Category Archives: Donald Trump

Much of what is happening in American politics today can be explained by two simple yet seemingly contradictory phenomena: Most partisans believe that the other side is more powerful than their own, while at the same time feeling quite certain that their own team will prevail in the upcoming election.

Just as Democrats view Republicans as wielding outsize influence through dark money, structural advantages in our political system and control of institutions like the Supreme Court, Republicans view themselves as under siege by not just a federal government largely controlled by Democrats but also by the media, the entertainment industry and, increasingly, corporate C-suites.

Republicans in particular hold a fatalistic view of the future of the country. In a recent Times poll, 56 percent said they believe we are in danger of failing as a nation. Far from the party of Ronald Reagans Morning in America ad, the presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy countered during last weeks debate: Its not morning in America. We live in a dark moment.

Given that many Republicans have such an apocalyptic view of the future, believing that the future of the country hangs in the balance if their party does not win the 2024 election, you might assume that Republicans would prioritize electability as they choose a nominee and seek a safe, steady standard-bearer to face President Biden next November. And you might assume, as many pundits and commentators do, that Republicans would begin to consider that nominating Donald Trump, with all his troubles and legal peril, would be too great a risk.

But the belief that the other party would be simply disastrous for the nation is feeding the deep confidence that ones own side is going to prevail in 2024.

What does this mean for Republicans? It means that G.O.P. voters see Mr. Biden as eminently beatable, and they think most Americans see him as they do. Given that, most Republicans arent looking to be rescued from Donald Trump. The fact is, they really do like him, and at this point they think hes their best shot.

Despite losing the 2020 elections and then experiencing a disappointing 2022 midterm, most Republicans seem confident that their candidate even Donald Trump, especially Donald Trump would defeat Joe Biden handily in 2024. They have watched as Mr. Biden has increasingly stumbled, as gas prices have remained high and as Americans have continued to doubt the value of Bidenomics. Many of them believe the pernicious fantasy pushed by Mr. Trump and indulged by too many Republican leaders who should know better that the 2020 election was not actually a loss.

Republican voters see the same polls that I do, showing Mr. Trump effectively tied against Mr. Biden even though commentators tell them that Mr. Trump is electoral poison. And they remember that many of those same voices told them in 2016 that Mr. Trump would never set foot in the White House. In light of those facts, Republicans skepticism of claims that Mr. Trump is a surefire loser begins to make more sense.

It didnt have to be this way. In the immediate aftermath of the 2022 midterms, which were disappointing for many Republicans, there was a brief moment where it seemed like the party might take a step back, reflect and decide to pursue a new approach with new leadership. In my own polling immediately after the election, I found the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis running even with Donald Trump in a head-to-head matchup among likely Republican primary voters, a finding that held throughout the winter. Even voters who consider themselves very conservative gravitated away from Mr. Trump and toward the prospect of an alternative for a time.

But by the end of the spring of 2023, after the indictment of Mr. Trump by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, and Mr. DeSantiss rocky entrance into the presidential race, Mr. Trump had not only regained his lead but had also expanded upon it. Quinnipiacs polling of Republican primary voters showed that Mr. Trump held only a six-point lead over Mr. DeSantis in February, but that lead had grown to a whopping 31 points by May.

Any notion that Republicans ought to turn the page, lest they face another electoral defeat, largely evaporated. And the multitude of criminal indictments against Mr. Trump have not shaken the support of Republicans for him, but have instead seemingly galvanized them.

In our focus group of 11 Republican voters in early primary states this month, Times Opinion recruited a range of likely primary voters and caucusgoers to weigh in on the state of the race. They were not universally smitten with Donald Trump; some described him as troubled, arrogant or a train wreck. About half of our participants said they were interested in seeing a strong competitor to Mr. Trump within the party.

But the argument that Donald Trump wont be able to defeat Joe Biden? Not a single participant thought that Mr. Trump or any Republican, really would lose to Mr. Biden. In polling by CBS News, the ability to beat Joe Biden is one of the top qualities Republican primary voters say they are looking for, and they think Mr. Trump is the best poised to deliver on that result. Only 9 percent of likely Republican primary voters think Mr. Trump is a long shot to beat Mr. Biden, and more than six in 10 think Mr. Trump is a sure bet against Mr. Biden. Additionally, only 14 percent of Republican primary voters who are considering a Trump alternative said they were doing so because they worried that Mr. Trump couldnt win.

