of a broad-ranging effort by allies of Democratic President Joe Biden to hobble his candidacy.

Trump has criticized witnesses, the judge and prosecutors involved in the New York case and their relatives, prompting Merchan to impose a partial gag order on him. The judge has also directed that jurors’ identities remain private.

Prosecutors say Trump has violated the gag order seven times over the past week, and have asked Merchan to impose fines or other penalties.

On Thursday, prosecutor Christopher Conroy pointed to posts about former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, who is expected to be a star prosecution witness in the trial, and a post saying undercover liberal activists had been lying to the judge to try to get on the jury.

One of Trump’s lawyers, Emil Bove, said those posts “do not establish any willful violations” of the gag order.

Trump is a divisive figure in US politics, and half of the 96 potential jurors called on Thursday in heavily Democratic Manhattan were dismissed after saying they would not be capable of assessing his guilt or innocence. A similar number were dismissed for that reason on Monday.

Prosecutors on Thursday flagged a potential problem with one of the six jurors who have already been selected, saying a person with that name had been arrested for tearing down political advertisements in the 1990s. That juror’s wife was also involved in a corruption inquiry during that time, they said.

Merchan said he had asked that juror to return to court for further questioning.

Trump is on trial on 34 felony counts brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for allegedly falsifying records to cover up hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump denies having sex with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.

The trial began on Monday. Jurors selected so far include a software engineer and two corporate lawyers. The judge has said the identities of the 12 jurors and six alternates will remain anonymous except to Trump, his lawyers and prosecutors.

Opening statements could take place on Monday if the full jury is seated this week.

A guilty verdict would not bar Trump from office, but half of independent voters and one in four Republicans say they would not vote for him if he were convicted, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on April 8.

The same poll found that 64% of registered voters thought the hush money charges were at least “somewhat serious.”

The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks. The New York trial could be the only one he faces before the election. A conviction would not bar Trump from running for or taking office

Trial dates have not yet been set for the cases in Georgia and Washington that charge him with trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden, and another case in Florida that charges him with mishandling classified documents.

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Donald Trump trial starts with judge allowing jury to hear about affair

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Donald Trump’s first criminal trial got off to a plodding start, with the proceedings stalling over disagreements about evidence and other last-minute arguments, leaving even the former president looking bored and resting his eyes at times.

Jury selection, which was set to start Monday, didn’t kick off until the final hours of the day as defense lawyers and prosecutors argued over multiple motions introduced by Trump to exclude certain evidence.

Seating a jury may prove difficult, potentially raising further questions about the speed of the trial, as more than half of the first panel of 96 potential jurors were excused after saying they could not be impartial.

A delay could be a boost for Trump, who has repeatedly tried to hold up multiple legal proceedings as he campaigns to return to the White House. The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks, but dragging it out may make it less likely that any of the three other criminal prosecutions he faces go to trial before the November presidential election.

“We’re way behind schedule,” Justice Juan Merchan said as the first day came to an end.

The process starts again Tuesday. Disputes over individual jurors are common and can lead to drawn-out questioning by lawyers to root out potential bias. The case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accuses Trump of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. Trump denies wrongdoing.

Bored

The day started with the 77-year-old Trump walking slowly and deliberately toward the press outside the courtroom in his traditional blue suit and red tie to deliver statements. He paused before the cameras and said that the case was an outrage and a persecution.

“It’s a case that should have never been brought,” said Trump.

In court, he sat hunched over and talked to one of his lawyers, Todd Blanche. Throughout jury selection, Trump appeared bored or disinterested in what was happening. After lunch, when the judge started describing the case to potential jurors, Trump closed his eyes and began to tilt sideways momentarily.

Gag order

The first day of the trial was also a test for how the judge is going to deal with an unconventional defendant like Trump, who sometimes has a hard time following court rules. Merchan said he would hold a hearing next week on whether to hold Trump in contempt for violating a gag order that aimed to deter him from publicly dissing witnesses in the case.

At issue were recent social media posts in which Trump called his former lawyer Michael Cohen and Daniels “two sleaze bags.” Blanche said the former president was merely responding to comments made by the pair, saying “they’re just generally disparaging Trump constantly.” Bragg has asked for a $3,000 fine.

The jury selection process started hours late. A group of nearly 100 potential jurors answered a questionnaire that was designed to find out who among them has strong views against or in favor of Trump, and whether they can set aside those views to issue a verdict based only on the evidence.

