Former US President Donald Trump returned to the site of an assassination attempt in July, where he was wounded in his right ear during a rally.
“Tonight, I return to Butler in the aftermath of tragedy and heartache to deliver a simple message to the people of Pennsylvania and to the people of America,” Trump told supporters in Butler County nearly three months after the attempt on his life.
“Our movement to make America great again stands stronger, prouder, more united, more determined and nearer to victory than ever before,” he said. “We’re going to make America great again, going to win the election and win the election.”
Supporters gathered at the showgrounds hours before Trump’s arrival, with Pennsylvania State Police estimating the crowd at 21,000, according to the New York Post.
Donald Trump’s return to Butler, Pennsylvania, was as much a moment of personal triumph for him and his supporters as it was a tactical move by the former president. | Evan Vucci/AP
Trump called the shooter, who was killed by the Secret Service at the scene, a “vicious monster” who he said wanted to silence him
“For 16 harrowing seconds during the gunfire, time stopped as this vicious monster unleashed pure evil from his sniper’s perch,” said Trump. “By the hand of Providence and the grace of God, that villain did not succeed in his goal. Did not come close. He did not stop our movement. He did not break out our spirit. He did not shake our unyielding resolve to save America from evils of poverty, hatred and destruction.”
Thomas Matthew Crooks, a lone 20-year-old gunman, opened fire on Trump during a campaign rally, striking him in his right ear. The gunman also took the life of Corey Comperatore and seriously injured two others.
Trump called Comperatore a “brave guy” and praised him for his “tremendous courage” and asked the crowd to pay tribute by holding a minute of silence.
“To Helen (Comperatore’s widow) and the entire family. I can only begin to imagine the depths of your brief but I want you to know that we will carry his memory and our hearts for as long as we live,” he said.
Trump’s address was attended by his vice presidential nominee JD Vance and tech billionaire Elon Musk, who endorsed Trump shortly after the assassination attempt, among others.
Musk later took the stage to rally support for Trump in the November election.
Musk claimed Democrats want to take away Americans’ freedom of speech, right to bear arms and the right to vote effectively.
He said Trump must win the presidency to preserve democracy in America. “It’s very important — register to vote,” he said.
“Get everyone you know and everyone you don’t, drag them go to vote … make sure they actually vote. If they don’t, this will be the last election. That’s my prediction. Nothing’s more important,” he said.
Billionaire tech executive Elon Musk cast the upcoming presidential election in dire terms during a Saturday appearance with Donald Trump, calling the Republican presidential nominee the only candidate “to preserve democracy in America.”
The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla who also purchased X, Musk joined Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the former president survived an assassination attempt in July. He warned “this will be the last election” if Trump doesn’t win and, clad in a black-on-black cap bearing the “Make America Great Again” slogan of Trump’s campaign, appeared to acknowledge the foreboding nature of his remarks.
“As you can see I am not just MAGA — I am Dark MAGA,” he said.
The appearance marked the first time Musk joined one of Trump’s trademark rallies and represented the growing alliance between the two men in the final stretch of a competitive presidential election. Musk created a super PAC supporting the Republican nominee that has been spending heavily on get-out-the-vote efforts in the final months of the campaign. Trump has said he would tap Musk to lead a government efficiency commission if he regains the White House.
Trump joined Musk in August for a rare public conversation on X, an overwhelmingly friendly chat that spanned more than two hours. In it, the former president largely focused on the July assassination attempt, illegal immigration and his plans to cut government regulations.
Before a massive crowd on Saturday, Musk sought to portray Trump as a champion of free speech, arguing that Democrats want “to take away your freedom of speech, they want to take away your right to bear arms, they want to take away your fight to vote, effectively.” Musk went on to criticize a California effort to ban voter ID requirements.
Saturday’s rally took place at the same property where a gunman’s bullets grazed Trump’s right ear and killed his supporter, Corey Comperatore. The shooting left multiple others injured.
Several members of Comperatore’s family, as well as other attendees and first responders from the July rally, returned to the site on Saturday. Also appearing with the former president were his running mate Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance, son Eric Trump, daughter-in-law and RNC co-chair Lara Trump, along with Pennsylvania lawmakers and sheriffs.
Israel should carry out a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities to avenge Tehran’s recent missile attack on the Jewish state, US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has argued.
Earlier this week, Iran fired around 180 missiles at Israel in retaliation for the assassinations of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, both of whom had close ties to Tehran. The attack killed one Palestinian in the West Bank, while the Israeli military acknowledged that some of the projectiles hit its air bases.
The attack followed what Israel called a “limited ground operation” in southern Lebanon targeting Hezbollah.
Speaking at a campaign event in North Carolina on Friday, Trump, known for his hawkish stance on Iran, disagreed with US President Joe Biden, who had earlier refused to support an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“They asked him, what do you think about Iran, would you hit Iran? And he goes, ‘As long as they don’t hit the nuclear stuff.’ That’s the thing you want to hit, right? I mean, it’s the biggest risk we have, nuclear weapons,” he said.
“When they asked him that question, the answer should have been, hit the nuclear first, and worry about the rest later,” Trump added.
As president, Trump spearheaded the US withdrawal in 2018 from the nuclear deal with Iran. Under the agreement, Iran had agreed to limit its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. At the time, however, Trump argued that the deal did little to permanently prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Following the Iranian strike on Israel, Axios reported that West Jerusalem is eyeing a “significant retaliation” for the missile barrage and that all options are on the table, including strikes on Tehran’s nuclear facilities. Other potential targets could reportedly include gas and oil rigs or air defense systems, while targeted assassinations could also be considered.
Meanwhile, according to an Al Jazeera report, Iran warned the US that any Israeli attack could be met with an “unconventional response.” As tensions continue to soar in the Middle East, Politico reported that Biden is growing increasingly frustrated by Israel’s conduct, including recent attacks on Hezbollah and the war in Gaza, with the White House said to be acknowledging the possibility that it may not be able to prevent a full-scale “regional war.”
(AFP)-Biden’s warning came with lawmakers and analysts voicing concern over increasingly bellicose campaign language ahead of the vote.
Trump — who survived an assassination bid in July and another apparent plot in September — alleged widespread fraud after his defeat to Biden, and pro-Trump rioters riled up by his false claims ransacked the US Capitol.
“I’m confident it will be free and fair. I don’t know whether it will be peaceful,” Biden told reporters as he discussed the election.