In an otherwise strong debate performance last week, when Nikki Haley argued that we have to face the fact that Trump is the most disliked politician in America we cant win a general election that way, the reaction from the crowd was decidedly mixed. This isnt to say that such an argument cant become more successful as the primary season goes on, as Mr. Trumps legal woes (and legal bills) continue to mount and as the alternatives to Mr. Trump gain greater exposure.

But for now they think that Mr. Biden is both enormously destructive and eminently beatable. They are undeterred by pleas from party elites who say Mr. Trump is taking the Republican Party to the point of no return.

Republicans both deeply fear a 2024 loss and cant fathom its actually happening. Candidates seeking to defeat Mr. Trump in the primary cant just assume that Republican voters will naturally conclude the stakes are too high to bet it all on Trump. For now, many of those voters think Mr. Trump is the safest bet theyve got.

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Opinion | The Thing Is, Most Republicans Really Like Trump - The New York Times

Former President Donald J. Trump immediately vowed to challenge the March 4 start date for his criminal trial over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, raising questions of whether or how he could try to push back the timing of the case.

I will APPEAL! Mr. Trump wrote on social media shortly after Judge Tanya S. Chutkan issued her order on Monday.

But despite complaining about the date, a lawyer for Mr. Trump, John Lauro, said in court that the defense team would abide by her decision as we must. Mr. Lauro had proposed the trial begin in April 2026, citing the volume of evidence defense lawyers needed to study, while prosecutors had suggested starting in January.

Here is a closer look.

The date comes in the middle of an already crammed calendar for Mr. Trump, who faces an array of criminal cases and civil lawsuits as he seeks the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

In particular, as Mr. Trump noted, the day after the trial would begin is Super Tuesday, when voters in over a dozen states will cast their primary votes. That voting will take place amid the likelihood of negative headlines pegged to the start of the trial, and his ability to travel and hold rallies campaigning for primaries in subsequent weeks is likely to be limited.

Defendants are generally required to be present at their trials. After preliminary matters like jury selection, prosecutors have estimated they will need about four to six weeks to present their case, after which defense lawyers will also have an opportunity to call additional witnesses.

Typically, no, but there are complexities.

First, Mr. Lauro could file a motion asking Judge Chutkan to reconsider the timing and fleshing out his argument that March 4 does not give the defense enough time to adequately prepare.

But if she declines to change it, decisions by a Federal District Court judge over a prospective trial calendar are not usually considered subject to an immediate appeal. Instead, if a claimed problem can be remedied by later overturning any guilty verdict, an appeal raising that issue must wait until after the trial.

Indeed, if the former president is convicted, Mr. Lauro appears to be laying the groundwork for Mr. Trump to argue in an appeal after the trial that the start date violated his constitutional right to have meaningful legal representation. Mr. Lauro told the judge on Monday that the defense team would not be able to provide adequate representation to Mr. Trump if it had to be prepared by March 4. Such a trial date would deny his client the opportunity to have effective assistance of counsel, he added.

But Mr. Trump has another way to ask a higher court to review the calendar before the trial starts. It is called a petition for a writ of mandamus, and while it is not technically considered to be an appeal, legal experts say, it looks very similar.

It is a judicial order to a lower-court judge mandating some action. It functions as a safety release valve, allowing what are essentially early appeals. It is reserved for extraordinary situations where a judge has made a mistake that will cause a defendant irreparable harm, so the normal process of waiting until after any guilty verdict to raise the issue on appeal could not provide a remedy.

Thus, while Mr. Trump would normally have to wait until after the trial to ask a higher court to review Judge Chutkans calendar decision, his defense team could, in theory, try to short-circuit that process by filing a mandamus petition to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit or even directly to the Supreme Court.

No. In general, a mandamus petition is very likely to be denied, legal experts say. Higher courts, reluctant to disrupt the ordinary judicial process, have set a steep bar before they agree to intervene this way.

In a 1999 ruling, for example, the D.C. Circuit said it would not even consider a mandamus petition based on an argument that the trial judge had made a clearly wrong decision since the problem could be addressed later through an ordinary appeal.

