Senior party figures and Trump’s closest challenger in the GOP presidential race, Ron DeSantis, make supportive statementsRepublicans, including some rivals for the 2024 presidential nomination, have rallied quickly to support Donald Trump, after news of the former US president’s indictment on several federal counts relating to his retention of classified documents.The news was broken by Trump himself on his own social media platform Truth Social, seemingly pre-empting any announcement from the Department of Justice, and forcing many Republicans to flock to his defense. Continue reading...
There’s no telling how many indictments he will collect before the election. And the sad fact is that his party doesn’t seem to careDonald Trump announced his latest indictment last night in front of a painting of a guy literally twirling his moustache. “I am an innocent man,” the former president insisted, next to this cartoon shorthand for villainy. The oil painting in question is not so much an artwork as a lift-music version of an artwork, and seems to hang at Trump’s Bedminster golf club in New Jersey – which is the same place he buried his former wife Ivana, as all admirers of both exquisite taste and private-cemetery tax breaks may already know. Either way, Ivana’s there, right near the first tee. It’s what she would have wanted.As for her surviving ex-husband, it’s fashionable to say that anything that would represent a catastrophic setback for any other human being is exactly what Trump would have wanted. By this metric, his indictment on federal charges for the first time, including under the Espionage Act, is an absolute gift and a triumph. He’ll use it to pull in fundraising, it’ll rally his base, it’ll make every Republican beta – which is to say, every Republican – feel they have to swear loyalty to him. Furthermore, it’s already got him right where he most loves to be: with everyone talking about him. And these are all reasonable points – or at least reasonable in a through-the-looking-glass way, given that to many outside observers the United States passed reason two or three election cycles ago. If only they could invade themselves to bring democracy.Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnistOn Tuesday 13 June, Marina Hyde will join Gary Younge at a Guardian Live event in Brighton. Readers can join this event in personWhat Just Happened?! by Marina Hyde (Guardian Faber, £9.99). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply Continue reading...
The list of Republican presidential candidates begs a reversal of the who-would-you-most-like-to-have-a-drink-with testIn a reversal of the who-would-you-most-like-to-have-a-drink-with test, candidates declaring for the Republican presidential race this week presented as so singularly unappetising as to beg the question who among them would you leave the bar to avoid? Trump is not, weirdly, at the top of this list, since when he cares to use it one knows his charm is considerable. Mike Pence, who declared his candidacy on Monday and remains enduringly weird, would definitely break the top three, although a small part of me would like to take a crack, over a beer, at figuring out what his deal is. The former vice-president and evangelical Christian’s very clenched personality and eagerness to be photographed at the weekend in leathers on a Harley-Davidson, is suggestive of a range of possibilities. Continue reading...
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Mac McCall’s molestation case led to conviction of Catholic cleric and now he hopes to help children, the elderly and those recovering from substance abuseAfter pressing a criminal case which led to the conviction of a Catholic cleric who admitted molesting him as a child, the son of an influential Louisiana politician is trying to convert his “pain into power” by building a physical and mental health fitness program for schoolchildren, the elderly and people recovering from substance abuse.Mac McCall – whose father, John Young, once ran for lieutenant governor of Louisiana – recently publicly identified himself as the victim of the late Virgil Maxey “VM” Wheeler III, in one of the most contentious cases involving a decades-old clerical molestation scandal in his home town’s archdiocese. Continue reading...
Prohibition-era laws require a trip to the liquor store. Those shops say they’re defending an intimate traditionIn New York City, you can now buy marijuana from colorful smoke shops. But here in America’s largest metropolis, you still can’t legally buy a bottle of wine from a grocery store.The restriction dates back to the end of prohibition, and while most other US states have done away with similar laws, it has remained on the books in New York for close to a century, baffling visitors and frustrating residents. Continue reading...