“The things that Trump has said and the things that he said last time out when he didn’t like the outcome of the election were very dangerous.”
Trump was impeached in 2021 for inciting the insurrection after hundreds of his supporters — exhorted by the defeated Republican to “fight like hell” — battered police as they smashed windows at the Capitol and broke through doors.
‘They cheat like hell’
He has been indicted over what prosecutors allege was a “private criminal effort” to subvert the election that culminated in the violence.
Former US president Donald Trump campaigned in the swing state of North Carolina, where he reprised his claims of 2020 voter fraud. Logan Cyrus / AFP
Trump — who is due to return to the venue of his first assassination bid in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday — has long been assailed over his violent rhetoric.
Biden made his comments during what was the first appearance of his presidency in the White House briefing room, where he touted his administration’s achievements as his vice president, Kamala Harris, battles Trump.
Harris and Trump meanwhile were barnstorming the battleground states that are likely to decide who wins the White House.
Trump campaigned Friday in North Carolina, where he reprised his claims of 2020 voter fraud: “We should get elected, but remember this, they cheat like hell,” he said.
He also visited neighboring Georgia, a swing state narrowly claimed by Biden four years ago but won by Trump in 2016 — and one of the biggest prizes of the 2024 election map.
The Republican inserted himself aggressively into Georgia politics after his 2020 defeat, pushing for state officials to “find” enough votes to overturn Biden’s victory.
Trump, 78, was charged by state prosecutors with racketeering, in a case that is on pause and expected to start up again after the election. He denies wrongdoing.
‘Biggest loser’
On Friday Trump joined Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp after receiving a briefing on the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Helene, the deadliest storm to hit the US mainland since Katrina in 2005.
Trump has repeatedly spread misinformation about the federal response to the disaster, falsely alleging that funding for relief has been misappropriated by Harris and redirected towards migrants.
Harris, who is neck-and-neck with Trump in all seven swing states, rallied Friday in Michigan — a union stronghold that epitomized the US manufacturing decline of the 1980s.
The Democratic contender accused Trump of jeopardizing Michigan auto jobs.
“This is a man who has only ever fought for himself. This is a man who has been a union buster his entire career,” she said at a stop in Detroit.
Later, in the city of Flint, she branded Trump “one of the biggest losers of manufacturing jobs in American history.”
Flint is a majority Black city where a 2010s scandal over lead-tainted water highlighted government mismanagement and the disproportionate damage to poor and non-white communities.
She reminded rallygoers that the election is just one month away, and early voting has already begun in several states.
“Folks, the election is here. And we need to energize, organize and mobilize,” Harris said.
Earlier her campaign announced the country’s first Black president, Barack Obama, would stump for her in Pennsylvania and other swing states from next week as she woos undecided voters in the US heartland.
US intelligence has warned Donald Trump of “real and specific” threats from Iran to assassinate him, his presidential campaign said in a statement Tuesday.
“President Trump was briefed earlier today by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence regarding real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him in an effort to destabilize and sow chaos in the United States,” Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung said in the statement.
“Intelligence officials have identified that these continued and coordinated attacks have heightened in the past few months, and law enforcement officials across all agencies are working to ensure President Trump is protected and the election is free from interference,” he added.
The campaign did not elaborate on the claims, which come as international pressure increases on Iran to reduce soaring tensions in Lebanon, where Israel has carried out a bombing campaign against sites belonging to Lebanese group Hezbollah which is backed by Tehran.
Iran rejected accusations that it is trying to kill Trump earlier this summer, shortly after a gunman opened fire at a rally in Pennsylvania, killing one person and wounding the presidential candidate.
Days after the July 13 assassination attempt, US media reported that authorities had received intelligence on an alleged Iranian plot against the Republican, prompting his protection to be boosted. Iran rejected the “malicious” accusations.
The US has also accused Iran of a hack targeting Trump’s campaign, alleging Tehran is seeking to influence the 2024 election.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy supports the Democratic Party in the upcoming elections, former US President Donald Trump claimed during a rally in Pennsylvania on Monday.
“He (Zelenskyy) wants them to win this election so badly,” the Republican presidential nominee said, calling Zelenskyy “the greatest salesman in history” for securing billions in US aid.
“Every time he (Zelenskyy) comes into the country, he walks away with 60 billion dollars,” he added.
Trump suggested that the ongoing war could have been avoided, asserting that if he had been in office, a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine would have been negotiated.
The former president said if elected, he would call both Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin and urge them to reach a peace deal.
Neither Zelenskyy’s office nor Harris’ campaign have reacted to Trump’s comments yet.
Last week, Trump said he would “probably” meet with Zelenskyy during his visit to the US.
Kamala Harris on Saturday, September 22, challenged Donald Trump to another debate in the lead-up to the US presidential election, with her campaign saying she had accepted a debate invitation from CNN for October 23.
“Vice President Harris is ready for another opportunity to share a stage with Donald Trump,” campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement. “Trump should have no problem agreeing to this debate.”
The Republican snubbed the offer, saying it was “too late.” It would have been their second debate, after a September 10 encounter she was widely considered to have won.
Speaking at a campaign rally in the battleground state of North Carolina, Trump said he would like to debate – calling it “good entertainment value” – but that the start of early voting in some states had taken the air out of the idea. “It’s just too late, voting has already started,” he said. However, in 2020, the last presidential debate between Biden and Trump took place on October 22. In 2016, the third debate between Hillary Clinton and Trump happened on October 19.
He added, to a large and enthusiastic crowd of supporters, that while CNN had been “very fair” when he debated President Joe Biden in June, “they won’t be fair again” after criticism for the handling of the first debate.
Vice President Harris replaced her boss at the top of the Democratic ticket after the 81-year-old Biden’s disastrous performance against Trump. His exit from the race left Trump, 78, now the oldest presidential nominee against a much younger Harris, 59.
Race remains neck-and-neck
Saturday’s announcement came as some states have already begun early voting in what is an agonizingly close race. On the campaign trail on Friday, Harris cast Trump and his party as “hypocrites” over abortion, blaming the former president for an abortion ban in the battleground state of Georgia that she said had caused the deaths of two women.