As we have seen, any error even a clear one could be corrected on appeal without irreparable harm, the judges wrote.

In a 2004 ruling, the Supreme Court said the right to relief must be clear and indisputable and there must be no other adequate means to obtain it. And even then, it said, a higher court still has discretion to decline issuing such an order if it nevertheless believes that intervening would not be appropriate under the circumstances.

By itself, the objection raised by Mr. Lauro that March 4 will not give Mr. Trumps lawyers adequate time to prepare would almost certainly fall short as a reason for a higher court to intervene early, according to Paul F. Rothstein, a Georgetown University law professor and specialist in criminal procedure.

But Professor Rothstein said it was harder to predict what would happen if Mr. Trumps team also raised an objection the former president has made in his public comments: that the trial date interferes with the election. There is a stronger argument for a claim of irreparable harm since various primaries will be over by the time of a verdict.

Still, there is scant precedent to guide a higher courts decision about whether a trial dates effect on an election is sufficient to consider intervening early. And even if so, he said, it is also uncertain where the higher court might land on whether the public interest is better served by delaying a trial or by letting it go forward so voters can know about a major candidates criminality as soon as possible.

Like so many things with these unprecedented questions that the Trump cases present, the law does not have a definite answer, Prof. Rothstein said.

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Can Trump Appeal His Federal Election Trial Date? What to Know. - The New York Times

The first time I encountered Donald Trump was on my TV screen. It was 1994, and it happened in an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Will Smiths popular coming-of-age sitcom about class assimilation that ran on NBC for six seasons. There was nothing particularly memorable about the episode or Trumps appearance in ithe played a relatively tame version of himselfbut for much of my early life this was how I made sense of him. As a real estate dealmaker. As a reality TV star. And eventually as 45th president of the United States. Then and now, Trump best communicates through the medium of images.

The latest transmission from his visual onslaught began making rounds on the internet last Thursday, just past the 8 pm Eastern primetime hour, when Georgias Fulton County Jail released his mug shot to the public. It has since been described as one of the most historic images of our time. And rightly so. There is no parallel for it in our visual lexicon. It is, in every sense of the phrase, a Trump original.

Along with 18 codefendantswhich include his former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, a DOJ official, a stable of attorneys, a publicist, and a pastorTrump is being charged as the lead actor in a conspiracy to overthrow the 2020 election in Georgia, where the law requires a mug shot be taken for a felony offense. Like most images of Trump, this one does not pretend to soften its collision. His grimace is absolute aggressionall venom and intimidation.

On its own, the photograph is nothing to call home about. Were it not infused with so much meaninghis is the first presidential mug shot in historyit would barely register as remarkable. (In fairness, he set the bar pretty high during his presidency. Remember the orb?!) But its aesthetics are classic Trump. The furrowed brows. The chromatic cloud of hair. That unyielding glare, his eyes like darts, in search of a target. The camera struggles to capture proper light, but that feels strangely fitting: His darkness is in full view.

Trump is a savvy counterprogrammer, a showman with a taste for political rebranding. He understands that images endure, the imprint they can leave. He understands that sometimes the image is the message. It's why, in the hours following his release, he used his mug shot as an opportunity to raise funds by posting it on X (formerly Twitter). Never surrender, he tweeted, without a pinch of irony, after surrendering. The photo has raised more than $7 million since last week, according to Politico. This is all part of the Trump allure. The amphitheater of social media is where he excels, as meme and messiah.

Online, Trump exists across an explosive vernacular of media. His identity is a patchwork of zany interview clips, Photoshopped images, and antagonistic sound bites meant to go viral. It is why the story of Donald Trump will always be a story best told in pictures. Pictures that are brash and erratic, unfading and unpredictable. And as the front-runner for the Republican nomination, his mug shot is a picture that demands interrogation. It demands that many of us continue to challenge the image of America he is working to bring back. We should not look away. We can't afford to look away. This time, Trump should not be allowed to so easily evade the lens of reality.

