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Biden urges respect for legal system after Trump conviction while publicly flouting SCOTUS rulings

Biden urges respect for legal system after Trump conviction while publicly flouting SCOTUS rulings

President Biden said on Friday that the justice system “should be respected” and that it was “reckless” for former President Donald Trump to claim that the verdict in his New York trial was “rigged,” just days after he told his supporters the Supreme Court could not “stop” him from carrying out his agenda. “It’s reckless, it’s dangerous, it’s irresponsible for anyone to say this was rigged just because they don’t like the verdict,” Biden said in response to the former president’s remarks about the NY v. Trump verdict, which found Trump guilty Thursday on all 34 counts of falsifying business records related to the hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election. “Our justice system has endured for nearly 250 years, and it literally is the cornerstone of America. Our justice system, that justice should be respected. And we should never allow anyone to tear it down. It’s as simple as that,” Biden added. TRUMP TURNS CONVICTION INTO CASH, SPOTLIGHTS RECORD FUNDRAISING IN WAKE OF GUILTY VERDICT Biden’s remarks came just two days after he bragged to his supporters at a rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that the Supreme Court ruling his student debt relief plan was unconstitutional did not “stop” him from canceling student loans. “The Supreme Court blocked me from relieving student debt, but they didn’t stop me,” Biden said Wednesday from Girard College. Biden, like several other Democrat and Republican presidents throughout history, has taken aim at the Supreme Court for a number of rulings they have made during his tenure in the White House. During his State of the Union address in March, Biden took direct aim at the justices and insisted they had underestimated the “electoral and political power” of women in their decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. During an interview with MSNBC about his remarks directed at the justices, Biden said, “Look, I think they made a wrong decision, think they read the Constitution wrong, I think they made a mistake.” Biden made similar comments on how the high court’s ruling “didn’t stop” him from canceling student loans in February while speaking at the Julian Dixon Library in Culver City, California. BLACK VOTERS CRITICIZE BIDEN FOR ‘PANDERING’ AS SUPPORT SHIFTS TO TRUMP: ‘IT’S INSULTING’ “Early in my term, I announced a major plan to provide millions of working families with debt relief for their college student debt,” Biden said at the time. “Tens of millions of people in debt were literally about to be canceled in debts. But my MAGA Republican friends in the Congress, elected officials and special interests stepped in and sued us. And the Supreme Court blocked it. But that didn’t stop me.” Last June, the Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision that federal law does not allow Biden’s Secretary of Education to cancel more than $430 billion in student loan debt. Biden promised at the time that his administration would continue to push for his student debt relief plan. Shortly after the court’s ruling, Biden said: “I think the court misinterpreted the Constitution.” Earlier this year, Biden announced the Savings on Valuable Education (SAVE) plan that cancels debt for enrolled borrowers who have been in repayment for at least 10 years and hold $12,000 or less in student loan debt. Those with larger debts will receive relief after an additional year of payments for every additional $1,000 they borrowed. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Biden campaign spokesperson James Singer said: “Expressing disagreement with a Supreme Court decision – as all Presidents do – is not the same as attacking the rule of law and undermining our judicial system.” Following the verdict in Trump’s trial, Biden took to social media on Friday to claim, “No one is above the law.” He has also used Trump’s remarks to raise funds for his re-election campaign, claiming in another post on X that Trump “questioned our judicial system.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Donald Trump is threatening our democracy. First, he questioned our election system. Then, he questioned our judicial system,” Biden wrote Friday. Biden said Friday that Trump, who is the first president to be convicted of a felony, will “be given the opportunity, as he should, to appeal” the conviction. Fox News’ Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.

Trump verdict makes significant number of Republicans less likely to support him: poll

Trump verdict makes significant number of Republicans less likely to support him: poll