Ex-president to be prosecuted for obstruction and violating Espionage Act over documents held at Mar-a-Lago and has been summoned to court next week. Plus, the doctors helping Republicans attack trans healthcare• Don’t already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up hereGood morning.Federal prosecutors have charged Donald Trump over his retention of national security documents and obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve them, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. It is a historic development that poses the most significant legal peril yet for the former president.How has Trump reacted to the news? From his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey, Trump lashed out at the indictment in a series of posts on Truth Social. “I never thought it possible that such a thing could happen to a former President of the United States,” Trump said, adding: “I AM AN INNOCENT MAN!”Could Trump go to jail? “It is often tempting to hype every Trump drama out of proportion and then lose sight of when something genuinely monumental has happened. Last night’s action by the justice department was genuinely monumental,” writes David Smith. “He really might be going to jail.”What is the Trump Mar-a-Lago case about and why is it significant? The case marks the first time the justice department has charged Trump and adds to the mounting legal troubles he faces as he seeks to return to the presidency. Here’s a breakdown of where things stand.What else did she say? “… We remain optimistic that we will prevail and that Julian will not be extradited to the United States where he faces charges that could result in him spending the rest of his life in a maximum security prison for publishing true information that revealed war crimes committed by the US government.”What did his appeal centre on? Assange’s appeal argued that Patel, as home secretary, erred in her decision to approve the extradition order because the request violated the US-UK extradition treaty which states “extradition shall not be granted if the offence for which extradition is requested is a political offence”. His legal team has consistently maintained that the US desire to try Assange is politically motivated. Continue reading...
Perhaps they know they need to preserve whatever is left of their legitimacyThe supreme court shocked the nation on Thursday by doing something uncharacteristic, unexpected, and to many, downright confusing: they declined to eviscerate what remains of the Voting Rights Act.By the standards of the reactionary court, the result in Allen v Milligan, a challenge to an Alabama congressional district map that crams most of the state’s 27% Black voting population into just one district, was downright astounding. Continue reading...
Opponents call process ‘anti-democratic’ after public participation in council meeting difficult and lack of transparencyQuestions remain about the real cost of the giant police and fire department training center known as “Cop City” after the Atlanta city council’s approval of millions of dollars for the project in a process that opponents have called “anti-democratic”.The 11-4 vote in favor of giving $67m to the project on Tuesday morning came on the heels of 14 hours of public comment against the idea. It played out as city policies made public participation in the council meeting more difficult, and after several council members decided to reject postponing a decision on the money, apparently because they were tired of facing public questioning. Continue reading...
Most renters spend more than a third of their income on rent, leading cities like Boston to introduce measures to stabilize rents – but not without opposition
Twenty articles of impeachment have been brought against Ken Paxton – could Texas politics see a historic toppling?Everything is bigger in Texas, including the drama unfolding within the chambers of its government.The impeachment of Texas attorney general Ken Paxton came as a shock to many, not just because of the nature of his alleged crimes, but because it is a rare instance of the party holding its own to account. Continue reading...
University of Chicago research finds support for violence to achieve political goals and general distrust of democracyTwo and a half years after the January 6 attack on the Capitol, an estimated 12 million American adults, or 4.4% of the adult population, believe violence is justified to restore Donald Trump to the White House.Though the number of adults who believe this has declined since the insurrection, recent survey data from the University of Chicago reveal alarming and dangerous levels of support for political violence and conspiracy theories across the United States. Continue reading...
Reaction to the film is crucial to understanding both why it’s gotten so much hate, and why it’s so important that it was madeThe Little Mermaid drama continues, as racist backlash about the movie seems to have led to abysmal box office numbers in China and South Korea.Just like the hate campaign against the movie in the US (which included the infamous #notmyariel hashtag), Chinese and South Korean social media were inundated with bad, unverified reviews and outcry over the casting of a Black Ariel. Continue reading...
After becoming the first player in 72 years to win on her LPGA debut, the 20-year-old American could be what’s needed for a tour that’s deeper than ever but wanting for household namesNo sooner had Rose Zhang finished off one of the more extraordinary fortnights in golf history – capping her Stanford career with an unprecedented second NCAA title, ringing in her 20th birthday, entering the professional ranks and immediately becoming the first player to win on her LPGA debut in 72 years – than she was back on a plane to Palo Alto to nail down some unfinished business.Three more final exams. One last problem set for CS-106A, the introductory computer programming course that’s sworn her off coding for life. Moving out of her on-campus dorm and closing the book on her sophomore year. Continue reading...
