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The ex-president has been found liable for sexual abuse and defamation. What will the verdict mean for his political career?

No more town halls, interviews or rallies. Coverage should be driven by clear editorial choices that serve US democracyWith 18 months to go before the next US presidential election, it’s already clear that – barring a physical collapse or two – Joe Biden will represent the Democrats and Donald Trump will carry the hopes of Republicans.This will be the first presidential election after one of the candidates, the president at the time, tried to foment a violent insurrection to overturn the last election. It will be the first election since 1912 in which a former president (in that case Theodore Roosevelt) challenges a sitting president (in that case William Howard Taft). It will be the first election in American history in which one candidate has already been impeached – twice, in fact. It will be the first election since 1800 in which one of the major candidates can reasonably be called a threat to or disloyal to the United States of America (Aaron Burr in 1800 was the first). And Burr had not yet revealed his propensity for treachery in 1800. It will be the first election in which one of the candidates has been indicted on state criminal charges (and possibly federal charges by the time of the election). Continue reading...

The verdict isn’t a total vindication, but Trump has now been held responsible for at least a fraction of his many misdeedsNo, the verdict did not amount to total vindication. But for E Jean Carroll and for the more than two dozen other women who, over many years, have accused Donald Trump of sexual misconduct, it came close.Finally – finally – this oft-accused predator would be held accountable for at least some fraction of his misdeeds. Continue reading...

In today’s newsletter: What you need to know about the verdicts against the former president – and what they mean for his hopes of returning to the White House

Verdict was dire for the Republican frontrunner, but more shocking than that was how unshockable the US has becomeA mystery of Donald Trump’s US presidency was the absence of a major sex scandal. The thrice-married billionaire who boasted on Access Hollywood that women let him “grab ’em by the pussy’” seemed to commit every abuse of power except the kind that nearly brought down Bill Clinton.Trump’s effort to regain the White House, however, must confront a different reality: he is now a legally defined as a sexual predator. Continue reading...

Ukrainians are preparing for a make-or-break counteroffensive. They have a theory of victory. Do we?As you read this, thousands of young Ukrainian men and women are going through their last training drills, checking their weapons and waiting for D-day. In the big Ukrainian counteroffensive that may start any time now, some of them will be killed and many more will be wounded. None will emerge unchanged. We thought we had said goodbye to all that in 1945, but this is Europe in 2023.Nobody knows what will happen in this campaign. Nobody. But we can at least be clear what we want to happen – and firm in supporting the Ukrainians to achieve it. Decisive Ukrainian victory is now the only sure path to a lasting peace, a free Europe and ultimately a better Russia. This alone would be the new VE Day. Continue reading...

Ron Nessman was leaving a job interview at a California Applebee’s when he spotted a baby stroller hurtling towards a busy roadHaving experienced homelessness and unemployment for years, Ron Nessman was leaving a job interview at an Applebee’s restaurant in California when a baby in a stroller rolling into the path of several cars captured his attention.Nessman sprinted into the street, stopped the stroller, saved the child from harm – and landed his first job in years to cap off a story that has interrupted a US news cycle dominated by headlines about mass killings and bitter partisan politics. Continue reading...

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington says supreme court justice should resign over mega-donor gifts scandalThe conservative supreme court justice Clarence Thomas must resign, an ethics watchdog said on Tuesday, citing revelations about Thomas’s failure to declare lavish gifts and financial support from a Republican mega-donor, Harlan Crow.In an open letter to Thomas, Noah Bookbinder of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or Crew, cited a “grave crisis of institutional legitimacy currently facing the supreme court”. Continue reading...

The 89-year-old’s absence had stalled judicial appointments resulting in some party members calling for her resignationUS Senator Dianne Feinstein, 89, will return to Washington on Tuesday after a months-long absence due to illness, her spokesperson said, restoring Democrats’ 51-49 majority to full strength.The 89-year-old California Democrat announced in early March that she had been hospitalized in San Francisco and was being treated for a case of shingles. But an expected return later that month never happened. She last voted in the Senate in February and her absence has spurred calls for her to resign. Continue reading...

Jury finds that former president defamed advice columnist, awarding $3m in damages in addition to the $2m in damages for battery

The New York representative, known for his innumerable falsehoods, is due to be arraigned on Wednesday for unspecified chargesFederal prosecutors in New York have charged congressman George Santos, the embattled House Republican who has been under scrutiny for months by the justice department over questions surrounding his 2022 campaign and finance activities, according to people familiar with the matter.The exact nature of the indictment – earlier reported by CNN – is unclear because it remains under seal. Continue reading...

