Poll casts Trump as ‘criminal’ as senior ex-official calls documents case ‘dangerous’

A new poll out from JL Partners underscores major weaknesses for the three men most likely to be sworn in as president on 20 January 2025, with little good news to soften the blow.

With the GOP primary now in full swing, Americans are getting a good look at the alternatives the Republican Party will present to the re-election of President Joe Biden, who was already the oldest president ever to take office when he did so in 2021.

But the top contenders in the GOP, former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, each have debilitating labels to overcome if they have any shot of picking up ground with a general election audience, according to the survey. For Mr Trump, voters were most likely to describe him in one word as a “criminal”; others were even less flattering, such as “disgusting”, “liar”, “evil” and “dangerous” (though “patriot” also made a top-10 appearance).

Former Trump administration attorney general Bill Barr says Donald Trump’s legal arguments in the classified documents investigation are way off base. “The legal theory by which he gets to take battle plans and sensitive national security information as his personal papers is absurd,” Mr Barr told Face the Nation. “It’s just as wacky as the legal doctrine they came up with for the vice-president to unilaterally decide who won the election.”

The former attorney general said federal law only allows presidents to take purely private documents with them once they leave office.

“Obviously these documents are not purely private. It’s obvious,” he added. “They’re not even now arguing it’s purely private. What they’re saying is the president just has sweeping discretion to say they are.”

The separation of migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border has always caused Isabel Allende pain: When she saw it during the Trump administration, her first impulse was to help reunify children and parents through her foundation. Then, the legendary Chilean author thought, she had to write a book.

“The Wind Knows My Name,” which grapples with immigration, violence, solidarity, and love, is the latest novel by the award-winning writer who — with more than 77 million books sold — is considered the world’s most widely read Spanish-language author. Released earlier this month, it is available at bookstores in the U.S., Spain, and Latin America.

For Allende, 80, the separation of children from their parents at the border evoked similarly wrenching historical moments, such as when children of enslaved or Indigenous families were wrest from their parents.

More details in our full story.

As Donald Trump became the first former president to face federal charges, he and his supporters went through a familiar routine of mounting a victimhood defense in the face of unprecedented allegations of wrongdoing. But this time, the stakes are higher.

Trump upped the level of his claims and threats as he faces the potential of years in prison if convicted on 37 charges of obstruction, illegal retention of defense information and other violations. Hours after pleading not guilty, Trump claimed he is being targeted by the special prosecutor, who is nonpartisan, for political reasons and vowed to retaliate against President Joe Biden if he is elected president in 2024.

“There was an unwritten rule” to not prosecute former presidents and political rivals, Trump told supporters in a speech at his golf club in New Jersey. “I will appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president in the history of America, Joe Biden, and go after the Biden crime family.”

At 3pm local time, Mr Trump surrendered to authorities at the Wilkie D Ferguson Jr United States Courthouse in Miami, Florida on 37 federal charges stemming from his alleged unlawful retention of national defence information, adding another criminal case to the legal pressure against the twice-impeached former president as he seeks to win his party’s nomination in next year’s Republican presidential primary.

The arraignment comes just days after a federal grand jury indicted the former president.

Here’s what you need to know about the case.

The Fox News producer behind controversial chyron calling President Joe Biden the Trump-like insult “wannabe dictator” has parted ways with the right-wing network two days after the scandal.

Sources told The Daily Beast on Thursday that Alexander McCaskill, the former managing editor on “Tucker Carlson Tonight”, is no longer employed by the Rupert Murdoch empire.

Mr McCaskill’s name previously repeatedly cropped up in a lawsuit brought by former “Tucker Carlson Tonight” producer Abby Grossberg claiming a misogynistic and toxic culture on the show. Ms Grossberg claims that Mr McCaskill “gaslighted” her and discriminated against her because she is Jewish.

The ex-president delivered a roughly 30-minute address to a crowd of fans who descended upon the golf club to hear him swipe at political rivals and anyone else whose own actions he thought could be used to paint his own as harmless.

It was a rambling speech broken up by an impromptu singing of “Happy Birthday” from Mr Trump’s harmonically-challenged fans, whose rendition of the tune dissolved into a slurred mess by the conclusion.

So what can we learn from the former president’s remarks?

The attorney who recently withdrew from former president Donald Trump’s case regarding his alleged mishandling of classified documents has now also withdrawn from Mr Trump’s lawsuit against CNN.

James Trusty sent a motion to withdraw as an attorney to the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Friday, asking to pull out of the case.

“Mr Trusty’s withdrawal is based on irreconcilable differences between Counsel and Plaintiff and Counsel can no longer effectively and properly represent plaintiff,” the motion read. The motion said that Mr Trusty’s withdrawal did not adversely affect Mr Trump as oral arguments on CNN’s motion to dismiss had not been scheduled, discovery had not yet begun and no deadlines are pending.

Hugo Lowell of The Guardian and other journalists reported that Mr Smith sat in the front row during Mr Trump’s arraignment on federal charges related to his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House in 2021 and “stared towards the former president for essentially the entire appearance.”

Mr Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to oversee the Department of Justice’s investigation into Mr Trump’s handling of classified documents and his attempts to overturn the reuslt of the 2020 presidential election.

Former President Donald Trump‘s onetime personal lawyer and the key witness against him in his New York state criminal prosecution lost his bid Friday for early release from probation following a three-year prison sentence after federal prosecutors said he’s lying again.

U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman in Manhattan cited Michael Cohen‘s recent comments in a book and television appearance as reasons to conclude that early release from court supervision would not ensure rehabilitation and deterrence from future crimes.

The credibility of Cohen — who served as Trump’s personal lawyer from his early 2017 inauguration until his 2018 arrest — will be scrutinized if a jury ever hears the state criminal case filed against Trump over payments Cohen says he made on Trump’s behalf to silence two women who claimed they had affairs with Trump before the Republican became president.