Tag: Trump

  • Trump biopic ‘The Apprentice’ hits US theaters weeks before election 

    Trump biopic ‘The Apprentice’ hits US theaters weeks before election 

    Explosive Donald Trump biopic “The Apprentice” hits US theaters Friday, with filmmakers gambling that it will draw audiences in a fiercely polarized nation just weeks before its subject’s election showdown with rival Kamala Harris.

    The hot-topic film about the Republican candidate’s younger years has drawn legal threats from Trump’s attorneys, not least for deeply unflattering scenes including a depiction of the former president raping his wife.

    None of the major Hollywood studios was willing to risk distributing the polarizing movie, which is instead being released in some 1,700 North American movie theaters this weekend by indie studio Briarcliff Entertainment.

    “I think it’s interesting that people think this movie is controversial,” said director Ali Abbasi at the film’s New York premiere this week, which was attended by stars Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong.

    “Think about it. We’re talking about a person who is actually convicted in civil court of sexual assault.”

    The most talked-about scene in “The Apprentice” shows Trump raping his first wife, Ivana, after she belittles him for growing overweight and bald.

    In real life, Ivana accused Trump of raping her during divorce proceedings, but later rescinded the allegation. She died in 2022.

    Controversy tends to raise awareness, said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore, “but whether that translates to people wanting to see it is a whole different thing.”

    “The Apprentice” is “not going to be the number one movie at the box office this weekend,” he predicted.

    But it can still only benefit from the timing, much like the recent successful release of another biopic, “Reagan.”

    “You’ve got to strike while the iron is hot, and right now political movies are pretty hot.”

    Despite the headlines, “The Apprentice” offers a nuanced view of the young Trump as an ambitious but naive social climber, desperately trying to navigate the cutthroat world of Manhattan property deals and politics.

    “I really don’t think we’ve done like a hit job on Donald Trump,” Abbasi told AFP at the Cannes film festival in May, where he used a press conference to invite Trump to watch the movie before judging it.

    On Wednesday, marketers hired a plane to fly a banner over a Trump rally in Pennsylvania which read “TRUMP GO SEE THE APPRENTICE FRIDAY.”

    Nonetheless, Trump’s lawyers have vowed to sue the producers, calling the film “garbage” and “pure malicious defamation.”

    Its title reflects the name of NBC television show “The Apprentice,” which brought Trump fame and fortune over 15 seasons beginning in 2004.

    Executive producer James Shani told the New York premiere audience the film had been “especially difficult” to release, and praised Briarcliff for being the only distributor with “the balls to get us here.”

    “I think that says a lot about the time that we’re in,” he said.

  • Biden tests positive for Covid, fueling health worries

    Biden tests positive for Covid, fueling health worries

    US President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid with mild symptoms Wednesday, shortly after conceding he would consider dropping his reelection bid if doctors diagnosed him with a serious medical condition.

    The 81-year-old Democrat gave reporters the thumbs up and said “I feel good” as he cut short a trip to Las Vegas and flew to his beach home in Delaware to go into isolation, which will take him off the campaign trail for days.

    Biden thanked well-wishers on X, adding that “I will be isolating as I recover, and during this time I will continue to work to get the job done for the American people.”

    The infection comes at a critical moment for Biden’s campaign, with the president seeking to show he is up to the job after a disastrous debate performance against rival Donald Trump sparked concerns about his health and calls from some Democrats for him to step aside.

    It is also the latest development in a tumultuous few days in an already frenetic White House race that saw Trump survive an assassination attempt at a campaign rally.

    Biden was forced to cancel a speech to a union representing Latino workers who will be crucial for his election bid, having attended a campaign event earlier in the day and given a radio interview.

    His spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden was vaccinated and boosted, was now taking the Covid medication Paxlovid and “continues to carry out the full duties of the office while in isolation.”

    White House doctor Kevin O’Connor said Biden had complained of suffering from a runny nose, a cough and “general malaise,” but that “his symptoms remain mild.”