A new poll conducted immediately following former President Trump’s criminal conviction in New York found a significant number of Republicans say they are less likely to vote for him in November. One in 10 registered GOP voters said Trump’s felony conviction for falsifying business records would make them less likely to support him for president, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Friday. The two-day poll was conducted hours after a jury in Manhattan on Thursday found Trump guilty on all counts brought against him by District Attorney Alvin Bragg. The poll also found that a majority of Republican voters, 56%, said the outcome of the case would have no effect on their vote and 35% said they were even more likely to support Trump, who maintains his innocence.  Even so, the potential loss of a tenth of Republican voters could decimate the presumptive GOP nominee’s chances to win back key battleground states President Biden claimed in his 2020 victory over Trump. That year, just 44,000 votes in Georgia, Arizona and Wisconsin separated Biden and Trump from a tie in the Electoral College, according to NPR.  TRUMP GUILTY VERDICT REVEALS SPLIT AMONG FORMER GOP PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY OPPONENTS Among independent registered voters, 25% said Trump’s conviction made them less likely to support him in November, compared to 18% who said they were more likely and 56% who said the conviction would have no impact on their decision. The Reuters/Ipsos survey showed Biden and Trump nevertheless remain in a tight race, with 41% of voters saying they would vote for Biden if the election were held today and 39% saying they would pick Trump. The poll surveyed 2,556 U.S. adults nationwide with a 2 percentage point margin of error for registered voters.  ROMNEY SCORCHES BRAGG’S ‘POLITICAL DECISION’ IN TRUMP CASE: ‘MALPRACTICE’ The presidential election is a little more than five months away. Many Republicans have said outrage over Trump’s conviction has cemented support behind the former president. The Trump campaign posted impressive fundraising numbers a day after his conviction, totaling $53 million in the first 24 hours after the guilty verdict came down.  Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11. Survey respondents were divided on whether he should go to prison for his crimes, with 53% of registered voters saying he should not be jailed over the hush money case and 46% saying he should serve time. BILL MAHER STRUGGLES WHETHER TRUMP SHOULD GO TO JAIL FOLLOWING GUILTY VERDICT: ‘MAGA NATION WILL GO NUTS’ Trump’s conviction, and even imprisonment, would not prevent him from continuing to run for president. The Republican National Convention will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin four days after Trump is sentenced. The RNC adopted rules last year that did not include any specific provisions that address what happens if the presumptive nominee is convicted of a crime.  Trump has repeatedly called his prosecution a “witch hunt” and insisted that Bragg and Judge Juan Merchan, who donated to an anti-Trump group, were politically motivated. Voters were split, with 52% saying the prosecution was mainly about upholding the rule of law and 46% saying it was about trying to prevent Trump from returning to the White House. Trump has been indicted in three other criminal cases, but legal wrangling could keep those trials from occurring before the November election. Legal scholars consider the pending trials — which involve charges Trump engaged in electoral fraud and that he mishandled classified documents after leaving office — to be more serious than the hush money case. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. Most registered voters, 60%, said it was important for the three pending Trump trials to take place before the election, compared to 39% who said it was not important and 1% who did not answer the question. Reuters contributed to this report.

Can South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa survive the ANC’s election setback?

Can South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa survive the ANC’s election setback?

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has lost its majority in the country’s election this week for the first time since the end of apartheid, in a major setback for the party that led the country’s liberation from white minority rule. The ANC, which has led the country since 1994, has started closed-door negotiations with other parties to try and stitch together a governing coalition — something it had never had to do until now. Yet analysts say that the party’s losses and the pressures it will confront from potential alliance partners have also cast a cloud over the future of the man the ANC had hoped would lead it into another term in office: President Cyril Ramaphosa. With nearly all votes counted, the ANC has won about 40 percent of the mandate, followed by the principal opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, with 21 percent. In third place is the big success story of the election: Former President Jacob Zuma’s uMKhonto we Sizwe (MK) party, which has ravaged the ANC’s core voting base, looks poised to form the government in KwaZulu Natal province, and could prove critical in determining whether the ANC forms the next government under Ramaphosa. The MK party has won almost 15 percent of the national vote, and 45 percent of the vote in KwaZulu Natal, Zuma’s home province. Already, the MK, whose senior leadership — including Zuma himself — consists of many politicians with ANC roots, has ruled out a deal with the governing party unless it sacks Ramaphosa first. After leading the ANC to its worst-ever electoral performance, Ramaphosa will face intense pressure to stand aside, said analysts. “They’ve lost the majority and they’ve lost it badly,” said Richard Calland, Africa director at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. “That represents a very significant defeat.” The ANC is still South Africa’s largest political formation, and it is almost impossible for the next government to be formed without the party, so it will be in a position to drive coalition negotiations, said Callard. “The question is whether Ramaphosa will lead those negotiations or whether he will resign or be ousted in the very short term.” Those questions are magnified by the limited options that Ramaphosa and the ANC face, as they try to pull together a coalition that can rule. Zuma vs Ramaphosa: A bitter history If the ANC and the MK were to team up, they would have a clear majority in parliament. ANC support would also help the MK get across the halfway mark in KwaZulu Natal, giving Zuma’s party a chance to form a government on its very first try: The party was only formed late last year. Yet, that’s easier said than done, according to analysts. The ANC’s declining voter support comes against the backdrop of deteriorating public infrastructure, social inequalities and rising crime. South Africa has the world’s highest unemployment, at 33 percent, and youth unemployment is at 45 percent. Rolling electricity blackouts have hobbled the economy. Ramaphosa and other ANC officials have also faced personal corruption scandals, with the president at one point facing a no-confidence vote due to misconduct allegations. Yet behind the ANC’s 17 percent vote share drop since the 2019 election, when it won 57 percent votes, is also the surge of Zuma’s MK. Although Zuma had personally chosen Ramaphosa to be his then-deputy president, the two have since fallen out. Their gripes date back to 2018 when Zuma was forced by the ANC to resign as party leader and as president due to multiple corruption scandals he was mired in. Stepping in as party leader and president, Ramaphosa set up a commission of inquiry to investigate Zuma and alluded to his former boss’s presidency as years of corruption and waste. Zuma, in public statements, took countless swipes at the president and the ANC in return. Last December, Zuma backed the new opposition MK party while still claiming to be part of the ANC, leading to his suspension. Analysts predicted then that Zuma aimed to challenge Ramaphosa and split the ANC vote in this week’s elections, using his loyal support base in KwaZulu Natal. He has now delivered on that threat. “This is about ‘unfinished business’ between the two as President Ramaphosa has said before,” said Sanusha Naidu, an analyst with the Institute for Global Dialogue. “Zuma feels he needs to be vindicated for being blamed for corruption. He feels the institutions have been against him. The MK doesn’t see the ANC under Ramaphosa as being a credible, legitimate organisation.” A difficult coalition Despite overseeing a steep downslide in the ANC’s fortunes, Ramaphosa has — until recently, at least — been the party’s most popular face. In internal ANC polls in March, the politician was found to be the most popular of major party leaders and ranked higher than even the ANC itself. That makes it harder for the party to replace him, said analysts. A former union leader, one-time Nelson Mandela protege, and a wealthy businessman, Ramaphosa is credited by supporters for his steady pragmatism, and for polishing South Africa’s image globally as a fighter for underdogs in “Global South” countries. His presidency has especially been lauded for backing Palestinians and bringing a historic genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice over the war on Gaza. This month, the World Court ruled that Israel halt its military assault on Rafah in southern Gaza — a requirement under international law that Israel has ignored as it has continued its attacks on the Palestinian city. Instead of the MK, a grand coalition with the DA might offer both the ANC and South Africa a more stable governing alliance, said analysts. That won’t be easy. Critics of the DA have accused it of leaving towards the interests of the country’s white minority, and the party has been a staunch critic of the ANC and Ramaphosa. Ahead of the election, it promised to “rescue South Africa from the ANC” and pledged never to form a coalition government