Workers worry that any income hike will disqualify them from housing assistance in an exorbitant rental marketFor two years, Virdell Hickman managed to avoid getting a raise. In the summer of 2020, the education non-profit where she works launched a diversity, equity and inclusion initiative. Hickman, a Black woman, saw her salary bumped up. But she pleaded with her employers to not raise her pay.What should have been a cause for celebration has instead become a headache. The higher salary, which in theory should be helping Hickman better navigate these inflationary times, will come with a major catch. It will mean she no longer qualifies for housing subsidies through the federal government’s Section 8 voucher program. Continue reading...

Jury believed the advice columnist when she described how ex-president went from charming to a ‘monster’ in an instantFor a moment, E Jean Carroll appeared stricken.Not a single member of the jury looked at her as they filed back into court, verdict on her rape case against Donald Trump in hand. Continue reading...

Mauricio Garcia, who was discharged from the US army in 2008, reportedly also had Nazi tattoos on his bodyThe gunman who killed eight people and wounded seven others at a suburban Dallas shopping mall had no prior criminal record but had “neo-Nazi ideation”, authorities said on Tuesday.Investigators are still trying to determine why Mauricio Garcia opened fire on Saturday at the Allen Premium Outlets, Hank Sibley, the regional director of the Texas department of public safety, said at a news conference. Continue reading...

Jury rules that Trump sexually abused the New York writer, but did not convict him of rapeThe trial over whether or not Donald Trump raped the author E Jean Carroll gripped America as it saw the former US president accused of sex crimes in a court of law.In the end a jury ruled that Trump sexually abused the New York writer, but did not convict him of rape. Continue reading...

‘Prayers were answered’: Nante Niemi discovered safe, hiding under a log, after going missing on Saturday on Upper PeninsulaA second-grade child who went missing on Saturday while camping with his family in Michigan has been found safe, hiding under a log.Nante Niemi, eight, was found on Monday by a search team at about 1.30pm in good health, according to Michigan state police. Continue reading...

Vigil held for eight who were killed after a car plowed into them at a bus stop in city of Brownsville, near Mexico borderA vigil in Brownsville mourning eight men killed when a car crashed into migrants waiting at a bus stop drew local residents and migrant families on Monday evening expressing a mix of grief, anger, hope and love in the shaken border city.“My son is my whole life, and that man may have taken it,” a Venezuelan mother, Marilín de los Ángeles Medero Piña, lamented, sobbing desperately into the microphone. Continue reading...

For Carroll to win civil claim for sexual battery, jury must reach a unanimous verdict based on ‘a preponderance of the evidence’The jury in Donald Trump’s rape trial began deliberating late Tuesday morning to decide if the former president sexually assaulted the advice columnist E Jean Carroll and then defamed her by denying it.For Carroll to win her civil claim for sexual battery, the jury of six men and three women must reach a unanimous verdict based on “a preponderance of the evidence”, meaning that she is more likely than not to be telling the truth, a lower standard than for a criminal trial. Their deliberations began just before noon.Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html. Continue reading...

Republican governor says bills are meant to ‘counteract’ the ‘malign influence of the Chinese Communist party’ in the stateGovernor Ron DeSantis of Florida signed a series of bills Monday that bans Chinese citizens from buying land in the state.In a recent news release, the Republican announced his signing of that bill and two others which are meant to “counteract” what he described as “the malign influence of the Chinese Communist party in the state of Florida”. Continue reading...

Fired Fox News host makes remarks in latest leaked video published by Media Matters for AmericaFox News was under attack from liberals and its former chief executive Roger Ailes would have “never put up with this shit”, Tucker Carlson told his producer in new leaked video of the fired Fox star.Describing a conversation with an unnamed female executive at the rightwing network, Carlson said: “I was like, she’s got a lot of liberals working over there. And, you know, they see this as war and we’re the main force on the other side. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Republican senator derides influencer, saying: ‘Every man who has been in a locker room recognises the type’In his new book, the Missouri Republican senator Josh Hawley derides Andrew Tate, a social media influencer and self-proclaimed “king of toxic masculinity”, for “sleeping with as many women as possible, berating them, abusing them and celebrating it all as manly, as ‘freedom’”.Criticising Tate for “fake bravado” and “endless boasting”, Hawley adds: “Every man who has been in a locker room recognises the type … those aren’t the words of a man; those are the words of a child pretending to be a man.” Continue reading...