Merchan rejected a last-minute request to change the jury questionnaire, saying “there will be no doubt whatsoever” about how prospective jurors feel about Trump and Bragg when they’re done with the list.

Evidence

In another Trump setback, the judge ruled that jurors will be allowed to hear evidence about his alleged extra-marital affair with former Playboy model Karen McDougal, saying it is a central element of the case. But the judge agreed to prevent jurors from listening to the so-called Access Hollywood tape or from hearing that Trump’s wife Melania was pregnant during the alleged affair.

The timing of the release of the Access Hollywood tape — in which Trump boasts about men who are “stars” being allowed to grab women’s genitals without consent — is significant because the district attorney argues it created a firestorm around Trump’s 2016 campaign that motivated him to pay $130,000 to Daniels to keep quiet about their alleged affair. Trump’s alleged affair with McDougal is also central to the case because because American Media Inc., publisher of the National Enquirer, paid her $150,000 to keep quiet about it before the election.

Bragg’s star witness is Cohen, who personally paid Daniels to keep quiet about her alleged affair with Trump a decade earlier. Central to the indictment is the way in which Trump repaid Cohen, allegedly in monthly installments throughout 2017 that were falsely classified in financial statements as monthly legal services.

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Trump hush money trial: Prosecutors say gag order violations could result in fines, jail for former Prez

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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New York prosecutors asked a judge at the start of Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial on Monday to fine him and remind him he could go to jail for violating a gag order about potential witnesses.

They spoke on the start of a historic trial, the first of a former US president, which stems from a 2016 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

With Trump seated at the defense table, prosecutors cited Trump’s criticism of witnesses, court officials and others over the years.

Prosecutors asked Justice Juan Merchan to fine Trump $1,000 each for each of three social-media posts this month about Daniels and Trump’s former fixer and lawyer Michael Cohen.

“The defendant has demonstrated his willingness to flout the order. He has attacked witnesses in the case, in the past he has attacked grand jurors in the case,” prosecutor Christopher Conroy said.

Under Merchan’s gag order, Trump is barred from making public statements about witnesses concerning their potential testimony and about prosecutors, court staff and their family members if the statements are meant to interfere with the case.

Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said Trump did not violate the gag order because he was responding to witnesses’ public statements.

“The two witnesses themselves have been talking about their testimony in this case, President Trump’s ongoing reelection, and just generally disparaging President Trump constantly,” Blanche said.

Merchan said he would consider prosecutors’ request over the lunch hour.

New York state prosecutors accuse Trump of falsifying records to cover up a $130,000 payment in the waning days of the 2016 presidential campaign to buy the silence of Daniels about a 2006 sexual encounter she has said they had.

Trump has denied any such relationship. He pleaded not guilty last year to 34 counts of falsification of business records in the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, in New York state court.

If convicted, Trump could still hold office but Reuters/Ipsos polling shows a guilty verdict could hobble his prospects.

Cohen has testified that he made the payments to buy Daniels’ silence ahead of the 2016 election, in which Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton. Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to violating campaign finance law, though the federal prosecutors who brought that case did not charge Trump.

Trump has called Cohen a “serial liar” and his lawyers are expected to attack his credibility at trial.

Trump, 77, is required to attend the trial, which is expected to last through May and could complicate his bid to win back the White House as the Republican 2024 candidate.

The selection of 12 jurors and six alternates from a pool of Manhattan residents is expected to take about a week, followed by witness testimony.

Wearing his signature blue suit and red tie, Trump watched while Merchan set limits on witnesses and evidence to be presented at trial and denied a motion by Trump’s lawyers to have the judge recuse himself.

The judge said some 500 potential jurors were waiting while legal arguments took place.

POLICE STAND GUARD Police stood guard in front of the courthouse amid a maze of barricades, and helicopters shadowed the motorcade of black SUVs that ferried Trump from his Trump Tower apartment.

A handful of protesters, gathered in the plaza across the street, carried hand-painted signs reading “LOSER” and “convict Trump already.”

Though the case is regarded by some legal experts as the least consequential of the four criminal prosecutions he faces, it is the only one guaranteed to go to trial before the Nov. 5 election.

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The businessman-turned-politician, who served as president from 2017 to 2021, has used past court appearances to rally his supporters and claim he is being targeted by his political enemies.

“This is an outrage,” Trump said before entering the courtroom. “This is political persecution.”

In his three other criminal cases, Trump stands accused of mishandling classified information and trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. He has pleaded not guilty in all of those cases and painted them as a plot by Democrats to undermine his presidential campaign.