That, more than anything, is what the mug shot makes plain. Whether Georgia district attorney Fanni Willis can make her case or not, the mug shot implies an air of criminality. Some will call that implication into question. Theyll say its unfair. Theyll again label it a witch hunt. For others, it validates what they already believe to be true: In his loss to President Joe Biden, he conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and now he must go on trial to prove otherwise. Trump and his codefendants are set to be arraigned next week. The court of public opinion will be watching.

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Donald Trump's Mug Shot Will Be His Most Enduring Meme - WIRED

In a new social media trend, some people on X, formerly known as Twitter, have superimposed their own faces onto former President Donald Trump's mug shot. Juliana Kim hide caption

In a new social media trend, some people on X, formerly known as Twitter, have superimposed their own faces onto former President Donald Trump's mug shot.

When Fulton County Jail released Donald Trump's mug shot last week, the former president not only embraced it but so did some of his supporters.

Hours after the photo was made public, Trump's booking photo was plastered on T-shirts, mugs and koozies. It inspired the latest addition to Trump's campaign. And it even triggered a viral social media challenge where Trump supporters superimposed their face onto his photo.

Typically, mug shots are associated with shame and humiliation. But for Trump and a pocket of his fan base, his mug shot the first ever of an American president was a badge of honor.

"There's nothing like the scale of what's going on a politician of Trump's stature who's using the scandal to such political benefit," said William Howell, a political science professor at the University of Chicago.

Trump, who faces four separate indictments, took his first mug shot on Thursday after surrendering in Atlanta. He faces 13 felony counts in Georgia related to efforts to overturn the state's 2020 presidential election result.

This booking photo provided by Fulton County Sheriff's Office shows former President Donald Trump on Thursday after he surrendered and was booked at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta. AP hide caption

This booking photo provided by Fulton County Sheriff's Office shows former President Donald Trump on Thursday after he surrendered and was booked at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta.

Before the release of Trump's mug shot, police departments and newsrooms had already been debating the ethics around publishing such photos.

For most people, mug shots are taken during one of the worst days of their lives. Because of the internet, those images can now last forever unless someone pays to get them taken down.

Arrest images are also used disproportionately by race. In a 2021 study, Global Strategy Group found media coverage in the U.S. used mug shots in 45% of cases involving Black defendants while only 8% of cases involving white defendants.

"Folks without power, they're criminalized. They don't have much say about it. But folks who have a lot of power get to redefine that picture," said Mary Angela Bock, a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

According to Bock, elected officials have the power and resources to largely be immune to the life-altering effect of mug shots. Take former Texas Gov. Rick Perry. In 2014, Perry was booked and photographed in jail after accusations that he abused his power as governor. But the incident turned into a political rally and later, his super PAC sold T-shirts with his mug shot for $25.

"Politicians know it's not about the picture, it's about the moment. So they can change the meaning of that moment to suit their needs," said Bock, who has conducted research on Perry's mug shot and its aftermath.

Trump has long portrayed himself as an anti-hero an outsider willing to call out the failures and corruption in Washington. To him and some of his supporters, the indictments and mug shot underscore their belief that he has been treated unfairly, according to Howell.

"The narrative he's spinning now is that the justice system has been weaponized against him by his political opponent and the government has been hijacked by people who don't believe in the rule of law," he said.

That's why Howell anticipates Trump's mug shot may help him during his presidential race at least financially. In fact, his campaign has already made money selling merchandise with a fake Trump mug shot.

"He has long held up attacks directed at him as a reason for people within his party to give financially to his cause," Howell said.

On Thursday, Trump posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, for the first time in more than two years to share his mugshot along with the words "NEVER SURRENDER."

Shortly after, some of his supporters followed suit and posted fake mug shots with their own faces on the social media site. Among those who participated was Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

According to Howell, the trend not only represents solidarity, but their level of commitment to Trump, regardless of circumstances.

"This isn't just that they're going to stand with him through fires. It's that the fires are only going to strengthen the bonds between them," he said.

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Trump's mug shot inspires viral trend: supporters creating their own ... - NPR

On the heels of Donald Trump's fourth indictment and amid mounting legal troubles, the former president's family remains unconcerned about the prospect of him having to serve any jail time.

"Everyone knows hes not going to jail. No one is worried," a source tells PEOPLE of Trump's closest family members.