The kingdom has extended its soft power through several sporting projects. There are signs that an expansion into US professional leagues could be nextEarlier this week, golf’s civil war came to an abrupt end when the PGA Tour announced plans to merge commercial operations with its Saudi-funded arch-rival, LIV Golf.The shock announcement marked the culmination of a year of disruption, player poaching and heated litigation. It also brought attention to Saudi Arabia’s growing ambitions in sports and raised the possibility that the kingdom will use its seemingly limitless resources to buy into US sporting behemoths such as the NFL and NBA. Continue reading...
Wagner group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has launched another diatribe against the Russian army. Is he a loose cannon, or a Kremlin puppet?Coming just a day before the world’s media became submerged in the tragic aftermath of the explosion of the Kakhovka dam in Russian-controlled Ukraine, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s latest invective against the Russian army on 5 June slipped under the radar. It was his most explosive yet.Dressed in a khaki sweatshirt and trousers, in the middle of a forest in a Wagner training camp, Prigozhin, the commander of an army of contract fighters known as the Wagner group, accuses the Russian army of lying about events in the Belgorod region – where anti-Putin Russian partisans have been conducting cross-border raids from Ukraine since late May – and warns of the risk of civil war. He calls for the Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu to be put on trial for facilitating “the genocide of the Russian population” by being totally unprepared for the war in Ukraine, and more than once suggests that Shoigu and other senior military command should be shot. Prigozhin also claims that inhabitants of the Belgorod region have been writing to him, suggesting a Chile-type solution. “Chile means Pinochet,” explains Prigozhin. “… The Russian elite in a stadium surrounded by armed men with machine guns.”Samantha de Bendern is an associate fellow at international affairs thinktank Chatham HouseDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Ex-president is being prosecuted for violating Espionage Act and obstruction over documents held at Mar-a-Lago and has been summoned to court next weekFederal prosecutors have charged Donald Trump over his retention of national security documents and obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve them, according to multiple people familiar with the matter, a historic development that poses the most significant legal peril yet for the former president.The exact nature of the indictment, filed in federal district court in Miami, is unclear because it remains under seal and the justice department had no immediate comment. Continue reading...
Exclusive: The lawyer said in letter that prosecutors brought up his application to become judge when seeking valet’s cooperationThe lawyer for Donald Trump’s valet, under scrutiny in the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation, has submitted court papers describing a meeting at which a top federal prosecutor brought up his application to be a judge when they tried to gain the valet’s cooperation last year, according to three people familiar with the matter.The allegation, described in a letter filed under seal with the chief US judge in Washington, James Boasberg, could affect the investigation just as prosecutors are considering whether to bring charges. Continue reading...
Lawyers seek cut to $5m penalty for sexual abuse and defamation and say if judge does not agree he should permit a new trialDonald Trump on Thursday asked a federal court in New York to slash the penalty awarded against him in the sexual assault and defamation civil case won by writer E Jean Carroll from $5m down to $1m – or grant him a new trial.A jury last month found the former US president liable for sexually abusing and defaming the writer and awarded her $5m in damages. Continue reading...
Shunghla Mashwani was on a family outing when she went missing, but rescuers found her the next day in the wildernessA 10-year-old girl is being praised for surviving on her own for more than 24 hours in the Cascade mountain range in Washington state.Shunghla Mashwani lost track of her family on Sunday while crossing over a pedestrian bridge at the Cathedral Rock trailhead in the northern part of the Cle Elum River valley. That same day, she was reported missing. Continue reading...
President announced new initiatives to protect gay rights but celebration on White House lawn postponed due to wildfire smokeJoe Biden unveiled new initiatives on Thursday to protect LGBTQ+ communities but hastily postponed a big Pride Month celebration on the White House lawn with thousands of guests from around the country because of poor air quality from the Canadian wildfires.The event, which will now be held on Saturday, was intended to be a high-profile show of support at a time when members of the LGBTQ+ community feel under attack like never before and the White House has little recourse to beat back a flood of state-level legislation against them. Continue reading...
Delivery app workers – excluded from most worker protections – slog through dangerous conditions to keep paying their billsThousands of essential workers have had no choice but to work through the hazardous air from Canada’s raging wildfires that have triggered air quality alerts across the north-east US.“We cannot afford not to go out to work,” said Antonio Solis, a delivery app worker and organizer with Los Deliveristas Unidos in New York City. “Because of this necessity, we’re forced to go out to work and take the risks.” Continue reading...
