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new york — Donald Trump asked a federal court late Thursday to intervene in his New York hush money criminal case, seeking a pathway to overturn his felony conviction and indefinitely delay his sentencing scheduled for next month.

Lawyers for the former president and current Republican nominee asked the federal court in Manhattan to seize the case from the state court where it was brought and tried, arguing that the historic prosecution violated Trump’s constitutional rights and ran afoul of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity.

Trump’s lawyers said moving the case to federal court following his May 30 conviction will give him an “unbiased forum, free from local hostilities” to address those issues. If the case is moved to federal court, Trump lawyers wrote, they will then seek to have the verdict overturned and the case dismissed. If it remains in state court, with sentencing proceeding as scheduled, it could amount to election interference, they said.

“The ongoing proceedings will continue to cause direct and irreparable harm to President Trump — the leading candidate in the 2024 Presidential election — and voters located far beyond Manhattan,” Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote in a 64-page U.S. District Court filing.

Trump was convicted in state court in Manhattan of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a payment to bury affair allegations that threatened to cloud his 2016 presidential run. Even if the case isn’t moved to federal court, the potential delay caused by litigation surrounding Trump’s effort could give him a critical reprieve as he navigates the aftermath of his criminal conviction and the homestretch of his presidential campaign.

Separately, the state court judge who presided over the trial, Juan M. Merchan, is weighing Trump’s requests to postpone sentencing until after Election Day, November 5, and to overturn the verdict and dismiss the case in the wake of the Supreme Court’s immunity decision.

The high court’s July 1 ruling reins in prosecutions of ex-presidents for official acts and restricts prosecutors in pointing to official acts as evidence that a president’s unofficial actions were illegal.

Trump’s lawyers argue that in light of the ruling, jurors in the hush money case should not have heard such evidence as former White House staffers describing how the then-president reacted to news coverage of the deal to pay hush money to porn actor Stormy Daniels.

Trump’s lawyers had previously invoked presidential immunity in a failed bid last year to get the hush money case moved from state court to federal court. A federal judge rejected that request, clearing the way for Trump’s historic trial in state court.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein rejected Trump’s claim that allegations in the hush money indictment involved official duties, writing in July 2023, “The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was a purely a personal item of the president — a cover-up of an embarrassing event.”

“Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a president’s official acts. It does not reflect in any way the color of the president’s official duties,” Hellerstein added.

A message seeking comment was left with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which prosecuted the case.
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savannah, georgia/washington — Kamala Harris vowed a tougher approach to migration along the U.S. southern border and said she would not withhold weapons to Israel, in her first interview with a major news organization since becoming the Democratic nominee for president.

In the interview with CNN anchor Dana Bash, Harris sought to show she is in command of the issues and give Americans a sense of her policy positions with little more than two months until Election Day on November 5.

Harris said she would renew a push for comprehensive border legislation that would tighten migration into the United States and vowed to “enforce our laws” against border crossings.

“We have laws that have to be followed and enforced, that address and deal with people who cross our border illegally, and there should be consequence,” Harris said.

She also hewed closely to President Joe Biden’s strong support of Israel and rejected calls from some in the Democratic Party that Washington should rethink sending weapons to Israel because of the heavy Palestinian death toll in Gaza.

She said she supports a strong Israel but “we must get a deal done” to get a cease-fire in the Gaza conflict.

“No, we have to get a (cease-fire and hostage) deal done,” Harris said when asked if she would withhold weapons to Israel. She has been Biden’s vice president since the start of his administration.

Abbas Alawieh, a co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement that has protested against Biden’s policy, expressed frustration over Harris’ response on Gaza.

“If the vice president is interested in a cease-fire, she must support an immediate stop to sending the fire,” Alawieh said.

Harris, joined by her vice presidential running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, also said she would like to add a Republican to her cabinet if she wins the election.

“I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences. And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my cabinet who was a Republican,” she said. 

Surging in polls

Since becoming the Democratic candidate for president last month, Harris has surged in the polls, brought in hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign donations, and had a series of forceful campaign speeches.