That reportedly includes daughter Ivanka Trump, who has largely stayed silent amid the controversy but isn't hiding away.

"She's all over the place down here, always out and about," the source tells PEOPLE of Ivanka, 41, and her husband Jared Kushner's life in Miami.

"They're definitely not hiding. They live right on the beach," the source adds of the luxury high-rise condominium complex the couple calls home as they continue construction on a nearby $24 million waterfront property. "They seem like they don't have a care in the world."

Ivanka's 29-year-old sister Tiffany who married husband Michael Boulos last November lives in nearby Palm Beach and the two sisters have grown closer in recent years, largely due to the shared memories from their father's time in the White House.

They used to not get along but now theyre bonded over their shared trauma of being the most hated kids in America," the source says. "Going through that experience with their dad as president was awful for them, they hated it. People were so cruel. Especially about Tiffanys looks."

These days, the women are staying out of the political fray, choosing instead to relax in South Florida.

"They want nothing to do with politics this time around, they never want to go through that again. They just want to chill in Miami," the source adds.

Ivanka has publicly announced that she will not be involved with her father's 2024 campaign, issuing a statement the same night he announced his latest campaign.

"I love my father very much," Ivanka said in her statement. "This time around, I am choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family."

She continued: "I do not plan to be involved in politics. While I will always love and support my father, going forward I will do so outside the political arena."

Never miss a story sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

And while she's remained largely out of the spotlight since leaving the White House in 2021, Ivanka did speak out after her father's first indictment in March, after prosecutors alleged he paid hush money to adult film starStormy Danielswhile he was the presidential candidate in 2016.

Ivanka broke her silence on the charges via a short message on her Instagram Story, writing: "I love my father, and I love my country. Today, I am pained for both. I appreciate the voices across the political spectrum expressing support and concern."

The former president has been indicted four times since leaving office. The latest charges bring him toa total of 91 criminal countshe's faced this year between four investigations, several of which come with recommended prison time.

Earlier this month, he was indicted in a fourth criminal investigation, for which he is accused of violating the Georgia RICO Act classified a step above felony, as a "serious felony." If convicted, Trump would face a mandatory minimum sentence of five years.

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Donald Trump's Family 'Isn't Worried' About Him Going to Jail ... - PEOPLE

Photo: Bloomberg/Getty/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Ron DeSantis makes a big show of picking on mask-wearing children, teachers, and LGBTQ+ people, but hes repeatedly proven himself no match for Donald Trump, the biggest bully U.S. politics has ever seen. Despite predictions that the Republican presidential primary would quickly turn into a two-way race between the Florida men, Trump has managed to maintain a huge polling lead over DeSantis, partly through the use of schoolyard intimidation tactics. Trump saddled DeSantis with a variety of juvenile nicknames, refused to invite him to major events, insulted his looks behind his back, and relentlessly mocked him for the weird way he (allegedly) eats pudding.

Now Trump is trying to start a rumor that DeSantis is quitting the presidential race, and he isnt even being sneaky about it. On Monday, Trump shared some hot gossip with his 6.4 million Truth Social followers, claiming rumors are strong in political circles that DeSantis would soon abandon his presidential campaign to run for the Senate against fellow Republican Rick Scott, who is up for reelection in 2024:

As FloridaPolitics.com pointed out, this rumor (which Trump originally misspelled as roomer) doesnt really make any sense:

DeSantis has tried to run for Senate once. After his second term in the House, he launched a bid forMarco RubiosSenate seat, but abandoned it to run for re-election once Rubio decided he wanted another term.

If DeSantis were to run against Scott and win, he would leave the Governors Office midway through his second term. While thats understandable for a run for President, there is little indication that DeSantis has an interest in leaving an executive position to be one of 100 Senators.

It seems highly unlikely that DeSantis would give up the last two years of his term as governor to primary a GOP senator. But of course, Trumps intent probably wasnt to share plausible information but to add to the narrative that the DeSantis campaign is flailing. (While DeSantis has been plagued by bad news and he isnt closing the gap with Trump, his poll numbers have not absolutely crashed.)

