What happens to Donald Trump now?
Welcome to Wednesday’s Early Edition from i.
The 1917 Espionage Act “wasn’t meant for this!” Donald Trump howled to his supporters. “I did everything right and they indicted me,” he lamented. In characteristic style, the former US president took a swipe at Joe Biden and a handful of his predecessors, from Bill Clinton to George W Bush, as he sought to paint a picture of himself as unjustly persecuted. “It’s a political persecution like something straight out of a fascist or communist nation,” he claimed. Mr Trump was speaking to his supporters in New Jersey, just hours after he appeared in court to face federal criminal charges over classified documents. It’s already been calculated that the Republican front-runner could face 400 years in jail for the charges against him. So what happens now? We’ll take a look after the headlines.
Today’s news, and why it matters
A popular 19-year-old student and cricket player has been named locally as one of three people stabbed to death in Nottingham city centre in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Barnaby Webber was killed alongside another student, 19, named locally as Grace Kumar – minutes before the assailant allegedly attacked a third person, a van driver in his 50s, and stole his vehicle.
The UK was left particularly vulnerable to Covid-19 because it had not planned for a pandemic other than flu, had suffered years of cuts to public services, and was distracted by Brexit, the opening day of the public inquiry into the UK’s response to the virus has heard. Hugo Keith KC, lead counsel for Lady Hallett’s inquiry, said planning for a no-deal Brexit “crowded out” efforts to prepare for a pandemic.
An NHS gynaecologist involved in an abortion case that saw a mother of three jailed has described his fear that more women will now be prosecuted under similar circumstances. Dr Jonathan Lord, a consultant gynaecologist, said her sentencing was the “most harrowing day of [his] career”. He said: “No woman or family should ever have to endure the trauma they’ve been put through over the past three years, let alone be sent to prison for being in such a desperate situation, and in such emotional turmoil, that she fell foul of a Victorian-era law.”
The UK’s security relationship with the US risks being “damaged” by revelations that a suspected Russian agent is living in London with his family who joined him under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, a former senior British intelligence officer has warned. The officer, who spent years investigating Russian espionage for Britain, said i‘s investigation showed an “obvious counter-intelligence failure” by the UK, and warned that angering the country’s “most important” ally would damage the vital relationship.
Banks are under pressure to help struggling mortgage borrowers as repayment costs rise ahead of an anticipated interest rate hike. Analysts have told i that the cost of repaying the average mortgage is now touching the highs seen in the 80s, with fixed-rate deals approaching 6 per cent interest and typical borrowing levels much higher than they used to be.
Four questions over Donald Trump and his latest court case:
What conditions must he follow? Sitting in Miami’s Wilkie D Ferguson courthouse, magistrate Judge Jonathan Goodman directed Donald Trump not to discuss the case with a list of witnesses or victims, including Walt Nauta, his valet who was also indicted last week. Trump was not deemed not to be a flight risk and was therefore not required to surrender his passport.
How soon could he face trial? By law, defendants are entitled to a trial within 70 days. Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the investigation into Trump, is reportedly keen to stick to that timeline, and the federal courthouse in Miami is known for its crisp efficiency. But Trump is known for throwing spanners into legal works. A number of potential obstacles have already appeared. Jury selection could be complicated for prosecutors. Trump faces the charges in Miami, close to the Mar-a-Lago estate where the alleged crimes occurred. But it’s also a part of the country where Mr Trump retains substantial popularity. The former US president also faces a separate trial in Manhattan, which is due to start in March next year.
What happened to Walt Nauta? The former aide to Donald Trump was charged alongside the former president last week, but did not enter a plea on Tuesday because he did not have a local lawyer. He is accused of moving boxes containing sensitive information at Trump’s direction and then lying about it to investigators. He will now be arraigned on 27 June.