She leads Trump 45% to 41% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Thursday that showed the vice president sparking new enthusiasm among voters.

Some critics suggested she might be less polished in unscripted settings like a TV interview, but she appeared to make no major mistakes on Thursday.

Harris defended her and Biden’s handling of inflation, saying they inherited a pandemic-ravaged economy that she said Trump had mismanaged. She said much work had been done to lower prices but that “prices are still too high.”

Jeremi Suri, history and public affairs professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said Harris came across as knowledgeable and a “consensus builder” in the interview but she could have had “more concrete and specific answers” on what she would do on her first day as president.

Harris has moved more toward the center on some issues from the time she ran for president in 2020 until she took over from Biden last month as the Democrats’ choice to face Republican former President Donald Trump in the election.

She has toughened her position on migration along the southern U.S. border with Mexico. She also no longer wants a ban on fracking, an energy production method that employs many people in Pennsylvania, one of a handful of swing states that could decide the election.

When asked about her policy shifts, Harris said: “My values have not changed.”

Harris dismissed a comment from Trump in which he questioned whether she was a Black American. “Same old tired playbook,” she said. “Next question, please.”

Trump, in a post on Truth Social, responded to the interview by saying: “I look so forward to Debating Comrade Kamala Harris and exposing her for the fraud she is.” Trump often falsely refers to Harris as a Marxist.

Though she has taken questions from journalists on the campaign trail and been interviewed on TikTok in recent days, she had, until Thursday, not done a one-on-one interview with a major network or print journalist since Biden ended his reelection campaign on July 21 and endorsed her.

Bash, who co-moderated the June 27 debate between Trump and Biden that ultimately led to the president’s departure from the race, conducted the interview in Savannah, Georgia, as Harris and Walz were on a campaign bus tour.

Harris widens lead over Trump with boost from women, Hispanics, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds.
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Пошкоджено п’ять багатоповерхівок
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Раніше очікувалося, що три черги відключень одночасно діятимуть з 15 години, а не зранку
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TOKYO — The intrusion of a Chinese spy plane into Japanese airspace is a “wake-up call” for Tokyo about the aggressive nature of China’s leadership, U.S. lawmaker John Moolenaar, who chairs the House Select Committee on China, said Wednesday.

The incident on Monday involving a Y-9 reconnaissance aircraft flying near the southern Kyushu island was the first time a Chinese military aircraft had breached Japan’s airspace, according to Tokyo, which told Beijing it was “utterly unacceptable.”

The Chinese foreign ministry said Tuesday it was still trying to understand the situation.

We’ve “seen a very different China in the last few years and the question is what’s the best way to deter future aggression and malign activity,” Moolenaar, who is a Republican member of the House of Representatives, said in an interview in Tokyo on Wednesday.

His visit to Japan, with half a dozen members of a bipartisan committee that has looked at topics ranging from China’s exports of fentanyl precursor chemicals to Beijing’s influence over U.S. businesses, comes as President Joe Biden’s administration looks to expand restrictions on semiconductor manufacturing equipment exports.

While Japan has worked with its U.S. ally to restrict shipments of such technology, unlike Washington it has avoided trade curbs that directly target its neighbor and largest trading partner.

A new rule that will broaden U.S. powers to halt semiconductor manufacturing equipment exports to China from some foreign chipmakers will exclude Japan, the Netherlands and South Korea, two sources told Reuters last month.

In Japan, Moolenaar met trade and industry minister Ken Saito, who oversees Japan’s technology exports and is meeting with the Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other senior Japanese officials.

“The question is what’s the best way to deter future (Chinese) aggression and malign activity. We don’t want to feed into a military complex that can be used against us,” Moolenaar said.
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Де конкретно перебуває 70-річна Зодіє Салієва зараз і в якому статусі – невідомо
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Особливо гостро проблема доступу до чистої питної води стоїть у країнах Африки, Центральної та Південно-Східної Азії
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STATE DEPARTMENT — The White House says U.S. officials continue to raise concerns about what they describe as unfair trade policies and non-market economic practices by the People’s Republic of China.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration is expected to unveil its final implementation plans for substantial tariff increases on selected Chinese imports in the coming days.

