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Speaker Johnson to attend Trump trial in Manhattan in show of support

Speaker Johnson to attend Trump trial in Manhattan in show of support

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is expected in downtown Manhattan on Tuesday morning to show solidarity with former President Trump during his criminal trial. Johnson’s office told Fox News Digital early on Tuesday that he would be in New York City for the trial, making him the latest Trump ally in Congress to appear beside the ex-president in the Manhattan Criminal Court. He’s expected to be there at the same time as Vivek Ramaswamy, the former 2024 Republican primary candidate-turned-possible Trump running mate choice. The former president’s trial is related to accusations he falsified business records to cover up a payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election. Johnson, who has long been a Trump ally but has grown significantly closer to him since becoming speaker in October, has criticized the prosecutions against Trump, including the Manhattan case, as inherently political. “One of the things that is also in jeopardy right now is our judicial branch, and it’s our system of government itself. And I don’t think we can say often enough here, how much that has been abused under this administration with local prosecutors, state prosecutors, and at the federal level, who are using lawfare,” Johnson said during a press conference last week.  “They’re using our judicial system to get the most out of that, and I think the most egregious one is what is being done to Donald Trump right now,” he added. On the Manhattan trial specifically, Johnson said, “That case should never have been brought.” “That case is being orchestrated by Democrats, supporters of President Biden, who are trying to make a name for themselves,” Johnson said. Trump appears to have played a critical role in helping Johnson keep his job as speaker amid an ouster threat led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., by showing public support for the Louisiana Republican even as one of his top supporters and campaign surrogates called for his firing. Other Trump allies in Congress who have made appearances at the Manhattan courthouse so far include Sens. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and Rick Scott. R-Fla.

Ron DeSantis addresses rumors about first lady Casey DeSantis’ political future

Ron DeSantis addresses rumors about first lady Casey DeSantis’ political future

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday shot down rumors that his wife, first lady Casey DeSantis, would run for governor in 2026 when he leaves office. The Republican governor addressed speculation about his wife’s political ambitions at an event in Coral Gables. Recent polls have suggested that Casey DeSantis would be strongly favored in a hypothetical Republican primary for governor.  Asked about those polls, DeSantis smiled and told reporters, “If I had to characterize her interest in getting into the political thicket as a candidate, I would say, I would characterize it as zero. But, you know, I think it’s because she has had a front row seat on all the nonsense that goes on when you do it.” BILL TO EXPAND FLORIDA’S ‘SAFE HAVEN’ LAW NOW ON DESANTIS’ DESK He went on to say that the reason some people have said the first lady should run for governor is based on her successful programs, including Hope Florida, a service that helps people on government welfare transition back to work. Casey DeSantis was a constant presence on the campaign trail as her husband, the governor, mounted an ultimately unsuccessful bid for the 2024 Republican nomination. Political observers and supporters often remarked that the first lady’s charisma and inspiring story as a cancer survivor made her the highlight of her husband’s events. The couple’s young children, ages ranging from 3 to 7, would at times accompany them.  MAJOR GOP DONOR REVEALS HOW TRUMP’S FORMER RIVAL CAN BOOST HIM OVER BIDEN An Ohio native, DeSantis graduated from the College of Charleston with a Bachelor of Science in economics as well as a minor in French. Before her husband’s election as governor in 2018, DeSantis enjoyed a career as a television host, reporter and anchor. In an interview with Fox News’ Harris Faulkner in 2023, DeSantis said “humility” is what defined her as the first lady of the Sunshine State. TRUMP, DESANTIS MEET PRIVATELY FOR SEVERAL HOURS IN MIAMI “I think one who looks at the role with a lot of humility,” Casey said. “It isn’t about me. It is about being in a position to be able to do good on behalf of the people of this state and hopefully of this country.” Recent polls have suggested that DeSantis would be a favored Republican candidate for governor were she to enter the race to succeed her husband. A poll released in April by Florida Atlantic University and Mainstreet Research showed 38% of Florida Republicans surveyed would support the first lady in a head-to-head matchup with Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., a firebrand House conservative.  Another University of North Florida Public Opinion Lab survey from November 2023 showed Casey DeSantis with 22% support in a crowded field of potential GOP candidates. However, 40% of respondents remained undecided in that survey. 