Trump has frequently bragged on the campaign trail that his three Supreme Court picks paved the way for the 2022 overturning of the national right to abortion, turning the decision over to states. At least 20 states have since brought in full or partial restrictions, with Georgia banning most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
The race remains neck-and-neck, with Trump running with the support of a conservative religious voter base and others, many of whom feel disaffected by the country’s political and economic status quo. Hardline anti-immigrant rhetoric has become a centerpiece of his election campaign.
The race between Harris and Trump has continued amid a tense atmosphere that was brought to the fore last weekend when a gunman appeared to have tried to assassinate Trump in Florida, the second such threat in as many months. Every vote will count in the race, whose result Trump has once again refused to say he will accept if he loses.
Trump faces criminal charges for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 result, after which his supporters violently stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. The result is expected to hinge on just seven battleground states, including North Carolina.
Trump has sought to lay the blame for any potential loss at the door of Jewish American voters, sparking outrage. “If I don’t win this election… in my opinion the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss,” Trump told an anti-Semitism event on Thursday, repeating his grievance that Jewish voters have historically leaned Democratic.
Fred Trump’s net worth, bolstered by his real estate empire, led him to establish $1 million trust funds for each of his five children and three grandchildren in 1976.
By the time of his death in 1999, these trusts had grown significantly. However, his passing in 1999 triggered legal disputes as Fred Jr.’s children challenged the will, accusing Donald, Maryanne, and Robert of fraud and undue influence.
This article delves into Fred Trump’s financial legacy and the ensuing legal battles.
What Was Fred Trump Net Worth?
Fred Trump, an American real estate developer, had a net worth of $200–300 million when he died in 1999.
Today, that would be around $300–$450 million after adjusting for inflation. In 1982, his net worth was $200 million, equivalent to about $500 million today. Fred was Donald Trump’s father.
In 1927, Fred co-founded the real estate company E. Trump & Son with his mother, Elizabeth Christ Trump. The company later became the Fred Trump Organization and is now called The Trump Organization.
Fred faced investigations for profiteering by a U.S. Senate committee and the State of New York.
In 1973, after Trump became president of The Trump Organization, the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division sued the company for violating the Fair Housing Act.
In 1991, doctors diagnosed Fred with “mild senile dementia.” Two years later, he began suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. He died of pneumonia in June 1999.
Biography
Fred Trump was born Frederick Christ Trump on October 11, 1905, in New York City. His parents, Frederick (born Friedrich) Trump and Elizabeth Christ Trump, were German-American.
Fred had two siblings, Elizabeth and John. His father, a businessman, ran a restaurant for miners during the Klondike Gold Rush and later bought real estate.
Fred and his siblings grew up speaking German. At age 10, he started working as a delivery boy for a butcher.
While attending Richmond Hill High School, Fred worked various jobs like caddying and selling newspapers.
In 1918, Frederick died of the Spanish flu, and Elizabeth took over the family’s real estate business.
Fred was keen on becoming a builder. He built a garage for a neighbor and took correspondence courses in masonry, plumbing, and electrical wiring.
After graduating in early 1923, Fred worked pulling lumber to construction sites and later became a carpenter’s assistant.
In 1924, with an $800 loan from his mother, Fred built and sold his first house. Within two years, he had built 20 houses, financing some by selling them before completion.
His mother held his business, E. Trump & Son, in her name because Fred was not yet of legal age.
Wealth Transfer
A 2018 “New York Times” exposé reported that Fred and his wife, Mary, gave their children over $1 billion (in 2018’s currency) and evaded more than $500 million in gift taxes.
Fred illegally gave Donald millions of dollars between 1987 and 1991. In 1997, he transferred most of his apartment buildings to his children. These buildings were worth $41.4 million at the time and were later sold for $737.9 million.
Career
Fred Trump incorporated E. Trump & Son in 1927. In 1933, he built Trump Market, one of NYC’s first modern grocery stores, and sold it six months later to King Kullen.
In 1934, Fred and a partner acquired J. Lehrenkrauss & Sons’ mortgage-servicing subsidiary, buying properties nearing foreclosure at low prices and selling them for profit.
He leveraged Federal Housing Administration loan subsidies to build homes, employing 400 workers by 1936.
Fred advertised his business on the yacht Trump Show Boat in the late ’30s, offering discounts with swordfish-shaped balloons.
In 1938, the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle” dubbed him the “Henry Ford of the home building industry.”
During WWII, he built garden apartments and barracks for U.S. Navy members and later homes for returning veterans.
In the late ’40s, Fred built Shore Haven in Brooklyn, featuring over 30 buildings and a shopping center. In 1950, he built Beach Haven Apartments near Coney Island.
By 1964, he had completed Trump Village, a $70 million apartment complex. Fred constructed over 27,000 row houses and low-income apartments in New York.
In 1954, the “New York Times” listed Fred among 35 city builders accused of profiteering.
The U.S. Senate and New York State investigated him for windfall gains, but he was not indicted. In the early ’70s, Donald Trump became president of the company, and Fred became chairman.
The Urban League and NYC Commission on Human Rights found discriminatory practices in Trump apartments, leading to a 1975 consent decree with the Department of Justice to prohibit discrimination.
Personal Life
In 1927, police arrested Fred Trump and several other men at a Ku Klux Klan rally, referring to them as “berobed marchers” in a Long Island newspaper.
He was arrested for “refusing to disperse from a parade when ordered,” but the charge was later dismissed. In the mid-1930s, Fred met Scottish immigrant Mary Anne MacLeod at a dance party.
They married on January 11, 1936, at NYC’s Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church and honeymooned in Atlantic City for one night.
They had five children: Maryanne (born 1937), Fred Jr. (born 1938), Elizabeth (born 1942), Donald (born 1946), and Robert (born 1948). Fred Jr. died in 1981, and Robert passed away in 2020.
Fred was a strict father who forbade his children from wearing lipstick, snacking, and cursing. His sons had paper routes, and he let them use a limo in bad weather.
After Elizabeth’s birth, the family moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia, but returned to Queens in 1944.
Within two years, they lived in a five-bedroom home Fred built in Jamaica Estates. He also built a 23-room mansion on the neighboring lot.
Fred and Mary donated buildings to the Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, United Cerebral Palsy, and the National Kidney Foundation.
Fred was a trustee of the Jamaica Hospital Medical Center and supported the Hospital for Special Surgery and the Long Island Jewish Hospital.
He also supported the Salvation Army and the Lighthouse for the Blind. Fred served on the board of directors at the Kew-Forest School, which his children attended, and donated land for Flatbush’s Beach Haven Jewish Center.