The candidates proliferate – but Donald Trump, running both as former president and insurgent, is far ahead of themDonald Trump has an excess of companions in the race for the Republican nomination for 2024, but a paucity of rivals. The quantity of candidates in the presidential primary so far appears in inverse relationship to the threat they pose to him. The main question prompted by several recent declarees is not how they might win or what they might offer, but simply “why?” (Mike Pence, Chris Christie), or even “who?” (Perry Johnson).No one can predict what will happen in this race, and upsets do happen. Large fields and long shots positioning politicians for a future bid or the vice-presidential slot on the ticket are nothing new in primaries. Nor are improbable, often self-funded entrants. But the current flurry of activity – Mr Pence, former New Jersey governor Mr Christie and North Dakota’s governor Doug Burgum all announced runs this week – seems to be prompted less by the belief that Mr Trump is beatable than by the belief that Ron DeSantis isn’t the man to beat him. The Florida governor surged in polls after winning by a landslide in the midterms, while Trump-backed candidates fell short. It did not last. Continue reading...
The US president, Joe Biden, told reporters that the relationship between the US and the UK was in 'real good shape', during a meeting with the British prime minister, Rishi Sunak, at the White House. Sunak had flown to Washington two days before, where he met senior politicians and dozen of business leaders before holding the bilateral meeting with Biden on Thursday. Sunak said: 'It's daunting to think of the conversations that our predecessors had in this room, when they had to speak of wars that they fought together, peace won together.' He added: 'Again, for the first time in over half a century, we face a war on the European continent, and as we've done before, the US and the UK have stood together to support Ukraine and stand up for the values of democracy and freedom, and make sure that they prevail'
by Ramon Antonio Vargas in New Orleans on (#6C40D)
Richard Trahant, fined $400,000 for alerting high school about priest, accuses law firm of trying to harm his reputationAn American attorney fined $400,000 for alerting a Roman Catholic high school that a priest stationed there admitted fondling and kissing a teenage girl during a previous assignment is seeking damages from church lawyers as he fights the penalty.The lawsuit filed last week by the Louisiana-based attorney Richard Trahant accuses a law firm representing New Orleans’s archdiocese in a bankruptcy protection case – and administrators of the proceeding – of trying to harm his reputation by widely but improperly publicizing the judicial order behind the fine. Continue reading...
Most actors make terrible novelists – but writing the ‘cracking thriller’ Deadly Game was life-affirming for the veteran star, so never mind the finished productGod spare us another millionaire actor who fancies themself as a bestselling author –unless the actor is Michael Caine, in which case good on him, raise your glass. The 90-year mainstay of British cinema spent lockdown writing his first novel, tapping away at his iPad every day, toiling to master the intricacies of the craft. “Paragraphs,” he said. “Punctuation, all that.” The book might be awful. It won’t trouble the Man Booker panel. But in finally completing the thing, Caine has indirectly written himself a happy ending of sorts – the most knackered and lovely writer’s cliche of them all.According to Caine’s publishers, Deadly Game is “a cracking thriller with a real voice and a super twist”, although quite frankly, what else would they say? Specifically, it’s about a London DCI, Harry Taylor, who’s on the trail of a stash of uranium. Potential suspects include a posh art dealer called Julian Smythe, and a dodgy oligarch, Vladimir Voldrev. Also in the mix: a couple of neo-Nazis, a Colombian drug cartel (possibly several, going from the press release) and a pair of cockney refuse collectors. Caine says he got the basic idea from a newspaper story he once read about two East End blokes who found uranium on the rubbish tip. Everything else (the Nazis, the Colombians, dodgy Vladimir) is 100% uncut Michael Caine. Continue reading...
Ethics expert says ex-New Jersey governor must answer questions over George Gilmore, pardoned on Trump’s last day in officeA leading US ethics expert said the former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, who this week launched a presidential campaign aimed at taking down Donald Trump, owes the American public an explanation of why and how he secured a pardon for a powerful New Jersey Republican, issued on Trump’s last day in the White House.“We just don’t know the answer to that,” Noah Bookbinder, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew), said. “And I think we should.” Continue reading...
