Trump loses newest bid to throw out hush cash case after touting $100bn SoftBank deal: Live
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Donald Trump has lost his latest bid to throw out his New York hush money conviction, with the judge overseeing the case rejecting his attorneys’ conjecture that he is protected by “presidential immunity”.
The president-elect appears likely to enter the White House as a convicted felon, though it remains unclear when, or if, the justice will continue to postpone a sentencing date after a unanimous jury found him guilty in May of falsifying business records tied to hush money payments made to the adult film star Stormy Daniels in October 2016.
Trump used a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Monday to announce a $100bn investment deal with Japan’s SoftBank, which he and the bank’s CEO Masayoshi Son promised would create hundreds of American jobs.
The incoming president also used the session to try to ease concerns about his nomination of vaccine-sceptic Robert F Kennedy Jr as health secretary, also suggesting he would pardon New York Mayor Eric Adams and attacking Joe Biden over his administration’s failure to provide an explanation for the mysterious drones spotted flying over New Jersey, insisting: “The government knows what’s happening.”
Trump nominates five more ambassadors
The president-elect named another quintet of nominees to his new administration late yesterday, who are as follows:
- Arthur Graham Fisher was named as Trump’s choice to be the next United States Ambassador to the Republic of Austria
- Leah Francis Campos will be United States Ambassador to the Dominican Republic
- George Edward Glass will be United States Ambassador to Japan
- Stacey Feinberg will be United States Ambassador to Luxembourg
- Lou Rinaldi will be United States Ambassador to Uruguay
Trump mocked over geography gaffe: ‘You wouldn’t believe how many countries there are’
The president-elect also raised eyebrows at Mar-a-Lago yesterday after marveling at the number of countries that reached out to him following his election victory last month.
“I’ve spoken to way over 100, where they called to congratulate not only the election but also the size of the election and the extent of the victory,” Trump said on Monday.
“They were great. I spoke to over 100 countries.
“You wouldn’t believe how many countries there are. I’m trying the best I can to get back to everybody.
“There are a lot of countries. Literally, everyone called. It was very nice.”
Gustaf Kilander has more.
Trump makes New Jersey drone sighting plea to White House: ‘Something strange is going on’
This is what the president-elect had to say about the matter of unidentified flying objects over the East Coast and the Biden administration’s odd failure to put people’s concerns at rest.
Trump makes drone sighting plea as he claims ‘something strange is going on’
Donald Trump has claimed the government knows more than it is telling the public about the mystery drones spotted flying over New Jersey. Speaking at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Monday (16 December), the president-elect questioned why the Biden administration is keeping the public “in suspense”. Trump claimed: “Look, our military knows where they took off from.” When asked if he had received an intelligence briefing on the drones, Trump declined to answer. “Our military knows, and our president knows, and for some reason they want to keep people in suspense,” Trump said. The president-elect added: “Something strange is going on. For some reason they don’t want to tell the people.”
Trump says he would consider pardoning New York City Mayor Eric Adams
The president-elect, all too familiar with federal indictments himself, said yesterday that he believed Mayor Adams was “treated pretty unfairly” and said he “would” issue a pardon once he had reviewed the indictment against him on corruption charges that was issued in September if he felt it merited it.
Here’s more from Ariana Baio.
Trump claims ‘there’s something wrong’ with autism rates when asked about vaccines
Let’s have a look back at the president-elect’s latest meandering press conference yesterday, at which he took questions on a wide range of subjects in addition to making the SoftBank announcement.
Here’s Eric Garcia on his worryinging refusal to say definitively that vaccines do not cause autism during comments intended to ease concerns about his nomination of vaccine-sceptic Robert F Kennedy Jr as health secretary.
He was at least positive about the polio vaccine, although not about mandates relating to it.
SoftBank CEO announces $100bn investment in US during Mar-a-Lago visit
Trump used a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Monday to announce a $100bn investment deal with Japan’s SoftBank, which he and the bank’s CEO Masayoshi Son promised would create hundreds of American jobs.
Here’s what they had to say:
Donald Trump loses latest bid to throw out hush money case on ‘presidential immunity’ grounds
Good morning!
Donald Trump has lost his latest bid to throw out his New York hush money conviction, with the judge overseeing the case rejecting his attorneys’ conjecture that he is protected by “presidential immunity”.
The president-elect appears likely to enter the White House as a convicted felon, though it remains unclear when, or if, the justice will continue to postpone a sentencing date after a unanimous jury found him guilty in May of falsifying business records tied to hush money payments made to the adult film star Stormy Daniels in October 2016.
Here’s a full report from Alex Woodward.
Lindsey Graham breaks with Trump on jailing Jan 6 committee members
Graham, a staunch Trump supporter, told Kristen Welker of Meet the Press on Sunday that he disagrees with the presidency-elect but did not elaborate further.
Graham replied, “No.”
Read more:
TikTok prepares for US ban after delay bid rejected
US lawmakers have told Apple and Google to prepare to remove TikTok from their app stores on 19 January after the Chinese-owned platform failed in its bid to delay a nationwide ban.
China-based ByteDance must sell TikTok in the US before that date to avoid the ban, which has been ordered due to national security concerns.
Read more:
Steve Bannon is pushing the idea that Trump can run in 2028 (despite what the Constitution says)
MAGA acolyte Steve Bannon is currently floating the idea that Donald Trump could run for a third presidential term, even though the United States Constitution says otherwise.
During a speech at the New York Young Republican Club’s Gala on Sunday night, the former Trump chief strategist suggested that the 22nd Amendment – which states that presidents can not be elected more than twice – didn’t apply to Trump because the president-elect’s terms are non-consecutive.
Read more:
Source: independent.co.uk