What happened to Fred Trump?
Fred Trump died on June 25, 1999, at 93, after being admitted to Long Island Jewish Medical Center with pneumonia.
His funeral took place at Manhattan’s Marble Collegiate Church, with more than 600 mourners attending. He was buried in a family plot at Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery.
Will and Estate
In 1976, Fred Trump set up $1 million in trust funds for each of his five children and three grandchildren. These trusts received annual dividends from Fred’s real estate empire profits.
By 1993, each trust fund had grown to $35 million. After Fred’s death, each of his children received $20 million after taxes.
A 2018 “New York Times” report revealed that trust funds Fred established in the 1960s made each of his children, including Donald Trump, millionaires before they were teenagers.
The report claimed Donald received $400 million (adjusted for inflation) from Fred’s business empire during his lifetime, including $60 million in loans that were never repaid.
Fred’s widow, Mary, died in August 2000, with their combined estate valued at nearly $52 million.
Fred Jr.’s children contested Fred’s will, alleging it was “procured by fraud and undue influence” by Donald, Robert, and Maryanne, who claimed their father was “sharp as a tack” until shortly before his death.
Donald denied knowing about his father’s dementia diagnosis, but Maryanne privately admitted she was aware of it.
Mary, Fred Jr.’s daughter, stated that toward the end of his life, Fred forgot people he had known for years, including her.
In 2020, she sued Donald, Maryanne, and Robert’s estate, accusing them of a scheme to siphon funds from her interests and deceive her about the true value of her inheritance.
Former US President Donald Trump leads Vice President Kamala Harris by 2 points in the latest Wall Street Journal poll conducted after President Joe Biden’s exit from the 2024 presidential race.
Trump received 49% support among 1,000 registered voters, while Harris garnered 47%, according to the poll.
Published on Friday, the polls suggest Kamala Harris’s performance marked a significant improvement over Biden’s, who trailed Trump by six points in a Wall Street Journal poll earlier this month.
That poll followed Biden’s poor debate performance, which led to increased calls for him to withdraw from the race.
Biden ended his campaign last weekend after weeks of internal party debates about his age, mental fitness, and ability to win the White House in November.
The poll also revealed a sharp increase in Harris’s favorability among registered voters, rising from 35% earlier this month to 46%, an 11-point jump. In contrast, Trump’s favorability stood at 47%, while Biden’s was at 39%.
After Biden suspended his campaign, Harris quickly gained key endorsements from party members. She also experienced a surge in fundraising and secured commitments from enough delegates to clinch the nomination.
The Wall Street Journal poll, conducted from July 23-25, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1% points, according to the Journal’s article.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump touted his close relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu when he hosted the Israeli prime minister on Friday and accused U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris of making “disrespectful” comments about the Gaza war.
Netanyahu met Trump, the Republican nominee in the 2024 U.S. presidential race, a day after talks with Democratic President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running against Trump in the Nov. 5 U.S. election.
Trump greeted Netanyahu and his wife Sara at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida resort, and criticized Harris, who had voiced concern after meeting the Israeli leader about the toll on Palestinian civilians from Israel’s 9-month-old campaign in Gaza.
“I think her remarks were disrespectful,” Trump said.
Netanyahu said he hoped his U.S. trip would lead to a quicker ceasefire deal.
“I hope so. But I think time will tell,” he told reporters. He said he thought there had been movement in efforts to forge a ceasefire because of Israeli military pressure and said he would dispatch a team to talks in Rome.
Netanyahu had angered Trump when he congratulated Biden on his victory over Trump in the 2020 election. Trump falsely claims the election was stolen from him by voter fraud.
Trump more recently criticized Netanyahu for Israeli security failures that enabled Hamas to carry out the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
Trump dismissed any suggestion of tensions with Netanyahu.
“We have a very good relationship,” he said, noting policy changes during his presidency including moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and pulling the United States out of the international nuclear deal with Iran.
Opinion polls put Harris and Trump in a close race for the White House, prompting world leaders like Netanyahu, traditionally more aligned with Trump’s Republicans than Biden’s Democrats, to strike a balance in dealings with the U.S.
HUMANITARIAN SITUATION A ‘SERIOUS CONCERN,’ HARRIS SAYS
Harris had pressed Netanyahu on the suffering of Palestinians in the enclave in talks on Thursday that were watched for signs of how she might shift American policy if she becomes president.
“I made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation there,” Harris said. “I will not be silent.”
“Israel has a right to defend itself. And how it does so matters,” she said.
Members of Netanyahu’s delegation were disappointed by some of Harris’ remarks in private and in public out of concern that it showed “daylight” between the governments and could signal how relations would develop if she wins the presidency, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Netanyahu heads a far-right-leaning coalition government opposed to Palestinian statehood, a policy at odds with U.S. support for a two-state solution to ending decades of conflict.
In defiant remarks to Congress on Wednesday, Netanyahu defended Israel’s military and dismissed criticism of a campaign which has devastated Gaza and killed more than 39,000 people, according to health officials in the Hamas-ruled enclave.
Dozens of Democrats boycotted Netanyahu’s speech, voicing dismay over the thousands of civilian deaths in Gaza, destruction of its infrastructure and displacement of most of its 2.3 million people.
In Wednesday’s speech, Netanyahu praised Biden’s support for Israel.
But to cheers from Republicans, he touched on Trump’s pro-Israel record as president. He praised Trump’s decision to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a long-held goal of conservatives that infuriated Palestinians.
He also cited the Abraham Accords, landmark U.S.-brokered agreements signed during Trump’s White House years that normalized bilateral relations between Israel and both Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
Hamas and its allies killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostage in the Oct. 7 attack, according to Israeli tallies. Some 115 hostages are still being held though Israel believes one in three are dead.
Israeli officials estimate that some 14,000 fighters from militant groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad have been killed or taken prisoner out of a force they estimated to number more than 25,000 at the start of the war.
Kamala Harris, an American politician and attorney, has a net worth of $6 million. She became Vice President of the United States in November 2020, serving with President Joe Biden.
Most of her net worth comes from her husband, attorney Douglas Emhoff, who has earned a significant income since 2012.
Kamala was elected to the US Senate in 2017. On August 11, 2020, Joe Biden chose her as his running mate for the 2020 election.