Supporters of clean energy say they expect further battles ahead to prevent state’s progress in solar and wind from being unwoundIn the scramble before the end of Texas’s legislative session last week, a must-pass bill was amended to impose new costs upon renewable energy. This came amid a barrage of anti-solar and wind power measures pushed forward by Republicans to reshape a state that has become the US’s powerhouse of clean energy.But the conservative lawmakers had help. Continue reading...
As the Denver Nuggets tighten their grip on the NBA finals, their singular star is making a convincing claim for historical greatnessHybridity has always been in Nikola Jokić’s basketball DNA; after all, this is a player who was famously drafted by Denver in the middle of a Taco Bell commercial for the quesadilla-burrito mashup known as a quesarito. The pretty, historic town of Sombor, where Jokić grew up, is tucked into the northwestern pocket of Serbia, flush against the borders with Croatia and Hungary; the Hungarian, Habsburg, Ottoman and Austrian empires have all, at various points over the past half-millennium, laid claim to it. Jokić, perhaps fittingly given his origins, has emerged over this postseason as the NBA’s ultimate border-hopper: a center with the touch of a guard, a prodigious scorer who’s better as a passer, the embodiment of total basketball, infinitely adaptable, positionless but always in position, a crossroads in human form.As Denver tightened their grip on the finals with a coolly commanding Game 3 win in Miami on Wednesday night, a talent that once threatened to go unrewarded with the hard currency of titles has come thrillingly into mint. Jokić’s numbers – 32 points, 21 rebounds, 10 assists – made him the first player ever to post a 30-20-10 game in the NBA finals. But most impressive was the way in which he accumulated these figures, with a freedom and variety that captured the best of his childhood heroes. Continue reading...
It’s possible – likely, even – that Licht would have survived all of this if it weren’t for the one thing that really mattered: the numbersIt was one of those pieces of news that was simultaneously stunning and utterly expected: Chris Licht was out of CNN.No doubt, the chairman and CEO had been embattled, almost from the start of his tumultuous year-long reign. He took over from Jeff Zucker, who – whatever his faults – was popular with the staff because he understood what they did and supported it. Soon after arriving, Licht went on an ill-advised apology tour on Capitol Hill in which he sent the message that Republican lawmakers – even those who had supported overturning the 2020 election or downplayed the 6 January 2021 insurrection – would be welcome and treated well on the network.Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...
Eastern states including New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut issue alerts as hundreds of wildfires burn in Canada. Plus, will Trump’s once loyal deputy become his nemesis?
Moves by governors including Florida’s Ron DeSantis denounced as ‘political stunts’ that risk migrants’ livesRepublican governors from 14 states are sending national guard troops and other personnel to the Texas-Mexico border in a show of force that immigration advocates warn risks lives and critics denounce as “political stunts”.Florida’s Ron DeSantis has assigned the most – 1,100 people, including 500 national guard and others such as law enforcement officers, a group about 10 times larger than the anti-immigration governor sent in 2021. Continue reading...
From You Hurt My Feelings to Platonic, our screens are now full of middle-aged relationships built on little white liesThe premise of You Hurt My Feelings, a new movie by Nicole Holofcener starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, is deceptively simple: to what degree, when asked for your opinion by a spouse or equivalent, do you tell them the truth? Louis-Dreyfus plays Beth, a writer whose husband, Don (Tobias Menzies), is her primary cheerleader until she overhears him expressing negative opinions about her new book. Anyone who has ever produced anything at all will die at the accuracy of this scene and identify with Beth’s instinct to throw up in the nearest bin. The movie asks if the husband has been right to conceal his true feelings, and if she is right to react as she does.The cleverness of the set-up is in how endlessly applicable it is and how disproportionate the feelings are that these kinds of incidents trigger. Most of us have been on both sides of this equation, struggling to find the right answer when a partner asks: “How do I look in this?”, and also trying to temper our own neediness when asking (pleading) for similar reassurances. As Don discovers, there is often no winning: overpraise may be rejected as rote and therefore worthless, but anything that tips even close to frank criticism risks triggering a rage spiral. Meanwhile, as he points out in defensive frustration, the world is going to hell in a handcart and this is what she freaks out about?Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Never before has MLS given up so much to sign a player. But with the 2026 World Cup on the horizon, the move could end up being a wise oneLionel Messi is taking his talents to South Beach – or, more accurately, Fort Lauderdale. That’s where he will play this summer after it was confirmed Inter Miami have won the race to sign arguably the greatest player of all time. It is the biggest transfer in Major League Soccer history. Bigger even than David Beckham’s move to Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007.Beckham changed the soccer landscape in the US. His move to the Galaxy didn’t just push MLS into the American mainstream, it made the league a viable destination for some of the sport’s most recognisable names, and they don’t come more recognisable than Messi. Beckham, an Inter Miami co-owner, has brought things full circle by getting the GOAT to MLS. Continue reading...