It took me years to come round to Random Access Memories, until I connected the dots to its unlikely cousin 40 years its senior, Dark Side of the MoonFew records in the 21st century have divided a band’s fans as much as Daft Punk’s fourth studio album, Random Access Memories. While the reviews were largely positive, a significant swathe of the band’s fanbase wondered why they had swapped techno for soft rock. It took me years to come to peace with this beguiling, if confounding, album, until one day the refracted light came on and the pre-decimal penny dropped: Random Access Memories was the 21st century Dark Side of the Moon. And the 10th anniversary reissue of RAM, which arrives on 12 May (coincidentally less than two months after the 50th anniversary edition of Pink Floyd’s legendary eighth album) will help to prove it.The inflection point in my thinking was Horizon, a Japanese-edition bonus track on RAM, which is getting a full release as part of the album’s extravagant new triple-LP reissue. It is one of the least electronic songs ever to be released by a duo of electronic musicians: four a half minutes of horizontal space vibes, which stretch out on a base of acoustic guitar, soothing keyboard trills and Greg Leisz’s celestial pedal steel. The subtle shade of a drum machine aside, Horizon could pass for a long-lost Dark Side outtake. (It is no surprise that an enterprising music fan has created a mash up of Horizon with the vocal from Pink Floyd’s follow-up Wish You Were Here). Continue reading...

Kouri Richins allegedly poisoned her husband and the father of her three children, Eric, with fentanyl slipped into a drinkA Utah woman who recently published a children’s book on losing a parent has been charged with murdering her husband, the father of her three children.Kouri Richins, 33, of Kamas, Utah, a town outside Salt Lake City, allegedly poisoned her husband, Eric Richins, with a lethal dose of fentanyl slipped into a drink, according to authorities. Eric had five times the lethal dosage of fentanyl in his body when he died on 4 March 2022, investigators have said. Continue reading...

Trump’s former fixer is being sued by ex-president for allegedly spreading false information and breaching contractual obligationsDonald Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen on Monday asked a federal judge to dismiss a $500m lawsuit filed by the former president just weeks after Trump was indicted in New York over hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, contending that it was an unlawful effort to engage in witness intimidation.The motion argued the fact that Trump’s lawsuit only came when he was charged last month by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, instead of when Cohen first made the claims years before, suggested that Trump had sued him out of retribution. Cohen is expected to serve as the star witness for the prosecution at trial. Continue reading...

A dystopian-sounding new test threatens drivers with a ‘legal sleep limit’, but first we need to understand why a good night’s rest is impossible for someDo you have a strict bedtime? A sunrise-mimicking alarm clock? A vial of “sleep oil”? A white noise machine? A ban on screens past 10pm?We are, as a culture, obsessed with sleep. Not getting enough, not having the right kind; even sleeping too much. Study after study piles up to warn us that any of the above will give us cancer or dementia. And this week, a new punishment for failing to sleep well has appeared, in the form of the “sleepalyser” (not, admittedly, the official term): blood tests administered after a road accident in order to determine if you were under the “sleep limit”. Continue reading...

Texas lawmaker gave alcohol to intern, 19, and another young staffer, and had sex with intern when she was intoxicatedA Republican Texas state lawmaker who once proposed banning children from attending drag shows to supposedly shield them from being groomed for abuse has resigned after he was found to have engaged in inappopriate sexual conduct with a 19-year-old intern.Bryan Slaton, 45, resigned on Monday while facing mounting calls from the state’s Republican party and conservative groups to step down. A state house investigation last week determined that he supplied alcohol to the intern and another young staffer, had sex with the intern after she had become intoxicated, and later showed her a threatening email while saying everything would be fine if she kept quiet about the encounter.Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html. Continue reading...

Republicans are determined to link any increase in the ceiling with cuts to Biden’s signature climate legislationAmid warnings about looming fiscal catastrophe, the GOP is attempting to use Biden’s climate agenda as a bargaining chip over raising the debt ceiling – even if it could hurt Republican voters.Late last month, House Republicans narrowly passed speaker Kevin McCarthy’s proposal to raise the government’s debt ceiling in exchange for sweeping cuts to federal spending. Continue reading...

A Korean American family, a security guard and two young sisters are among those killed in Saturday attack near Dallas. Plus, how one man survived being struck by lightning

After a records request, the LAPD released the names and photos of 9,000 cops, including undercover officers in dangerous assignmentsThe Los Angeles police department has made many mistakes during its tumultuous history, but few may compete with an administrative error its own union officials are calling “a blunder that is just epic”: the inadvertent exposure of dozens of officers working undercover to investigate national security breaches, drug cartels and other dangerous criminal enterprises.The mistake arose when the city responded to a public records request by releasing the names, photographs and badge numbers of more than 9,000 officers – close to the entire force. The department assured the journalist who had fought and won a legal battle to obtain the records that “images of officers working in an undercover capacity … are not included”. Continue reading...