Gaza: The War on Hospitals

Gaza: The War on Hospitals

Israel is attacking Gaza’s hospitals in violation of international law, but is it part of a pattern going back to 1948? Hospitals are supposed to be immune from attack in times of war but Israel has repeatedly bombed and shelled them since October 7, 2023. This film looks at Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s hospitals in the context of its historical expansion at the expense of the Palestinian population, going back to 1948. The Israeli army cut off water, power, fuel and medical supplies to Gaza and has attacked most of its hospitals. It claims that al-Shifa Hospital shielded a Hamas command centre and attacked it despite the hundreds of civilians sheltering there – but produced little evidence to support that claim. The alleged war crimes that the International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants for on both sides include Israel’s deliberate targeting of civilians, many of whom have taken shelter in Gaza’s hospitals. Adblock test (Why?)

South Africa’s ANC loses 30-year parliamentary majority after election

South Africa’s ANC loses 30-year parliamentary majority after election

African National Congress vote share drops to 40 percent, forcing it to seek coalition partners to form government. The African National Congress (ANC) party has lost its parliamentary majority in a historic election result that puts South Africa on a new political path for the first time since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule 30 years ago. With more than 99 percent of votes counted on Saturday, the once-dominant ANC had received nearly 40 percent in Wednesday’s election, well short of the majority it had held since the famed all-race vote of 1994 that ended apartheid and brought it to power under Nelson Mandela. The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), had 21.63 percent and uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), a new party led by former president and ANC leader Jacob Zuma, managed to grab 14.71 percent – pulling away votes from the ANC. Opposition parties have hailed the result as a momentous breakthrough for a country struggling with deep poverty and inequality, but the ANC remained the biggest party by some way. “The way to rescue South Africa is to break the ANC’s majority and we have done that,” said main opposition leader John Steenhuisen. The final results are still to be formally declared by the independent Electoral Commission that ran the election, but the ANC cannot pass 50 percent. Reporting from the Results Operation Centre in Midrand, South Africa, Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna said the ANC will try to find a way to form a new government. “It [ANC] has to find a partner in order to be able to govern. Otherwise it could try to form a minority government which could make it very difficult to pass any form of legislation or advance ANC policy,” he said. Gwede Mantashe, the ANC chair and current mines and energy minister, told reporters in comments broadcast by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC): “We can talk to everybody and anybody,” dodging a question about who the party was discussing a possible coalition deal with. Political parties’ shares of the vote determine their seats in the country’s National Assembly, which elects the nation’s president. President Cyril Ramaphosa can in theory still keep his job, as the former liberation movement was on course to get about twice as many votes as the next party. But he will be weakened and could face calls to quit both from opposition parties and critics in the deeply divided ANC. On Friday, however, a top ANC official backed him to stay on as party leader, and analysts say he has no obvious successor. A deal to keep the ANC in the presidency could involve opposition backing in exchange either for cabinet posts or for more control of parliament, perhaps even the speaker. The election commission has pencilled in a final results announcement for Sunday. Adblock test (Why?)