Bragg has argued that the case concerns an unlawful scheme to corrupt the 2016 election by burying a scandalous story that would have harmed Trump’s campaign. Trump’s lawyers have said the payment to Daniels did not amount to an illegal campaign contribution.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll published last week found that nearly two in three voters found the charges in the case at least somewhat serious. One in four of his fellow Republicans and half of independents said they would not vote for Trump if he were convicted of a felony.

Tabloids and a Playboy playmate

Choosing a jury from a pool of people from heavily Democratic Manhattan could take several days, to be followed by opening statements and testimony from a parade of potentially riveting witnesses, including Cohen and Daniels.

David Pecker, the former head of the National Enquirer tabloid, will also testify that he ran stories in the tabloid to boost Trump’s 2016 campaign, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said.

Also due on the witness stand is Karen McDougal, a former nude model for Playboy magazine who prosecutors say was paid by the National Enquirer to keep quiet about an affair she says she had with Trump.

Merchan said he would not permit witnesses or prosecutors to tell the jury that the affair took place while Trump’s wife Melania was pregnant with their child.

Trump, who has said he plans to testify in his own defense, is accused of falsely recording reimbursements to Cohen as monthly legal retainer fees in his New York-based real estate company’s books.

Falsifying business records in New York is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison, though many defendants convicted of that charge have been sentenced to fines or probation.

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Donald Trump’s media company falls 12%, extends selloff

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Shares of Donald Trump’s media and technology firm fell as much as 12% on Monday, extending a selloff that has now reduced the value of his stake in the operator of Truth Social to $2.9 billion.

After its strong debut in late March, investors have soured on Trump Media & Technology Group after the company disclosed millions of dollars in losses earlier this month and said it would struggle to meet its financial liabilities.

The company’s stock closed 8.4% lower at $37.17 on Monday, a far cry from the record high of $79 it had notched during its debut on March 26. It is down about 40% so far in April.

The declines are reducing a potential windfall for Trump who could sell his shares to raise money for his 2024 presidential campaign and legal expenses, although lock-up restrictions for six months could prevent him from selling or borrowing against his shareholding.

Former US President Trump — who owns about 78.75 million shares in the company — has seen a sharp slide in the valuation of his stake from around $6 billion last month.

The market value of the whole of Trump Media & Technology Group is now below that figure, at about $5.55 billion.

But the declines are welcome news for short-sellers who have suffered hefty losses on the stock so far this year.

Trump Media & Technology Group has a short interest of about 4.75 million shares, or 12% of its free float, according to analytics firm S3 Partners.

Monday’s decline meant those betting against the stock made about $16 million in market-to-market profits, though those shorting the stock are still down 69% for the year.

“DJT’s recent price weakness has offset the huuuuge financing costs short sellers are incurring and keeping many of them in the trade,” said Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director of predictive analytics at S3 Partners.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Donald Trump’s lawyers seek delay as they fight to move hush-money criminal case out of Manhatta

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Donald Trump asked a New York appeals court on Monday to move his hush money criminal trial out of Manhattan and reverse his gag order in an eleventh-hour bid for a delay just a week before the scheduled start.

At an emergency hearing, the former president’s lawyers asked a judge in the state’s mid-level appeals court to postpone the April 15 trial while they fight for a change of venue. The court signaled it would take up the gag order issue separately at a later date.

Trump lawyer Emil Bove argued that the presumptive Republican nominee faces “real potential prejudice” as a defendant in heavily Democratic Manhattan. Citing defence surveys and a review of media coverage, Bove argued that jury selection, scheduled to start next Monday, “cannot proceed in a fair manner.” Trump has suggested on social media that the trial should be moved to Staten Island, the only New York City borough he won in 2016 and 2020.

Steven Wu, the appellate chief for the Manhattan district attorney’s office, said trial Judge Juan M Merchan had already rejected Trump’s requests to move or delay the trial as untimely.

“The question in this case is not whether a random poll of New Yorkers from whatever neighbourhood are able to be impartial, it’s about whether a trial court is able to select a jury of 12 impartial jurors,” Wu said. He blamed Trump for stoking pretrial publicity with “countless media appearances talking about the facts of this case, the witnesses, and so on.” Justice Lizbeth González noted that Monday’s hearing didn’t involve an appeal, per se, but the defence’s desire for an emergency stay — a court order that would prevent the trial from starting on time. She said she would review related court filings and issue a decision “at some point.” Paperwork relating to Trump’s appeals were placed under seal and not publicly available.

