Trump touts ‘weight loss’ and ‘excellent’ well being in new report: Live updates
Trump vows to ‘take over’ Washington DC: ‘We are going to make it beautiful’
Donald Trump used President Joe Biden’s 81st birthday to tout his personal obvious weight reduction and “excellent” general well being.
The former president posted a letter from his physician Bruce Aronwald on Truth Social on Monday, studying: “His physical exams were well within the normal range and his cognitive exams were exceptional.”
The letter added that Mr Trump has “reduced his weight through an improved diet and continued daily physical activity, while maintaining a rigorous schedule”.
The former president’s boasts about his obvious good well being got here the identical day that his authorized group was in federal courtroom in Washington DC for oral arguments regarding the partial gag order in his federal election interference case.
Judge Tanya Chutkan dominated that Mr Trump can not make “disparaging or “inflammatory” feedback about individuals or entities concerned within the case introduced by Special Counsel Jack Smith.
Mr Trump’s group argued that restrictions throughout his 2024 marketing campaign would violate his proper to free speech.
A panel of judges didn’t seem to purchase that argument, however an official ruling is but to be made.
Meanwhile, his New York civil fraud trial enters its eighth week. The gag order has been paused in that case.
Trump Georgia co-defendant avoids jail over harassing tweets
Donald Trump’s Fulton County election interference co-defendant Harrison Floyd has averted jail after a listening to during which District Attorney Fani Willis requested his bond to be revoked over tweets that appeared to harass witnesses within the sprawling racketeering case.
Judge Scott McAfee says the query at difficulty right here is whether or not Mr Floyd’s posts quantity to oblique communication with witnesses.
There has been a technical violation of Mr Floyd’s bond, he says, however not each violation compels revocation.
The prosecution and defence groups will now meet to find out how the bond phrases could be modified to be clearer.
Recap: Judges aren’t shopping for Trump’s gag order attraction
But the judges additionally seem prone to slender the scope of the order, hoping to steadiness First Amendment protections and political speech towards the wave of threats and harassment unleashed by Mr Trump and his supporters in direction of the prosecutors, judges, witnesses and potential jurors concerned with a rising checklist of litigation towards him.
The gag order imposed by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan final month blocked Mr Trump from launching a “pretrial smear campaign” as he seeks the 2024 Republican nomination for president, the choose wrote.
That order was paused by the appeals courtroom in Washington DC, which heard arguments within the case on Monday throughout a listening to that lasted practically three hours. A ruling just isn’t instantly anticipated.
Alex Woodward has the total story.
Fulton County DA Fani Willis delivers a PowerPoint presentation to underline her factors as to how Mr Floyd violated the bond restrictions in three other ways.
In response, the defence argues that the phrases of the bond haven’t been met or damaged.
After a brief break, the defence argues that it’s unbelievable that these individuals tagged within the posts by Mr Floyd would know of it, noting that the prosecution contacted them and allow them to know they’d been talked about.
Mr Floyd’s lawyer compares what occurred to somebody shouting throughout Mercedes Benz Stadium moderately than particularly speaking “with” versus “communicating about”.
He says there have been no threats within the posts made by Mr Floyd.
The third witness is Von DuBose, the lawyer for election staff Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.
He employed a agency to carry out menace assessments for them. They’re each witnesses within the Georgia case (and a trial to find out how a lot Rudy Giuliani owes them for his personal damaging feedback about them is beginning in a couple of weeks).
The menace report spikes had been so excessive following harassment towards them that they needed to go away their home at one level.
Next up on the witness stand is Gabriel Sterling, COO of the Georgia Secretary of State’s workplace. He is proven the varied Twitter posts during which he’s tagged in each his skilled and private accounts and referred to as a chunk of “💩”.
The defence group retains calling the @ image an “ampersand” which as we all know is definitely “&”.
Mr Stirling tells them that such insults are par for the course as a public determine.
He says he didn’t contact legislation enforcement concerning these particular tweets.
Mr Floyd’s defence legal professional is making an attempt to choose at much less of what his shopper stated and extra about how social media works. He is contending that tagging somebody in a put up just isn’t speaking instantly with that particular person.
He additionally argues that Mr Floyd was not asking for individuals to answer his posts (it was of their feedback that the threats had been made).
Judge Scott McAfee seems to be bored with this nitpicking.
DA Willis is now questioning Mr Hill on redirect. She notes that the bond settlement consists of no “indirect” communication with witnesses in addition to direct communication.
The state is arguing that Mr Floyd’s tweets led to additional harassment of these talked about, together with Ruby Freeman, as per the touch upon the tweet learn out in courtroom beneath:
Mr Floyd’s legal professional tried to argue that the Twitter/X account in query can’t be confirmed to be his shopper’s.
The witness, Mr Hill, lists the a number of methods during which they may determine that the account belongs to Mr Floyd, maybe most damningly that his legal professional referred to in a courtroom submitting as his shopper’s posts.
As Mr Floyd’s social media posts are learn out to the courtroom referring to Brad Raffensperger, Ruby Freeman, and former defendant Jenna Ellis, Mr Hill confirms that Ms Ellis is now a witness for the state following her plea deal.
Fulton County: Fani Willis argues for first time in sprawling Georgia election case
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is arguing why her workplace believes Harrison Floyd’s bond ought to be revoked and he ought to be despatched again to jail for intimidating witnesses.
Mr Floyd’s defence group argues that the tweets that landed him again in courtroom weren’t meant to be intimidating. His legal professional says “there’s no need” to ship him again into state custody, and prosecutors merely “could’ve addressed the issue” by calling up his attorneys with their considerations first. But then he defends his shopper’s feedback as “political speech” that “the state is trying to silence.”
Ms Willis stated she’ll name three witnesses: Michael Hill, an investigator in her workplace; Gabe Sterling, a key deputy within the Secretary of State’s workplace; and Ruby Freeman’s legal professional Von DuBose.
Ms Freeman was one of many election staff who had been harrassed after engaged on the 2020 election in Fulton County.
Source: independent.co.uk