A grand jury has voted to indict former US president Donald Trump in New York over a US$130,000 hush money payment made to the adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election. It is the first time in US history that a sitting or former US president has faced a criminal indictment.
The specific charges currently remain under seal but the focus of the long-running investigation had been around the payments made to Daniels in order to buy her silence over the alleged affair during the 2016 election campaign.
Trump responded to the news on Truth Social saying: “They only brought this Fake, Corrupt, and Disgraceful Charge against me because I stand with the American People, and they know that I cannot get a fair trial in New York.”
He is expected to surrender on Tuesday, US time, where he will likely be presented with charges and enter a plea. It’s not clear if he will be handcuffed or not, but there will be fingerprints taken and a mugshot, and a judge will decide on bail.
Trump is already fundraising off the announcement, sending out an email to supporters calling the indictment a witch-hunt that will backfire on US president Joe Biden. He is also reportedly privately pushing for lawmakers in Congress to investigate the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, who has become the target of complaints from Republican politicians and friendly media.
It is the first indictment to be announced in any of the ongoing investigations involving the former president. If Trump is convicted, it would not prevent him from running for president.
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Full Story
The Liberal party is in crisis, can it recover?
With the results of the NSW state election rolling in, the Labor party now holds power federally and in every mainland state or territory government in Australia. With an unpopular leadership and a philosophy increasingly out of step with the electorate, what is next for the Coalition? Move to the centre in an attempt to win seats back from the independents? Or listen to the fringes of their party, who are pushing them further to the right?
Gabrielle Jackson talks to head of news Mike Ticher and associate news editor Jo Tovey about the future of the Liberal party.
What they said …
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“I wish you well.” – Hollywood star and lifestyle guru Gwyneth Paltrow to optometrist Terry Sanderson
Paltrow won a dramatic and very entertaining court battle against Sanderson over who crashed into whom on the ski slopes in Utah in 2016, after Sanderson sued her for liability, and Paltrow countersued.
The jury deliberated for two hours and 20 minutes, and found Sanderson at fault for the crash. In court, Paltrow leaned over and offered her well wishes to Sanderson at the conclusion of the case.
Before bed read
Sad clips from films and TV shows are being spliced together over melancholy music and shared across TikTok – and they’re raising a smile among hopeless young people. It’s a trend known as “corecore”, and to date, the corecore hashtag has 2.1bn views on TikTok, writes Hannah Ewens. Many young people feel this genre speaks to them and their experiences on a deep emotional level. “They’re my favourite type of TikTok video because they feel raw and real,” says 20-year-old Annabelle from London. “The combination of clips just somehow summarises everything that’s bad about life but I couldn’t quite tell you why.”
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