Some U.S. manufacturers, however, including those in the electric vehicle and utility equipment sectors, have requested that the higher tariff rates be reduced or delayed, citing concerns about rising cost.

On May 14, the White House announced a significant increase in tariffs on Chinese imports, raising duties on electric vehicles to 100%, doubling tariffs on semiconductors and solar cells to 50%, and introducing new 25% tariffs on lithium-ion batteries and other strategic products such as steel.

The move is seen as an effort to reshore U.S. manufacturing, enhance supply chain resilience, and protect domestic U.S. industries from what officials described as China’s overproduction.

This week, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during their talks near Beijing that Washington will continue to take necessary actions to prevent advanced U.S. technologies from being used to undermine national security, while avoiding undue limitations on trade or investment.

In Beijing, China has vowed to take countermeasures.

Wang this week accused the U.S. of using overcapacity as an excuse for “protectionism.” He urged the U.S. to “stop suppressing China in the economic, trade, and technological fields and to stop undermining China’s legitimate interests.”

Sullivan and Wang have discussed arranging a call between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in the coming weeks. Disputes over trade and tariffs are expected to be among the issues on the agenda.

Former U.S. officials told VOA that the leaders also are likely to have face-to-face talks before Biden leaves office next January.

“The first opportunity is the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) leaders’ summit in November, and the second is the G20 summit in November,” Ryan Haas, a former NSC senior official from 2013 to 2017 and currently a senior fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, told VOA on Wednesday.

Some analysts have downplayed the likelihood of immediate inflation, noting that the tariff increases announced in May target a relatively small portion of products — $18 billion in imports from China, which accounts for only 4.2% of all U.S. imports from China in 2023.

“Because many of the tariffs affect products that are not currently being imported in large quantities, and because they are phased in over two years, the immediate inflationary effect is likely to be small,” wrote William Reinsch, the Scholl Chair in International Business at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in a CSIS analysis earlier this year.

This week, following the Biden administration’s May announcement, Canada said that it will impose a 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicle imports and a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports from China, effective Oct. 1.

In Beijing, China’s Commerce Ministry issued a statement expressing strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to Canada’s planned tariff increases, stating that they would disrupt the stability of global industrial and supply chains, severely impact trade relations, and harm the interests of businesses in both countries.

Some material in this report came from Reuters.
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FRESNO, Calif. — The second elephant calf in two weeks has been born at a California zoo.

African elephant Amahle gave birth early Monday morning, according to the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. The event came 10 days after Amahle’s mother, Nolwazi, gave birth to another male calf.

The new additions are the first elephants born at the zoo, about 240 kilometers southeast of San Francisco, which has embarked on a program to breed elephants in the hope that they can be seen by zoogoers in years to come.

“To have two healthy calves is a historic milestone,” Jon Forrest Dohlin, the zoo’s chief executive, said in a statement Tuesday. “We cannot wait for the public to see the new additions to our herd and share in our excitement.”

The elephants and their calves will continue to be monitored behind the scenes for now, Dohlin said. While the zoo expanded its exhibit in anticipation of growing its herd, some animal activists have opposed the breeding program, saying elephants shouldn’t be in zoos because of their complex needs.

In 2022, the zoo brought in male elephant Mabu hoping he’d breed with the two females. The future of elephants — which have relatively few offspring and a 22-month gestation period — in zoos hinges largely on breeding.
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Washington — The 20-year-old gunman who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump in July was dead set on carrying out an attack but appears to have seen the former U.S. leader and current Republican presidential candidate as a “target of opportunity.”

Senior FBI officials shared the updated assessment of Thomas Matthew Crooks on Wednesday, saying the findings are based on almost 1,000 interviews and extensive analysis of his internet search activity and social media accounts.

“We saw through our analysis of all his — particularly his online searches — a sustained, detailed effort to plan an attack on some event,” FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Kevin Rojek told reporters during a phone briefing.

“He looked at any number of events or targets,” Rojek said, adding that when the Trump campaign announced the July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the shooter “became hyperfocused on that specific event.”