    Biden was seen walking from his limousine to his plane at Las Vegas without a mask. “Good,” he said when asked how he felt, “I feel good.”

    Janet Murguia, the president of the Unidos union for Latino workers, told the crowd about the diagnosis shortly before the White House announcement.

    ‘Pass the torch’

    People waiting for the speech said Biden’s health did not worry them despite the Covid diagnosis.

    “I think he’s strong and he’s going to recover soon,” Anne Vilagut told AFP.

    But Biden’s illness comes as concerns over the fitness of the oldest US president in US history reach fever pitch.

    Asked what could make him rethink his presidential bid, Biden told the Black media outlet BET in an interview taped Tuesday in Las Vegas: “If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if the doctors came and said ‘you’ve got this problem, that problem.’”

    Biden has so far refused to drop out, and blamed his debate debacle, when he appeared tired and confused, on a bad cold and jet lag.

    But US broadcaster ABC News reported Wednesday that Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had told Biden over the weekend that it would be “better for the country if he were to bow out,” in what would be a fatal blow.

    A spokesperson for Schumer played down the report, saying: “Unless ABC’s source is Senator Chuck Schumer or President Joe Biden the reporting is idle speculation.”

    “Leader Schumer conveyed the views of his caucus directly to President Biden.”

    The Washington Post and New York Times meanwhile reported that both Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries had warned Biden that his candidacy puts the party’s electoral prospects at risk.

    White House spokesman Andrew Bates pushed back in a statement, saying: “The President told both leaders he is the nominee of the party, he plans to win, and looks forward to working with both of them to pass his 100 days agenda to help working families.”

    Adding further pressure, CNN reported that former House speaker Nancy Pelosi privately told Biden he cannot win and could harm Democrats’ chances of recapturing the lower chamber of Congress.

    Earlier on Wednesday, Representative Adam Schiff of California became the highest-profile Democrat to publicly urge Biden to “pass the torch.”

    “A second Trump presidency will undermine the very foundation of our democracy, and I have serious concerns about whether the President can defeat Donald Trump in November,” Schiff said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times.

    Biden insists that Democratic voters support him, but a poll by the Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research said Wednesday that nearly two-thirds want him to step aside.

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    © Agence France-Presse

  • Trump shot at in assassination attempt

    Trump shot at in assassination attempt

    US President hopeful Donald Trump says he has been shot in the ear at a political rally, saying he heard a “whizzing sound” and feeling a “bullet ripping through skin”

    At the scene, a male attacker was shot and killed by a member of the Secret Service after the apparent assassination attempt on Trump at the event in Pennsylvania.

    The attacker also killed one and critically injured two others at the rally.

    A witness told BBC they saw a man with a rifle crawling on a nearby roof before the shots rang out.

    Trump is safe, but many are saying the attempt on his life will help seal his win in the presidential race against Joe Biden.

  • Meta lifts restrictions on Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts

    Meta lifts restrictions on Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts

    Meta said Friday it was lifting restrictions on US presidential candidate Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, ending measures put in place after his supporters violently stormed the US Capitol in 2021.

    It said that “former President Trump, as the nominee of the Republican Party, will no longer be subject to the heightened suspension penalties.”

    Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts were suspended indefinitely a day after his supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and it was determined he had praised people engaged in violence on social media.

    His accounts were reinstated in February 2023 but with a threat of penalties for future breaches — an additional restriction that Meta lifted on Friday.

    “In assessing our responsibility to allow political expression, we believe that the American people should be able to hear from the nominees for President on the same basis,” Meta wrote in a blog post.

    It added that US presidential candidates “remain subject to the same Community Standards as all Facebook and Instagram users, including those policies designed to prevent hate speech and incitement to violence.”

    Trump, the first former president to be convicted of a crime, was also banned from Twitter and YouTube.

    While those restrictions were later lifted last year, Trump now mainly communicates on his own social media platform, Truth Social.

    His Facebook profile, which has 34 million users, includes messages originally published on Truth Social as well as invitations to rallies and videos from his campaign.