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The actor has enjoyed huge success with Wrexham and now he is interested in the NHL’s Senators. He will face competition from two music titans thoughJust a few months ago, the idea that multiple celebrities would be anxious to buy the Ottawa Senators might have seemed a tad ridiculous. Yet, here we are. Ryan Reynolds, Snoop Dogg and The Weeknd are each part of different offers being considered for the NHL team, which was recently valued at $800m by Forbes despite reaching the playoffs just twice in the last 10 seasons. The Senators are currently owned by the estate of Eugene Melnyk, who died in March 2022, and will only sell to a group willing to keep the team in Ottawa – although most likely in a stadium a bit closer to downtown.It’s hardly unheard of for celebrities to buy into sports teams. In fact, Reynolds and Snoop are both already heavily involved in sports. Reynolds has attracted huge amounts of publicity as part-owner of Welsh soccer club Wrexham FC, which he acquired alongside another actor, Rob McElhenney. For his part, Snoop has successfully launched youth football and basketball leagues. As for The Weeknd? He’s new to this. Continue reading...

Eventual outcome will have profound implications for Sunshine state overall and the regional economy in particularLucy Mends was very nervous about vacationing at Disney World in central Florida this spring. From her home in Elkridge, Maryland, the 46-year-old romance novelist had read about a law approved by Governor Ron DeSantis in 2022 that banned discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation in public school classrooms for children between kindergarten and the third grade.Mends became more alarmed over a series of bills introduced during the current session of the state legislature that would extend that ban to include high school students and prohibit transgender people from amending their birth certificates and receiving transition-related care such as hormone therapy and puberty blockers for minors. “They’re demonizing trans people, and it’s very scary,” she said. Continue reading...

Country is seeing an average of more than one mass killing weekly – amid little political prospect of meaningful gun controlAfter a series of shootings and other attacks, 2023 is on track to be the worst in recent history for mass killings in the US.Mass killings are defined as incidents in which four or more people are killed, not including the shooter or other type of perpetrator. According to data from the Gun Violence Archive, the US is on pace for 60 mass killings this year. There were 31 in 2019, 21 in 2020, 28 in 2021 and 36 in 2022. Continue reading...

Steven Spainhouer described rushing to the shopping center after his son called and trying to help a girl who ‘had no face’As an ex-police and US army officer, Steven Spainhouer is comfortable around firearms and goes so far as to describe himself as a “gun lover”.But Spainhouer is now passionately arguing in favor of meaningful gun control after witnessing a rifle-wielding man murder several people before being shot to death by police outside a suburban Dallas shopping mall Saturday. Continue reading...

I first wondered if Dad wouldn’t mind sharing the urn with a roomie, but decided to empty it in my garden insteadI bought a brass urn for my dad’s ashes eight years after he died.It was secondhand and a bargain at 30 bucks. As I went to leave the shop and picked it up off the counter it was heavier than anticipated. There was someone still in there.Amber Cunningham is a freelance radio producer Continue reading...

Police chief Brian Harvey declined to answer questions Sunday evening after a gunman killed eight people at a shopping mallThe victims of a mass shooting have been named as law enforcement officials in Allen, Texas, are still trying to piece together the events of the Saturday afternoon attack at a suburban shopping mall in which a gunman killed eight people and injured seven others, before being killed himself by police.Brian Harvey, the Allen police chief, declined to answer questions Sunday evening, saying of the investigation, “we actually don’t have a lot”. Continue reading...

George Alvarez accused after SUV drove into migrant crowd in Brownsville, as investigators work to determine if crash was intentionalAn SUV driver who killed eight people when he slammed into a group waiting at a bus stop in Brownsville, Texas, was charged with manslaughter, police said on Monday as investigators tried to determine if the crash was intentional.Authorities believe the driver, George Alvarez, 34, of Brownsville, lost control after running a red light on Sunday morning and plowed into a crowd outside a migrant center in the city, which has long been an epicenter for migration across the US-Mexico border. Continue reading...

Advice columnist’s lawyer says in closing arguments jurors can believe 10 witnesses or ex-president who declined to testifyDonald Trump is a habitual liar and sexual abuser who destroyed E Jean Carroll’s reputation in order to protect his own after she accused him of rape, a New York jury heard on Monday.In closing arguments in Carroll’s civil lawsuit against Trump for sexual battery and defamation, the advice columnist’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, told jurors they could believe the evidence of 10 witnesses for her client or the former president who declined to testify. Continue reading...

On Europe Day, we say great strides have been made towards a new relationship. We all want a strong EU and a strong UK

Korean American family and security guard also among those killed in Saturday attack near DallasDetails are emerging about those who were killed in a mass shooting at a shopping center in Allen, Texas, near Dallas, on Saturday afternoon. Nine people were killed, including the gunman, and at least seven others were injured.Authorities have yet to provide details about the exact series of events and publicly release the identities of the victims, but families, friends and organizations have released some information. Those killed include an engineer from India, a security guard, a Korean American family and two young children. Here is what we know so far: Continue reading...