UK’s Cameron discussed Ukraine-Russia peace deal with Trump: report

UK’s Cameron discussed Ukraine-Russia peace deal with Trump: report

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron reportedly discussed with former President Trump – the presumptive Republican presidential nominee – a potential peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.  According to a source who spoke to The Sunday Times, Cameron met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida last month and told the former president that new U.S. aid would help Ukraine hold its front lines and give Trump the “best possible conditions” to attempt to secure an agreement with Russia.  The source reportedly said that Cameron asked Trump: “What are the best conditions in which you as president can make a deal in January? It’s both sides holding their lines and paying a price for that.” That contradicts the United Kingdom’s position that a peace agreement would be a Ukrainian matter, and Cameron has said publicly that “peace comes through strength, not through appeasement and weakness.”  BLINKEN MAKES UNANNOUNCED DIPLOMATIC TRIP TO UKRAINE AFTER CONGRESS APPROVES $60B IN MILITARY AID Asked about the report Monday afternoon, a spokesperson for U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Britain’s “position has not changed” and that “Putin must fail.”  “It is crucial, now more than ever in this conflict, that Putin is sent a very clear message that we will support Ukraine for as long as is necessary,” the spokesperson said. “I’ve seen some anonymous source briefing. We do not recognize those reports.”  Reporters also pressed Sunak about the report in central London on Monday.  UKRAINE’S KHARKIV RESIDENTS REMAIN DEFIANT AS RUSSIA LAUNCHES NEW OFFENSIVE “I haven’t seen this Sunday Times article, so forgive me for that,” Sunak said, according to Politico. “But what I can tell you is that you we have led when it comes to Ukraine.” “Investment in Ukraine’s security is investment in our security. Our NATO allies are already worried about the prospect of if Putin succeeds, that they’ll be next –  with all the consequences that would bring,” he added. Cameron said last month the meeting “was entirely in line with precedent with government ministers meeting with opposition politicians,” adding that he and Trump discussed a “range of important geopolitical subjects” and that a victory for Ukraine is “vital for American and European security.”  In a statement in April, Trump’s campaign said the meeting was held “to discuss several issues impacting both countries,” including upcoming elections in both Britain and the United States, the implications of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, the need for NATO allies to meet their commitments on defense spending and “ending the killing in Ukraine.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Palestinians mark 76 years of Nakba as new tragedy unfolds in Gaza

Palestinians mark 76 years of Nakba as new tragedy unfolds in Gaza

Palestinians will mark the 76th anniversary of their mass expulsion from what is now Israel, an event that is at the core of their national struggle. But in many ways, that experience pales in comparison to the calamity now unfolding in Gaza. Palestinians refer to the anniversary, which they will observe on Wednesday, as the “Nakba”, Arabic for “catastrophe”. Some 700,000 Palestinians, a majority of the pre-war population, fled or were driven from their homes before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed Israel’s establishment. After the war, Israel refused to allow them to return because it would have resulted in a Palestinian majority within its borders. Instead, they became a seemingly permanent refugee community that now numbers some six million, with most living in slum-like urban refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. In the Gaza Strip, the refugees and their descendants make up about three-quarters of the population. Israel’s rejection of what Palestinians say is their right to return has been a core grievance in the conflict and was one of the thorniest issues in peace talks that last collapsed 15 years ago. Now, many Palestinians fear a repeat of their painful history on an even more cataclysmic scale. All across Gaza, Palestinians in recent days have been loading up cars and donkey carts or setting out on foot to already overcrowded tent camps as Israel expands its offensive once again. The war on Gaza has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, making it by far the deadliest round of fighting in the history of the long conflict. About 1.7 million Palestinians, three-quarters of the besieged enclave’s population, have been forced to flee their homes, most of them multiple times. That is well more than twice the number that fled before and during the 1948 war. Even if Palestinians are not expelled from Gaza en masse, many fear that they will never be able to return to their homes or that the destruction wreaked on the territory will make it impossible to live there. A recent United Nations estimate said it would take until 2040 to rebuild destroyed homes in the enclave. Israel has unleashed one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history in Gaza, dropping 900kg (2,000-pound) bombs on densely populated areas. Entire neighbourhoods have been reduced to wastelands of rubble and ploughed-up roads, many littered with unexploded bombs. The World Bank estimates that $18.5bn in damage has been inflicted, roughly equivalent to the gross domestic product of the entire Palestinian territory in 2022. And that was in January, in the early days of Israel’s devastating ground operations in Khan Younis and before its military went into Rafah. Adblock test (Why?)