  • Biden seeks reset after debate flop rocks campaign

    Biden seeks reset after debate flop rocks campaign

    A badly wounded Joe Biden looked to get his reelection campaign back on track Friday after a debate performance that unnerved supporters and left allies of Donald Trump unable to conceal their glee.

    Democrats had hoped to see the president defiantly answering critics who say he is too old for a second term while hammering Trump on his criminal record and the threat they say he poses to democracy.

    Instead, many acknowledged, they got a faltering display from a candidate who sounded hoarse for much of the showdown, stumbled over words, pulled punches, often stared open-mouthed and looked confused.

    “There are no two ways about it — that was not a good debate for Joe Biden,” Democratic former White House communications chief Kate Bedingfield told host network CNN as the curtain came down on the match-up.

    David Axelrod, a senior advisor in Barack Obama’s administration, said Biden’s performance had “confirmed people’s fears” about an 81-year-old being too old for the Oval Office.

    The president, who had spent days in mock debates at his Camp David retreat, was scheduled to begin the clean-up Friday with his largest event of the campaign, in the battleground state of North Carolina.

    Facing tough questions over his performance and immediate future, he told reporters he had done “well” as he stopped off at an Atlanta Waffle House with First Lady Jill Biden after coming off stage.

    He added that he was croaking because of a “sore throat” and that, in any case, it is “hard to debate a liar.”

    Although Biden managed to pin down Trump on abortion rights and his role in the violence that marred the 2021 handover, he waited bafflingly long — almost 45 minutes — to bring up Trump’s felony convictions and other legal woes in any detail.

    He spoke under his breath and appeared at times to lose focus, pausing for several seconds after stumbling in the opening stages.

    Trump’s performance was far from accomplished — his verbal fusillades were littered with falsehoods and he dodged several times when asked what he would do about the opioid crisis ravaging middle-class families.

    He also refused to clearly commit to accepting the results of November’s election, playing into the narrative that he has little respect for democracy or the rule of law.

    CNN reported that while Biden made nine false or misleading statements, Trump made a staggering 30, including “egregious” falsehoods on abortion, the US Capitol insurrection, health care and NATO.

    But the Republican — who is countering Biden’s rally with an appearance of his own in Virginia on Friday — largely avoided the rhetorical landmines that exploded under Biden.

    At one point, the president bizarrely declared that “we finally beat Medicare,” as the discussion turned to funding the health insurance program for seniors.

    As the disappointment of Biden’s showing registered with Democrats, there was even talk of finding a new candidate before the Democratic convention in August.

    “There’s been a lot of chatter in our circles about Newsom,” one party strategist told political outlet The Hill — although California governor Gavin Newsom quickly shut down suggestions that he could take Biden’s place.

    In the Trump corner, pundits reveled at how the night turned out.

    Keith Nahigian, a Republican veteran of six campaigns who helped prepare multiple election candidates including John McCain for debates, told AFP that Biden’s performance was “the worst I’ve ever seen.”

    “Biden called for this debate a few months ago. He pushed for this debate. I think he just sunk his presidency,” he added.

    Ralph Reed, chairman of the conservative Faith and Freedom Coalition, compared the debate to a prize fight “that should have been stopped in the early rounds.”

  • Social media trolls Joe Biden for weak debate with Trump

    Social media trolls Joe Biden for weak debate with Trump

    President of the United States (US) Joe Biden and Donald Trump had the first public debate of the 2024 US presidential race; however, Biden struggled to articulate his points at several moments, often fumbling his words.

    Netizens did not spare Biden as memes ruled the social media with many Democrat supporters disappointed at Biden’s inability to articulate his words, his old age and infirmity shining through.

    Thursday evening’s performance took place at the CNN news network’s studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It marked the first time since October 2020 that the two candidates met on the debate stage.

    But from the moment Biden stepped on stage, the Democratic president seemed to wobble, muttering as he approached the podium.

    At one moment during the speech, Biden talked about border control with slurred speech, to which Trump replied, “I really don’t know what he said at the end of his speech; I don’t think he knows what he said either.”

