Displaying items by tag: Donald Trump

Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to falsifying business records to hide damaging information ahead of the 2016 election. He was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records relating to hush money paid to a porn star who says they had an affair. He said the ‘fake case’ was a Democratic conspiracy to interfere with next year's presidential election, in which he is running. There's nothing in America’s constitution preventing him from running for election: even if imprisoned he could still campaign, but will white conservative Christians still accept  him? They previously stood by his side despite sexual assault accusations, fascination with authoritarian leaders, and his fondness for racists. Now that he has been formally charged in a sordid saga, will they finally turn away from their man? A prolonged legal fight and a trial will be a major diversion from a presidential campaign - in time and energy, and the scheduling of election rallies. See

The FBI search warrant of former president Donald Trump's Florida home authorised confiscation of every record he ever saw, read or created during his four years as commander-in-chief, right down to scribbles on a napkin. Democrats are asking for a damage assessment from the intelligence community on the eleven sets of classified documents recovered in the raid, including one marked ‘SCI’, a classification for some of the most sensitive national security information that is normally viewed in a highly secured location. A Trump lawyer signed a statement in June saying ‘all classified documents at Mar-a-Lago had been turned over to federal investigators’. On 14 August Trump’s lawyer claimed all investigations into ‘him will be dropped if he says he won’t run to be elected president in 2024. Later Trump’s office released a new defence statement: ‘As we can all relate to, everyone ends up having to bring home their work from time to time. American presidents are no different.'

The congressional committee investigating the attack on Capitol Hill said in a court filing, ‘Evidence and information available to the Committee establishes a good-faith belief that Mr Trump and others may have engaged in criminal and/or fraudulent acts. The select committee also has a good-faith basis for concluding that the President and members of his campaign engaged in criminal conspiracy to defraud the USA.’ If John Eastman is proven to have worked unethically for Mr Trump his legal licence may be suspended, and it increases political pressure on the Attorney General to charge Trump.

A year after Donald Trump was banned from Twitter he launched his own social-media platform, Truth Social, in a limited form, on the US Apple app store. Commentators noted the app had similarities to Twitter. Some of those trying to register were told, ‘Due to massive demand, we have placed you on our waiting list’. Project lead former congressman Devin Nunes said it was expected to be fully operational by the end of March. Created by the year-old Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), Truth Social had previously been made available to 500 beta testers. Truth Social describes itself as a ‘big tent' social-media platform that encourages an open, free and honest global conversation without discriminating against political ideology. Mr Nunes vowed it would be a ‘censorship-free experience’.

Former president Donald Trump returned to the spotlight at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. He stated, ‘The Republican Party is going to unite and be stronger than ever before. I am not starting a new party.’ He focused much of his speech on criticising the first few weeks of President Biden's administration, making it clear he wants a leading role in the GOP in future. With the 2022 midterms just around the corner, he wants Democrats defeated, also each GOP lawmaker who voted for his impeachment.

Donald Trump's second impeachment started on 9 February. Mr Trump was so irate with his defence team he was ‘screaming’ at the television while watching the proceedings unfold. Recent polls show 52% want Trump impeached for his actions leading to the Capitol riot. The Biden administration has high approval ratings, but they need to deliver immediately on climate change and immigration. Many believe this impeachment determines whether Republicans are tied to Trump for the next few years. The nine Democrat managers finished their opening arguments on 11 February, and thought their evidence was compelling enough to convince more Republicans to vote to impeach Trump. Meanwhile there are concerns that the trial will diistract Congress from taking swift action on urgent priorities around pandemic and economic fallout. Pray for scientists and communities to accelerate Covid vaccinations without interference. Pray for governing bodies in commerce and industry to agree on badly needed stimulus relief. See

After the storming of the Capitol building when President Trump incited aggressive moves to overturn the 2020 election result, the House voted for an article of impeachment against him. Nations are commenting on US events. The Archbishop of Wales said that Trump is a person of questionable morals, judgment, and wisdom who believes he can ignore democratic processes and the will of the people. ‘No politician has a right to be unaccountable for their behaviour.’ See Meanwhile the FBI have called for assistance in securing Washington as the inauguration nears. They believe the attack on the Capitol will potentially motivate additional follow-on attacks by extremists throughout 2021 and will very likely serve as a significant driver of violence for domestic extremists.’The range of potential future targets of attack was varied, extremists could zero in on government officials and institutions, as well as racial and religious minorities, journalists and more.

On 5 January a throng of Trump supporters swathed in red, white and blue had a ‘Jericho march’ around Washington in imitation of the Israelites besieging the city of Jericho. Some wore ‘Make America Great Again’ hats, waved flags featuring Trump, and held signs saying ‘Donald v Goliath’. Some were singing ‘How great Is our God’. The Georgia runoff on 6 January gave legislative advantages to the Democrats, while a rally gathered at the nation’s capital. Then Trump’s supporters stormed and ransacked the Capitol building, abruptly forcing Congress members and vice-president Mike Pence to flee the premises. Dozens were arrested, and at least four people were killed during the chaos. The next morning Trump agreed to leave office in an orderly transition of power, but he did not admit defeat or say he was conceding. He also failed to acknowledge publicly the deadly riot by his supporters inside the Capitol.

The Washington riots and deaths have demonstrated how deeply damaged US politics has become. Pray for God to turn this build-up of animosity and eventual breakdown of law and order into a wakeup call for Americans. May they make the humble effort to work together and repair the damage done. Pray for a shift in political fault-finding and for wise reasoning to enable them to resolve their problems. May they recognise that the division must be healed rather than worsened. Donald Trump is giving no indications of disappearing from the spotlight any time soon. Pray for Republican politicians to have the wisdom and moral strength to begin repairing the damaged democratic reputation. Trump’s reputation is badly tarnished, but he still has strong sway over a sizeable segment of the party's base. Pray for Republicans to resist the temptation to lay claim to his populist mantle, and decide to build the country not their status.

Electors from each state meet on 14 December to nominate the next president formally, but Trump wants to overturn the result, and challenges the Pennsylvania result. His legal team claims voters in Democrat-leaning areas were given more opportunities to correct mistakes on their postal ballots than elsewhere, and over 680,000 postal ballots were counted without proper oversight from poll watchers. They lost the case but then took it to a federal appeals court where it was also rejected. The judge said, ‘Calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and proof. We have neither here.’ The team intends taking the case to the Supreme Court. The government's top lawyer, William Barr, said, ‘We have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election.’ Challenges are dropped or settled in most other states as 14 December looms.