They defeated Donald Trump and Mike Pence in a landslide victory, winning both the electoral college and the popular vote. Kamala made history as the first female Vice President and the first person of color in this role.
Kamala Harris is now the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate for the upcoming election on November 5. She will run against Donald Trump, following President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the race.
Early Life and Career
University and earned her JD from the University of California, Hastings. Harris served as the 27th District Attorney of San Francisco from January 2004 to January 2011.
She then became the 32nd Attorney General of California, serving from January 2011 to January 2017. In January 2017, she started her term as a United States Senator from California.
In 2019, she announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2020 election.
From 1990 to 1998, she worked as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California.
Kamala Harris supports Medicare for all, sanctuary cities, legalizing recreational marijuana, lowering taxes for the working and middle class, and passing a DREAM Act.
Sources of Kamala Harris Wealth
In 2015, Kamala Harris reported a net worth of about $3.31 million, according to her Congressional finance disclosure.
Most of this wealth came from her husband, Douglas Emhoff, a partner at DLA Piper Law Firm, focusing on entertainment and intellectual property law.
In April 2019, Kamala released 15 years of tax returns. The returns showed that she and her husband earned around $1.9 million in 2018.
Douglas’s law firm salary contributed about $1.4 million of this income. They paid $697,000 in taxes and donated $27,000 to charity.
Kamala’s book, “The Truths We Hold,” earned them roughly $320,000, and her Senate salary added about $157,000.
A 2019 financial disclosure form revealed that Kamala’s family controlled assets worth $2.5 to $6 million, with about $3 million in liabilities, mainly mortgages.
They invested most of their liquid assets in mutual funds and retirement accounts.
In April 2023, Doug and Kamala released their 2022 tax return, showing a total income of $456,918. They paid $93,000 in federal income tax and $17,600 in California income taxes.
In April 2024, they released their 2023 tax return, showing a total income of $450,299. They paid $88,570 in federal income tax.
Real Estate and Assets
Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff own several homes with a combined estimated value of $8-10 million, before mortgage liabilities.
In 2012, Doug bought a home in Brentwood, Los Angeles, for $2.7 million. Today, this home is worth around $5 million based on comparable neighborhood sales.
In 2004, Kamala purchased an apartment in San Francisco for $490,000. She began serving as California’s first black District Attorney that same year. She sold this apartment in March 2021 for $860,000.
In 2017, the year Kamala was elected to the Senate, she and Doug bought a condo in Washington, D.C., for $1.775 million.
They listed the condo for sale in April 2021 for $1.995 million and sold it in September 2021 for $1.85 million.
Personal Life
Vice President Kamala Harris often talks about her role as “Momala” to her two stepchildren.
The 59-year-old vice president, who was recently endorsed as the 2024 Democratic nominee by President Biden, married Doug Emhoff in 2014.
This marriage made her the stepmother to Doug’s children, Cole and Ella Emhoff.
In 2019, Kamala wrote an essay for Elle about her love for Cole and Ella. She described them as her “endless source of love and pure joy.”
“When Doug and I got married, Cole, Ella, and I decided we didn’t like the term ‘stepmom,’” she wrote. “Instead, they came up with the name ‘Momala.’”
She ended the essay with gratitude: “I am so thankful to Doug, to Kerstin (Doug’s ex-wife), and most of all, to Ella and Cole. I can say one thing with certainty, my heart wouldn’t be whole, nor my life full, without them.”
Kamala Harris Net Worth, Awards and Honors
Kamala Harris has earned several notable awards throughout her career:
Thurgood Marshall Award (2005): The National Black Prosecutors Association honored her for her work as a prosecuting attorney.
TIME 100: She has appeared on TIME’s list of the 100 most influential people three times: in 2013, 2020, and 2021.
Glamour Woman of the Year (2018): Glamour magazine recognized her for her leadership and contributions.
Congressional Space Medal of Honor: Awarded to former NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken on behalf of President Joe Biden.
These awards reflect her significant impact in law, politics, and public service.
J.D. Vance has captivated American political discourse with his transition from the acclaimed author of “Hillbilly Elegy” to a U.S. Senator.
His journey, marked by a shift from critic to ally of Donald Trump, reflects broader shifts within the Republican Party.
Vance’s rise to prominence, fueled by his candid portrayal of Appalachian life, has positioned him as a potential vice-presidential candidate in 2024.
This article delves into Vance’s career, controversies, and the evolution of his political beliefs, offering insights into his impact on conservative politics and his ambitions for higher office.
Who Is J.D. Vance?
James David Vance, born James Donald Bowman on August 2, 1984, is a U.S. senator from Ohio, serving since 2023.
He’s a Republican and became Donald Trump’s running mate for the 2024 presidential election, making him the first millennial on a major party’s presidential ticket.
Vance was born in Middletown, Ohio. He served in the Marine Corps before studying political science and philosophy at Ohio State University.
He then earned a law degree from Yale. His 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, talks about his life in Middletown and his family’s Appalachian values.
The book became a bestseller and gained attention during the 2016 presidential election.
In 2021, Vance ran for the Senate seat in Ohio. Trump endorsed him, and Vance won the Republican nomination. He defeated Democratic nominee Tim Ryan in the general election.
Early life and education
Vance’s parents divorced when he was a toddler. His mother’s third husband adopted him soon after.
Vance and his sister, Lindsey, were mainly raised by their grandparents, James and Bonnie Vance, who they called “Mamaw and Papaw.”
H later took the name James Hamel, his stepfather’s surname, before adopting his grandparents’ surname, Vance.
Vance attended Middletown High School. After graduating, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps and served as a combat correspondent in the Iraq War. He worked in the Public Affairs section of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing.
After his service, Vance attended Ohio State University. He graduated summa cum laude in 2009 with a degree in political science and philosophy. During his time at Ohio State, he worked for Republican State Senator Bob Schuler.
Vance then went to Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal. His professor, Amy Chua, encouraged him to write his memoir. He graduated from Yale in 2013 with a Juris Doctor.
In 2017, Centre College awarded Vance an honorary doctorate during their graduation commencement.
U.S. Senate
In early 2018, Vance considered running for the U.S. Senate against Sherrod Brown but decided not to.
In March 2021, Peter Thiel donated $10 million to Protect Ohio Values, a super PAC created to support a potential Vance candidacy.
Robert Mercer also contributed an undisclosed amount. In April, Vance showed interest in running for the Senate seat vacated by Republican Rob Portman. By May, he launched an exploratory committee.