A person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that along with challenging the location of his trial, Trump is also fighting a gag order, which Merchan recently expanded to prohibit Trump from making comments about the judge’s family. The person was unauthorised to speak publicly and did so on the condition of anonymity.

Trump had pledged to appeal after Merchan ruled last month that the trial would begin April 15. His lawyers had pleaded to delay the trial at least until summer to give them more time to review late-arriving evidence from a prior federal investigation into the matter.

Merchan, who had already moved the trial from its original March 25 start date because of the evidence issue, said no further delays were warranted.

Trump’s lawyers filed their appeals Monday on two separate court dockets. One was styled as a lawsuit against Merchan, a legal mechanism allowing them to challenge his rulings.

In New York, judges can be sued over some judicial decisions under a state law known as Article 78. Trump has used the tactic before, including against the judge in his civil fraud case in an unsuccessful last-minute bid to delay that case last fall.

Trump’s hush money trial is the first of his four criminal indictments slated to go to trial and would be the first criminal trial ever of a former president.

Trump is accused of falsifying his company’s records to hide the nature of payments to his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who helped him bury negative stories during his 2016 campaign. Cohen’s activities included paying porn actor Stormy Daniels $130,000 to suppress her claims of an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump years earlier.

Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He has denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels. His lawyers argue the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses.

Trump’s move Monday is the latest escalation in his battles with Merchan.

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee assailed the judge on social media after he imposed a gag order last month barring Trump from making public statements about jurors, witnesses and others connected the case. After Trump’s complaints, Merchan expanded the gag order to include members of his own family.

Last week, Trump renewed his request for the judge to step aside from the case, citing Merchan’s daughter’s work as the head of a firm whose clients have included his rival President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democrats.

The former president alleges the judge is biased against him and has a conflict of interest because of his daughter’s work. The judge rejected a similar request last August.

Trump has also made numerous other attempts to get the trial postponed, echoing a strategy he’s deployed in his other criminal cases. “We want delays,” Trump proclaimed to TV cameras outside a February pretrial hearing in his hush money case.

Merchan last week rejected his request to delay the trial until the US Supreme Court rules on presidential immunity claims he raised in another of his criminal cases.

Trump also filed an eve-of-trial lawsuit against the judge in his New York civil fraud case, accusing the jurist of repeatedly abusing his authority. Among other issues, Trump’s lawyers in that case complained that Judge Arthur Engoron had refused their request to delay the trial. Their suit was filed about three weeks before the trial was slated to begin.

A state appeals court rejected Trump’s claims, and the trial started as scheduled Oct. 2.

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Trump advocates for state-level abortion policies, avoids national ban

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Former President Donald Trump said states should decide abortion policy, avoiding taking a position on a national ban as he struggles to navigate a motivating issue for Democrats.

“My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint,” he said in a video posted on Truth Social, praising the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 that allowed states to set their own standards for access to abortion.

“Many states will be different,” he said. “Many will have a different number of weeks or some will have more conservative than others and that’s what they will be. At the end of the day, it’s all about the will of the people.”

Trump resisted pressure from anti-abortion groups to set a firm limit, such as 15 weeks of pregnancy, for a national abortion ban. Yet that will almost certainly do little to blunt attacks from Democrats, who blame him for the Supreme Court decision ending nationwide abortion rights, while leaving his religious conservative allies dissatisfied.

“Trump is scrambling,” President Joe Biden, who will face the former president again in November, said in a statement. “He’s worried that since he’s the one responsible for overturning Roe the voters will hold him accountable in 2024.”

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, a prominent conservative group, said it was “deeply disappointed” in Trump’s announcement and that declining to back nationwide limits on abortion “cedes the national debate to the Democrats.”

Trump and his campaign for months have tried to neutralise one of the Republican’s biggest disadvantages — their stance on reproductive rights — heading into the general election. Democrats have successfully used the issue in elections since the Supreme Court’s decision two years ago.

Trump did not call for exceptions to abortion bans, but said he supported them.

“Like Ronald Reagan, I am strongly in favor of exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother,” he said. “You must follow your heart on this issue.”

The former president also said he supported ensuring access to IVF technology “in every state in America.”

By leaving abortion up to the states, Trump is sidestepping the division in his party between anti-abortion advocates, many of whom want abortion halted in the US entirely, and moderate voters, who feel comfortable with abortion in certain circumstances.