As for what motivated Crooks to carry out an attack in the first place, officials said that remains a mystery.

“At this time, the FBI has not identified a motive,” said Robert Wells, executive assistant director of the FBI’s National Security Branch.

Wells also said the FBI investigation has found no credible evidence to suggest that the shooter told anyone of his plans or that he had any help from any individuals or foreign governments.

“I want to be clear. We have not seen any indication to suggest Crooks was directed by a foreign entity to conduct the attack,” he said.

The FBI officials further rejected conspiracy theories that have been circulating on social media regarding a potential second shooter.

They said a forensic examination of the shooter’s gun, an AR-style rifle, conclusively linked the weapon to all eight shell casings found on the roof of the building where he carried out the attack.

The FBI officials said only two other shots were fired — one by a local law enforcement officer, and one by a U.S. Secret Service sniper — which hit the shooter in the head, killing him.

FBI investigators have been scouring Crooks’ internet searches and social media activity, and talking to anyone who knew him, ever since he climbed on a roof of a building overlooking the Trump campaign rally in rural, western Pennsylvania and began shooting, leaving Trump with a bloody ear and killing a rallygoer and injuring two others.

Last month, FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers that Crooks appeared to have become fixated on high-profile public figures and that just a week before the attempted assassination, he searched for information on the 1963 killing of U.S. President John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald.

“On July 6, he did a Google search for, quote, ‘How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?’” Wray said.

“That’s obviously significant in terms of his state of mind,” Wray added. “That is the same day that he registered for the Butler rally.”

FBI officials on Wednesday presented a more-detailed account of Crooks’ mindset and planning, saying the shooter appears to have started preparing to carry out an attack or shooting as far back as September 2023, using an online account to look at Trump’s campaign schedule.

Starting in April of this year, officials said, the shooter began researching campaign events for Trump and U.S. President Joe Biden.

“In the 30 days prior to the attack, the subject conducted more than 60 searches related to President Biden and former President Trump,” said the FBI’s Rojek, adding the shooter also looked up the dates and locations of the Republican and Democratic national conventions.

But Rojek said that Crooks’ focus on carrying out an attack appears to go back even further, and that he began researching how to make explosives in September 2019.

He said there is also no indication, so far, that Crooks was motivated by any political leanings.

“We’ve seen no definitive ideology associated with our subject either left leaning or right leaning,” Rojek said. “It’s really been a mixture, and something that we’re still attempting to analyze and draw conclusions on.”

It also appears Crooks was clear-headed and methodical in his attempt to kill Trump.  Lab tests showed no signs he was using alcohol or illicit drugs at the time of the attack, FBI officials said.
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Напередодні було отримано інформацію щодо погіршення стану води у річці Сейм
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Washington — U.S. President Joe Biden pressed on with plans for a troubled aid pier for Gaza despite internal warnings, a watchdog said, as the White House defended the operation Wednesday as a “comprehensive response” to a humanitarian crisis. 

Biden expressed disappointment with the performance of the pier operated by the U.S. military, which repeatedly had to be removed from shore due to bad weather. 

But the watchdog for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) said in the report released Tuesday that there had been a series of warnings about rough seas and security challenges before Biden decided to deploy the problematic pontoon. 

“Multiple USAID staff expressed concerns” about the fact that the pier would distract from pushing Israel to open land crossings, a “more efficient and proven” way of getting aid to desperate Gaza, it said. 

“Once the president issued the directive, the Agency’s focus was to use (the pier) as effectively as possible.” 

The White House said Wednesday the pier was “part of a comprehensive response to dire conditions alongside air and land deliveries.” 

The pier delivered nearly 9 million kilograms of food and water and “significantly helped alleviate” conditions in northern Gaza at a time when experts were warning of imminent famine, National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett said. 

“We are grateful to the heroic efforts of the men and women of the U.S. military who built and maintained the pier,” he added. 

Biden announced the project during his State of the Union address in March as Israel held up deliveries of assistance by land. 

But the USAID report said the pier problems meant it “fell short” of its goal of giving half a million Palestinians enough aid for three months, supplying only enough to feed 450,000 for one month. 