In July 2021, Vance officially entered the race. It was his first campaign for public office.
On May 3, 2022, he won the Republican primary with 32% of the vote, defeating candidates like Josh Mandel (23%) and Matt Dolan (22%).
In the general election on November 8, Vance defeated Democratic nominee Tim Ryan, securing 53% of the vote to Ryan’s 47%.
Vance was sworn into the U.S. Senate on January 3, 2023, as part of the 118th United States Congress.
He is the first senator from Ohio without prior government experience since John Glenn, who took office in 1974.
Vance faced criticism for his delayed response to the 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. His office released an official statement on February 13, 2023, ten days after the derailment.
Vance and others argued that he had tweeted about the derailment the day after it happened.
On February 26, 2023, Vance wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post supporting PPP-style funds for those affected by the derailment.
Some Republican senators criticized this stance. On March 1, 2023, Vance, along with Senators Sherrod Brown, John Fetterman, Bob Casey, Josh Hawley, and Marco Rubio, proposed bipartisan legislation to prevent future derailments like the one in East Palestine.
Vance was one of 31 Senate Republicans who voted against the final passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.
J.D. Vance Support for Trump and 2024 vice presidential campaign
On January 31, 2023, Vance endorsed former President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential primaries.
On July 15, 2024, during the Republican National Convention, Trump announced Vance as his running mate via a post on Truth Social.
Personal Life
Vance has been married to Usha Chilukuri, a former law school classmate, since 2014. They have three children. For part of his career, Vance and his wife lived in San Francisco.
Vance grew up in a “conservative, evangelical” Protestant household.
By September 2016, he was seriously considering converting to Catholicism but wasn’t active in any specific Christian denomination.
In August 2019, Vance was baptized and confirmed in the Catholic Church at St. Gertrude Priory in Cincinnati, Ohio. He chose Augustine of Hippo as his Confirmation saint.
Vance said he converted because he believed Catholicism was true and found Augustine’s teachings intellectually fulfilling. He also noted that Catholic theology influenced his political views.
J.D. Vance Net Worth and Salary
J.D. Vance is a venture capitalist, author, and Republican politician with a net worth of $5 million. In 2022, he was elected to the United States Senate, and his term began in 2023.
Vance gained fame in 2016 with his bestselling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” which describes his upbringing in Middletown, Ohio, and the socioeconomic issues of the Appalachian area.
Initially a vocal critic of Donald Trump, Vance became a Trump loyalist in 2020.
In 2024, rumors suggested he was a possible choice for Trump’s vice-presidential running mate.
Other potential picks included businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and former North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum. On July 15, 2024, Trump officially announced Vance as his running mate.
As a freshman U.S. Senator, Vance earns a salary of $174,000. He is also a co-founder and partner at Narya Capital, a venture capital firm.
According to his most recent financial disclosure, he earns an annual salary of $327,000 from Narya.
Donald Trump’s criminal conviction presents a remarkable collection of historic firsts.
He’s the first former or serving US president to be found guilty of a crime. He’s the first presumptive major-party nominee to become a convicted felon as well.
While Trump plans his appeal in the hush-money case, and awaits a sentence on 11 July that could in theory include prison time and a hefty fine, it’s not too early to consider the political fallout.
That will be difficult, however, given this has never happened before.
“We often look to history to find some kind of hint of what’s going to happen,” says Jeffrey Engel, director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University. “But there is nothing in the record that comes even close to this.”
Trump secured the Republican presidential nomination earlier this year and is scheduled to be crowned at the party’s convention just days after his sentencing.
Polls indicate he is in a statistical dead heat with President Joe Biden and maintains a slight edge in many key swing states that will decide the election. But those surveys also provide evidence that this conviction might change all of that.
In exit polls conducted during the Republican primaries this winter, double-digit numbers of voters said that they would not vote for the former president if he were convicted of a felony.
An April survey by Ipsos and ABC News found that 16% of those backing Trump would reconsider their support in such a situation.
Those were hypothetical convictions, however. And at the time he was facing four criminal cases, including charges related to an alleged conspiracy to overturn the result of the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents once leaving the White House.
Now those voters can make their judgement based on a real conviction.
“The real verdict is going to be [on] 5 November, by the people,” Trump said, moments after leaving the courtroom.
Doug Schoen, a pollster who worked with Democratic President Bill Clinton and independent New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, says American voters may feel less strongly about the hush-money case by then because it relates to events that took place eight years ago.
“While it’s not a great thing to be convicted of a crime, what voters will be thinking about in November is inflation, the southern border, competition with China and Russia and the money that is being spent on Israel and Ukraine,” he said.
Even a slight drop in Trump’s support, however, might be enough to matter in the kind of razor-thin race this presidential contest could become. If a few thousand voters who would have otherwise backed the former president stay home in a key state like Wisconsin or Pennsylvania, it could make all the difference.
“I do think it will have an impact and damage him as a candidate,” says Ariel Hill-Davis, co-founder of Republican Women for Progress, a group that has sought to move the party away from Trump.
She says younger voters and those who are college-educated and live in the suburbs have been concerned about Trump’s demeanour and his approach to governing.
“Those voters are really hesitant to get back in line with the Republican Party headed by Donald Trump,” she says. “The guilty verdict is going to further shore up those concerns.”
But leading Republicans, many of whom attended the trial in a show of loyalty to the party nominee, were quick to rally behind him.
House Speaker Mike Johnson called it a shameful day in American history. “This was a purely political exercise, not a legal one.”
For eight years, experts and opponents have been predicting Trump’s impending political collapse, only to be proven wrong. His 2016 presidential campaign was punctuated by scandals that would have likely felled a typical politician, including Trump’s recorded Access Hollywood conversation about groping women that was referenced multiple times in this trial.
Mr Trump’s party largely stuck with him through two impeachments and the chaotic end of his presidency, during which the US Capitol was attacked by a mob of his supporters.
All this did not prevent the former president from undertaking a political revival that has put him in position to win back the White House in November.
“It’s axiomatic at this point, but Trump’s continued support, despite the kind of scandal that would have scuttled literally any other previous candidate in American history, is truly astounding,” says Mr Engel.
This historic criminal conviction may prove to be different – particularly if Trump’s appeals fail and he faces the prospect of prison.