The royal is dogged, but what he’s fighting is tabloid culture. It will be difficult for him to ever establish the guilt of individualsNever mind waiting for Mr Justice Fancourt to produce his findings, the tabloid newspapers were declaring their collective triumph before Prince Harry had even been released from giving evidence against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN).“He must have longed for the schmaltzy embrace of Oprah,” the Mail said; “Me, Hewitt … and that two-faced shit Burrell,” the Sun sort-of quotes the prince. The Mirror went with the more sober “Harry vs the Press”, with only a silent nod to the fact that it is their newspaper group, specifically, he’s been fighting in this week’s hearing.Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnistDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Ultra-conservatives from speaker’s own party are unhappy about debt ceiling deal and say he hasn’t delivered on promises made to secure the chairThe US House of Representatives has been forced to postpone all votes until next week – paralyzed by a revolt against its Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy, by ultra-conservative members of his own party.The standoff between McCarthy and a hardline faction of his own Republican majority has forced the chamber into a holding pattern that looks likely to persist until at least Monday. Continue reading...
Kilauea, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, began erupting after a three-month pause, sending out spectacular fountains of mesmerising, glowing lava that's a safe distance from people and structures in a national park on Hawaii's Big Island. All activity was within a closed area of Hawaii Volcanoes national park. 'The lava this morning is all confined within ... the summit caldera. So plenty of room for it still to produce more without threatening any homes or infrastructure,' said park spokesperson Jessica Ferracane. 'So that’s the way we like our eruptions here.' Continue reading...
Jay Johnston accused of pushing against police and helping rioters who attacked officers at the CapitolAn actor known for his roles on the comedy television shows Bob’s Burgers and Mr Show with Bob and David was arrested on Wednesday on charges that he joined a mob of Donald Trump supporters in confronting police officers during the US Capitol riot, court records show.Jay Johnston, 54, of Los Angeles, faces charges including civil disorder, a felony. A federal magistrate judge agreed to free Johnston on $25,000 bond after his initial court appearance in California. A public defender who represented him at the hearing declined to comment. Continue reading...
Joseph Komrosky of the Temecula, California, board objected to Milk being including in school materials when making claimThe president of the Temecula school board in California is facing a backlash from educators, parents and state officials after calling gay rights activist Harvey Milk a “pedophile”.At the school board’s 16 May meeting, the board president, Joseph Komrosky, objected to an elementary social science curriculum that included Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, in its supplemental materials. “My question is, why even mention a pedophile?” Komrosky said, echoing a conspiracy theory that falsely accuses gay people of molesting children at higher rates than heterosexual people. When meeting attendees protested that Milk was not a pedophile, Komrosky said: “I beg to differ.” Continue reading...
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The Guardian, the Associated Press and state prosecutors contend that there’s legitimate public interest in documents dealing with Lawrence HeckerTwo national US media organizations and Louisiana state prosecutors have joined efforts to secure the public release of sealed information that would provide a more complete account of a retired Roman Catholic priest in New Orleans who has been previously accused of molesting several children.In papers filed late Wednesday at New Orleans’s federal courthouse, the Guardian and the Associated Press contend that there is a legitimate public interest in the contents of the documents dealing with Lawrence Hecker despite archdiocesan claims that the information could be disparaging to the organization. Continue reading...
Move dramatically raises stakes for former president as investigation appears to near its conclusionFederal prosecutors formally informed Donald Trump’s lawyers last week that the former president is a target of the criminal investigation examining his retention of national security materials at his Mar-a-Lago resort and obstruction of justice, according to two people briefed on the matter.The move – the clearest sign yet that Trump is on course to be indicted – dramatically raises the stakes for Trump, as the investigation nears its conclusion after taking evidence before a grand jury in Washington and a previously unknown grand jury in Florida. Continue reading...
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