Israeli forces attacked ‘known aid worker locations’ in Gaza: Rights group

Israeli forces attacked ‘known aid worker locations’ in Gaza: Rights group

Human Rights Watch says aid workers’ convoys and facilities have been targeted at least eight times since last October. Israeli forces have attacked humanitarian aid convoys and buildings in the Gaza Strip at least eight times since October despite being given coordinates to ensure their protection, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said in a new report. At least 31 aid workers and their companions were killed, the international rights group said in a new report published on Tuesday. “Israeli authorities did not issue advance warnings to any of the aid organisations before the strikes,” the report said. “The eight incidents reveal fundamental flaws with the so-called deconfliction system, meant to protect aid workers and allow them to safely deliver life-saving humanitarian assistance in Gaza,” it added. At least 254 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since October 7, according to the United Nations, when the current conflict erupted. Of them, 188 are personnel from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the report said. On Monday, a UN vehicle was hit on the way to a hospital in Gaza, killing at least one UN staff member and injuring at least one more. The HRW report said aid workers have also been unable to leave Gaza since Israeli forces seized control of and closed the Rafah crossing on May 7. During a recent visit to Cairo and northern Sinai, near the border between Egypt and Gaza, HRW met with staff from 11 humanitarian organisations and UN aid agencies operating in Gaza. They said Israeli attacks on aid workers had forced them to take various measures that for some included suspending activities for a period of time, reducing their staff inside Gaza, or severely restricting their aid activities in other ways. (Al Jazeera) Reporting from Amman, Jordan, Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker said that the United States started pressuring Israel to stop striking aid workers after it hit a convoy of the US-based charity World Central Kitchen in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza, on April 1, killing seven people and triggering global outrage. “It hit home in a different way, in a different way, unfortunately, that 35,000 Palestinians dead simply doesn’t,” Dekker said. The deadly attack on a UN vehicle showed that Israel has not changed anything, according to Dekker, who added that Israel has also not done enough to stop Israeli protesters from blocking and destroying aid trucks heading to Gaza. The latest target was a Jordanian convoy which had to go through the occupied West Bank to reach the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip. Right-wing Israeli protesters blocked it and set it on fire after looting it, Dekker reported. The other attacks HRW documented include one on a Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) convoy on November 18, on a UNRWA guest house on December 9 and on an International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) guest house on January 18. “Israel’s allies need to recognize that these attacks that have killed aid workers have happened over and over again, and they need to stop,” said Belkis Wille, associate director at HRW. The HRW report also found that Israeli authorities are using starvation as a method of warfare in Gaza. “Pursuant to a policy set out by Israeli officials and carried out by Israeli forces, the Israeli authorities are deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food and fuel, willfully impeding humanitarian assistance, apparently razing agricultural areas, and depriving the civilian population of objects indispensable to its survival,” the organisation said. “Children in Gaza have been dying from starvation-related complications,” it added. Adblock test (Why?)

Gaza ceasefire deadlocked as Israel’s Rafah attacks set talks ‘backward’

Gaza ceasefire deadlocked as Israel’s Rafah attacks set talks ‘backward’

Qatar says mediation efforts are being hampered by Israel’s offensive on Gaza’s southern city. Israel’s military operation in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah has set ceasefire negotiations with Hamas “backward”, mediator Qatar has said, adding that the talks have lost steam. “Especially in the past few weeks, we have seen some momentum building but unfortunately things didn’t move in the right direction and right now we are on a status of almost a stalemate,” Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani told the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha on Tuesday. “Of course, what happened with Rafah has set us backward.” Qatar has been engaged in months of mediation between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, along with Egypt and the United States. On Tuesday morning, Israeli forces pushed deeper into eastern Rafah, entering the neighbourhoods of al-Jnaina, as-Salam and Brazil, as it prepared to expand its military operation. The Israeli army issued evacuation orders, forcing tens of thousands more Palestinians to flee, despite US warnings against a full-scale assault on the southern city that is crowded with displaced people. Israeli forces were also continuing to operate with extreme force in Jabalia city, Jabalia refugee camp and surrounding areas in northern Gaza. Israeli tanks, bulldozers and armoured vehicles were surrounding United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) schools that were turned into shelters for hundreds of displaced families. An air strike on a residential building to the south of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed at least 14 people, while Israeli fighter jets also attacked a school in the refugee camp where a fire broke out, according to reports. Sheikh Mohammed said there was no clarity on how to stop the war from the Israeli side. “I don’t think that they are considering this as an option … even when we are talking about the deal and leading to a potential ceasefire,” he said. Israeli politicians were indicating “by their statements that they will remain there, they will continue the war”, he said, adding that “there is no clarity on what Gaza will look like after this”. Sheikh Mohammed said the fundamental difference between the two parties was over the release of captives and ending the war. “There is one party that wants to end the war and then talk about the hostages and there is another party who wants the hostages and wants to continue the war,” he said. “As long as there is not any commonality between those two things it won’t get us to a result.” Israel is determined to press ahead with its offensive on Rafah – considered the last refuge in Gaza, where more than 1.4 million displaced Palestinians were sheltering – in defiance of warnings from the UN and its allies, including its key backer, the US. Israeli military operations have forced some 150,000 people to flee over the past week to areas devastated by previous attacks. The displaced were mainly heading towards Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, and Deir el-Balah, in central Gaza. Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said Deir el-Balah was running out of space as people poured in, looking for shelter. Adblock test (Why?)