NEW YORK: Donald Trump created a “false expectation” of his imminent arrest, the New York prosecutor investigating the ex-president over hush money said Thursday, as tensions build over a possible indictment.
The comments come amid uncertainty over when a grand jury hearing the case will take a vote on charging Trump, a historic move that would inflame the 2024 election campaign in which the 76-year-old Republican is running to regain office.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office made the remarks in a letter sent to three Republican lawmakers who had written to Bragg requesting that he testify before Congress about his probe.
The Republicans — who are all chairmen of House committees — accused Bragg, a Democrat, of waging a “politically motivated prosecution” in their letter dated on Monday.
It was sent after Trump had said on Saturday, without providing any evidence, that he expected to be arrested on Tuesday, and called for supporters to “Protest, take our nation back!“
“Your letter... is an unprecedented inquiry into a pending local prosecution,” Leslie Dubeck, the general counsel for Bragg’s office wrote in Thursday’s response, seen by AFP.
“The letter only came after Donald Trump created a false expectation that he would be arrested the next day and his lawyers reportedly urged you to intervene. Neither fact is a legitimate basis for congressional inquiry,” she added.
Trump’s post on Truth Social sparked a media frenzy and led to warnings from Democrats that his call for demonstrations could trigger a repeat of the violence his supporters unleashed at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. Protests have so far been small and sporadic.
New York police have erected barricades outside Bragg’s office, Trump Tower and the Manhattan Criminal Court, where Trump would eventually appear before a judge if indicted.
He would become the first former or sitting president to ever be charged with a crime if the grand jury, a panel of citizens convened by Bragg, decides to indict.
The jury was not expected to hear the case Thursday and does not sit on Fridays, meaning any decision would come next week at the earliest.
Bragg is investigating a $130,000 payment to pornographic actress Stormy Daniels in the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential election.
The payment was allegedly made to stop her from going public about a liaison she says she had with Trump years earlier. Trump’s ex-lawyer-turned-adversary Michael Cohen says he made the payment on his then boss’s behalf and was later reimbursed.
If not properly accounted for, the payment could result in a misdemeanor charge for falsifying business records, experts say.
That might be raised to a felony if the false accounting was intended to cover up a second crime, such as a campaign finance violation, which is punishable by up to four years behind bars.
Legal analysts say that argument is untested and would be difficult to prove in court. Any jail time is far from certain.
Trump denies the affair. He repeated on Truth Social Thursday that Bragg has “no case.”
Trump is facing several criminal investigations at the state and federal level over possible wrongdoing that threaten his new run at the White House, many more serious than the Manhattan case.
They include his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state of Georgia, his handling of classified documents, and his possible involvement in the January 6 rioting.
Some observers believe an indictment bodes ill for Trump’s 2024 chances, while others say it could boost his support.
Trump gave ‘false expectation’ of arrest: New York prosecutor
https://arab.news/y9gu5
Trump gave ‘false expectation’ of arrest: New York prosecutor
Blast kills a woman in Greek city of Thessaloniki
ATHENS: A 38-year woman was killed after an explosion in northern Greek city of Thessaloniki early on Saturday, police officials said, adding that a criminal investigation is under way.
“It appears that she was carrying an explosive device and planned to plant it a bank’s ATM,” a senior police official told Reuters
“Something went wrong and exploded in her hands,” the official added.
Vatican workers install Sistine Chapel stove where ballots are burned during conclave to elect pope
VATICAN CITY: Vatican workers have installed the simple stove in the Sistine Chapel where ballots will be burned during the upcoming conclave to elect a new pope.
The Holy See released a video Saturday of the preparations for the May 7 conclave, which included installing the stove and a false floor in the frescoed Sistine Chapel to make it even. The footage also showed workers lining up simple wooden tables where the cardinals will sit and cast their votes on Wednesday, and a ramp leading to the main seating area for any cardinal in a wheelchair.
On Friday, fire crews were seen on the chapel roof attaching the chimney from which smoke signals will indicate whether a pope has been elected.
The preparations are all leading up to the solemn pageantry of the start of the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis, history’s first Latin American pope, who died April 21 at age 88.
Wednesday morning begins with a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica celebrated by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, after which the cardinal electors are sequestered from the rest of the world. In the afternoon, they will process into the Sistine Chapel, hear a meditation and take their oaths before casting their first ballots.
As of now, 133 cardinals are expected to take part in the conclave. If no candidate reaches the necessary two-thirds majority, or 89 votes, on the first ballot, the papers will be burned and black smoke will indicate to the world that no pope was elected.
The cardinals will go back to their Vatican residence for the night and return to the Sistine Chapel on Thursday morning to conduct two votes in the morning, two in the afternoon, until a winner is found.
After every two rounds of voting, the ballots are burned in the stove. If no pope is chosen, the ballots are mixed with cartridges containing potassium perchlorate, anthracene — a component of coal tar — and sulfur to produce black smoke out the chimney. If there is a winner, the ballots are mixed with potassium chlorate, lactose and chloroform resin to produce the white smoke.