Or it could just be the latest in a long series of seemingly disruptive events that, in hindsight, have only been bumps on Trump’s path to power.
Allan Lichtman, a professor at American University, has constructed a political model that has successfully predicted the winner of every presidential race since 1984. He concedes, however, that Trump’s criminal conviction could be the kind of “cataclysmic and unprecedented” twist that throws the model for a loop and changes the course of history.
“History books will record this as a truly extraordinary, unprecedented event, but a lot will depend on what happens afterwards,” he says.
The ultimate judgement on the importance of Trump’s conviction will come at the hands of voters in November. If the former president is defeated, his guilty verdict is likely to be viewed as one of the reasons why.
If he wins, it may become just a footnote to Trump’s tumultuous yet consequential political career.
“History is written by the winners, as we all know,” Mr Engel says.
US President Joe Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump, agreed to hold the first presidential debate on June 27 as the campaign season prepares to enter high gear ahead of November’s national election.
“I’ve received and accepted an invitation from @CNN for a debate on June 27th. Over to you, Donald. As you said: anywhere, any time, any place,” Biden said on X.
Biden also released a video in which he said, “Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020. Since then, he hasn’t shown up for a debate. Now he’s acting like he wants to debate me again. Well, make my day, pal. I’ll even do it twice.”
Earlier Wednesday, Trump said on his Truth Social network that he is “ready and Willing to Debate Crooked Joe at the two proposed times in June and September.”
“I would strongly recommend more than two debates and, for excitement purposes, a very large venue, although Biden is supposedly afraid of crowds – That’s only because he doesn’t get them. Just tell me when, I’ll be there. ‘Let’s get ready to Rumble!!!’” he added.
CNN, the television network that will host the first debate, said the Trump campaign confirmed the date. The second debate has yet to be scheduled but is likely to be in September before early voting begins.
But Biden said in another X post that he “received and accepted an invitation” to debate Trump on Sept. 10. That face-off would be hosted by the ABC television network, he said.
Biden earlier this month said during an interview with radio host Howard Stern that he would be “happy” to debate Trump. The two campaigns have spent the past couple of weeks attempting to iron out the details.
CNN said the June 27 debate will be held at 9 p.m. Eastern Time in a studio at the television networks’ Atlanta, Georgia headquarters. No audience will be present “to ensure candidates may maximize the time allotted in the debate.”
To participate, candidates must receive at least a 15% approval rating in four separate national polls of registered or likely voters. That means independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will unlikely qualify for the showdown. Kennedy polls at around 8% nationally on surveys on which he is included.
Debate moderators will be announced at a later date.
Ilhan Omar stands out in American politics, sparking both interest and controversy. She’s celebrated for being the first Somali American and naturalized citizen of African birth in Congress.
With a net worth estimated at $83 million, her rise to prominence invites scrutiny.
Apart from her congressional salary, her various income sources shed light on her financial situation.
However, beyond her political pursuits, Omar’s personal life is under the spotlight, showcasing a complex individual maneuvering through both praise and criticism.
Ilhan Omar Net Worth
Ilhan Omar, an American politician, holds an estimated net worth of $83 million. She represents Minnesota’s 5th congressional district in the United States Congress.
Omar is the first Somali American and the first naturalized citizen of African birth in Congress.
Additionally, she’s the first woman of color to represent Minnesota.
Despite her achievements, she has faced numerous death threats and harassment from political adversaries. As a congresswoman, Omar earns a salary of $316,000.
Category
Amount
Net Worth
$83 Million
Assets
$51 Million
Yearly Income
$7 Million +
Monthly Income
$0.5 Million +
Liabilities and Loans
$7 Million
Investments
$22 Million
Salary
$316,000
Business Income
$14 Million
Donations and Gifts
$5 Million
Ilhan Omar Biography
Abdullahi Omar, born on October 4, 1982, serves as the U.S. representative for Minnesota’s 5th congressional district since 2019.
A member of the Democratic Party, Omar previously held a seat in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 2017 to 2019, representing part of Minneapolis.
Her congressional jurisdiction covers all of Minneapolis and portions of its first-ring suburbs.
Actively involved in politics, Omar holds the position of deputy chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Omar holds significant milestones in Congress, being the first Somali American and woman of color to represent Minnesota.
Alongside Rashida Tlaib, she is one of the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress.
Despite her achievements, Omar faces adversity, enduring death threats and derogatory remarks from political adversaries, including former President Donald Trump, due to her background.
Houses and Car Collection
Ilhan Omar recently purchased a BMW X5 for $80,000 USD and owns a Mercedes-Benz A-Class valued at $60,000 USD.
She also owns several other cars, including a Mercedes-Benz GLA, a BMW X6, and a Volvo XC40.
Omar resides in a 5,000-square-foot luxury apartment in Minnesota, which she acquired for an estimated $9 million.
Awards and honors
In 2015, Mshale, an African immigrant media outlet in Minneapolis, awarded Omar the Community Leadership Award, which is given annually based on readership.
Time magazine recognized Omar in 2017 as one of the “Firsts: Women who are changing the world,” featuring her on the cover of its September 18 issue along with 45 other barrier-breaking women.
Additionally, Vogue’s February 2018 issue, featuring photographs by Annie Leibovitz, named Omar’s family as one of the “five families who are changing the world as we know it.”
Personal life
In 2002, Omar got engaged to Ahmed Abdisalan Hirsi (né Aden), with whom she had an unofficial, faith-based Islamic marriage.
They had two children together, including Isra Hirsi, a key organizer of the school strike for climate change in the US. Omar stated that she and Hirsi divorced within their faith tradition in 2008.
In 2009, Omar married Ahmed Nur Said Elmi, a British Somali.
She claimed that in 2011, she and Elmi had a faith-based divorce, and she reconciled with Hirsi, with whom she had a third child in 2012.
Elmi and Omar legally divorced in 2017, and she and Hirsi legally married in 2018.
However, on October 7, 2019, Omar filed for divorce from Hirsi, citing an “irretrievable breakdown” of the marriage. The divorce was finalized on November 5, 2019.
In March 2020, Omar married Tim Mynett, a political consultant. Mynett’s firm, the E Street Group, received $2.78 million in contracts from Omar’s campaign during the 2020 cycle.
The campaign’s contract with Mynett’s firm drew criticism from her Democratic primary opponent and conservative critics, which received significant local and national media attention.