DeSantis has never been good at neutralizing Trumps bullying; his standard, cringey response to Trumps nicknames is that he can call him whatever he wants just as long as you also call me a winner. The campaigns response to Trumps rumor was similarly uninspiring. Bryan Griffin, a press secretary for DeSantiss campaign, posted on X:

This is fake news. Clearly, Donald Trump and his army of consultants are panicked about @RonDeSantis winning debate performance and the strong momentum that has followed. They know this is a two-man race, and we will carry this on to a win in this presidential primary. Instead of pushing fake news from New Jersey, the Trump campaign should be focused on getting their candidate on the campaign trail in Iowa and on the debate stage before its too late.

DeSantis didnt clearly win the first GOP debate, the primary is not a two-man race, and fake news is Trumps line. The governor should probably work on his tactics for countering Trump, but there may not be much time. A lot of people are saying he wont be in the race for long.

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Donald Trump Starts Rumor That Ron DeSantis Is Dropping Out - New York Magazine

Donald Trumps attempts to make political hay out of his myriad legal woes continued on Monday when he shared a fake mug shot of President Joe Biden on his Truth Social platform.

The former president ReTruthed a doctored image of Biden, next to the Fulton County Sheriffs Office badge, with the caption: The Mugshot America Deserves.

Trump also shared other edited images of his own mug shot, which was released following his arrest in Georgia on Thursday for his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election result in the state:

Trump has predictably sought to raise money off the back of his mug shot, reportedly receiving more than $7 million in campaign donations in the first two days after its release.

The picture itself sparked a meme.

It also prompted Fox News Jesse Watters to say Trump looked good and hard.

Biden, meanwhile, had a deadpan response when asked about the image.

I did see it on television, the president told reporters. Handsome guy. Wonderful guy.

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Donald Trump Trolls Joe Biden In Pettiest Possible Way - Yahoo News

Donald Trump has made another claim and this time he didnt have to beg for his total to be changed.

The former president posted on Truth Social that he won the Senior Club Championship at his club in Bedminster, N.J. Trump, who apparently was able to dig out his golf shirts that were mixed among the classified documents stored at Mar-a-Lago, claims he shot a 67, but did not say if that was in a practice round or even what day he recorded that score.

I am pleased to report, for those that care, that I just won the Senior Club Championship (must be over 50 years old!) at Bedminster (Trump National Golf Club), shooting a round of 67, the 77-year-old Palm Beach resident posted. Now, some people will think that sounds low, but there is no hanky/lanky. Many people watch, plus I am surrounded by Secret Service Agents. Not much you can do even if you wanted to, and I dont.

Trump concluded his post: For some reason, I am just a good golfer/athlete I have won many Club Championships, and it is always a great honor!

The question is which number is larger: Trumps club championships or the 91 felony counts he faces in four jurisdictions.

]In January, Trump announced he won the Senior Club Championship at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, despite not playing the first round of the tournament.

Members arrived the second day surprised to see Trump with a five-point lead using the Modified Stableford method. But Trump never played the first round as he was attending a funeral in North Carolina.

Trump told tournament organizers he played a strong round on the course Thursday, two days before the tournament started, and decided that would count as his Saturday score for the club championship. That score was five points better than any competitor posted during Saturdays first round.

Trumps latest claim comes two days after he became the first former president with a mug shot. He was booked in Fulton County stemming from his attempt to overturn Georgias 2020 election results by asking Georgias secretary of state to find 11,780 votes.

Trump had good reason to vehemently defend himself against hanky/lanky and insist people watch. Not only was he the subject of a 2019 book by sportswriter Rick Reilly: Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump; a video of Trump shanking a pitch shot at his club in Los Angeles went viral in June.

LIV Golf will hold three events on Trump properties this year, including Bedminster, which was played this month. Of the 144 rounds played at Bedminster by LIV golfers, six shot 67 or lower.

Trump typically plays in the pro-am leading up to LIV events he hosts, including the tournament at Doral. In October, after playing nine holes with Jupiters Brooks Koepka, Trump praised his game Trumps, not Koepkas.

I hit it straight, I hit good drives, I hit good irons, he said.

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Donald Trump claims he won another club championship: 'For some ... - Golfweek

Donald Trump's family "knows hes not going to jail".

The 77-year-old billionaire has been accused of trying to overturn his electoral defeat in 2020 - but his family aren't worried at all about the prospect of him going to jail.