The white smoke came out of the chimney on the fifth ballot on March 13, 2013, and Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was introduced to the world as Pope Francis a short time later from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica.
The preparations are underway as the cardinals meet privately in more informal sessions to discuss the needs of the Catholic Church going forward and the type of pope who can lead it.
Two women shot on campus of small technical college near Los Angeles
- The Los Angeles Police Department said officers detained a male subject from a car matching the description of a vehicle linked to the shooting
- The school went on lockdown for at least an hour after the shooting
INGLEWOOD: Two female employees of a Southern California technical college were shot on campus Friday and taken to the hospital in an incident that authorities attributed to workplace violence.
The shooting occurred around 4 p.m. in an office at the Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology campus in Inglewood, where Mayor James Butts said the suspect was believed to be a former employee.
Aerial TV video showed a heavy police presence outside the campus in the city, which abuts Los Angeles to the southwest.
One of the victims was in critical condition, Butts said. The Los Angeles County Fire Department confirmed on the social platform X that two people were taken to the hospital.
A person was taken into custody after initially leaving the scene, Butts said.
The Los Angeles Police Department said officers detained a male subject from a car matching the description of a vehicle linked to the shooting, which had been sent to local law enforcement agencies by the Inglewood Police Department. The Inglewood police did not immediately respond to a request for more information.
The school went on lockdown for at least an hour after the shooting.
Chris Becker, president and chief administrator of the campus, told KABC-TV that the campus is patrolled regularly and, as an aviation school, safety is one of its primary focuses.
“It’s a peaceful campus,” Becker said. “It’s a nice community of students and teachers and staff.”
The Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology has campuses across the country. The college’s Inglewood location, about a mile (about 1.5 kilometers) from the Los Angeles International Airport, accommodates 500 students and offers training programs focused on aviation maintenance technology, according to its website.
Gunman kills three in Thailand’s conflict-hit south
- Violence frequently rocks the kingdom’s southern provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala
- In 2004, Thai security forces shot into a crowd of protesters outside a police station in Tak Bai, killing seven
BANGKOK: A gunman has shot dead three people including a child in Thailand’s insurgency-hit south, police said Saturday, as authorities pursued the suspect.
The attacker opened fire late Friday in a residential area of Tak Bai district in Narathiwat province, one of three Muslim-majority provinces in Thailand’s far south gripped by a decades-long separatist insurgency.
Three people were killed, including a nine-year-old girl and a 75-year-old man, police said.
“One victim died at the scene, and two others succumbed to their injuries at the hospital,” local police officer Watthana Thurarat told AFP, adding that two more people were wounded.
Police believe the suspect, who remains at large, is linked to a rebel group, Watthana said.
Violence frequently rocks the kingdom’s southern provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala, where separatists seeking greater autonomy for the religiously distinct region have killed more than 7,000 people since 2004.
However, attacks on unarmed civilians in residential areas remain relatively rare, with most targeting security personnel.
In 2004, Thai security forces shot into a crowd of protesters outside a police station in Tak Bai, killing seven.
Subsequently, 78 others suffocated in the back of military trucks after they were arrested — a deadly crackdown widely seen as a trigger for the southern unrest in the Buddhist-majority country.
Last year, a Thai court dismissed the long-delayed Tak Bai case, brought by victims’ families against seven officials, when the statute of limitations expired.
Analysts have warned the decision could further inflame tensions in the region.
Worshipers stampede at a temple in western India, killing 6 and injuring dozens
- Stampedes during large Hindu religious gatherings are routinely reported in India
NEW DELHI: At least six people are dead and dozens injured after a stampede at a religious gathering in the western Indian state of Goa early Saturday, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
The stampede broke out as thousands of devotees thronged narrow lanes leading to a temple in Shirgao village, some 40 kilometers from the state capital of Panaji, the agency quoted police as saying.
Tens of thousands of devotees from Goa and neighboring states of Maharashtra and Karnataka attended the annual Hindu festival at Sree Lairai Devi temple.
The stampede was caused as people standing on a slope near the temple fell over, pushing more people to fall onto each other, Director General of Police Alok Kumar said, according to the news agency.
The injured were taken to nearby hospitals for treatment. Authorities ordered a probe into the incident.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was saddened by the loss of lives and expressed condolences to the victims’ families.
“The local administration is assisting those affected,” Modi said on social media.
Deadly stampedes are relatively common around Indian religious festivals, where large crowds often gather in small areas.
In January, at least 30 people died and many more were injured in a stampede as tens of thousands of Hindus rushed to bathe in a sacred river at India’s massive Maha Kumbh festival, the world’s largest religious gathering.
In July, at least 116 people died, most of them women and children, when thousands at a religious gathering in northern India stampeded at a tent camp in Hathras town.