On November 17, 2020, Omar’s campaign terminated its contract with Mynett’s firm, aiming to ensure transparency and avoid any perceived issues with campaign support.
In 2020, HarperCollins published Omar’s memoir, “This Is What America Looks Like,” co-written with Rebecca Paley.
Former US President Donald Trump said Thursday that Israel needs to “finish what they started,” adding they are losing the public relations war.
“Every night, they’re releasing tapes of a building falling down. They shouldn’t be releasing tapes like that,” Trump said in an interview with The Hugh Hewitt Show that aired Thursday.
“That’s why they’re losing the PR war. Israel is absolutely losing the PR war,” he added.
Sharing his advice, Trump said: “You’ve got to get it over with, and you have to get back to normalcy.”
“And I’m not sure that I’m loving the way they’re doing it, because you’ve got to have victory. “You have to have a victory, and it’s taking a long time,” he added.
Trump reiterated his previous comments on the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas, saying it would not have happened if he was president, adding that his administration would have a deal with Iran.
“And what I said very plainly is get it over with, and let’s get back to peace and stop killing people,” he added.
“They’ve got to finish what they started. They have to get it done. Get it over with, and get it over with fast, because we have to, you have to get back to normalcy and peace.”
Former US President Donald Trump launched a campaign to sell Bibles, in collaboration with a country musician, Lee Greenwood, ahead of Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
“Happy Holy Week! Let’s Make America Pray Again. As we lead into Good Friday and Easter, I encourage you to get a copy of the God Bless The USA Bible,” Trump said Tuesday on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“Religion and Christianity are the biggest things missing from this country. And I truly believe that we need to bring them back and have to bring them back fast,” he said in a video attached to the post.
“I think it’s one of the biggest problems we have. That’s why our country is going haywire. We’ve lost religion in our country,” he said.
Priced at $60, the Bible, featuring the King James Version, includes lyrics from Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA,” along with excerpts from the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance.
Trump praised the Founding Fathers for establishing America on Judeo-Christian principles, highlighting that the foundation is currently under threat.
“I’m proud to endorse and encourage you to get this Bible. We must make America pray again,” he said.
The former president unveiled a line of $400 sneakers, called Trump Sneakers, earlier this year.
(AFP)- Days after securing his position as the presumptive Republican nominee, the former president also warned of a “bloodbath” if he is not elected – though it was not clear what he was referring to, with the remark coming in the middle of comments about threats to the US auto industry.
“The date – remember this, November 5 – I believe it’s going to be the most important date in the history of our country,” the 77-year-old told rally-goers in Vandalia, Ohio, repeating well-worn criticisms that his rival, President Joe Biden, is the “worst” president.
Criticising what he said were Chinese plans to build cars in Mexico and sell them to Americans, he stated: “We’re going to put a 100 percent tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you’re not going to be able to sell those cars if I get elected.”
“Now if I don’t get elected it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole – that’s going to be the least of it, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That’ll be the least of it. But they’re not going to sell those cars.”
As Trump’s comment gained traction on social media, Biden’s campaign released a statement calling the Republican a “loser” at the ballot box in 2020 who then “doubles down on his threats of political violence.”
“He wants another January 6 but the American people are going to give him another electoral defeat this November because they continue to reject his extremism, his affection for violence, and his thirst for revenge,” the campaign said, referring to the deadly attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters in 2021.
Later, Biden spoke at a dinner in Washington, where he also warned of “an unprecedented moment in history.”
“Freedom is under assault… The lies about the 2020 election, the plot to overturn it, to embrace the Jan. 6 insurrection pose the greatest threat to our democracy since the American Civil War,” he said.
“In 2020, they failed, but … the threat remains.”
The 81-year-old, who has waved off concerns that he is too old for a second term, leavened his rhetoric with humor.
“One candidate’s too old and mentally unfit to be president,” he said of the presidential race. “The other guy’s me.”
Border issues
Earlier this month Trump and Biden each won enough delegates to clinch their party nominations in the 2024 presidential race, all but assuring a rematch and setting up one of the longest election campaigns in US history.
Among the issues Trump is campaigning on is sweeping reform of what he calls Biden’s “horror show” immigration policies, despite the ex-president successfully pressuring Republicans to block a bill in Congress that included the toughest border security measures in decades.
On Saturday he invoked the border again as he reached out to minorities who have traditionally voted Democrat.
He said Biden had “repeatedly stabbed African-American voters in the back” by granting work permits to “millions” of immigrants, warning that they and Hispanic Americans “are going to be the ones that suffer the most.”
For decades Ohio had been seen as a bellwether battleground state, though it has trended more strongly Republican since Trump’s White House win in 2016.
The rally came a day after Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, said he would not endorse his old boss for a second White House term.
A New York judge on Friday ordered ex-US President Donald Trump to pay a fine in excess of $350 million (KES 50.7 billion) and to refrain from doing business for three years in the state where he made his real estate empire.
Justice Arthur Engoron issued the biting ruling following a monthslong civil fraud trial that sought to determine the damages that Trump was to pay after being found liable for misleading authorities and banks about the value of his real estate holdings. The trial was focused squarely on the extent of damages that Trump would be forced to pay.
Engoron previously sided with prosecutors in their contention that Trump engaged in a pattern of overvaluing his assets when reporting to banks to secure more favorable loan terms while skirting taxes by devaluing his properties in financial disclosures to state authorities.
During the two-and-a-half months of proceedings in which dozens of witnesses provided testimony, the ex-president repeatedly bemoaned what he said were “rigged” proceedings and “politically-motivated” charges.
The fine instituted by Engoron reportedly comes in just under the $370 million penalty sought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, and the full ban sought by her office. But it is nonetheless a major blow to the ex-president, coming after he was ordered to pay over $83 million to write E. Jean Carroll after being found guilty of defaming her.
Trump’s two eldest sons — Eric Trump and Donald Trump, Jr. — are also barred from operating any business in New York, and were each ordered to pay a $4 million fine, according to the New York Times newspaper.
An appeal from Trump is all but certain, and the Times said the penalty could balloon past $400 million once interest is factored in.
Engoron also ordered the extension of a special monitor to independently review the Trump Organization’s business dealings, watching for any additional potential fraud.
A separate New York trial centered on hush money payments to adult film actress, Stormy Daniels, is slated to begin March 25 after a Manhattan judge denied Trump’s effort to delay the trial’s start date.