  • Trump backs Israel’s military operations in Gaza

    Trump backs Israel’s military operations in Gaza

    Washington (AFP) – Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump expressed his support for Israel’s military operations in Gaza Tuesday, in his most explicit comments yet on the fighting, as international pressure grows on the United States to rein in its ally.

    “Yes,” Trump responded, when asked during an interview on Fox News if he was “in Israel’s camp.”

    The interviewer then asked if the former president was “on board” with the way Israel was executing its offensive in Gaza.

    “You’ve got to finish the problem,” Trump responded.

    President Joe Biden, whom Trump is set to challenge for the White House in November, has come under increasing fire both internationally and from his own Democratic base over his backing for Israel as the death toll in Gaza soars and the specter of famine looms.

    Israel’s disproportionate retaliatory offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed 30,534 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry.

    US protest movements have urged voters to punish Biden at the polls over his support for Israel. More than 100,000 people in Michigan voted “uncommitted” rather than cast their ballot for him in the US swing state’s Democratic primary last week.

    As conditions deteriorate, Israel is facing an increasingly sharp rebuke from its top ally the United States.

    Vice President Kamala Harris expressed “deep concern about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza” during talks in Washington on Monday with Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz.

  • Jury orders Trump to pay $83 million for sexual assault defamation

    Jury orders Trump to pay $83 million for sexual assault defamation

    A jury in New York ordered former US president and 2024 candidate Donald Trump on Friday to pay $83.3 million to compensate the writer E. Jean Carroll, whom he was found to have sexually assaulted and defamed.

    The civil order, which prompted an audible gasp in the federal court, far exceeds the more than $10 million in damages for defamation that Carroll had sought.

    Trump lashed out almost immediately, calling the verdict “ridiculous” in a statement and promising to appeal.

    The jury reached its decision after slightly less than three hours of deliberations.

    Trump had been in court earlier, storming out at one point but subsequently returning for closing arguments. He was not in court when the level of compensatory and punitive damages were read out by a court clerk.

    “This is a great victory for every woman who stands up when she’s been knocked down, and a huge defeat for every bully who has tried to keep a woman down,” Carroll said in a statement.

    A juror exchanged a smile with Carroll as the nine men and women left the courtroom after the judge encouraged them to protect their privacy.

    “It’s clear to me… you paid attention,” Judge Lewis Kaplan told the jury following the verdict.

    The order was comprised of $65 million in punitive damages after the jury found Trump acted maliciously in his many public comments about Carroll, $7.3 million in compensatory damages and $11 million for a reputational repair program.

    “I was not surprised (by the award) partly because his egregious misbehavior during the trial could actually have alienated the jury,” said Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law.

    “(Trump) is unlikely to prevail on appeal, because the (appeal) judges have great respect for Judge Kaplan, who is a very experienced federal jurist.”

    Trump — whom a jury found liable for sexually assaulting Carroll in a separate federal civil case in New York — used his Truth Social platform to fire off a spate of insulting messages attacking Carroll, the trial and the judge, whom he called “an extremely abusive individual.”

    “We were stripped of every defense — every single defense — before we walked in there,” said Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba outside the court. “I am proud to stand with president Trump… We will immediately appeal.”

    Trump, 77, briefly took the stand on Thursday to deny he instructed anyone to harm Carroll with his statements.

    – Claims of witch hunt –

    During Trump’s testimony, Kaplan limited him to three questions from his lawyers, to which he could only answer yes or no — a precaution taken to prevent the Republican leader from returning to his custom of disparaging the court or Carroll in public.

    “This is not America,” Trump said as he left the courtroom following his short appearance.

    He was not required to attend the trial or to testify. However, he has used the case, as well as others he faces, to generate heated media coverage and to fuel his claims of being victimized as he campaigns for a return to the White House in November’s election.

    Trump separately faces multiple criminal cases, including his alleged attempt to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Joe Biden, and a civil business fraud case.