A source told PEOPLE: "Everyone knows hes not going to jail. No one is worried."

Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner have largely remained silent amid the controversy.

However, the married couple aren't hiding away from the drama, either, and they have been regularly spotted together in Miami in recent weeks.

The insider shared: "She's all over the place down here, always out and about.

"They're definitely not hiding. They live right on the beach. They seem like they don't have a care in the world."

Earlier this month, Trump claimed to be the victim of a political "witch hunt".

The billionaire businessman - who served as the 45th US President between 2017 and 2021 - took to social media to rubbish the allegations and to also question the integrity of the legal process.

Trump - who still plans to run in the next US election - wrote on Truth Social at the time: "So, the Witch Hunt continues! 19 people Indicated tonight, including the former President of the United States, me, by an out of control and very corrupt District Attorney who campaigned and raised money on, I will get Trump. And what about those Indictment Documents put out today, long before the Grand Jury even voted, and then quickly withdrawn? Sounds Rigged to me! Why didnt they Indict 2.5 years ago? Because they wanted to do it right in the middle of my political campaign. Witch Hunt! (sic)"

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Donald Trump's family 'aren't worried he'll go to jail' - The Daily Herald

Latest News on the Trump Indictment

If ever there was a moment in American history that should prompt the federal courts to change their outdated policy, surely the prosecution of a former president for attempting to overturn the will of the voters would be it. The time has come for the federal court system to catch-up with the times many state courts already broadcast live trial proceedings.

The Judicial Conference of the United States, which sets administrative rules and policy guidelines for federal judicial proceedings, has the power to change the rules and allow cameras in federal court rooms. When the conference convenes in September, it should decide to allow Trumps trials and related federal court proceedings to be broadcast in real-time. Notably, both Trumps lawyer and a growing number of congressional Democrats agree.

I suspect my former colleagues at the Justice Department are hesitant to depart from existing norms that date back to 1946 because they have been largely effective in keeping decorum in federal court rooms and protecting witnesses, jurors and judges.

But these are extraordinary times, and extraordinary times demand extraordinary transparency. At the least, the Justice Department should inform the Judicial Conference that it does not oppose efforts to broadcast Trumps trials live.

The bright light of transparency into both of Trumps federal cases would communicate an unfiltered and unbiased accounting of trial events, and the strong evidence the government has alleged in its indictments. Equally important, it would show Americans and the world what it means to pursue justice without regard to partisan politics. We saw a glimpse of this process play out in Fulton County, Ga., a state case when a grand jury there handed up its indictments earlier this month. With the 2024 presidential election in full swing, misinformation running rampant, and trust in American institutions at an all-time low, keeping the facts and evidence front and center would be in service to our democracy.

Americans have already watched high-profile trials at the state and local levels for decades from the trials of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin to the final verdict of former NFL star O.J. Simpson. Over a six-week period last year, Johnny Depps defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard amassed a total of almost 84 million hours watched by Americans. Live broadcast access to these trials encouraged a highly divided and engaged public to view evidence and facts free from editorializing, and to better accept the verdicts. Similarly, the public may be more accepting of the outcome whatever it is in Trumps federal trials if they are held transparently.

If the Judicial Conference fails to act, Congress should step in. There is already bipartisan legislation by Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) that would give federal judges the discretion to decide the appropriateness of recordings being broadcast live from their courtrooms. That discretion could include allowing just live audio streams of federal court proceedings.

While not as compelling as live camera footage, audio would still inform the public and could go further to help protect government witnesses, an absolute necessity given the former presidents incendiary rhetoric and attacks that have already endangered the lives of elected officials and even poll-working volunteers. Notably, the Supreme Court allows live audio streams of its oral arguments. And as then-Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Attorney General Merrick Garland voted in favor of allowing audio recordings of oral arguments in federal court to be published.

The first federal trials of an American president will be pivotal moments in our nations 246-year history. By permitting live recordings of trial proceedings to be aired in real time, we uphold the values of democracy, foster an informed citizenry and reinforce trust in the justice system and its outcomes. It is through transparency that we will preserve the integrity of our nation.

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Opinion | If You Want the Public's Trust, Broadcast the Trump Trials - POLITICO