Is this having an effect on the polls? The only way for Trump, and Trumpism to be defeated is with a decisive defeat at the ballot box, a US historian told Michael Day earlier this week. Although Joe Biden maintains confidence he can do it, recent polls still show growing support among Republicans for Trump. The latest CBS poll shows Republican primary voters are more concerned that the federal indictment was politically motivated rather than being a national security risk. Some 61% said the charges wouldn’t change their view of Trump, and a whopping 80% said if convicted, he should be president. However other polls show a different problem with the upcoming election. An NBCNews poll in April found 60 per cent of Americans did not want Trump to run again, and up to 70 per cent did not want Joe Biden to serve a second time. Whether this means Republican voters will start looking to the other candidates on offer – of which there are many – remains to be seen.
Around the world
A top Russian general has become the country’s highest-ranked soldier to die this year after a Ukrainian missile strike, according to Russian correspondents and Ukraine’s military. Major-General Sergei Goryachev was killed in an “enemy rocket attack” during heavy fighting on the southern front late on Monday night, reported Russian military blogger Yuri Kotenok, describing him as “one of the brightest and most effective commanders, combining the highest professionalism with personal courage.”
Romanian prosecutors have upgraded the human trafficking charges they are investigating social media influencer Andrew Tate over. Prosecutors say that Mr Tate, his brother Tristan and two other suspects are being investigated for human trafficking “in continued form” – saying that it was a more serious crime than separate counts of trafficking, according to reports.
The grandfather of the children who were lost in the Colombian Amazon for 40 days has said they were forced to tear off strips of their mother’s clothing to keep warm. Their mother, Magdalena Mucutuy, died after the light aircraft the family were travelling on crashed in the jungle, with the impact also killing the pilot and co-pilot.
Pulitzer Prize-winning US author Cormac McCarthy, known for his novels including The Road and No Country For Old Men, has died at the age of 89 at his home in Santa Fe, Mexico, from natural causes. Nihar Malaviya, CEO of Penguin Random House, said: “Cormac McCarthy changed the course of literature. For sixty years, he demonstrated an unwavering dedication to his craft, and to exploring the infinite possibilities and power of the written word.”
Escondido beach, known as California’s “hidden beach”, is to be made fully accessible to the public for the first time in 40 years. It had been mostly cut off to the public by homeowners who obscured access. The state has now approved an agreement for wealthy landowners to create a new path to the coastline.
Watch out for…
PMQs, where Rishi Sunak faces fresh questions over his feud with Boris Johnson (whose Partygate report is now likely to be delayed until Thursday), and the state of the economy.
Thoughts for the day
Forget Boris Johnson, it’s the ‘Tory mortgage penalty’ that is Rishi Sunak’s biggest enemy. With higher bills in the pipeline for two thirds of mortgage payers, the risk is things can only get worse for the PM, warns Paul Waugh.
I’m still friends with my school mates after 32 years – it’s the most important friendship you can have, says Charlene White.
Decriminalise abortion – or more women will be sent to jail in Victorian Britain. Nobody should be forced to go through a pregnancy that they don’t want or can’t endure, writes Vicky Spratt
Culture Break
Lesley Sharp on why the new Full Monty resonates in cost-of-living Britain. As she reprises her role in The Full Monty for a TV sequel, the actor talks about what has changed – and what has stayed the same – about Britain since the original 1997 film
The Big Read
Why everyone is talking about UFO sightings, even though there is still no hard evidence. There is a lot of disappointment in the world of UFO-spotting, explains Stuart Ritchie.
Sport
Exclusive: Furious PSG will sell Kylian Mbappe this summer with Premier League switch ‘very appealing’. Mbappe would consider ‘a number of clubs’ in England – and PSG want him gone after growing ‘tired’ of his transfer ploys, writes Pete Hall.
Something to brighten your day
The most intact Roman mausoleum ever to be discovered in Britain has been unearthed at a building site in Southwark, near Borough Market. Antonietta Lerz, a senior archaeologist at Museum of London Archaeology, said: “The level of preservation makes it unique. Roman mausolea are not particularly rare. We know of mausolea from the centuries of Roman London and Southwark, but they are usually only preserved to the foundations and we normally just get the footprint of the building. So this is truly exceptional.” She added: “It would have been a high status building. Whoever it belonged to … would have had the means to build this.”