    Habba sought to have the case thrown out Thursday on the grounds that threatening messages targeting Carroll, which have been aired in the case, began on social media before Trump’s 2019 comments. Her request was denied.

    Jurors were shown Trump’s October 2022 deposition during which he confused a picture of Carroll for his former wife Marla Maples, which threatened to cast doubt on his claim Carroll was not his “type.”

    Last year, another federal jury found Trump liable for sexually assaulting Carroll in a department store dressing room in 1996 and subsequently defaming her in 2022, when he called her a “complete con job.”

    Trump had been in court while he campaigned ahead of the New Hampshire primary, which he won handily over his only remaining challenger Nikki Haley, as he closes in on becoming the Republican candidate in the November election against Biden.

  • ‘I walked to my home, spent a week in silence, biggest moment of my life’: Trump claims Khan was delighted about Iran operative death

    ‘I walked to my home, spent a week in silence, biggest moment of my life’: Trump claims Khan was delighted about Iran operative death

    Former American President Donald Trump is revealing about the killing of Iran’s master operative General Qassem Soleimani in 2020 just before COVID took over the world.

    Trump said that former Prime Minister Imran Khan ‘rejoiced’ at the killing.

    “There was a Khan, a great cricket player, he became the head of Pakistan, he said it was the single biggest thing I can ever remember happening in my life when Soleimani was killed,” Trump said.

    He further claimed that Khan said, “I left my office, I walked to my home, I stayed in my home in solitude for one week, It was the biggest event that ever happened to me. He was the biggest cricket player. That’s like being a great NFL player or a great baseball player. He was said to be just about the best handsome guy. He became the boss, Pakistan.”

    Trump was addressing a campaign rally in Houston, Texas, a city with a large Pakistani diaspora population.

    However, Trump’s claim of Imran Khan going into seclusion seems to be untrue. Journalist Omar Warraich pointed out in a X thread that Khan addressed a rally in his hometown Mianwali, the very next day and did not mention Soleimani’s assassination in the speech.

    Trump’s claim that Imran Khan walked from his office, the Prime Minister Secretariat, to his home, Bani Gala, also seems to be untrue. It has never been reported that Khan ever walked home, a distance of roughly 15 kilometers.

    The United States assassinated Qasem Soleimani with a drone strike in Baghdad on January 3, 2020. Soleimani was an Iranian general, the country’s most powerful commander, widely considered to be the most important person in Iran after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.

    Soleimani was the leader of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, a pivotal figure in managing Iran’s campaign to drive U.S. forces out of Iraq, and built up Iran’s network of proxy armies across the Middle East. Washington accused Soleimani of masterminding attacks by Iranian-aligned militias on U.S. forces in the region.

  • Trump indicted for third time for trying to overturn 2020 US election

    Trump indicted for third time for trying to overturn 2020 US election

    Former US President Donald Trump has been indicted for the third time in a case pertaining to attempts at overturning the results of the 2020 election which Joe Biden won. Since he began his 2024 Republican primary campaign, he has been the first former US president to face three felony indictments in history. No other president, living or dead, has ever faced criminal charges.

    In a previous post on his Truth Social platform, Trump stated his expectations clearly and said that special counsel Jack Smith intended to bring forth another “Fake Indictment” against him.

    “I hear that Deranged Jack Smith, in order to interfere with the Presidential Election of 2024, will be putting out yet another Fake Indictment of your favourite President, me, at 5:00 P.M. Why didn’t they do this 2.5 years ago? Why did they wait so long? Because they wanted to put it right in the middle of my campaign. Prosecutorial Misconduct!”

    The allegations are part of a larger probe into what Trump did as president and afterwards. The investigation, which also includes claims of improper handling of top-secret government records while Trump was in office, is being overseen by special counsel Jack Smith.
    In connection with alleged attempts to hide these documents from the government, Trump was slammed with 37 counts earlier this year. Last week, he was also charged with additional counts for allegedly attempting to remove surveillance footage from his Mar-a-Lago resort.