In the end the pier was only operational for 20 days during the two months before it was decommissioned, said the report. 

“From the start, rough weather posed a major challenge,” it said, adding that the pier was “detached or was shut down numerous times.” 

Pentagon guidance discussed at an initial planning meeting had said the pier was only suitable for use in short or moderate waves — but the Mediterranean often has “significant” winds and waves, the watchdog said. 

Security concerns in an active war zone where Israel was striking Hamas after the October 7 attacks “significantly impacted” aid delivery through the pier, it added.
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Washington — A militia group member who communicated with other far-right extremists while they stormed the U.S. Capitol was sentenced on Wednesday to five years in prison.

For weeks before the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, Kentucky electrician Dan Edwin Wilson planned with others to attack the Capitol and stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden, according to federal prosecutors.

Wilson told U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich that he regrets entering the Capitol that day but “got involved with good intentions.”

“Our country was in turmoil,” he said. “I believe it still is.”

The judge said there is “no question” that Wilson intended to interfere with the congressional certification of Biden’s 2020 electoral victory over Trump.

“He’s not being punished for what he said that day. His comments are reflexive of his intent,” the judge said.

Prosecutors recommended a five-year prison sentence for Wilson, who pleaded guilty in May to conspiring to impede or injure police officers. He also pleaded guilty to illegally possessing firearms at his home.

Wilson, 48, communicated with members of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group and adherents of the antigovernment Three Percenters movement as he marched to the Capitol. Wilson has identified as an Oath Keeper and as a member of the Gray Ghost Partisan Rangers, a Three Percenter militia, according to prosecutors.

A co-defendant, David Scott Kuntz, has pleaded not guilty to Capitol riot charges and awaits a trial. Kuntz organized a Telegram group called “Coalition of the Unknown,” which included Three Percenters from different militia groups, prosecutors said.

Wilson posted in the group under the username “Live Wire.” On Nov. 9, 2020, Wilson wrote to the group, “I’m willing to do whatever. Done made up my mind. I understand the tip of the spear will not be easy. I’m willing to sacrifice myself if necessary. Whether it means prison or death.”

Wilson and Kuntz traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House on Jan. 6. Defense attorney Norm Pattis said Wilson believed that the presidential election was stolen from Trump.

“Mr. Wilson did not plan an insurrection. He appeared at a protest and was swept up in events that turned violent,” Pattis wrote.

But prosecutors said Wilson planned with others to use the threat of violence to keep Trump in the White House.

“Wilson is in a rare class. Although he did not commit any acts of violence, his role in preparing for violence and helping to organize a conspiracy makes him particularly dangerous,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Mariano wrote.

As he approached the Capitol, Wilson used the Zello app to communicate with other members of a group called “STOP THE STEAL J6” and provide them with updates on the erupting riot.

“How many patriots do we have pushing through at the Capitol, Live Wire?” another user asked Wilson.

“Hey, pass the word, Badlands, as fast as you can. The people are pushing on the Capitol. We need hands on deck,” Wilson responded.

“Heard, Live Wire. Will send,” the other user replied.

Wilson wore a gas mask as he entered the Capitol through a door on the Upper West Terrace. He took a selfie of himself flashing a Three Percenters hand sign during his roughly 12 minutes inside the building. Photos show him carrying what appeared to be a can of bear spray.

Prosecutors said Wilson “sought out violence and endeavored to organize others to join him in his violent aims.”

“Wilson’s crime was an attack on not just the Capitol, but the United States and its system of government,” Mariano wrote. “He joined a mob and struck a blow to a central feature of the American system: the peaceful transfer of power.”

Wilson was arrested in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, on May 2023. Law enforcement seized six firearms and approximately 4,800 rounds of ammunition when they searched his home. Wilson had a criminal record that made it illegal for him to possess the firearms.

More than 1,400 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Approximately 950 of them have been convicted and sentenced, with roughly two-thirds receiving terms of imprisonment ranging from a few days to 22 years.
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За його словами, до кінця цього тижня в місті ще працюватимуть банки, але з понеділка залишаться тільки банкомати
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