Biden and his Democratic allies have used the Republican Party’s divided position on abortion to galvanize its base, lambasting the former president in television ads and on the campaign trail on his previous statements on abortion.

Polls consistently show widespread support for reproductive rights and every ballot initiative protecting abortion access since the Supreme Court ruling has won, including in Republican-dominated states such as Kansas, Kentucky and Ohio.

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Donald Trump judge refuses to delay hush-money case over immunity

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A New York judge denied Donald Trump’s request to delay his upcoming hush money trial until after the US Supreme Court rules on the former president’s immunity defense in an unrelated federal case over the 2020 election.

The ruling on Wednesday by Judge Juan Merchan clears the way for the first of Trump’s four criminal cases to go before a jury as planned on April 15. Trump made the request early last month, which Merchan said was far too late.

“This Court finds that Defendant had myriad opportunities to raise the claim of presidential immunity well before March 7, 2024,” almost a year after the former president was indicted, the judge wrote.

Merchan’s ruling is the latest setback in the case for Trump, who was hit last week with a gag order barring him from publicly discussing jurors or prosecutors during the trial in order to protect their safety. The judge expanded the gag order on Monday to include his own family members after Trump attacked the Merchan’s daughter online over the weekend.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has accused the real estate mogul of falsifying dozens of business records to disguise a payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to keep voters from hearing her claim about an extramarital affair a decade earlier. Jury selection is scheduled to begin April 15.

Prosecutors allege Trump engaged in a “pressure campaign” in 2018 to ensure that his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen didn’t cooperate with a federal investigation of hush-money payments. Cohen, who pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance law, is expected to be a key witness against his former boss.

‘Presidential Acts’

Trump, who is campaigning to return to the White House in this year’s election, on March 7 asked Merchan to adjourn the trial until the Supreme Court ruled on his immunity argument in a separate federal criminal case in Washington over his alleged attempt to interfere with the 2020 election. Justices hear arguments in that case on April 25, but may not rule until June. The former president also asked Merchan to bar evidence of comments he made while president, arguing they were made in his official capacity.

Bragg had argued that Trump’s claim of presidential immunity should be rejected because the former president failed to provide any legal authority to support his claim that the state crimes he’s accused of are “presidential acts.” Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

In his ruling, Merchan said Trump had “ample notice” to make his immunity request yet waited until March 7, just weeks before the trial originally scheduled to begin March 25. Trump’s lawyers asked for the New York trial to be delayed until the Supreme Court rules in the separate federal election-fraud case in Washington.

Trump “fails to explain why the defendant waited so long” to raise the argument, the judge said. Bragg’s indictment was unsealed April 4, 2023.

Trump also raised the presidential immunity argument too late in the defamation suit brought against him in 2019 by writer E. Jean Carroll. The judge in that case allowed Carroll’s claim to go to trial after Trump belatedly argued he was immune because his comments related to statements he made from the White House.

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Donald Trump sues co-founders of Trump Media, seeks to void their stock

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Donald Trump is suing two co-founders of Trump Media & Technology Group, the newly public parent company of his Truth Social platform, arguing that they should forfeit their stock in the company because they set it up improperly.

The former US president’s lawsuit, which was filed on March 24 in Florida state court, follows a complaint filed in February by those co-founders, Andy Litinsky and Wes Moss. Their lawsuit sought to prevent Trump from taking steps the two said would sharply reduce their combined 8.6% stake in Trump Media. The pair filed their lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery.

Trump’s lawsuit claims that Litinsky and Moss, who were both contestants on Trump’s reality TV show “The Apprentice,” mishandled an attempt to take Trump Media public several years ago, allegedly putting the whole project “on ice” for more than a year and a half.

But it also targets the pair over their Delaware suit against Trump, saying that it was one of several attempts they made to block Trump Media’s ultimately successful plan to go public. Trump Media accomplished that goal by merging with a publicly traded shell company called Digital World Acquisition in March.

Trump Media shares have fluctuated wildly since its stock market debut. On Tuesday, the stock closed at $51.60, up 6%, valuing the entire company at $5.9 billion.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

US presidential elections: Joe Biden and Donald Trump secure victories in four state primaries

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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US President Joe Biden and his Republican rival and predecessor Donald Trump have easily won their presidential primaries in four more states as they are set for a 2020 rematch in November.

On Tuesday, hundreds of delegates were up for grabs in Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and the crucial battleground state of Wisconsin.

Multiple names remained on the presidential ballots in the four states, though neither Trump, 77, nor Biden, 81, faced any major challenger.

In all the four states where the primaries were held Tuesday, Trump bagged more than 75 per cent of the votes, while Biden, a Democrat, received more than 80 per cent of the votes.

Trump with four wins now has 1,860 delegates. Biden has so far won 3,030 delegates as against the minimum requirement of 1,968 delegates.

Biden and Trump have already amassed enough delegates to win their respective nominations. But the turnout could provide more clues about the election on November 5.

Their rematch is expected to mirror the 2020 campaign, though Trump will run this time under the spectre of 91 felony charges.

Their nominations will be confirmed at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July and the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August.

Connecticut and Rhode Island allowed voters to vote “uncommitted” in the primary, while Wisconsin offered a similar option of “uninstructed delegation”.

There was an effort in Wisconsin on Tuesday by anti-Biden protesters to encourage people in the Democratic primary to pick the “uninstructed” option in opposition to Biden’s policies on the Israel-Hamas war.

Pressure has been growing on Biden especially, to push harder for a ceasefire in Gaza, with some states, including Michigan, fostering similar campaigns for residents to submit “uncommitted votes” for the president.

These victories offer insights into base voter enthusiasm for the upcoming 2020 rematch, particularly in Wisconsin, a crucial November battleground.

Biden and the Democratic National Committee have outpaced Trump and the Republicans in fundraising. Biden claimed the largest single-event fundraising record last week when he received USD 26 million at a star-studded New York event. Trump hopes to bring in USD 33 million at a Palm Beach, Florida fundraiser.

Meanwhile, CNN reported that Democrats have been growing increasingly anxious about public polls showing Trump making unprecedented inroads among Black and Hispanic voters.

“But there may be reasons for Republicans to feel uneasy about these polls too,” it said, adding that surveys now consistently show Trump leading President Joe Biden nationally and in almost all of the key swing states.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Donald Trump pays $175 million bond to avert asset seizure

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Donald Trump followed through on his vow to pay a $175 million bond to put a massive civil fraud verdict on hold while he appeals it, assuring New York state won’t start seizing the former president’s assets, at least for now.

The bond, posted on Monday with a Manhattan appeals court, prevents enforcement of a $454 million penalty levied by a judge against the real estate mogul in February for lying about his assets for years to get better loan terms. Trump, who is campaigning to return to the White House in the November election, is still on the hook for the full amount — plus millions in interest — if his appeal fails.

Trump initially had struggled to get a bond because he was required to put up 120% of the full penalty, or more than half a billion dollars, in cash. But the appeals court on March 25 granted his request for a smaller bond, which Trump claimed was a sign the appeals court would eventually overturn the verdict.

“As promised, President Trump has posted bond,” his lawyer Alina Habba said in a statement. “He looks forward to vindicating his rights on appeal and overturning this unjust verdict.”

The bond was arranged and signed by Los Angeles-based Knight Specialty Insurance Co., a relatively small player in the industry whose chairman Don Hankey built a fortune by his expanding his car dealership company into financial services. Trump previously turned to Chubb Ltd.’s Federal Insurance Co. for an appeal bond to cover an $83.3 million verdict against him in writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit, which he lost in January.

The former president had said a full bond was “unattainable” because 30 insurance companies that arrange such bonds wouldn’t take his real estate as collateral and would only take cash. Trump recently said he had nearly $500 million in cash and vowed to cover the reduced bond with it.

New York Attorney General Letitia James, who sued Trump and won at a non-jury trial, had argued a full bond was necessary because Trump can’t be trusted to pay the fine if he loses the appeal.

Getting the smaller bond helped Trump overcome one the biggest financial obstacles of his career. Without it, the former president claimed he’d be forced to hold a “fire sale” of assets to raise cash, hurting his ability to run his company and contribute to his campaign. His losses from such sales would be irreversible, he argued, even if he won the appeal.

James, a Democrat, had said she would seize his assets to cover the judgment if he didn’t arrange the bond. Her office had already begun laying the ground work to do so in nearby Westchester County, where Trump owns a golf course and a 212-acre estate called Seven Springs.

Trump also faces four criminal prosecutions, including two cases alleging he conspired to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election. His first criminal trial, over charges he falsified business records to conceal a hush money payment to a porn star before the 2016 election, is set to go to trial April 15 in Manhattan.

Trump denies wrongdoing in all the cases and claims without evidence that they’re part of a Democratic-led “witch hunt” against him to undermine his campaign.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow